Today I got the Dieselsite water pump, tensioner and all pulleys installed and rebuilt the oil cooler and installed the HPOP. My girlfriend’s son had a birthday party so I only got a few hours in. I’m going to try to get pretty much everything else on tomorrow and be ready to go back in Monday if everything works out. Damper bolts will be ready to pick up Tuesday but they can be installed any time after the engine goes in and before the fan and radiator. Mr. Cerakote said he will fix the exhaust manifolds Monday...third time’s a charm right?

 

Looking good SD. I'm still amazed that color is aluminum. I'll have to get a can of the VHT and shoot a test panel.

With the exhaust manifolds, if the rust through is only down at that end you could submerge the end in Evaporust for a day and see how it comes out. If OK, then get the guy to recoat. Evaporust typically leaves paint alone unless there is rust under the paint.

I wasn't planning on doing a video about the manifolds, but what they looked like, the first stage of de-rusting, no second stage pictures, but the final heat curing.

 

You guys can call me Mac, I’ve been around here a while!
Jack your manifolds look great! On mine the end that has the red color showing through isn’t rust, I think it’s primer. The first time he coated them I had them on the shelf in my shop covered with towels for about three weeks and just the other day I had them installed and saw what I thought was a smudge of oil or something so I grabbed a new dry white terrycloth and wiped it and the coating just came off in that one spot. It wouldn’t rub off anywhere else. I removed them and got a better look at the tiny rust spots coming through. I think he just did crappy prep. Friday he supposedly media blasted them again and recoated and I picked them up that afternoon and noticed that same spot was there. I honestly think he just coated them again without blasting and missed that spot. He swears he’s going to get it right Monday or he’s buying me a new set of manifolds and coating them for free. I paid $100 for the Cerakote on the manifolds and he powder coated a new Dieselsite intake elbow and powdercoated my CAC pipes again so they matched. His powdercoat work is awesome, I had them done last year and they just had a couple of places where I chipped the finish working under the hood.

 

The first photo is the day it rubbed off, the second is yesterday when I had him recoat them.

 

Yessir, VHT Flameproof Flat Aluminum. It is pretty flat but has some nice super fine metallic silver to it but really changes to like a pearl grey after the Satin Clear top coat and baking on the gas grill.

 

Since it wasn't in your sig, I wasn't sure ....

Seeing it with your own eyes is more telling. You've done so much work in prep it would be frustrating.

You bring up the point of why I don't Powdercoat things. Chips in paint I can fix easily. But, that's me.

Those manifold stayed in the barbi for months after curing, but it's still not the same as high-heat use. If mine develops rust it won't bother me. The original plan was not to do any painting, just flip the motor and be done with it. I just hate working on dirty stuff, and if I have time on my hands I'll fall back.

 

Therein lies the crux doesn't it? God knows I would LOVE to do this with my engine, and it's probably a good thing I don't have the time or money. I would become so obsessed it's the ONLY thing I would want to do. Like the monkey choosing cocaine over sex.

Following threads like this make it so easy to get carried away. All I have to do is head gaskets and injectors and yet I'm almost hoping that when I get in there I find that the cam needs replacing so I have the justification to pull the engine. And once the engine is out, why not do a full rebuild? Yeah, that rabbit hole is dark and deep.

I have to keep checking myself with an occasional dose of reality as I watch this progress. So keep up the great work! And thanks for sharing ... I think.

 

Thanks alot, I just ordered BD exhaust manifolds. I found them $75 cheaper and free shipping so I’ll have Cerakote guy two sets of manifolds to coat next week and see if I can sell the original ones...the rabbit hole turned out to be a honey badger...

 

Smack Daddy, have you pictures of installing the crank shaft sealing rings? Had you special tools for installing?
Do you have a list of the parts you have used for the complete renovation? Here in Germany it is very difficult to get high quality spare parts. With rockauto spare parts I would not like to do such a general overhaul.
Maybe you can also tell us where you got the pistons, seals, bearings etc.?

 

Wasn't trying to talk you into them anymore, LOL! But I am green with envy all over again, so thank you.

 

Hartwig I borrowed the front and rear seal install tools from a member here for the price of shipping. They are OTC tools and I bet you could fab your own since you have access to the lathes and machine shop. I got the pistons, piston rings, bearings and rod bushings directly from Mahle through the machine shop, most of the Motorcraft parts came from White Bear Lake/Tousley Ford (best prices on most Ford parts) and the intake elbow and water pump came from DieselSite. I got the new smooth and grooved idler pulleys, tensioner and sensors from RiffRaff Diesel. I can post a full list for you guys when I get a minute. Part numbers help a lot so I’ll post them up for anyone wanting to do a rebuild and refresh of a 2003 6.0.
I had been kicking around the idea of new manifolds anyway because the beveled ends are not in the best shape. I didn’t have exhaust leaks but they were probably not going to last another hundred thousand miles. With my horsepower mods the ported manifolds will probably help the turbo spool up a little quicker. I think I’ve seen Anthony Youngblood at Superduty Service machine the ends of the exhaust manifolds on a couple of his videos, someone could do that if they had the equipment but paying a shop to do it would probably not be cost effective versus just buying new from White Bear/Tousley for about $230 for the pair.

 

Do you still have the tools and could you make me a sketch? I have all the machines here to make the tools.

Could you maybe sometime when you have the time, list the part numbers?
I have no one here in Germany who knows about 6.0 to get parts. I always make the experience that I know more about the engines than "the professionals" who claim to know everything.

 

The beveled ends on mine look like yours. Now you've got me thinking about replacing mine and getting them cerakoted in preparation for my head gasket project. Not a big fan of stock manifolds though, as they always warp over time and I end up spending hours hand grinding them back to flat. I wonder how warp-resistant the BD's are with their heavier looking construction and webbing. I also wonder how the porting will affect a basically stock truck. Would I end-up with less low-end torque like putting headers on a gasser?

 

Sure can, I’ll sketch them and send mic measurements. Headed to the shop to get more done!

 

I don’t think you’ll lose performance with new manifolds.