Got the heads done today, resealed the intakes, threw away all the oil shields per my international manual. I didn't have the large shields that came out with for the exhaust so they just got nothing.

Used comp cams 910 springs and per recommendation for 7.3 powerstroke (popular upgrade for those) a.030 shim thrown under the rotator cup.

The valve spring compressor I ordered didn't work very well, I ended up bending one arm so it would hold better, it cracked so I welded it and it worked like a champ after that..

Hopefully Monday I'll get the ring situation sorted and as soon as I get the right oil rings I'll have a short block assembled and slap the heads on.

Also gonna get with my welder buddy this week to get the custom intake done.

I can't wait to be finished and back to working....

 

You up and running yet?

Charlie

 

Unfortunately not, the seller got ahold of Hastings, they were supposed to ship me the correct oil rings. Well apparently they had a power outage and when it finally did ship they got mis sorted in Dallas and ended up in Washington state, instead of sending them right back to Dallas it hit every stop on the way and took up another week. Got them in and all they sent was the oiler spring, which is a different style so I need the outer ring. Hastings claimed they didn't have any other options apparently....

So I took a gamble, ordered a NOS .040" over set for $80 shipped. It came usps and was here in three days from Cali (today) It had the aftermarket oil ring as well, but was the right size. I ended up having to also use the wiper rings with it as they were both thinner and narrower so ground those 16 rings to fit.....

Got the new pistons knocked over to the old stock rods, and assembled the shortblock today. Also got the oil pump bolted down and the arp studs threaded into the block.

Hopefully tomorrow evening I'll have the heads set down on there and then to assemble the rest. I'm gonna take both sets of injectors I have and build a set for now, and later when I upgrade the the rd-90 pump I'll order a set of new stanadynes at the same time (350-400$) and do both at once. Other than that it'll basically be all new...

I'm tired for today but glad to be back on the track to getting it done. Wasted three plus weeks over this wrong oil control ring ordeal and I'm glad it's behind me.

My one piece ring compressor worked pretty good. You have to shimmy it a bit to get the rings to close down and then I used a hammer handle to get them down in the block. Suckers fit tight. Pistons have no play like before so it's looking alot better..

I sure hope it all comes together good without anymore setbacks. Its been too long without my work truck. Luckily the 89 has been more than happy to get me by for now. Had an air intrusion issue with it's fuel filter housing. I swapped it over to the 6.9 one that came on my junkyard motor. No extra nonsense to fail. I'll add a water separator later.

 

Made some more progress today

Got the front cover, water pump, balancer, fuel pump, oil cooler, water neck and motor mounts on. Starting to look like a motor again..






Hopefully tomorrow weather permitting, I'll have the heads put on, valley pan, ip and thermostat and housing.

Then maybe I'll slap the valve train in and put the valve covers and oil pan on if I have time. Hoping in the next day or three to have it ready to sit down in the truck, then another day and hopefully take it for a test drive/break in.

 

nice work.

The only thing that concerns me is all that dust on your floor. I'd be worried about kicking up too much dust and contaminating my cylinders or other lubrication areas.

 

This was really the only place I had to do this, I would have wet the floor down but there's no water here only power.

After taking your comment into consideration (I didn't really notice dust at all because it's been so humid here from all the rain) I put some diesel in a pump up sprayer and hosed everything off prior to attaching the sheet metal.

Monday I was able to get the oil cooler, motor mounts, water neck, thermostat, front cover, balancer, water pump, valley pan, intake, valve covers, ip cover and ip. Made really good progress for how cold it was. I'm mostly out of the wind under there and plenty deep to keep any rain away.





I was really happy with the way this intake turned out. I had about 60$ in the elbow and plate, both cast aluminum so it would all be the same metal. Buddy charged me $50 to weld it. Way I understood it they generally charge 80-100$ at most shops. It's a 3" to 4" elbow so should flow REALLY well. The old banks hat had a 2" inlet and I think that was choking things. It'll be interesting to see if the back pressure reduces or not. If not I'll have to redo the hot side y pipe sometime.


Yesterday I refurbished a set of injectors for it, cleaned all the injector bores, installed them, return lines, injector pump lines, fuel return line from pump and flywheel. All I have to do is bolt the clutch to the flywheel and it's ready to go in, but I couldn't find my alignment tool so I had to order one locally. Should be in some time today.

No pictures of that. My phone died before I finished and didn't have a charger in the truck. Maybe tomorrow or Friday (when this cold front dies down) I'll try and stab it and see how it runs.

I'm really interested to see what the blowby is like after the rings break in. I'll probably do an old school break in where you load the motor up for about an hour or 100 miles and then do an oil change.

If it still has unacceptable blowby I managed to snag a Douglas spiracle crankcase catch can. These are proper catch cans not the cheap gasser turbo ones. They even have a filter inside them. If I choose to use it, then most of the oil should stay out of everything. It even came with a drain resivore but I'll probably plumb it back to the pan below oil level if I keep it.

It is COLD and nasty today. Dunno how much I'll get done. Probably just the clutch and install the trans fork with a new throw out bearing. The old one squeeked from day one..

I also decided not to paint this engine like the last one. I spent three days last time just prepping for paint and didn't really feel like bothering this time around. It won't be pretty, but it ought to be a pretty good engine. I've always been more of a function over looks kinda guy anyways

 

Managed to get the clutch on yesterday and stab the motor all by myself, I didn't feel like waiting until Friday for help and I'm glad I went ahead and did it. All the hard stuff is now out of the way. Just hooking everything back up today.

Transmission took a while to mate but I got it and didn't have to unbolt any of that.

I am lacking any and all motivation today. Yesterday was a big hurdle for me solo so for today I'm just gonna do what I can/feel like. It's windy as hell but thankfully tomorrow it will die down and hopefully towards the end of the day be ready for a first start. I've got to drive it about a mile to a welder in order to build the brackets for the intercooler. Shouldn't take much...couple of flat plates up top and some feet down low. It'll be interesting to see what kind of rad to fan clearance I have...and also if everything lines up okay since I tweaked the rad support back to clear the intercooler.

Wish me luck and fingers crossed for the first start.

 

Made pretty good progress today, motors almost ready to fire. I've got to take apart the starter and clean it up real good, it was soaked in oil but still worked fine.

Then fill with water and oil, put the hood on and hook up the batteries then see if it'll crank. On second thought might leave the hood off just incase

I was close today, but it got late and I'm beat. I'll post some videos of it driving once I'm done breaking it in. I got some new boost/back pressure gauges I need to install when I do the intercooler mounts as well as drill/tap a new hole for the pyro. Probably just do something temporary until I make an airplane dashboard to get all of the gauges up and out of the way. Don't really care for the pillars..

Only took one pic today, it's definitely a work in progress and I've got some things to tidy up



I ran the blowby tube just like before, after breakin I'll see how bad it is and decide weather to do a RDT or catch can

 

Did you put permatex on the valley pan gasket (where it meets the intake manifold ports)?

I know there is permatex on the front and back of the valley pan where it meets the block, but it looks like some kind of gooey stuff at the intake ports.

 

Yes because I reused my valley pan because it's only two or three years old. And since I'm boosted I wanted to make sure I won't have any leaks. I'll be running low 20's plus at WOT, we'll see what this turbo is capable of now that I'm studded. On two occasions where I didn't pay attention I've pegged my 15psi gauge back to zero. Normally let off at 15

I'm a real firm believer of permatex on both sides of a gasket, not a lot, I just kinda finger paint it on there...

I use it on everything from water necks, to oil cooler gaskets. Also those fancy modern gaskets with the silicone ridges in them, I use it on the outside of those ridges, so if they ever fail or don't seal due to corroded or warped parts it'll still seal. Like powerstroke front covers and 4.6/5.4 oil filter necks..

Never had a comeback yet. Way I see it, it's cheap insurance. I also wire wheel all surfaces, steel for steel, brass for cast aluminum, and plastic for regular aluminum. Wipe down with brake parts cleaner until clean. The wire wheel eteches the surfaces so the silicone can stick.

Also tried some gear oil specific really thick sticky rtv for the timing cover since I've had trouble ever getting it to seal on the old motor.

I'll be sure to update if I use the spiracle catch can how well it ends up working incase anyone ever wants to intercool and keep their intercooler clean.

 

You are busier than a one arm paper hanger.
Amazed what you accomplished in 10 days.
Lil JB could have fixed that Piston right up
I noticed you didn`t replace your Piston Return Springs.

I feel for you with the cold weather, here in northern Nevada
we are 73 - 75 next 10 days. Nights are 27 -32 though.


Charlie

 

Hmmm. Maybe I should pull my intake and apply a layer of permatex on my valley pan. It could be the reason why my boost is limited to 12psi. I might have a slight intake leak, and also, it could be the reason why I have slight smoke at acceleration.

 

I would think your boost limitation would probably be fuel related. I wouldn't stress the valley pan, I just did it as insurance since I'll be pushing alot of boost with my 6.0 turbo.

 

I opted for the piston spring delete, but yeah I'm dog tired. Almost ready to fire! It'll either be a runner, a knocker, or both

 

True. To be honest, I think my boost is limited because I don't have an innercooler. I can't turn up my fuel anymore without incurring high EGT's up long grades. I think the fact my van doesn't have an innercooler contributes to the intake temp, leading to higher EGT temp. The long uphill grades just accumulate heat.

R&D did a van a few weeks ago that has one of his rebuilt engines with a custom van turbo setup. Somehow, they found room under the hood to run innercooler piping. Also, I can't imagine putting a radiator, condenser, tranny cooler, and innercooler in behind that grill. Just no room for anything on these vans.