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...My buddy says do head studs only because the engine is out but the less I touch it the happier I’ll be but if it’s good idea I’d consider it.
Headstuds with engine in isn't bad, but it's certainly easier with it out. Maybe think of oil cooler gaskets too. We know you are eventually going to build a 500HP monster!
Good score on the donor truck. Your longblock is not very valuable.
If possible, you’ll want to upgrade the HPOP and use the fuel system from the newer truck. Maybe consider 4-line feed kit?
You’ll also need the intake plenums, one of the exhaust manifolds and a few other things from the newer engine.
I can swap all that over. I have heard so many differing opinions on what the failure was.
The VC gasket change made the truck stop spewing black smoke at idle. When I called 1023 diesel because I thought it was an injector problem he said no, it IS a VC gasket harness because the ****ty running and smoking idle went away. He thought maybe the pin out was done in correctly.
Others say it cant be a VC gasket, it was an injector issue and send that injector off to be inspected.
Then the mention of the engine already having the damage and the changes just made those problems visible. Whether it was ether from 3 years ago or some other neglect.
Idk, what caused it. The responses vary on the route to fix it. Some say buying a 336k engine is a big risk and I am an idiot to even to do that. Go reman (I don't trust remans and they are expensive as hell for another stock long block IMO) some say go get your existing engine rebuilt, I did have one person say hone the cylinder in the truck, slap a new piston in. I think the damage to the wall is greater then the a hone job in the truck but that comment probably represents typical 7.3 folklore of them never dying and I am sure someone has done it.
With all that said, I am new to diesels, completely new and a noob. My background is in rock crawling and 4x4's, flexy suspensions, building axles, low gears, cutting and welding, etc. and this truck's job is to get me to those places so I can go wheeling as I want to pull a trailer and put my 4x4 on the 16 ft bed. So this is foreign to me but I am wanting to learn and am trying to avoid costly mistakes or costly unnecessary changes that dont need to be done.
I pick up the truck today and for 2k I think I can put a bed on it and sell it for more then that if I do decide a different route. So I think I can win there no matter what, unless I swap in that engine that has damage.
I will be transferring over, my CNC Fab stage 2 HPOP, injectors, T4 turbo kit, glow plugs, new motorcraft VC gaskets, then all the factory stuff that is needed to change over.
I ended up getting some more pics of the head and the cylinder wall....
Picked up the truck and have been driving it for a few days to make sure the engine isn't a total pile of ****. Some white smoke on cold morning start ups for about 5-10 seconds then it clears up. It didnt do that when I picked it up (65* out vs 35-40* out)
Seems to run pretty good but will take some precautions before pulling the motor. Maybe compression test? I have not seen any bubbles in the degas tank...starts up rather quickly even after sitting. It does have a rough idle every once in a while when coming to a stop that will illuminate the CEL but goes away quickly. I cant get it to pull a code....
Did a buzz test and it passed. It wont do a cyl. contribution test. It shuts off when I try it. Just trying to make a final determination on whether to slap a bed on it and sell it for a little bit more or pull the motor and get this project moving.
I had some white smoke at cold start (slightly more then the black smoke in the video but goes away quickly like the black smoke did) right after I started it I realized I wasnt recording. Turned it off and had some black smoke right after on the 2nd start (still cold, ran for 10 seconds)
Some 7.3 inspiration....to keep me pumped on my end goal.
I follow this guy on social media, F450, 7.3 ZF6, 4.88 gears, 180/30 injectors, T4 kit with 366SXE Turbo 16.5k truck and trailer unloaded, he said he's grossing 36-37k. Chevy duramax, big van and a Diesel work truck. He claims the work truck with the flat bed is a heavy SOB. Going from Boston to Washington....He normally does local north east stuff 99% of the time but does cross country 1-2 times a year.
Now it is time to start swapping **** over. I think the oil pans are different, the accessories obviously need to be changed over. Wiring harness, HPOP and injectors will be swapped over. I will leave the injector cups alone. I will get a new o ring for the oil pick up and I was told there is actually a special sealant International specs out of the oil pan sealant so I will grab that.
The donor truck started leaking diesel out of one of the tanks so it smelled up the garage and was bad enough to smell up the house. Wife wasnt too happy. I have never had a smell transfer into the house before and it was giving me a headache...So instead of parting it out slowly or letting it sit outside and taking up space I sold the truck for $500, I had so much interest, including one guy saying I was selling it for too cheap. I was shocked that a 97 F250 4x4 with no motor, bed or hood (keeping it for a friend) sparked that much interest for $500. I did keep the IDM as a spare, I have a cold air intake I can sell and some other parts off the donor motor.
So $500 back in my pocket and the truck is gone.
Now it's time to start swapping. I gotta get this thing moving, we cant swing a camper by KOH (end of January) so we are renting a 32ft camper for a week for KOH. Should be roughly 65ft all in with the truck and should be grossing around 25-26k.
I also dropped the trans off at Bowman Trans, he will be rebuilding it, doing a billet converter, swapping in the 4wd output shaft and he has a NP271 on the shelf I will buy from him. I will worry about swapping in my front axle after KOH.
This truck is the ****ing truck from hell. Maybe I can name it project 2020.
So I will start off by saying, in the end, it was best I swapped this engine. It would have failed and it would have failed miserably. I am assuming the previous owner changed the oil pick up tube gasket at some point because when I pulled the pan to swap the super duty one on and change the oil pick up gasket I found a bolt in the pan....WEIRD! I then discover 1 bolt is in is missing on the oil pick up and the 2nd bolt is barely holding on and very loose. It makes me wonder if the LPOP ever actually went bad or if it was losing oil out of the pickup and a fresh LPOP could overcome that but an older one couldnt....I also tore further and found some other sketchy things from the previous owner.
Anyways, after swapping the timing cover, oil pan, intake plenums, HPOP, injectors, glow plugs, fuel bowl, and basically EVERYTHING. I have 2 things to swap over, the fuel fittings and the motor mounts. Sure enough when pulling the OBS fuel fittings on the good motor the fuel fitting BROKE IN THE HEAD!!! GAHHHHH [img][img][img][img][img][img]
So I then proceed with an easy out, the easy out broke in the fitting, then I tried the weld an electrode to the easy out with no luck and then of course the weld a washer trick and nothing worked. SOOOO off comes the head. I am now swapping the good head from the good side of the bad motor....
Cleaning the head by scraping and scotchbriting the crap off of it.
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and the same with the block...
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I have never gone this far into a motor....so I will probably **** it all up and KOH is in 3 weeks or so.
The garage is a disaster...atleast my 4x4 is ready to go!
[img][img]
I will overnight head studs...I really dont want to do ARP head studs due to the cost but i'm here....I will do the pull 1, install 1 method on the other side....that appears common when they do it in the truck.
Oh, the cylinder walls still have the cross hatching in them so they appear to be perfect!
