Talked to DK Engines in Georgia today. They currently have a 6 week lead time. No lifters or lower end gasket sets. They will deck blocks if needed, then check piston protrusion to see if they need to be machined as well. A stage 2 cam is 200 bucks over base engine price. Shipping was around 450 bucks to me. The front cover was about 200 dollars cheaper than anyone else if I need one. Their short blocks come naked, no covers. 12 month warranty as well. Tempting.

I plan to strip my block down this weekend and check the front cover as well. It looks like J & K Engines and Asheville are the only two thus far to be able to get me a short block in days, not months. B&R Head and Block in West Sacramento never called me back to give me pricing and options. And that's after I called them TWICE and talked to someone each time. Not good business. B.

 

Well, I did a partial tear down on my engine today. Got the front cover off and disassembled the LPOP to inspect it. Great news. The front cover looks almost new. And the wear on the oil pump rotors is nearly non-existent. So I am very confident in re-using my front cover and installing a new LPOP for good practice.

When drilling for a pyrometer probe in the exhaust manifolds, where do most guys drill at? I know I want to drill on the downstream side of the last cylinder to get an even reading of all four cylinders on a single bank. But do you come in from the top, the bottom, or the side? Is there enough meat in the factory manifolds to get enough threads for an adapter? B.

 

Pyrometer location.
renew shown parts.

 

there are several locations people use, here's another.

 

More REVELATIONS!!!!!

Well, I stripped down my engine today taking off everything I will need to reuse on a short block. For shins and grins, I pulled out the rear lifter guide on the driver side of the block to inspect the lifters for cylinder 6. As it turns out, even IF the rings were still good and a head gasket job fixed my engine earlier this year, I would STILL be pulling it at an as yet soon determined date anyway. Take a look at these pics. The first two pics are of the lobe and lifter at the #5 position back from the front on the driver's side.





Now, take a look at these three picks. This the hole #6 back from the front on the driver's side. This lifter and lobe would not last too much longer I'm afraid. In the not too distant future I would have been doing a cam job anyway.






The roller on this lifter was grinding as I spun it with my finger. Obviously the needle bearings were failing causing the roller to drag as it spun. The fate of this engine was determined long ago I'm afraid. Even if the top end work fixed my issues from last year. I would still be in this same position today anyway. Why replace a wiped out cam and lifter at 200K or so? B.

 

I once talked to a 6.0L mechanic in Tacoma WA and he would do lifters on every
engine that was over the 200K point. That is if the cam still looked good. If the cam
was showing problems he would them do both.

 

Well, my cam and lifters are at the 190K mark right now. I'm sure if the top end work HAD fixed my issue this last winter, I would be doing a cam and lifter prolly with-in 10-20k miles anyway. Which would really tick me off, as the top end would have to come back off anyway. I might try and turn it over to get a pic of the lobe for the one that I see damage on. If I do I will post that pic as well. B.

 

I agree. If you had not had to pull it for the top end you would
be for the bottom end sooner than later. Have you thought
about what you want to do to it?

 

Yeah, since I can't find a local engine machine shop to do my block, I'm going to buy one from either Asheville or J&K Engines. Both have short lead times and comparable pricing. I just wished they offered more than a 12 month warranty. 99.9% sure I'm going with a stage 2 cam. I already bought a new LPOP and oil cooler for the new engine. Both are Ford pieces. I just bought new head gaskets and misc. parts for the A/C system. And four gauges to monitor things on a full time basis. B.

 

To have the surfaces on the pump gears and cover surfaces, you had to have things going through the oil system. My first question would be, did the truck have an oil cooler replacement in the past?

I have in threads here and in lifter video examples of the needle bearings scoring and fracturing, which is the start of the roller failure. You can pop the axle out of the lifter if you want to inspect the needle bearings. The unit pressures on those needle bearings are huge, so it doesn't take much of an oil lubrication failure or debris in the oil to set the stage for cam and lifter failure.

180k to 250k tends to be where lifters and cam go bad.

 

Yes Jack, I had the oil cooler changed about 50K ago. I also had the EGR cooler, STC and turbo feed line changed at that time. The HPOP went bad when the shop was testing driving my truck after replacing the other parts. So it got a Ford HPOP at that time as well. B.

 

Which brand of lifters should I go with when I order a short block? B.

 

Get in line for those who have had elevated oil temps and later on failing with cams and lifters.

Do you remember how hot your oil got to?

 

I bought the Ford lifters in kits. I don't think I know of one brand of aftermarket that did not have issues.

Sometimes it's easier to get good focus backed away from the object. If you use an iPhone, the Camera+2 app is pretty good and has a macro manual focus. The cam is best viewed out of the block and wiped clean. This image shows you've had debris floating in the oil. Your one out of focus looks like pitting was starting to develop.

 

Ok cool. Yes my deltas were getting into 18 degree range. Plus my EGR cooler was leaking at the time as well. I was trailing clouds of steam from my tail pipes. The lifter 6 A/B pics there is definite pitting of the roller. And I could feel it grinding when I spun it with my finger. Maybe I'll take it apart tomorrow and see how bad the bearings are. B.