I don’t think so. My main idea was to get some boost on it early on. Force those rings out into the cylinder walls. With the performance oriented ford windsors I’ve done I usually get them a chance to idle up to temp then run them hard. It’s always worked for me. Probably thinking too much into this one. Thanks for all the help on this project everyone !!!!

 

blicharski1989, I followed this break-in at about a thousand miles when my truck was new (from our Tech folder):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/2...ml#post1606510

Really, really, enjoyed your thread!

 

tbanks for sharing that information. Sitting around 200 miles right now. I’ve done some short WOT pulls probably won’t hurt. I’ll document the thread with the blowby Results. Going to do an oil analysis at 500 then probably 5000

 

I also went a little crazy on the early oil changes: first was 1K, second 3K, third 6K and Fourth 10K, then every 5K after - I also stayed 15W 40 dino only until 20K and then went to a slight syn blend, increasing syn portion at 25K and full synthetic at 30K...

Best of luck to you! Was/is quite the story and well documented...

 

it started with a coolant leak from the front cover, 6 thousand dollars later lol

 

Hey, mine a little tick that only I could hear.

 

I’m way too OCD with vehicles. My wife hates it. I’m like hear that clunk, tick, knock, thunk. I must investigate !!!!!!

looking back that $3800 ashville short block is a good value

 

What did you use for your first oil charge in the engine? I have some high zinc
oil that is meant for diesel break-in. I'll post the name when I get a chance.

 

delvac 15w-40 super 1300 and some Rev X zinc additive

best choice was probably that joe Gibbs driven diesel break in oil but this will be fine for a short drain.

 

Mostly, it is. A hang up I have with them is the cost for an upgraded cam - it's the same as just buying one retail, but they get to keep the stock cam they use.

I've been having a discussion with a person who bought two of my engine lift brackets early on. He's military right now, but prior worked as a mechanic and rebuilds a lot of 6.0s on the side. He just got a short block from Ashville and they normally don't mill the deck.

I went over the images and sent him back what I thought was going on, and they confirmed it.

The shop that does the machining for Ashville goes over the deck lightly with a 3m scuff wheel if its flat, which is most of the blocks according to Ashville. He want's a milled deck, so they are sending him a replacement short block. He's about to be transferred in at the end of June so getting a replacement block is urgent.

The second image is with my notes on it. Taking off the plastic is a WTF moment; at least it would be for me.




You can tell from the scratch patterns that the major flycutter marks are not the same radius as the fresh minor marks. It was scuffed.



The deck could have been lapped and cleaned, but you're buying a machined short block. The factory or prior mill marks show the gasket staining in them, so that's a tunnel that the sealant has to fill. It might do fine, but if you are building for longevity, you want to start with a good surface.

 

Why did you NOT go that route? Any reason other than you like to do things yourself? With all that's involved with these engines the stuff adds up quick.

 

Speaking for myself, my wife often reminds me that going into my engine I told her this should take a long weekend and less than $100 worth of parts. I retained that tunnel vision all the way through the early part. First it was going to be one lifter and one head gasket, until I saw the block surface. So it became two head gaskets.

Then I'll replace the oil cooler while I'm there, discovering a errant bolt and metal shards on the HPOP screen. So the LPOP had to be examined. Which resulted in looking at the bearings. Now I'm into full lifters and looking at the cam.

The cam became a new cam after checking the grind of the cam, and new cam bearings. Along with polishing the crank.

A new cam meant checking the valve to piston clearance, which led to a replacement crankshaft, after I reassembled the short block. My nickname for this engine for a time was Pandora's box.

So it's easy to get sucked into more and more. I should have done what I did when rebuilding Ford small blocks, tear it all down and evaluate. But that would not have caught the crankshaft grind. Had I done that, I probably would have gone for a short block. But on the other hand, since I never took it to a machinist, my costs were lower.

But there is a lot of nibbling that goes on, while you are there.

While the short block price looks good, there are a ton of things you still need.

 

The 6.0L is very much a Rabbit Hole. You can easily get lost down there and never make it back.

BTW the Queen is having lunch later.

Speaking of Queen. This sort of fits with the 6.0L

 

First it was just going to be re seal, new rings,
bearings move on, then I kept asking if I skimped on this part and it wiped out the engine would I be angry. Before I knew it was mostly rebuilt. It was a fun project to get intimate with the 6.0 doing it over again I would have strongly considered it. Doing the labor my self it helped keep it “reasonable”. My excursion is a family vehicle and we plan to keep to for the long haul. I have no regrets at this point.

 

totally agree that’s why I had mine decked. One it the big reasons I pulled the entire engine. I wanted the best change for longevity. Flat head and a flat deck plus studs and O rings. I wonder why they skipped that part. A few thousandths is no big deal. I ended up at .004 and .005” for a totally clean deck and it cost me shaving the pistons but now I never have to wonder if the block was not true. Makes me sleep better that I checked those boxes. Maybe the wanted to save the cost of having to do shorter pistons not just the cost of decking. I paid about $200 for mine to be decked.