Hello, I am refreshing a 2001 short block for my 1997 OBS with low compression. My OBS motor has efuel, 160/30 injectors, KC300x turbo, and Banks intercooler. The current setup is perfect for my needs. My plan is to swap all my long block items onto the 2001 block. I have all the Superduty parts in case I want to do some upgrades. The new block and heads are going to get new seals, new freeze plugs, oil pan seal, front cover seal, welded oil pan dipstick tube, head gaskets ect... The motor looks to have low mileage. I will know more when I pull the heads today. I am on the fence about smiths pushrods, comp 910 springs, and heavy duty lifters.

First question: I would like to use the Super duty water pump pulley to make room for a hydraulic dampener. The Superduty fan clutch and fan are in good shape. Can I use the whole pulley, fan clutch, and plastic fan setup on my OBS water pump? will it make it cool better?

 

Different lengths in fan clutch shaft and thread size so that's a big negative.

You can use the super duty pulley though on your OBS fan clutch, and you can buy a 03-07 6.0 fan blade (but beware as I took out 2 radiators using the 6.0 fan because the radiator support mounts were shot)

 

Made some progress today. Got the motor mostly stripped down. Left on a few things to make masking a little easier, then I went medieval with a wire brush. I am not going to touch the bottom end so the motor will not see a hot tank.

I was skeptical at first, but I believe this motor really has 12k miles on it. The injector cups are clean as can be. In the picture I wiped one down with a rag but didn't use any solvents. The HPOP gear is brand new. Looking through the reservoir, the timing gear looks brand new. I hope to use them on my truck. Can I run the Superduty timing gears and HPOP oil pump on my OBS motor?

 

Very clean in there, and yes they have the same long block with the exception of the cam where the OBS used a lobe for the fuel pump and other difference was in late 01 where they went with PMR (weaker rods according to the interwebs) and you can distinguished them by the rod bolts/studs
PMR- bolts
forged rods- studs


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I am getting a parts order together. The motor will be making 325 or max 350hp. I am deciding weather to upgrade to smiths pushrods, pro comp 910 valve springs, track tech head studs, and maybe heavy duty lifters.

It it worth it to upgrade the pushrods, springs, lifters, and head studs with PMR rods?

Which is the weak link?

 

From what I read PMR are good for 450HP depending on who tunes the engine.

As to valve springs anything is better than the factory springs although the factory springs can hold the power you are after but not reliably, they become a problem if engine has some miles on it while on WOT near read line with over 30+PSI, that's how I bent a push rod on my old mill with over 800k which was due to worn down valves and seats, but I believe also the spring tension was gone from them from all those miles and my thumb confirm it when I pressed down on them and took little effort to push them down.

Push rods? I still using the factory push rods and I'm somewhere around the power your after and have yet to bend one with the comp cam valve springs shimmed to seat pressure. But upgrading them to a bigger diameter ones? Why not.

lifters not sure, I'm rocking the factory installed lifters on my last rebuild engine (I would caution on new lifters as the quality has been in the caca post covid.

You won't have to worry about head studs unless you are making well over 40PSI according to all the the posts and research I looked at.

 

Looking into welded oil jets. Can I replace them without taking the crank out?

 

Update!!!

Got the heads off, taken apart, and dropped off to be hot tanked. The valves and seats are in new condition. The cylinders have clear cross hatching and there is no ridge on the top. Cylinders 4 and 5 have light rust. The motor was pulled in the pouring rain and some water got into the intake. It blew out when I did the compression test. That is why cylinder number 4 had higher compression.


The bottom end is coming apart this weekend. The block will get hot tanked, a light hone, new rings, welded oilers, and the rotating assembly balanced. I ordered the gasket sets, 910 springs, smiths pushrods, riff raff billet intake plenums, and a fluid damper balancer today. We are off to a good start.

 

Started taking the pistons out they look good. Here are a few questions:

The freeze plugs look good. Should I replace them?

The rubber on the motor mounts from the low mile truck looks real good. They are better than my 97 w/ 209k miles. I read somewhere the ford ones are no longer available. Is there a manufacturer who makes quality motor mounts or should I use the low mileage take outs?

 

Another little update. Got the heads cleaned, the valves lapped, and one head shimmed. The block and rotating assembly got sent off for a hone and balance. Most of the parts are here as well.

 

I started this thread because I thought I would have more questions. So far so good. Here are some pictures for fun. The block was honed, cleaned, and painted. I had a few cans of GM blue leftover from my 240z block. My truck and Z will have matching blocks. The rotating assembly is balanced. The heads are lapped. I am ready to assemble the heads and bottom end this weekend.