Progress! Kickazz!!!!

 

Nice Jeremy! I'm jealous. Can't wait to see her all wrapped up.

BTW, my boxes are still sitting in the garage collecting dust....

 

Thanks for the update. Things are looking good

 

Dang Jason! It'll be a while before I would have time to help...plus my buddy with the shop has his house under contract now, so my "shop" is basically gone.

Turbo and exhaust manifold installed tonight. Niether one was too bad. I just took my time. Also got the oil pan pulled and painted, but the Cummins dealer gave me the wrong gasket so I couldn't get the pan put back on. Hopefully they're open tomorrow and I can get the correct one, but if not, I'll get it Monday.

Plan for tomorrow is to install head studs, which will take a while. The ARP studs have to be torqued down to 125 ft-lb in a 3 step sequence, then loosened up and re-torqued in the 3 step sequence. I have to do that loosen and re-torque thing 3 times after the first tightening. I talked to ARP today, and they say this just helps to make sure all the threads are seated in the block and to get all the stretch out of the bolts. It will be a pain, but it would be more of a pain to have to replace a blown headgasket later.

Turbo and manifold installed:

 

Jeremy,

Thanks for the updates and pics. Keep them coming.

 

Cant wait to see it all together!!! Congrats on the work.

 

Sounds like you are having fun, Jeremy. Glad a wrong gasket is the biggest problem lately.

 

The dealer had the correct gasket in stock, so I got the oil pan back on today and also got the new cam installed. The cam gear is just an interference fit on the end of the cam so once I got the stock cam pressed out of the gear, I decided to try a trick to get the new gear on that was passed onto me from an old hot rodder friend of mine. I put the cam in a chest freezer for a couple days and then this afternoon, stuck the gear in an oven at 450* for about 3 hours. The cam shrunk from the cold and the gear expanded from the heat so that the gear just dropped right onto the cam, without having the stress of using pressure to press it on. I honestly wasn't sure if it would work, but it did.

I wanted to get head studs done this weeekend, but I'm already committed to some other things tomorrow, so I may not get to them until Monday or Tuesday. Oh well, I'm still waiting on injectors anyway.

Here's a few more pics. First is the aftermarket cam, on top with the gear on, compared to the stock cam.



New cam installed. Note the color difference of the cam gear. It changed colors from silver to gold after being heated up. With only 5 miles on the engine, none of the gears have probably even been up to operating temp yet, so they're still silver.



A little better shot of the turbo and manifold, because it looks cool...and it's SHINY!

 

Yep, you can see that new cam needs to be broken in. Does the Cummins use rollers as well?

That is a pretty turbo. Living vicariously again Jeremy.

EDIT: I forgot. I have been thinking about this Cummins swap you are doing. I bet that IC you have will serve you well with the Cummins as it is a 5.9 and yours is for a 7.3. Seems you will enjoy some good charge cooling. Looks like good quality air is in your future.

 

Nice no uppipes to screw with! And thanks for the update...

 

Jeremy, that is a common trick not only used by the old school hot rodders. I have used the same principles to put bearings on mid to large electric motors. The ideal temp for a bearing, inner race, is 250*. I have made a few make shift bearing heaters that have worked great. A few times I have had such a close tolerence that I have had to pack the shaft in dry ice and heat the bearing inner race up to 250*. Works very well.

 

Looking good Jeremy keep up the good work!

 

I've go to get the specs on the break in procedure for that cam for sure. Oddly enough, it's an old mechanical flat tappet design. No roller or hydraulic lifters in this thing, complete with valve lash adjusters on the rocker arms.

I have every intention to use that Spearco IC...can't tell you how many PM's and emails I got from people who wanted to buy it. LOL.

Jim, it looks like I may have learned a new trick that I'll be able to use on down the road!

 

I'm pretty sure even the new 6.7 cummins still uses solid lifters

 

Updates are cool. Jeremy, that motor is rude.