An Engine Disassembly Thread
 

This thread will be nothing new or earthshattering for all you powerstroke experts out there, but I was thinking that I would appreciate such a thread, so i'll do one myself as I work through my engine disassembly. i'll also probably ask for lots of opinions along the way.

since my compression test turned out OK, I won't be removing the heads or touching the bottom end. I don't have my rebuild plan fully formulated yet, but I do plan to do the following:

- remove and replace turbo,
- remove and bellow (or buy bellowed) up pipes
- remove and gasket exhaust manifolds (suspected leak)
- remove and inspect/replace all accessories
- remove water pump, replace with bus pump (integrated filter)
- remove and replace harmonic balancer
- remove and upgrade injectors
- remove and inspect pushrods (upgrade)?
- remove and upgrade HPOP
- remove fuel system and upgrade to e-fuel
- remove and replace LPOP
- remove and rebuild oil cooler


hopefully a rebuild thread will follow :-)

ok - here's a few early pictures and some associated questions.

here's a picture of my front cover after removing the water pump. CLEARLY the propeller (impeller?) was rubbing on the front cover. as I plan to replace the LPOP, I have to remove this cover anyway (right?), but should I plan on a new one? its only worn in maybe a 32nd to a 16th of an inch, but as of now, I don't know how thick the aluminum is there.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=146046


I replaced this t-stat when I bought the truck, but after pulling the water pump, is this the right one in there? I believe I put a long stem in there, but now I'm doubting myself. it was definitely the same size as the one it replaced, though and it did seem to warm up and operate OK... Also, it looks whoever did the last water pump replacement on this truck used WAAAY too much RTV. or is this how they came from the factory? I can't imagine that being the case.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=146047


fuel system, turbo and oil cooler removal pics to come next!

Subscribed for sure. This should good and educational for us non-experts!

I would venture to guess your front cover will be fine. I will take a look at the front cover I have access to and see if I can give you a rough measurement.

I was excited to see this as I thought it would be a complete dis-assembly. I am tearing a 7.3 down to bare block and wanted to be sure I am doing a thorough job. Im going to start another thread I believe.

No need to pull the timing cover to replace the LPOP, just the balancer.

Rusty

Get the exhaust manifold surfaces planed before you put them back on. I did that and used gaskets. Some surface them and don't use gaskets. Each to his own, we've been over that before. If the heads were off you could machine that surface too. Then you for sure could put it back together without gaskets. Do what you wish, but at least get the manifolds surfaced.

If the tstat worked, it must have been the right one.

Yeah, not a total disassembly. That'll happen on the engine that this will replace, though - this one has 199k on it, the one it will replace has 357k and counting. I'll be following your thread when in comes to that one for sure. Funny that we both started these threads on the same day!

And a rough measurement on the front cover would be great. I'll be sure to check the new WP for rub before I install it, so as long as these front covers aren't' paper thing I think I'll be OK.

Good to know! Thanks! You just saved me some searching through the shop manual :-)

Yeah, I was planning on putting them on the surface grinder at work. At least I'll know that one side of the mating surface is true. Hopefully the gasket takes care of the rest. And on this note, I think I may have found the source of the audible tap this engine always had. You could hear it clearest with your head over the rear of the passenger side, or through the wheel well. Looking closely at the manifolds today, and there appears to be a slight gap on the rearmost pass side cylinder. All the other mated surfaces are completely rusted together, but this one has a visible gap. Hopefully I see lots of soot in that gap as well when I get it off. That'll convince me that was the problem.

And I was thinking the same thing on the t-stat. It just surprised me to see that gap between two surfaces that look like they should mate. Does the t-stat maybe come down and close off that tube when the engine is at operating temp?

I hope so - though I'm definitely a non-expert as well, so you'll prob learn the most from other peoples answers to my questions though. :-)

Looks good JP. I want to say that the front cover is 3/16 to 1/4" thick in the area you're looking at there, but I'm not sure how you will know for sure. I think you're okay to go with the one you have. I will second the motion to leave the front cover on if all you need to do is mess with the LPOP. Just pull the harmonic balancer and it will pull off the front.

Since you apparently need a new water pump are you going to get the International water pump with the integrated coolant filter on it?

Yep - def doing the school bus WP, Nate. I'm going to do electric fan(s) as well when I do the engine swap, so hopefully changing the filter is a sinch. And 3/16"+ would be nice on that front cover thickness. I need to get a better idea of how much is worn away, but it looked minimal at first glance.

And my balancer is bad anyway, so sounds like doing the LPOP will be easy/ a no-brainer.

Lookin good JP! I'm sure you already know this and are probably planning to do it, but replace every o-rings and seal you can get to while you got tore down. I'm chasing an oil now that has me ready to burn my shop down with the truck in it! LOL!!

A very good point, Bill. I've been reading about your leak and really hope I don't wind up in the same boat once she's all back together.

That said, do you (or anyone else) have a good list of all such o-rings and seals. I was just on dieselorings.com today checking out what they carry. I saw the oil rail end plugs orings, HPOP plug orings, fuel rail end plug orings, and oil cooler orings and gaskets. Then of course theres's turbo, HPOP gaskets and such, injector orings...

One type of plug I was looking for rings for are the small little plugs under the valve cover that are above each injector. Not sure if this is fuel or oil, but does anyone know if there are o-rings on these little guys?

Those are drain plugs for the oil galley. I can't remember if they have o-rings or not.

So low pressure oil? Not that it really matters, but maybe less likely to leak - and prob not a big deal - if low pressure.

Also, thinking about it more - they would be pretty easy to get to in the truck anyway, but how would you ever know they are leaking :-). might as well do them now anyway. I guess I'll just pull one and have a look. Then try to source some viton rings if needbe.