here the deal.
i bought a non running 85 2wd . 6.9 4 speed
119k
one owner, old man blah blah
all true.
truck is a cream puff.
radiator half full
badly plugged.
engine original down to rice bowl.
im ****, untrusting of others about my equipment im in very remote areas most of my year ****gotta run or im sunk.

i have another engine a later 6.9 came from a church van.
fella who gave it to me say "best running 6.9 he heard".he owns a big truck wrecking yard. he not a putz.
i thinks" pull the original engine and slam this one in, easy' .
build this one while its on a pallet in shop easy.
here is the question change head gaskets or no. on the engine on the pallet in the shop.????

on this pallet engine:
the filters' baldwins, so someone who knows, has worked on this engine, has 54K on the filter for last /next change.
we can asume 154 or being a church van just 54.K.
do i change head gaskets or just sink studs one at a time and gamble. engine is steam cleaned (remember those) a steam cleaner! theyu se them at the yard as to avoid water intrusion. .
so no indications of coolant leakage or excessive oil leaks.no clues as to why they scrapped a low mileage van. that was unwrecked

opened her up and this engine is clean! no oil smudge in valve covers. lifter valley clean really nice. now im thinking just stud it and gamble the head gaskets are good .

or break all the factory torque seals and change head gaskets...

i can get a peek at cylinders but likely wont be surprised if the upper valve train is any indicator. tempted to stud and retorque


what would you do?

the truck's original engine needs to come out for the same treatment: so trying to run it is out of the question. anyhoo, it sat unused for 10 years, i would not dream of taking an untested engine out into the boonies without checking it out, seal up, and studs. especially with the radiator looking like it did.
and that engine i will use for my 86 tonner 4x dooley

both will eventually get turbos.

 

Not sure why you want to pull the engine and put it on a pallet if you are not going to pull the heads and go though it properly. Why not clean it out and run it in the truck?

I definitely would not leave the heads on it, and the old head gaskets, and then try to pull the head bolts and replace them with studs without pulling the heads and then using new head gaskets. You do not need studs unless you are going to install a turbo with a lot of boost.

 

Why would you buy a 32 year old truck if you need something "reliable or your sunk? I would suggest you join AAA at the very least.

 

the 6.9 diesel 4 speed truck is very arguably the single most reliable , economic ,vehicle of its kind ,on the road.

a turbo later, is possible especially at elevations seen in northern nevada.
at sea level they are a nice option but do come with their own baggage.

so yea back to the spare engine run it or head gaskets...

 

Do the gaskets at this age they will be partially perished at the very least. I've always pulled them and not one set was what I would call in good shape. Last low mile IDI I got had just just 30K miles and I left the head gaskets since it was so low mile and they started puking externally after 1000 miles. . Remember the IDI's were not a designed as diesel motor but are reworked international MV-404 gasoline engines so just think about that when you are contemplating leaving the original head gaskets on a 30+ year old high compression diesel.

 

exactly what i needed to hear.

i had not heard about the mv 404 stuff. but this is all new to me as the ford diesel is something ive just become acquinted with in the last 5 months


thank u

 

thank u for this.
how about a turbo with a very little bit of boost, perhaps 8 psi? are studs not safer bet?

 

the only thing the 6.9 and the MV404 have in common is they were both made by international
6.9 was designed as a diesel engine, it is not a "converted MV404"

 

Yea that was the first I heard of it being "converted" too.
Wonder if he was thinking of the junk GM 350 diesel? Not to be mixed up with the GM 6.2 that also designed as a diesel.
Dave ----

 

Being they say to pull the heads to change out the head gaskets and being you are there I would then use ARP studs but if you don't I don't think with that much boots would be an issue.


I base this on a GM 6.2 I had bought new in 86. At 100K I installed a Gail Banks turbo kit, other than bolting it on no other work was done to the motor. It was still running at 230K when I sold the truck with no issues.


I don't think Banks would sell a kit knowing it would pop gaskets at the first time the turbo spooled up or they would be out of buss.
Dave ----

 

the GM 350 diesel was not a reworked gas engine either.
it was close enough to the 350 GM that you could use gas heads, cam, intake, and rotating assembly in the diesel block to make a long lasting gas engine, but it was still designed as a diesel.

i put a banks turbo on my 7.3 when it was around 1 month old, and had less than 1,000 miles on it.
it currently has a little over 495,000 miles on it never taken apart, still has original head gaskets, and head bolts that were never tightened up either.
this engine regularly saw over 13 lbs boost when running, because it ran hard pulling heavy loads.

 

Don't you think they made the 350 block a little more HD for diesel if all the gas parts fit? Other wise why would they make a diesel block that all the gas parts fit?


My 6.2 would also see 10+ psi of boost as I also pulled a 20' car trailer and the truck was a 4x4 besides. 16 years of New England winters took it's toll on the body.
Dave ----

 

The 6.9 was NOT a converted MV series enginse it was based on that design it was the basis for the IDI engines, many internal engine components are interchangeable between the two things like timing gears, bearings, lift pumps transmission adapters. Both engines share the same dimensions
and most parts will physically bolt on to each other. It is well known within the IHC crowd they are basically the same engine just one gas and one diesel.

The GM 5.7 was based off the Olds 350, GM has stated this multiple times.

 

i would like to see proofs of either of those claims. go to an International or GM site and try saying that and you will be laughed out of the discussion.
no internal parts are interchangeable.

 

Go to an international site and they will agree with you .


I Suggest you read the Sept/October 2005 issue of Vintage Truck magazine. Back issues are available


https://ertelgiftshop.com/vintage-tr...05-vol-13-no-4


The article was based on an interview with Terry Hankins a longtime international power-train engineer. He stated to minimize the tooling costs IH used the base design, manufacturing, and tooling from the MV family of engines (the 404 ci and 446 ci) to design and build the 6.9L Diesel. It's a short article 4-pages with pictures and tables but worth the read for the history of the 6.9L

So ya like it or not the IDI's have their roots in the MV family of Gasoline Engines.

Oh and as a quickie Check the PT numbers on the cam bearings.
There is bunch of stuff that will interchange between the MV's and the IDI's.