RUHT RHO, SHAGGY. 94 7.3 dissassemble.

I did see those marks but felt they were not significant. Still don't like seeing something like this happen. Have you figured out if the "turbo engine" really has the turbo rods yet and is that the engine with the ground off block numbers? Sure a bad idea to grind off block numbers and stamp in numbers only the shop knows what they mean Sad...

i would almost agree with you in the insignificance of the valve mark, but valve marks on the adjacent piston warrants a bearing check.

no i havnt torn the pan off that engine yet.
i will be spending my time on the 88 engine.

i got it steam cleaned, and now soaking with detergent, and i will steam clean again in a hour or so.
then get it back on the engine stand and flip her over.
pulling the pan and inspecting.
then if it checks out, i can start sending stuff to the powder coaters.

getting 28 years of grease off this engine is a chore. spent an hour on it already, and another hour is needed.
i want every spec of grease off the block so that i can paint it.
without it, paint will just fall off

HIT A ROADBLOCK FOR TONIGHT

so i got this dirty pig all clean and pulled the pan.
spent the last hour looking for my GD needle style torque wrench.

i wanna see how much torque is on the rod bolts.

nothing jumped out at me with the pan off,
except for some nice forged internals never had a pan off of a diesel
almost got a chub.





QUESTION:
the most bearing damage will be on the thrust bearing, correct?

QUESTION:
the most bearing damage will be on the thrust bearing, correct?[/QUOTE]

Not always, do check end play tho.

Oven cleaner gets in the pores to remove grease really good.

Almost getting a chub.... Now thats funny as hell. No.. Most wear wont be on the thrust bearing but on the mains it will be found on the lower bearing half. Its usually on the upper bearing half with the rods but I have seen it on both upper and lower rod bearings. Try setting the oil pan back on the block. then look into the drin plug hole. See the oil pickup head.. Thats telling you how low the head is to the bottom of the oil pan. Make sure the pan is not vented on the bottom too. On the big block chevy engines we used to braze 2 nuts to the oil pickup so the oil pump would not suck the oil pan up against the suction head. Those engines have high pressure and high volume pumps capable of sucking a bowling ball thru a garden hose.

just a little update, not so happy.

so here i am, all butt hurt.

the crank has a .010" end play, but thats not what im concerned about.

main journals look ok, i took 3 of the caps off, and this is the worst i found.

rod bolts detorqued at 65 ft/lbs

main caps detorqued at 95 ft/lbs.



but its the rod bearings im scared of.





rod journals dont look bad either, a few visible lines, but nothing that remotely caught a fingernail.

another rod bearing....
again the rod journal looks ok.



so, what would you do? im still waiting on a sizeable check, but no telling when that will come in.
with burning man right around the corner, i will most likely not see it for a few months or so...


would you spend the time changing just the rod bearings?
or would you pull the crank and do em' all?

im looking at this engine like this.....

Without seeing it, it is difficult to say for sure, but.......
Replace all the bearings, if the crank mic's out. Use plasti-gage.
As long as you have it that far, check end gaps on the rings.
If excessive, replace the rings. I doubt you can get single rings
for an engine this small, so replace as a set.
Valves and valve guides generally need some attention.
Quick and dirty overhaul. Not correct, but to do it right means
a LOT more work and checking.
I have done a lot of that in the past, and had good results.
Big engines cost big cash to do up right.

As long as the journals are OK and they check out like what was stated above I'd throw bearings in it. New bearings might even take care of your thrust play.

You want to talk about weird bearing wear...you should have seen the pitting on the bearings I pulled out of the 7.3 that's currently running in my truck. Have to remember...these are not like a Gasser. They will blacken the oil with soot in under 1000 miles. That soot tends to be acidic. So if the motor was only run short periods or the truck sat alot...any moisture that buids up will cause the oil to eat away at the bearings. My truck sat most of its life...not sure if I still have any pics of the bearings. I'll look. All I did was mic all the journals and ended up tossing in bearings and rings (after a quick ball hone to put back some of the cross hatch) and all new gaskets and studs. No machine work. And it runs very well.

*found it!*



They also had a groove scored into a couple of them. it was like a metal chip went through one bearing then through the oil passages and through about 3 more before it spit it out. crank journals still looked like new...bearings took all the wear.

also if the valve guides aren't worn but the seats have minor pitting you can lap them back in to seal. i did that on mine. i just used some permatex lapping compound...slide the valve back in the head...then put the stem into my cordless drill and set it to the low speed (mine is a 2 speed ryobi 18v) and just pulled the trigger and put mild pressure back into the seat. it worked very well and went very quick.

rings and bearings it will be.
i kinda figured this, but wanted another opinion before i slapped it back together and ran it FTFOI.

anyone have a spec sheet on the roundness of the journals and ring gap?
i have all the equipment to mic the journals, and gap the rings with a quick hone to bring back the cross hatching more, so the new rings stand a chance to seal.

i have rebuilt heads with new valves and guides ready to go. this is the only thing keeping me from buying a reman!
but if im going to replace the bearings, im gonna replace the cam bearings too.
no sense on tearing it apart and not changing them.

i need to run my mic on this thing and find out if indeed it is standard.

if it turns out to be standard, i should just bite the bullet and give it a .010/.010 & .020 over.

looks like im rebuilding a short block!

and how deep does this damn rabbit hole go??

I thought the same thing when I did mine. I used all enginetech parts and was able to source them all from eBay very reasonable. All the enginetech brand is a box...they are made by clevite or federal mogul or whoever is the best price at the time. Im pretty sure all my bearings came stamped clevite. But after thinking about it...if things are within spec and they plastigage out why machine parts that don't need it and cause another variable. I will bet your cam bearings show little to no wear. (I replaced those too) but when looking at them after I pulled them...they would have went another 100k easily.

These engines are built pretty stout in the bottom end. My thoughts was no need to complicate it. These aren't high reving motors...so you can be a little loose with the specs and they will still operate just fine.

i was just about to ask on the type of bearings you used, seems like a huge price hike on rock auto from engine tech to clevite.

ill spend the next week collecting parts and getting shop production done
(having a hell of a month, and its taking away from my truck and construction i have going on)

i need more employees!
or atleast better ones!

welp, i can get to customizing my truck. dont need cash for that, just time!

i even checked mine in multiple locations to make sure they were still round...or as close as you can get with a set of digicalipers. i dont have a mic that will go that big.

here is one of the first starts after the rebuild...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN5U2xKTAIQ

4" straight pipe with the banks turbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuOOIGgOoHw

ill be running a 093 that Russ had rebuilt for me with a WW2,
but with my bull moose, i may be adding a larger turbo.
only the EGT's will tell!

truck sounds good man!
im running 4.5" straight pipe with a 3" DP right now, i may be upgrading to a 4" DP seeing as i have the thing torn apart.
was looking at the truck yesterday and i still have the extra heat shields installed.

4.5" may seem kinda weird, but its actually electrical conduit lol so its an oddball size, and only cost me 100 bucks for a 10 footer and a 90* bend.
i actually bought enough to do 2 exhaust systems, and sold one for what i paid for both..FREEBIE!!!

got a long list to do. and many options to weigh.
you know how that cookie crumbles.

quick update.
engine #1, cracked pistons.
engine #2, wasted bearings
engine #3, will be the best candidate.
about to pop it open in the next few days, after i pull it.