It's ALIVE.......

[apextrans]

Well after a long weekend, sore back & finger tips (from twisting hundreds of bolts by hand), it lit off at about 3:30 Monday morning. Things went very well but I need to say this first. I can't thank Mike (tonkadoctor) enough for making the drive up here to give me a hand. I would still be wrestling the motor into the truck & would have run into MANY more roadblocks without his experience & help. Mel, thanks for handling the heads & Joe, thanks for the crane. I'll return it asap. Thanks also to everyone who chimed in when I had questions & needed advice. Enough with the grammy speech.

I've never done this before but according to Mike, it went pretty well. I made a few mistakes along the way, which have resulted in a few leaks, but nothing major. 2 water leaks & a tranny cooler line leaking where I modified it for the 6.0 cooler. Simple enough to fix. The rebuild kit bags aren't labeled too well, so I switched the gaskets between the thermostat housing & lower rad hose. Inexperience is to blame. Both leaked & I got one left to fix along with the tranny line. Still have to hang the exhaust, switch the brackets to the new bumper & hang it & modifiy my grill for the billet insert. Boost & oil pressure seem to be ok & it's not running hot. We forgot to fill the oil rails prior to install so it took a little cranking to get it going. Other than that, no problems to speak of except for the endless hunt for 8mm, 10mm, & 13mm sockets that seem to walk away on there own.

We took it for a spin this morning & it seems OK. Whistles REAL good with open exhaust!! Mike is on his way home & I gotta go fix some leaks.

 

[pafixitman]

Help is very nice to have but the aches, pains and busted knuckles will go away and the memory of doing it yourself will remain.

We went to Raystown lake this weekend and I still thought about everything I had been through with the heads. I kind of smiled as I drove along at 7 psi, 1000* climbing the hills and rolling smoke.

 

[Mike]

Awesome...... there must be a few pictures eh Scott?

 

[hheynow]

'Bout time I stopped following your long thread a while back but chalk one up to a good learning experience. Getting help from fellow SDD/OB members is great. Glad you're on the road again.

 

[Agnem]

That's great news Scott. I'm bummed I didn't get to help, but I'll live.

 

[Russ]

Glad to hear the Darkside is strong again.

 

[69oiler]

congrats. good luck breaking her in

 

[cnomad172]

congrats on the swap!! now, can we please start talking about something else!! seriously, well done! wish i coulda helped!

 

[trackspeeder]

Congrats.

 

[tonkadoctor]

I'm home, safe and sound and no problems. Just finished filling my belly with Lasagna mmmmmmmmmmmmm tasty . Had a good time. Thank the boss for her hospitality and the groceries for me because I fogot my manners and left before saying thank you to her.

Scott, ya got the skills, patience and tools to get er dun so don't doubt yourself.

Sorry, no pics that I know of. I forgot my camera and we were cranking wrenches solid until about 3am each morning and getting back to work about 9 am on the tight timeline I had to help him out.

Pretty much he sat on one side of the engine and I sat on the other bolting her back together in a very methodical fashion. Once in the bay we buttoned it up from the bottom up and then from the back to the front until we worked ourselves out of the engine bay and out of parts a little after 3 am this morning.

Did only miss one item putting the engine together like this and it was the alternator wire.

Got the 2 orings on the water pump mixed up causing a minor water leak but an easy fix and the lines for the new tranny cooler mod leaked so prolly a problem with a clamp.

Truck ran good, seems to have good power and a sweet whistle. Bet he straight pipes it now

Not too many injuries other than missing a couple layers of skin on the finger tips and Scotts black eye from the down pipe when I barely touched it from above trying to clamp it to the turbo and it fell on his face OW!!!

Kudos Scott, hope she lasts a long time. See ya again sometime. Don't be a stranger when you get near Fayettenam.

Mike

 

[apextrans]

Glad ya made it home safe & sound. Thank your boss for letting you head north. I don't usually thank mine 'cause it spoils her . It was nice of you not to say that all the problems were my own doing

All back together. Tranny leak was a faulty hose clamp & bottom rad hose was ok when I opened it up so I put some ford rtv around it & it's dry. My eye is sore but not black. Never saw the damn thing coming . I think I said at some point during the build "****, I gotta start taking pictures" & I just forgot. I got a few this morning. Got the billet grill in tonite & did a little painting on the busted up push bar to hide some previous damage. Cutting out the grill was a HUGE PITA. If anyone is looking into getting one of the solid inserts, I'd look at other options. Too much work & doesn't fit so great. Anyway here's the 3 pics I got. I'll get some more tomorrow.

 

[apextrans]

Oh & 2 of my 3 neighbors were NOT happy about the 3:00am crank-fest. They can . They'll get over it when they want to borrow something else of mine next week.

 

[geonc]

Deal Scott! Glad to hear you are back runnin'

Mike is a great guy and very knowledgable ....for an IDI convert

So...almost a black eye eh?......Damn Mike.....you really get your pound of flesh dontcha j/k

Seriously...this once again proves that the BROTHERHOOD is strong regardless of engine

 

[tonkadoctor]

Deal Scott! Glad to hear you are back runnin'

Mike is a great guy and very knowledgable ....for an IDI convert

So...almost a black eye eh?......Damn Mike.....you really get your pound of flesh dontcha j/k

Seriously...this once again proves that the BROTHERHOOD is strong regardless of engine

Pretty soon nobody will turn wrenches with me

• GEO - shedded finger with turbo compressor wheel - check
• Apextrans - Bashed eye with down pipe - check
• Next -

 

[trackspeeder]

Pretty soon nobody will turn wrenches with me

• GEO - shedded finger with turbo compressor wheel - check
• Apextrans - Bashed eye with down pipe - check
• Next -

Hey I would work with you. I have try on my padded suit first.