Ok--It's Tore Down

[hotford]

I have a 85 F350 6.9 with 180k on it non-turbo. I got it the way it sits. It has a veggie conversion on it and has been one there for 20k. A while back it got hot so I parked it and looking into the cooling system. I replaced the water pump, rad, stat, and all fluids. Not hot now, but blowing smoke, white smoke. So I figured heads or head gaskets. I had my buddy thats good with these and he tore it down.

I looked at it last night. Was very apparent that the head gasket was blown. Also the pushrods and the rockers show a great bit of wear and tear. The push rods are almost worn through. Also the valves are worn on the rocker side and they are starting to get pulled into the seats of the heads. The block looks good, cyclinder walls look good. This motor has never been pulled apart.

The reason I got the truck is to pull my 25ft goose and 6k Jeep around to go wheeling. I know its not going to be a power house. I got $2,500 in it now. I want to fix it back to be reliabe. I plan to get reman heads, new push rods, rockers, arp head bolts, felpro gaskets, new injectors, new glow plugs, new injector lines, injector o-rings and caps. I plan on running the veggie oil.

I want this truck to be very reliable, so I'm not tring to race up the road or hook to the sled every weekend. If there are somethings that I can do while I'm in ther please let me know. I'm not to big in the diesel world, I can build ya a rock buggy from the ground up, or throw together a mean small block. So I'm asking for the secert special formula to unleash the beast in these old trucks. Can there be some porting going on, better gaskets to go with, stronger rockers and pushrods, which head bolts? Also should I replace the injection pump, have it rebuilt, or just leave it and do it later if needed? It was running pretty good before.

Thanks for the help---I need it.

Chris

 

[Agnem]

Go with the ARP head studs, not bolts.

 

[hotford]

I told the guys that are doing the work that I wanted to put studs back in it, and they said it would be a b*tch, because of the heater box. Is it a b*tch, or is there different lenght studs, or is there a certian procudure in installing them, or are they being lazy.

Thanks

 

[sootman73]

another question to add to the head stud/bolt topic. my friend just put new headgaskets on his '87 6.9l he reused the factory head bolts. was this a bad idea? i tried to get him to put studs on or at least new head bolts but he wouldn't listen to me.

 

[icanfixall]

Not replacing the 6.9 head bolts is not a bad thing but... Why take the chance and have to do it all over again. I know of a shop that does plenty of work on these and the 7.3 motors and they never install new head bolts. They state that they have never had a problem doing it this way. I for one need my motor to support what I ask of it. I can't take a chance for something to go wrong hauling a load of very expensive horses. The two I just brought home from Scotsdale alone are worth more than$120,000.00. They can't be replaced for that much. I do the work and the upgrades that I test first. Then I feel confident "things" will hold up. Yes, I still run by my pyro and I scan the gages more than most. I also plot trends so I know where things are headed. Surprises are not welcome out on the open road... The studs can be installed easily with the motor in the truck. That seems like what you have but think about this. Its just 6 bellhousing bolts and 4 motor mount nuts and the motor is out on a stand where you have easy access to everything.

 

[MUDKICKR]

with that much wear on the top end im wondering what the bottom end looks like. anyways if you want to make it relieble and your already that far into it id go-a-head and take the motor out and at least rering it, after putting new heads on it and new gaskets your putting more stress on the shortblock then before, which in turn can give you problems down the road

 

[hotford]

Ok-looking for heads. What the difference in casting numbers 855c1 and
855c2?

 

[icanfixall]

The 1809199C1 heads crack easy. You don't want them and they are the early heads with differant precups in them. I don't know anything about the heads numbers that you have posted but others will. The heads with the numbers 1809215C91 are the heads you want. I think they are the casting numbers 1805855C1

 

[hotford]

Is it possible that mine are 1805855c2? I called the guy working on it and that what he said. And what the difference between 1805855c1 and
1805855c2?

Thanks for the help