Soon...

[david85]

But not as soon as I'd like.

My new lifters came in overnight through the local machine shop. $13CAD a pop for needle bearing style melling lifters

The Typ4 Camshaft came in a couple days ago but it looks like I won't have time to install it during this set of days off.
I almost pulled the trigger last night but decided against jumping into something and have to rush through it.

Oh well, I'll get it done over the next set of days off.

 

[BDCarrillo]

You chucking new valvesprings in as well?

 

[david85]

I installed reconditioned heads when I rebuilt the engine 40k miles ago, so no need for new springs.

 

[joe f350]

who are u agin name rings a bell but can rember lol good to see u back man

 

[david85]

Soon is now

After 4 hours:

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As you can see, its not a pretty sight. The gear housing for the injector pump was weeping a little oil for some time now. Not enough to leave a drop on the ground, but enough to make a mess of things. But anyway, the rad is out, the AC rad is out and all the accessories.

Still have to pull the fuel pump, valley pan, valve covers and front engine cover. Grill also has to come out. Not sure yet if I'll have to remove the vertical bracket from the middle of the rad support. Looks like its offset to one side but I'm not yet sure if the cam will clear it.

 

[typ4]

While the cam gear is out, chamfer the 2 IP mark teeth so if ever the cover has to come off it can be seen from the top.

 

[david85]

I like that idea, Russ. Glad I checked back before starting the reassembly.

Teardown complete

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Not the best lighting but you get the idea.

Looks like the cam will just barely clear the side of the bracket on the rad support, but its still a tight squeeze. I didn't have to take the fuel pump out but just watch out for the fuel drip at the filter outlet I managed to spill some diesel on the exposed cylinder head.

 

[icanfixall]

That cam gear is the unbalanced gear that causes the rhythmic idle vibrations. The better gear you want is the cam gear without and drilled and threaded holes in it. Should be relatively cheap and easy to find too.

 

[TahoeTom]

7.3 style rocker arms would be a good upgrade.

 

[david85]

Both of those would be nice upgrades but will probably never happen on this engine. If I do end up keeping this truck long term, I'll probably just take my time putting together another 6.9L and swap it in. There are many things I'd like to improve on, but the truck still works great despite all the modding over the years.

If I were to start fresh now, this is my wish list:

Balance and blue print the rotating assembly.
Custom billet flex plate drilled for a 6 stud converter
7.3 style rockers
Moose pump with fuel aneroid
Scratch built rad support to accommodate twin intercoolers
Scratch built turbo manifolds for twin turbocharging (water cooled turbos)
Serpentine belt conversion
Electric cooling fans
Electric vacuum pump
Electric fuel pump
Typ4 cam
Full instrumentation, twin boost/pyrometer

Drop compression ratio through a combination of piston shaving and precup opening. Not by much though (depending on whether or not I use moose mister injectors). Probably aim for 20:1 static compression.

Stuff that remains in the maybe column:
Evan's waterless coolant.
Increase thermostat temperature slightly
Moose mister multi-port injectors
Ceramic coated pistons
Gapless piston rings
Staged Water/**** injection (not interested in propane or nox)

The fantasy isn't for a crazy big horsepower build and I'd be happy with less than 300. But I would like to get something that pulls like a bull down to 1500 RPM while still getting excellent MPGs.

The E4OD could probably take it if put together right. I just wonder if the engine oil pump could still put out enough pressure. Might need a bigger displacement pump on that list...

Did I forget anything?

Gotta say though, a cam swap is not exactly a weekend shady tree job. Its buttoned up back to the intake manifold but I probably still have another 4-6 hours to go before the first run around the block. Lots of cleaning bolts, gasket prepping and just making sure I don't forget anything. Swapping the engine would have probably taken less time.

 

[riotwarrior]

ifn u want 7.3 rockers and maybe a new cam gear I likely have those in stock, used of course but in stock none the less. as well as a complete serp setup too in all likelyhood...



PM for details.

 

[david85]

Well its all buttoned up less the cooling fan. I'll leave it off for the rest of the winter.

Also had some A/C maintenance to do. New drier, variable orifice tube, and cleaned out a rat's nest in the ducting. I also had to straighten about 20% of the evaporator core fins. Fun.

Went for a brief ride tonight but without sunlight to see smoke levels its hard to say how the difference will play out. It doesn't feel slow, but I'll need to take it on my favorite hill for a better comparison.

The biggest difference I noticed is lower engine noise at high RPM. The problem I have is the transmission is programmed for fairly early kickdown. Makes the truck a bit high strung and that keeps it out of the low RPM range.

I left the truck parked on a clean patch of concrete for "overnight observation" just to make sure there aren't any nasty surprises in the morning. Other then that, I'll do another run tomorrow.

Ended up finding one injector that was leaking combustion gases past the copper seal (puddle of fuel was bubbling). Working the injector a few times with a wrench seemed to fix it but I'll need to keep an eye on it.

I also read a few horror stories recently about busted off glow plugs so I took all mine out, inspected and re-installed with never-seez. The only real hiccup so far was a cylinder wasn't firing on initial startup. Then the injector magically woke up after about 3 minutes.

Riot

The offer is tempting, but I think right now I'll put my spare time into getting the body fixed up. I now have doors, fenders, hood, valance, cowl and a box that all need very little work to make my beast look new again.