Daniel McCurdy
Full Access Member
I'll probably just do bolt ons. Are a set of arp head studs all that's needed to handle the power.
At the 350 HP level, all you need is the studs. Since you're only going to the bolt on mods, then forget about the cam, piston shaving, and other things like this. If your valves weren't hitting pistons before, then you'll be fine now. You won't even need to check the clearances.I'll probably just do bolt ons. Are a set of arp head studs all that's needed to handle the power.
The stock injectors will work at these power levels. Generally, a good turbo will be way more beneficial than a cam change. As for the shaved pistons, it's kind of up to you. If you are going to tear the engine completely apart, then it wouldn't hurt to have .010" removed, but it isn't a have to do thing as long as your valve clearances are within spec. If you're just going to do add ons, then there is no way that you could have the pistons shaved. If you go as far as to remove the pistons for shaving, then it would be best to have the block bored and start fresh with new pistons and bores. Is it required? No, but since you have the engine this far apart, you may as well get the longest life possible out of it. Of course, if you are going to run a bigger cam, then the pistons may need to be milled or you could buy decompressed pistons. All decomp pistons are is pistons that have the wrist pin bore made closer to the top of the piston which makes the piston sit farther down from the head.
I have been doing my own motors and work for years and have found what works best for me and I tow alot a whole lot literally daily with my old IDI's yes a cummins 12v has more power but also the upkeep is much more expensive and also I find the fuel mileage ( run alot of alternative fuels waste veggie used motor oil trans fluid and such ) i get with my IDI and reliability and simplicity out weighs what the cummins brings to table indirect injected are less finicky
how exactly does the cummins have a higher upkeep expense. In terms of reliability the cummins is just as if not more reliable than the idi. For simplicity the cummins in the ford seems to be easier to work on. Deleting the glow plugs would make the idi a lot simpler how did you go about doing that and how well does the intake heater work in cold weather
run waste motor oil or waste veggie thru it and find out direct injecteds dont play well with it add to it the cummins 12v is more expensive maintenanace wise and is much more complicated price a stock injection pump for a cummins 12v price a stock injection pump for our idi's price the injectors for a cummins 12v then factor in because ours have a lower pop pressure and run a single stream with a large single port we can easily rebuild our injectors multiple times without ever having to buy any parts not even the copper crush seals heat them up red drop in hot water theyre soft again and able to reseal our old IDI's are normally NA not turbo so again cheaper to maintain price any of the main failure parts like head gaskets and such for the cummins 12v vs our IDI's I buy my head gaskets for like $25 a piece so for a head gaskets set $50 for the felpro's new again our old IDI's are cheaper to maintain and much more simpler that is mathematical facts.
example of our head gasket price https://www.amazon.com/Fel-Pro-9047-PT-Cylinder-Gasket/dp/B000C2AFLA/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=head+gasket&pd_rd_r=d58f71ea-4c65-46df-b496-fd6838ca24c5&pd_rd_w=O5Onr&pd_rd_wg=pg8h4&pf_rd_p=bec88bc8-d41e-4895-a8dc-a35e165b8995&pf_rd_r=DS2QT67626H6KARAFSEV&pid=Z1Ow8nd&qid=1606178905&sr=1-4&vehicle=1993-54-669-656-47-31-11-7-3499---2-801--&vehicleName=1993+Ford+F-350
I cut the glowplug portion off then simply drove the guts out the connector end then tigged them shut and put in a lathe to make a perfect seal again and used a intake heater out of a powerstroke 7.3 or LLY duramax in the CDR hole yeah in cold weather is hard to start unless is plugged in but you simply give it a small shot of propane ( got propane injection and methanol injection ) and crank and it fires and extreme cold you use starting fluid and after it fires you then run intake heater for a about 30 seconds and then motor will smooth out ( our flame cups in head heat up fast ) and let it idle on high idle I have custom steal topped pistons with a 12 thousands higher wrist pin to decompress the motor and also the removal of the glow plugs reduces compression.
I found the 6.9 idi fire cups get the fuel mix out into the cylinder quicker than the 7.3 fire cups making it run better decompressed also with the 6.9 fire cups i get benefit of thicker throats so less worry of cracking and because i am decompressed at level I am I can add alot more fuel and boost as for the intake I modded it heavily cut the cross section out and welded a 45 degree 4inch aluminum boost elbow into the intake and run with no CDR at all and inject the blowby directly into my exhaust system via my custom dual 4inch exhaust log stack system.
the key thing with our motors is flow in and out even our turbo selection and such makes a world of difference I made custom split up pipes flanges and used 7.3 powerstroke uppipes to a custom T4 flange and mounted my twin scroll custom liquid cooled billet wheeled 10 blade turbine wheel HX40 look up turbo labs HX40 super mine is very close to that http://turbolabofamerica.com/holset-hx40-super-40-turbo-specs/
I did a HX 50 once but that thing would take a while to spool but when it came on it was like someone lit dynamite under the truck the thing would go from calm to uncontrolably sliding sideways and well leaving dually burnouts I played with that for a while and well after 2 rear difs I decided to go back to the custom HX40 as it came on more safely and with less o crap here we go.
I have a crankcase pressure gauge installed along with fuel pressure gauge directly on my pillar so can monitor these I run dual carter fuel pumps and have modified my entire fuel line assembly and run a 80 gallon fuel tank on my flatbed 1/2 fuel line splits to 2x 3/8 fuel lines feeding my pumps where they leave the pumps and merge back to 1/2 inch I run 1/2 inch all the way to injection pump I removed factory filter assembly and run a custom filter setup under the bed directly under the tank directly after the fuel pumps and have a large 100micron strainer setup in front of my fuel pumps my injection pump is also modified I run a custom fitting arrangement the main fitting on back of pump is modified to almost 1/2 inch where it goes to a 10an 90 radius bent then to my fuel pressure gauge port again full 1/2 inch flow entire way thru past my pumps I never dip under 6psi 90%+ of time is almost 10PSI and my injection pump flows a crap ton of fuel my injectors are modified to 1950PSI pop pressure and i made custom injector nozzles for my truck that flow a ton of fuel in a straight stream to bottom of the flame cup where its vapored by the heat of the cup not by the injector ( a big difference of ours vs a Cummins 12v ).
My fuel tank on flatbed is high enough as long as is over 1/2 full I can gravity feed in a pinch as long as dont push it hard and will not go negative on fuel pressure done it a few times when had a issue with electrical system.
What are the benefits of deleting the GP's.I understand they can be a pain,but why not just wire them manually?That's what I did on both my trucks,and I haven't looked back
Rock
run waste motor oil or waste veggie thru it and find out direct injecteds dont play well with it add to it the cummins 12v is more expensive maintenanace wise and is much more complicated price a stock injection pump for a cummins 12v price a stock injection pump for our idi's price the injectors for a cummins 12v then factor in because ours have a lower pop pressure and run a single stream with a large single port we can easily rebuild our injectors multiple times without ever having to buy any parts not even the copper crush seals heat them up red drop in hot water theyre soft again and able to reseal our old IDI's are normally NA not turbo so again cheaper to maintain price any of the main failure parts like head gaskets and such for the cummins 12v vs our IDI's I buy my head gaskets for like $25 a piece so for a head gaskets set $50 for the felpro's new again our old IDI's are cheaper to maintain and much more simpler that is mathematical facts.