7.3 IDI Turbo Build for '87 Crew Cab Dually 4x4

Rechecked taper and out of round and I'm good. Most cylinders are .002" out of round, which is the max, but none are greater. Max taper is .002" with max allowed of .003".

Explanation of the below - taper is checked on thrust plane/axis only. Out of round is the max difference between two measurements on top/middle/bottom numbers.

You'll be fine with those numbers.

IDIBRONCO said:

You'll be fine with those numbers.

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That's what I'm thinking, too.

Thanks

Spent the day working on heads - valve seats and valve guides.

My valve guides were at .3885" or so, depending on the guide (they were enlarged .015" when rebuilt before I got the motor and valves with .015" oversize stems were installed). On some of the valves, the guide to valve stem clearance was as tight as .0005", and several exhaust valves were galled. I could have polished the galling out of the stems, but I ordered new exhaust valves instead. Tough to find with the oversize stems, but I found some.

In a perfect world, I'd get to .3895" or so on the intake (.0025" clearance) and about .3900" on the exhaust (.0030" clearance). I was able to source a K-Line 3.900" piloted reamer but they don't make one in .3890" or .3895".

So, I got the exhaust valve guides on one head to .3900" today using the reamer and some cutting fluid. Easy-peasy, since it only needed to enlarge the guide by .0015". That'll give me .003" clearance on the exhaust. Afterwards, I used the Brush Research flex hone - one stroke down and up using some honing oil - to get rid of any burrs and to leave a crosshatch pattern in the guide for oil retention.

I also hit each of the intake valve guides with two strokes with the flex hone and was thinking that would be good, since none of the intake valves were galled. However, in reviewing my data, I'm seeing that the clearance on three of the intake valve guides was .0005". That's too damn tight in my opinion -- from the factory, they're set up at about .0021" and the max allowable is .0055". I'm inclined to open up the intakes to .3900" with the piloted reamer as well, giving me .003" clearance on the intake, same as the exhaust. Only other option would be to polish the intake valve stems a bit and hit the guides with a few more passes of the hone.

From there, I put my new set of Neway cutters to work. Took a bit of getting used to, but when I was done, I had a three angle on all the seats, all the Prussian blue was gone, and the seat width was within spec - .065" - .095".

I still need to lap the valves, but my new exhaust valves haven't arrived yet, and my intake valves need to either be replaced or ground and I don't have a valve grinder. I'll either ask the machine shop to take care of these or order a new set unless I find a good deal on a valve grinder locally.

Got the crank polished this weekend: shoelace + wet/dry sandpaper (600/1000/1500) doused with WD40 + Mothers metal polish + 3 hours of time = crank that looks brand new.

Was it really that rough? before and after measurements?

I fixed one, in truck, many years ago that had been run out of oil and seized. Got the pan off and found two rod bearing stuck to the crank. Pried the bearings off, and was surprised how little damage was done to the crank. pretty minimal polishing on that journal and none on the rest even though the bearings were wasted. Set of bearings and that engine lived many years.

It was not rough at all. Frankly, it was the first time I had used this method, so it was more of a proof of concept. Having said that, it looked much better when I was done.

I have before measurements but didn't measure after. If there's a difference in size, I'm guessing maybe half a thousandth or less. In other words, not enough to make a difference. I'll measure again before I install the crank this weekend.

Thanks

There's an excellent machine shop not far from you located in southeast Pa. (Miller's Machine Shop). They did work for me on a set of powerstroke heads. Very pleased with their work.

catbird7 said:

There's an excellent machine shop not far from you located in southeast Pa. (Miller's Machine Shop). They did work for me on a set of powerstroke heads. Very pleased with their work.

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I've been using Billy Caudle in Manassas - it's a solo operation and he's been doing this for decades.

Thanks

Crank is in, no issues. Clearance on the all mains is .002" or so.

Haven't installed the piston rings yet because I decided to go with a gapless second ring, to the tune of $30 each from Total Seal. They're ordered but haven't arrived yet. Justin at idiperformance.com builds a lot of these engines and he's a big fan of the gapless second ring.

Speaking of Justin, got to give him a shout out -- he picks up the phone 90% of the time during business hours and he's always willing to answer my IDI questions. Rare to find someone who is both super knowledgable and super helpful, too.

Heads are back from the machine shop and have been surfaced. Will see about getting them finished and assembled while I'm waiting on the Total Seal rings to arrive.

Got one head done - valves lapped by hand, Comp 910-16 springs installed, installed at 1.800" on exhaust (needed .060" + .015" shim) and 1.785" on intake (no shims).

Will be out of town for a week, but will finish the other head and the short block when I return.

It looks like you're moving along just fine on this engine.

IDIBRONCO said:

It looks like you're moving along just fine on this engine.

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Thanks. I'm anxious to get it assembled and installed.

Short block is together, but not without a bit of frustration. I ended up breaking two Perfect Circle oil rings on install; wasn't happy with the way they fit so I swapped them all to some that fit better (came from Hypermax, but I believe they're Clevite). Also replaced the #8 piston with a new one from Mahle; that's the cylinder that had water in it at some point and the top of the piston didn't look great.

Next up - installing oil pan, oil pump, finishing valve job on the other cylinder head, installing head studs, heads, camshaft, lifters, rockers, etc.

More steps backwards this week. Not happy with valve stem seals - the intake seals don't want to stay on and the exhaust seals get caught up in aftermarket springs -- not as much room inside as the OEM springs have.

Ordered three different sets of valve seals from Rock Auto; will see if I get some that will work.

Did manage to get the oil pump mounted, along with the front and rear covers and main seals, along with the balancer. Front and rear covers were a bit tricky, but they didn't fight me much.

This weekend I plan to get the oil pan blasted and mounted, new valve seals on all the valves, head studs and heads installed, rockers and pushrods installed, intake cleaned and installed, etc.

90cc injection pump and Stage 1 injectors should be here this week from Justin at R&D IDI. List of expensive stuff to purchase is getting smaller.

Need to figure out what to do about a turbo. I have the stock Garrett turbo, but it needs a refresh/rebuild.

Truck needs to running and driving in about 60 days. Plan is to sell it sometime in June.