Could you Sleeve down an old crusty 7.3 to run 6.9 pistons???

[CDX825]

Yeah getting pistons for a 6.9 right now is about impossible. I don't know if anyone will restart production of them either. I have a feeling the 7.3 is going to be the same way before much longer.

I don't know if its lack of demand for them or what. I notice pistons for a lot of newer diesel engines are scarce as well at least according to rock auto.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I don't know if its lack of demand for them or what.

That's my guess. Most people seem to want to go with the 7.3 for bigger boost numbers.

 

[CDX825]

That's my guess. Most people seem to want to go with the 7.3 for bigger boost numbers.

I don't think its even that. Its just the fact that these things are old and getting few and far between.

 

[KansasIDI]

That's my guess. Most people seem to want to go with the 7.3 for bigger boost numbers.

I mean I’d rather, so I guess I can see that. Alot of people I know personally also prefer them for the bigger head bolts, Facebook seems to have more people who like the 6.9s for cylinder wall thickness. Idk I think there’s some of each out there

 

[jbm6900]

If I was gonna go that far, i'd jus sleeve for a 7.3 turbo engine. Build it right & maintain it right w/ the sca'a & synthetic erl after breakin, one wouldn't have anything to worry about. That's what I was gonna do... Make it reliable, long lasting & strong. An oil bypass filter will keep more of the nasty stuff out too for longer life.

 

[tbowker]

An oil bypass filter will keep more of the nasty stuff out too for longer life.

This may be a dumb question.... what do you mean by an oil bypass filter? I'm all about engine longevity.

 

[jbm6900]

A second remotely mounted spin on that filters much smaller microns. As opposed to a full-flow, it just takes a percentage of the flow out of the stream at a time to do it's filtering. As time goes on, it eventually gets all the oil & most importantly so much more of the carbon, soot & contaminates. Super worthy investment. Amsoil sells kits, among others. With some minimal mechanical ability, all you really need is the filter & base. You can make the rest many different ways.
& no, it's not a stupid question. One learns by asking if you don't know. All good. Hope I explained it ok.

 

[Nero]

This may be a dumb question.... what do you mean by an oil bypass filter? I'm all about engine longevity.

The idea behind an oil bypass filter is to have a small flow of oil through a second spin on filter that has a really low micron rating to get even more particles out of the oil to increase its lifespan.

The big problem with them is cleaning the oil out doesn't increase the lubricity packages in them, and the oil still wears out.

Out of all the big rigs I've worked on, the trucks that ran them and had 'extended oil change intervals' were always the trucks that had the most problems.

 

[jbm6900]

I still maintain that the turbo idi's were one of the best powerplants to be put into a 1 ton. They just got a bad rap due to being introduced at the wrong time, so to say. And many didn't know about the detuning that was done at the time, so easily fixable. Even the weak link, the e4od can be fixed w/ a triple disc converter & a few other things.
EPA killed MAny great engines, both gas & diesel.
Big brother can't shut down or control a non computer or non electric motor/engine.

 

[jbm6900]

Out of all the big rigs I've worked on, the trucks that ran them and had 'extended oil change intervals' were always the trucks that had the most problems.

As you no doubt know, if one is to run extended oil & filter change intervals, it is imperative to do oil analysis. Where as if one does regular change intervals, & jus changes the bypass filter every other change, engine life increases due to better filtering.

 

[Nero]

As you no doubt know, if one is to run extended oil & filter change intervals, it is imperative to do oil analysis. Where as if one does regular change intervals, & jus changes the bypass filter every other change, engine life increases due to better filtering.

That's the key part, you HAVE to do oil analysis every so often. All fleets I see, while they do the analysis, they only do it at the change interval, not in the middle to see what the oil remaining lifespan is.

 

[jbm6900]

Yea, that's why i've never been big on recommending extending the mfg recommended change intervals. Rarely does the analysis be kept up with it.
I recall a while back, the brown truck fleet for their tractors, tried out a system where they had a big luberfiner 750 size/style canister behind the cab, it might have been centrifugal, i'm not sure, but they didn't change the oil, just added to the additive package, per oil analysis. I'm not sure how long they used the system, I would guess that it would be easier to just do regular o&f changes then gamble w/ that. It would be good to hear from one that had direct knowledge of the system.
I was also impressed w/ the central grease system that hit EVerything but the u-joints, This was, **** 10 or more yrs ago I 1st saw it.
Them brown truck boys didn't screw around. Of coarse, think about all the trucks & all the miles they put on.

 

[tbowker]

'extended oil change intervals'

Okay, thanks. I have zero experience with big rigs, but I've always changed oil in all my vehicles at 3k miles, whether it's synthetic oil or not. I figure that it's my engine and I want it to last, the cost of an oil change is chump change compared to rebuilding and replacing an engine. I like the idea of the bypass filter. The "to do" list gets bigger.

 

[tbowker]

A second remotely mounted spin on that filters much smaller microns. As opposed to a full-flow, it just takes a percentage of the flow out of the stream at a time to do it's filtering. As time goes on, it eventually gets all the oil & most importantly so much more of the carbon, soot & contaminates. Super worthy investment. Amsoil sells kits, among others. With some minimal mechanical ability, all you really need is the filter & base. You can make the rest many different ways.
& no, it's not a stupid question. One learns by asking if you don't know. All good. Hope I explained it ok.

Cool, thanks. I'll be searching amsoil kits and adding to my wish list.

 

[jbm6900]

Cool, thanks. I'll be searching amsoil kits and adding to my wish list.

I jus noticed ur list of rides, I've been ridin my 76 shovel since 81. Coarse thanks to gettin wrecked a few times, she's nowhere near stock or original. Went to 84" dual plug after the last, even sprung for Chris Cruz graphics...