crate motor?

[69oiler]

anyone have any thoughts on the best place to buy a new/reman 6.9? i'm thinking i may just bite the bullet and get a new engine for my truck.

i have a leaky rear main, leaking oil cooler, and need to do the head gaskets before i install a turbo. i figure even though it runs well now, it has 312 k on it and i really only want to do this work once. i'm thinking a new long block and swap the new injection system that i already have along with a rebuilt oil cooler and studs and have a new engine to go with the sweet chassis/body. then with the turbo i'll convert the US gear to and OD and have my ideal truck.

what do you think??

 

[flatlander]

Doesn't DAS have a good reputation?

I'd probably just do it myself, but that's because I'm, well, sorta stupid.

 

[69oiler]

i could do it myself but time is money. right now i'm busy with work and dont havetime to monkey with rebuilding an engine. swapping it out will be just about as much as i am comfortable with. i have never rebuild an engine and would rather have the peace of mind that it was professionally done.

i was looking at long blocks from rhino, $36xx for the long block. i already have all new injectors and IP that the PO installed and i have the receipts for. that's a chunk of change so i dunno what i'm gonna do.

how hard is it to do the rear main seal? how much money have those of you who have built your own IDIs spent/saved compared to a reman? it seems to me that it will cost me a couple grand to bandage my current engine up, i know i spent $700+ having the heads rebuilt for my last 6.9. then there's the bottom end and all the "might as well's"

in hindsight i maybe should have hung on to my spare motor or maybe my old truck for parts but this is the situation i have now. i still have my PSD but my goal is to get the '86 ready for a few years of daily driver/towing service, so i can sell the PSD. heck the PSD has not even been started for a couple weeks now i just need to get me a good reliable TURBO IDI under my hood.

 

[IDIeselman]

Here's an idea, http://www.barnetthighperformance.com/engines_diesel.htm
Pick your poison, I have never dealt with this man personally but he sure sounds convincing on the phone.

 

[93turbo_animal]

I've noticed on a lot of things it will cost you as much to do it yourself as buying a long block then theres the whole time factor. The hard part is just finding a reliable builder.

 

[69oiler]

that looks cool...boy if i wanted to i could spend some money there and have something unique. 90 hp over stock..

but in reality i'm just looking for a run of the mill, reliable turbo IDI. i like the 6.9 even though i know the 7.3 IDIT is built a little stronger. i just like the 6.9, mostly because of the lack of the cavitation issue. also, there are a lot less 6.9s out there than 7.3s, at least around here.

a studded 6.9 with my Sidewinder and Banks ram air set should do nicely. even now with the Stinger on it, it pulls better than i was expecting, i just have to watch EGTs.

the oil cooler leaks like crazy on cold start if it's below 45 out. i'm guessing shrunken o-rings? i have an extra oil cooler i can have ready to swap on there.

if i get a reman i'll probably still keep my current engine, it doesn't look like it's worth much as a core (Rhino quotes $250 core)

 

[Diesel JD]

Hmmm, I might just drive the PSD for a couple months and fix the engine that's in your truck. You could just go for a standard rebuild with ARP studs and maybe ceramic coated slightly lower compression pistons. You could check with Diesel Direct and see if you can get those Turbo Mahle pistons and rods for a 6.9.

 

[HammerDown]

...The hard part is just finding a reliable builder.

You hit the nail on the head.
Quality work is tough to find, trying to find someone that will rebuild your engine like it's going in their very own vehicle is far a few between.
It seems they (the rebuilders) all say what you want to hear but very few actaully deliver.

 

[riphip]

I've purchased heads, pistons, etc. from this guy http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AFSEL%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=&item=320246219546 and have not had any problems.

Rick

 

[sassyrel]

rip--thats a great buy on that engine---

 

[subway]

rip--thats a great buy on that engine---

no kidding just hope you have better luck than towcat i seem to remember one of his engines that was supposed to be rebuilt had belt sander markings on the head or something like that

if you really want to do something right sometimes you have to do it yourself. otherwise there is always at least some risk. sometime i wish i knew what was built on third shift friday so i could avoid that stuff.

 

[Agnem]

Rob, I like your thinking. Spending the extra coin for a "new" engine makes sense to me if your going to keep this one a long time. I have no experience with rebuilds, but I would try to figure out which one was the one that was mentioned in that magazine article that was posted here some time ago. They were the officiall rebuilder for IH, and automatically put in all the upgrades. Seemed like a top notch supplier. Maybe a local IH dealer would be a good place to check. Anyway, short of all that, Jasper still has a good rep, even though EZ had a bad experience with them.

 

[RedTruck]

I bought my rebuild through Navistar. My oil cooler leaked when I got it...they replaced one of the oil cooler head pieces with a new one free of charge. It's been a really good mill thus far. It was expensive, but when you start talking rebuilds and you want to keep it for a while, I'd rather shell out $500 more for a good name that I know will stand behind it. Plus I can go down and talk to someone face to face if I have problems. Mine came with a 1 year 30,000 mile warranty.

No matter how good this engine has been...looking at Gary and Dave's 6.9 builds really makes me wish I had time to build my own.

Paul

 

[towcat]

I have one piece of advice. don't buy the stealership remans.
I used to sell and install the stealership longblocks due to the warranty package.
And then I bought my '92 with a one of those motors in it with 50k on the odo.
It started "woofing" through the intake the morning I was commuting from TX to CA with a deadline that trip. My daughter was flying into SFO in 3 days. I literally drove the motor into the ground to get to Kali. I was pretty disgusted with it when I got in, I left it parked for six months. Knowing there's no transfer on the warranty and this one was clearly abused, I did a post mortem on it just for my entertainment. Conclusion... the people who rebuilt these motors are the sloppiest hacks god has ever put on this earth. there was no attention put into finish quality on the surface prep, all the rods weren't matched, cylinder hone had some pretty deep gouges on the crosshatching. imho, the motors was built with the lowest common denominator attitude. build ten and sell, if two come back...they're still money ahead.
I no longer sell these motors.

 

[f350flatbed]

towcat, you mentioned matching the rods, what does that mean? THanks.

Paul B