I've Never Rebuilt and Engine Before

[JeffMoss1]

Hi Guys,

I've wanted to rebuild an engine for a long time, but I've never had the opportunity or the know how. Pretty much what I did was about a year ago, I bought this Van and just screwed around with it, replacing different things, modifiying different things, and just familiarizing myself with how everything works. I really don't have much background in cars or trucks or anything, but I call myself a quick learner.

When summer hits, I'll have some free time to work more, and I want to either rebuild my engine, or buy another one (maybe with less miles) and rebuild that. I've gotten myself a stock pile of tools and stuff, so I think I'm ready.

My current engine is working quite well. It has 267k on it. It eats oil, not that quickly, but it definitly goes down (the oil pan leaks also.) I don't know it's complete history, but from what I know it's never had a bad overheating problem or anything else serious. I've had cavitation protection going for however long I've had it, but it didn't have any before me. It's pretty clean under the hood, most of what I see is just oil leaks and such that I'd hopefully get all fixed up. I'm going to send in a oil sample to that blackstone labs place to see if they can give me any more info I should know about.

Do you guys think I should take my engine out and rebuild it or do you think I should buy a different one and rebuild that one? I'm thinking that fewer miles might not be everything and how would I know if the engine that I'm buying isn't in worse condition than my current one? Any advice or where and how I should look for an engine?

~Jeff

 

[hoodshauler]

The answer to your question is really up to you to rebuild one of these engines the right way takes time and $$$$$$ thats what i was told just a few weeks ago. It really does not matter what engine you rebuild if done right! You could by a reman for what it will cost you to rebuild and it will come with a warranty.

You will be getting alot more responces to this question this is just my 2 cents worth.

 

[tonkadoctor]

I think you should go to Advance Auto parts and get Haynes Tech Book 10330 Diesel engine repair manual....It's about $17 and worth every penny.

Rebuilding vs Longblock vs good used drop in becomes a toss up on price. By the time you're done you have almost the same invested either way you go. The factor to watch here is how much time do you really have to mess with it. A good rebuild can take a few weeks to months depending on how well everything goes and how fast you can get parts and machine work done, no warrenty other than you did it yourself and have no one to blame if things go wrong but yourself or possibly the machine shop on certain things. Longblocks can be done in a couple days and will usually have an 18 month to 3 year warrenty and a running drop in about the same, just usually no warrenty on a used engine and if there is, it ain't much.

Me....If I were in your shoes, I'd probably get a hold of an extra engine to rebuild to learn on. You already have a good runner in it so keep it for a spare in the event your project doesn't go as well as planned when you finish the rebuild and drop it in. If you leave the truck alone while building a new engine on the side you will only have a few days of downtime vs weeks or possibly months.

With only 267k on the engine I'd be looking at replacing the leaky oil pan and find out if there are leaks elswhere......If it has been well taken care of it probably can go quite a few more miles before actually needing a rebuild.

 

[argve]

Since it's your first time and you engine is not dead yet I would go with tonkatoy's suggestion on picking up a rebuildable core then learn/teach yourself on that vs taking our a good running engine then having downtime where you can learn and not have the down time...

 

[JeffMoss1]

Any suggestions on how I should go about finding an engine? Do low miles matter? Or should I just grab whatever I can get?

Anything real critical I should look for?

I'll go grab one of those Haynes books tomorrow.

~Jeff

 

[argve]

If your gonna rebuilt it I wouldn't be too picky... Just make sure that the block is in tack, along with the heads. You're gonna pull it down all the way anyhoo...

 

[JeffMoss1]

alright, sounds good. I'm just going to find the cheapest one that looks reasonable then.

I have a strange feeling that I'll be back with some more questions once I start this.

Thanks for the advice guys.

~Jeff

 

[69oiler]

i have a complete 6.9 partially disassembled and cataloged i could let go for a few hundred. bearings checked out and everything. the original cause of illness was a broken rocker arm. 127 k on it is my guesstimate (odo read 27 k but engine showed little wear).

block should be broken down and cleaned, it has been sitting in a shop for a few years but it fits the bill for you. i even have a stand for it.

 

[argve]

Sounds like Rob can have you fixed up. the differences between a 6.9 and a 7.3 are so small that you would never know the difference powerwise from the drivers seat and they are so close under the hood that it would take a trained eye to tell the difference...

Plus knowing Rob (actually meeting him in person on more than one occassion) he's not going to take you - if he says it's good - it's good.

 

[hoodshauler]

Sounds like Rob can have you fixed up. the differences between a 6.9 and a 7.3 are so small that you would never know the difference powerwise from the drivers seat and they are so close under the hood that it would take a trained eye to tell the difference...

Plus knowing Rob (actually meeting him in person on more than one occassion) he's not going to take you - if he says it's good - it's good.

I second that I am sure Rob would not take you

 

[h2odrx]

man rob if he don't want it i might come see ya?

 

[Russ]

I second that I am sure Rob would not take you

I dunno.... Rob cost me over $11,000 on one camping trip.

Just Kidding (inside joke) Rob is a good guy,he wouldn't steer you wrong.

 

[69oiler]

thanks for the kind words

it's all there, oil pan to valve covers. i have pillaged the starter and alternator but i have a core starter i could let go with it. i have the flywheel/flexplate and a lot of bracketry, engine is out of an F series though. i have an IP for it as well.

the heads have higher miles but are in good working order as is. i only swapped heads with rebuilts because my trucks engine blew a head gasket.

aren't oil coolers different on vans? if they are, i'll hang on to my spare oil cooler. if they're the same cooler, i'll let it go with the engine so it's complete.

see my adhttp://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?p=194678#post194678

 

[argve]

The coolers are different between a van and truck but they are easy to swap especially when both engines are out which would have to happen in this swap. The only other difference is the bracket for the fuel filter if I remember correctly. Everything thing else is the same so one could stuff a van engine in a truck or vise versa very easily...

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

The coolers are different between a van and truck but they are easy to swap especially when both engines are out which would have to happen in this swap. The only other difference is the bracket for the fuel filter if I remember correctly. Everything thing else is the same so one could stuff a van engine in a truck or vise versa very easily...

Yep, but even the van filter head assebly can be used on an N/A truck.
The swap I did with the Beef left the stock filter head assembly open and gave a good place to mount a coolant filter assembly.