He needs this as a daily driver sooner than that, so we’re looking at quicker options.
Project Le Blanc
- Thread starter Thewespaul
- Start date
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I can understand that completely. Maybe find a good runner for now. Then build up this one for performance in the future?
In the meantime I’m working on a few small projects, the engine harness has a few spots where they loom had melted, so I stripped it down to remove the gpc wiring that wasn’t being used, replaced the melted sections and reloomed it all.
The original rad had some pretty good buildup so I nuked it with some vinegar, repaired some rusted areas and broken tank support straps, then gave it a nice high temp semi gloss black.
Currently working on cleaning up the exhaust and welding in my bung for the pyro setup, and treating a bit of rust in the engine bay with some rust converter while there’s good access with the engine out. Doug is going to go look at another 6.9 today, hoping it’s a good candidate!
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The original rad had some pretty good buildup so I nuked it with some vinegar, repaired some rusted areas and broken tank support straps, then gave it a nice high temp semi gloss black.
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Currently working on cleaning up the exhaust and welding in my bung for the pyro setup, and treating a bit of rust in the engine bay with some rust converter while there’s good access with the engine out. Doug is going to go look at another 6.9 today, hoping it’s a good candidate!
Well today just flat out sucked 
The guy with 84 6.9 (blown head gasket) was a no call no show. I will take another stab at that tomorrow.
The second candidate - (what was thought to be) a bullnose turned out to be a 1990 ext. f250 7.3 NA. The truck had been sitting in the same spot since the early 2000s. Registration sticker of 97.. completely covered in grapevine/weeds. Buddy says owner drove it up to shop to have service bed removed, parked it and walked away from it. Oil isn’t milky. Engine turns over by hand. Diesel jug, little ether, and some good batteries tomorrow and probably attempt to do a 3 wire start.
The guy with 84 6.9 (blown head gasket) was a no call no show. I will take another stab at that tomorrow.
The second candidate - (what was thought to be) a bullnose turned out to be a 1990 ext. f250 7.3 NA. The truck had been sitting in the same spot since the early 2000s. Registration sticker of 97.. completely covered in grapevine/weeds. Buddy says owner drove it up to shop to have service bed removed, parked it and walked away from it. Oil isn’t milky. Engine turns over by hand. Diesel jug, little ether, and some good batteries tomorrow and probably attempt to do a 3 wire start.
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IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Careful with that one. Why is there no radiator cap? Is there any coolant in the radiator? You can't see any in the picture, but that doesn't really mean much. Don't try to start it with the air cleaner on. Judging by the lid, the truck must have had a lot of company from mice. Of course you know to blow the mouse remains off of the top of the air cleaner before removing the lid. Check the oil for signs of antifreeze in it. I'm hoping that this will turn out to be a good engine, but be sure to check everything before you buy it. The back story seems a little bit odd.
I’d imagine there’s no coolant present. Not sure on that radiator cap either. He said the truck was actually a street sweeper setup. Said even with the air bags and beefier leafs in the rear; once the hopper got half full the truck would lean aggressively to one side 
. Guy upgraded to a dually and never looked back. Oil actually didn’t look as bad as I thought it would for sitting for nearly 20 years.
Got a case of degreaser and will be sure to blow all that sh*t outta there before we try a start up.
He’s a welder and I’ve got a few brand new bottle regulators. We may make a swap.
. Guy upgraded to a dually and never looked back. Oil actually didn’t look as bad as I thought it would for sitting for nearly 20 years.Got a case of degreaser and will be sure to blow all that sh*t outta there before we try a start up.
He’s a welder and I’ve got a few brand new bottle regulators. We may make a swap.
Going to be running this bottom end for the time being, so spent the day going through my core engines and heads and found a set that are suitable for the valve clearance I need. Both of these heads are from an idit, one is a 93 the other a 94. I stripped both down, cleaned them up and started on getting the passenger side head together. That side needed the most work as a lot of the valves were mushroomed on the valve tips, so I replaced them with some good used valves and ground them into the seats.
Valve seals installed with the fresh valves
Then installed the 7.3 valve springs and retainers
Cleaned all the threads out of the head, then prepped the block by cleaning up the ring ridge, using the arp tool to chase all the threads for the studs, then prepped the surface and installed the studs
Then set the head on and went through a torque sequence 10 ft lbs at a time from 35 to 85.
One of the nuts stripped at 85 ft lbs so I’ve got another stud and nut on the way, if I half to I’ll put a head bolt in it’s place and install the stud when it arrives.
Tomorrow I’ll be assembling and installing the second head then putting together the valve train and rest of the top end.
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Valve seals installed with the fresh valves
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Then installed the 7.3 valve springs and retainers
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Cleaned all the threads out of the head, then prepped the block by cleaning up the ring ridge, using the arp tool to chase all the threads for the studs, then prepped the surface and installed the studs
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Then set the head on and went through a torque sequence 10 ft lbs at a time from 35 to 85.
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One of the nuts stripped at 85 ft lbs so I’ve got another stud and nut on the way, if I half to I’ll put a head bolt in it’s place and install the stud when it arrives.
Tomorrow I’ll be assembling and installing the second head then putting together the valve train and rest of the top end.
bbjordan
Snow Monkey
That's disturbing.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I see you already did the cooling mod too.
Pretty much a repeat of the other head process:
Then cleaned up the lifters and installed all the valley hardware
After that I decided to go through the oil cooler while I have easy access, found my leak and ended up going with a different oil cooler all together.
You can see how much more corroded the coolant passage is on the old one versus the replacement. Got it resealed and pressed together. It passed a pressure check, so its going on next. Tedious stuff is done now, its gonna start looking like an engine soon.
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Then cleaned up the lifters and installed all the valley hardware
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After that I decided to go through the oil cooler while I have easy access, found my leak and ended up going with a different oil cooler all together.
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You can see how much more corroded the coolant passage is on the old one versus the replacement. Got it resealed and pressed together. It passed a pressure check, so its going on next. Tedious stuff is done now, its gonna start looking like an engine soon.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Yes it's early and I'm not fully awake yet so I'm assuming that this is the replacement engine. That sure explains why there was no coolant in the radiator.
This is the same 6.9 that was in the truck, with some idit heads
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to acquire a liable donor in the time frame I had before the truck needed to be back on the road. I use my truck for work everyday so it brings in the checks.
Running this thing wasn’t my first option or even second but it’s what I had to do for the time being. I have a return line kit arriving today to replace some broken injector caps off the 7.3 with no radiator cap. Gonna see if it’ll fire off
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Some carnage from the 6.9 heads. Broken valve springs and bent push rod. Rocker wear looks like they might have come loose at some point.
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