So what did you do with your truck today?

[ttman4]

I'm thinking with that sense of humor, he's not the only one who's mom had him standing in the corner. Are you paying attention to this @ttman4

Yes @tbowker I is watching. I'm peeking round the corner & watching to see if Carol or any you other guys are watching me!!!

I was a good kid.....

I got you figured out. I noticed you used that all in the PAST TENSE @Jesus Freak. You didn't say "always is" or "am" or "should'a been" or or or......

 

[lsaami]

Installed my new glow plug harness from Roderick today. Hopefully that ends my hard starting issues as all 8 glow plugs ohmed out good.


Being under the hood got me thinking though. I have access to a 7.3PSD SD intercooler and piping. Would it be worthwhile to intercool a sidewinder? I know 10PSI of boost is the safe limit without head studs, but that’s only the pressure side of the power equation. If I intercooled to drop air temps, would theoretically gain air density and therefore power.

Practically worth it or am I wasting my time? I’m not wanting to drop $2k into upgrading turbos and head studs just yet, especially when I just spent a grand on the front end, but a little extra snort for a Saturday’s work would be nice.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Would it be worthwhile to intercool a sidewinder? I know 10PSI of boost is the safe limit without head studs, but that’s only the pressure side of the power equation. If I intercooled to drop air temps, would theoretically gain air density and therefore power.

YES! It would be worth it to intercool.
It's generally accepted as 15 PSI on a 7.3 without studs.
Not only would you probably gain power from the cooler air, your boost numbers may very well drop too. That would be due to the larger volume of the intake tract between the turbo and the engine. Bonuses all around in my opinion.
Also, if it's the turbo in your profile picture, you should be seeing higher than 10 PSI. Those were usually in the 12-13 PSI range from what I remember.

 

[KansasIDI]

Chaos…

Got a call mid afternoon from boss/dad to go get a power converter and make an adapter cable to run a mig welder off of an engine driven welder… not too sure how exactly this setup works but I will see tomorrow… also had to grab some other stuff, all kinda smaller.

Well after I got everything sorted out and gathered up, I drove to the gas station to fill up. Very busy at that time.

Dad calls, says he doesn’t trust the truck I was driving to go 3 hours, which was my service truck, and to go back to the shop and get a company truck. No big deal, half mile back, was gonna be awhile before I could get fuel, so I went back to the shop and got the stuff moved over to the truck he said to take. The time was such that I could make it in time for dinner, and stay in a hotel down there, as per his instruction. So I drove 12 miles home to get a bag of clothes and whatnot. It was there I realized that the 4 prong to 3 prong adapter was still in the service truck… no big deal, stop by the shop and grab it, not really out of the way in that trip anyhow.

So I stopped by, grabbed the adapter, and when I got back out front to the company truck, there was coolant EVERYWHERE. Check temp, not hot, shut down immediately. So phone call, was told to see what the problem is. Had to let the pressure drop obviously… so after a bit, figure out that upper coolant hose has hole near the clamp on the radiator side. This was after the parts store had closed, so no chance of using this truck. Was another truck at the shop, with a load of continuous fence panels on a 40 foot gooseneck. Another phone call, was told to unload the trailer to get rid of the weight, and take that truck. At this point it was late enough he said to just come in the morning. So I got all the equipment put in the other truck.

My mom called me, wondering if I was still in town and if I could give her a ride back to the farm, she was taking her truck to the mechanic across the road from the shop in town, having front driveshaft issues… on a 60,000 mile truck… 5 years old… so I told her that she could drive the company truck back, and that I’d meet her there in my service truck, so that it winds up back at the farm.

The check engine light came on while my mom was driving that truck, dad said to just worry about it later… he’s in charge, whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do it.

The irony of the situation is kinda funny, park your 30,000 mile 7.3 service truck, and take the 300,000 mile 6.7 Dodge… which made it a grand total of 24.2 miles… and hasn’t been reliable as of late.

Had I driven my service truck, I am willing to bet that I would have been down there in time for supper…

 

[lsaami]

YES! It would be worth it to intercool.
It's generally accepted as 15 PSI on a 7.3 without studs.
Not only would you probably gain power from the cooler air, your boost numbers may very well drop too. That would be due to the larger volume of the intake tract between the turbo and the engine. Bonuses all around in my opinion.
Also, if it's the turbo in your profile picture, you should be seeing higher than 10 PSI. Those were usually in the 12-13 PSI range from what I remember.

Good to know! That was my thought, drop boost a little, cooler air is a trade off or gain a bit of HP. I’ve seen about 11PSI on the gauge with 14k behind it going up a hill, but that’s it. thought the wastegate was set to 10 PSI on the Banks Sidewinders. I’ll hit that 10 PSI regularly and at as low as 1800RPMs with my stock turned up pump.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

thought the wastegate was set to 10 PSI on the Banks Sidewinders. I’ll hit that 10 PSI regularly and at as low as 1800RPMs with my stock turned up pump.

I remember hitting 12-13 PSI empty with the majority of the ones that I've seen. That was in 4th gear at about 3000 RPM. It sounds like you could do some tuning on your wastegate if you wanted to. It seems strange to me that you say that you can see 10 PSI at 1800 RPM, but you max out at 11PSI.

 

[KansasIDI]

Chaos…

Got a call mid afternoon from boss/dad to go get a power converter and make an adapter cable to run a mig welder off of an engine driven welder… not too sure how exactly this setup works but I will see tomorrow… also had to grab some other stuff, all kinda smaller.

Well after I got everything sorted out and gathered up, I drove to the gas station to fill up. Very busy at that time.

Dad calls, says he doesn’t trust the truck I was driving to go 3 hours, which was my service truck, and to go back to the shop and get a company truck. No big deal, half mile back, was gonna be awhile before I could get fuel, so I went back to the shop and got the stuff moved over to the truck he said to take. The time was such that I could make it in time for dinner, and stay in a hotel down there, as per his instruction. So I drove 12 miles home to get a bag of clothes and whatnot. It was there I realized that the 4 prong to 3 prong adapter was still in the service truck… no big deal, stop by the shop and grab it, not really out of the way in that trip anyhow.

So I stopped by, grabbed the adapter, and when I got back out front to the company truck, there was coolant EVERYWHERE. Check temp, not hot, shut down immediately. So phone call, was told to see what the problem is. Had to let the pressure drop obviously… so after a bit, figure out that upper coolant hose has hole near the clamp on the radiator side. This was after the parts store had closed, so no chance of using this truck. Was another truck at the shop, with a load of continuous fence panels on a 40 foot gooseneck. Another phone call, was told to unload the trailer to get rid of the weight, and take that truck. At this point it was late enough he said to just come in the morning. So I got all the equipment put in the other truck.

My mom called me, wondering if I was still in town and if I could give her a ride back to the farm, she was taking her truck to the mechanic across the road from the shop in town, having front driveshaft issues… on a 60,000 mile truck… 5 years old… so I told her that she could drive the company truck back, and that I’d meet her there in my service truck, so that it winds up back at the farm.

The check engine light came on while my mom was driving that truck, dad said to just worry about it later… he’s in charge, whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do it.

The irony of the situation is kinda funny, park your 30,000 mile 7.3 service truck, and take the 300,000 mile 6.7 Dodge… which made it a grand total of 24.2 miles… and hasn’t been reliable as of late.

Had I driven my service truck, I am willing to bet that I would have been down there in time for supper…

It gets even better. This morning I went out to the company truck that I was supposed to drive. Flat driver, side, front tire. No spare. Aired up and limp it to town. When I took off the second lug nut, the wheel stud broke. I have not seen nor heard of one breaking while taking it off. It must have been previously damaged. Another phone call… he says he does not care how I get there, just so long as I do. Whether that is by Ford, by mule, on foot, or by boat. Just so long as I get my damn ass down there.

I actually would drive my Dodge, Because my dad really does hate Fords, and I would do what I could to not let one save the day for his sake, but the throwout bearing is going out.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

Because my dad really does hate Fords, and I would do what I could to not let one save the day for his sake

That would be exactly why I would just to drive the point home (literally).

James

 

[lsaami]

I remember hitting 12-13 PSI empty with the majority of the ones that I've seen. That was in 4th gear at about 3000 RPM. It sounds like you could do some tuning on your wastegate if you wanted to. It seems strange to me that you say that you can see 10 PSI at 1800 RPM, but you max out at 11PSI.

So just for fun, I unhooked the boost line going to the wastegate (and plugged the port in the housing) to see what happened, and took her for a rip.

Seems like that lost a small amount of spool under 2k rpms (could be my imagination) but I was able to go into uncharted land on my banks boost gauge under hard acceleration with an empty truck. Based on my clock-reading skills it was probably in the 18 PSI range.

I’m so tempted to leave it like this but I also don’t want to blow a turbo or a head gasket….


Needless to say my injection pump is delivering plenty of fuel.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I have not seen nor heard of one breaking while taking it off.

I've had that happen twice in the last few years. Once on my red Truck and once on my pick up bed trailer.

That would be exactly why I would just to drive the point home (literally).

James

Same here!

I’m so tempted to leave it like this but I also don’t want to blow a turbo or a head gasket….


Needless to say my injection pump is delivering plenty of fuel.

Well now you know. I'd say that it's time for some wastegate adjusting.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

All I did was to FINALLY put the turn downs on my tail pipes. I've only been carrying them around in the bed sine last summer. On the plus side, there's no pictures so it probably didn't happen anyway.

 

[FrozenMerc]

Kansas, I feel your pain.

Monday morning, I walk out of the house, hop in the truck, cycle the glow plugs, and hit the starter. It turns the engine less than a full revolution and stops, HARD!. I touch the starter a couple more times for good measure, but the engine doesn't budge. Awe F$%^! Have the wife drop me off at work, and I stew on this all day. After work, run up to shop, grab a breaker bar to try and bar it over and I am praying for a broken nose cone on the starter. Crawl underneath, no such luck, the starter looks good. Grab the bar and I try to bar the engine over. It turns - hard. I work it back and forth, but I can hear fluid moving around above me. Loosen it up enough that I feel comfortable trying the starter again. Hit the starter, and it fires right up and settles into a comfortable idle, but coolant starts running out of the exhaust. Nuts. Check the oil, no milkshake, and good coolant level in the rad so I figure it will survive the 2 mile drive up to the shop.

Now I am hoping that the intake manifold gasket has failed and it is sucking coolant in from under the gasket. Tear the fuel lines and turbo off, then pull glow plugs. Only #8 is wet and showing any signs of coolant in the cylinder. Pull the intake manifold and inspect the gasket, but I can't see any signs of gasket failure or leaking from the head ports.

So, now I am hoping for just a cracked cylinder, something that can be sleeved quickly and put back together. We will see. I will pull the motor completely over the next few evenings and tear it down. Hopefully, I caught this before suffering any significant bearing or cylinder damage beyond #8.

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[Old Goat]

Bummer....you rebuilt that engine last July, as I remember you changed engines when you had the cracked main web.


Goat

 

[Jesus Freak]

Kansas, I feel your pain.

Monday morning, I walk out of the house, hop in the truck, cycle the glow plugs, and hit the starter. It turns the engine less than a full revolution and stops, HARD!. I touch the starter a couple more times for good measure, but the engine doesn't budge. Awe F$%^! Have the wife drop me off at work, and I stew on this all day. After work, run up to shop, grab a breaker bar to try and bar it over and I am praying for a broken nose cone on the starter. Crawl underneath, no such luck, the starter looks good. Grab the bar and I try to bar the engine over. It turns - hard. I work it back and forth, but I can hear fluid moving around above me. Loosen it up enough that I feel comfortable trying the starter again. Hit the starter, and it fires right up and settles into a comfortable idle, but coolant starts running out of the exhaust. Nuts. Check the oil, no milkshake, and good coolant level in the rad so I figure it will survive the 2 mile drive up to the shop.

Now I am hoping that the intake manifold gasket has failed and it is sucking coolant in from under the gasket. Tear the fuel lines and turbo off, then pull glow plugs. Only #8 is wet and showing any signs of coolant in the cylinder. Pull the intake manifold and inspect the gasket, but I can't see any signs of gasket failure or leaking from the head ports.

So, now I am hoping for just a cracked cylinder, something that can be sleeved quickly and put back together. We will see. I will pull the motor completely over the next few evenings and tear it down. Hopefully, I caught this before suffering any significant bearing or cylinder damage beyond #8.

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Dang man.......DANG! But hey! Did you retorqe? I overhauled my engine a year ago and about a month ago I was getting pressure in my cooling system. I gambled on a retorque and that was it! I checked a few of my bolts and I bet they were only at 50-60lbs. Check your torque before you pull it Merc! If it's cavitation, shoot me a PM and we can cry together without anyone else knowing....... oops.....did I post that out loud.....

 

[FrozenMerc]

Old Goat, The engine has been running a bit longer than that. The 6.9 cracked the main web at the end of July 2021. It took me until May of 2022 to get it rebuilt and back in the truck. About 20,000 miles on it since then. Time flies when you are having fun.

JF, I did retorque, and it may yet prove to be a head gasket. We will see.

Engine is coming out tonight. I will pull the heads and see what is going on. Junkyard 7.3 block bored 0.020 over, so wouldn't surprise me at all to find a pin hole or crack in the #8 wall. I placed an order with CDD for a 90 cc pump and gasket kit earlier this morning. The old pump just couldn't keep up with the turbo and beefed up cam, so I might as well use this opportunity to improve it a bit more. I am also going to throw the heads up on the mill, drill out the coolant holes, and stuff some core plugs in there, replace the Mahle head bolts with the ARP studs I got 9 months after engine was back on the road, and do a few other little things while I have it out.