Truck Up and Running

[icanfixall]

Well, after many-o-problems my truck is running on its own. With all the balancing and porting of everything in the intake and exhaust side things seem to be so smooth. Thats about the best way of explaining it. The pwer is fine and it pulls from so very much farther down all the way up. I have 135 miles on it and everythings looks good. The temp stays at 200 deg and when it reaches about 205 or 207 it cools down so I feel the gage is off about 5 to 7 degrees. I'm running the MS Tech modified fan clutch but its about 5 years old. Later on I'll do Petes fan clutch test just to see if I need another one. I'm going to verify my reading with my point and shoot no touch laser temp gage just to make sure. I have a charge of the Fleet Coolant and distilled water cooking in it now. Oil pressure seems low so I'll check the line. It may be full of crap from the other motor running on water from the cavatation. I would use 6 gallons of water driving 32 miles round trip to work. Sure... I really took a chance of squirting a poston out of the block but I needed to press my luck. I really liked my job and wanted to work. Now I'm retired so now whats for breakfast, lunch and dinner????? Anything I want to fix says my wife.....

 

[Tynian]

Good job

I too am rebuilding my 7.3, I want to put it back together but something keeps telling me that I can/should do something to soup it up a little but I dont know what. I did catch the part where u said you ported something , can you please elaborate.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

Congrats! How did the porting go? any pics of that process?

 

[Exekiel69]

Great , I read your post saying You'll get it done, for over a year, good for You. Now when are you going to post pics ????

 

[geonc]

Congrats!
It's a great feeling to fire one up after it being down for so long

 

[TLBREWER]

Now we need a complete chronical of the build, including pictures and part numbers!

Tom

 

[h2odrx]

Now we need a complete chronical of the build, including pictures and part numbers!

Tom

I agree, cause i may do this with my spare block?

 

[icanfixall]

Thanks guys. I will post pictures and part numbers of everything I did. On the question of porting here's what I did. I bought 2 new and not rebuilt heads from Dieselcast Welding. I didn't like how ruff the factory in India made them so I "cleaned" them up. I opened up the exhaust ports about 3/16th just to match the exhaust manifolds. Then I ported the manifolds so the hot gas would flow better into the turbo. The precups were opened up and polished. They have a small port and a lip in them. Well, thats all gone now and they really shine. The port was opened up about .080 to .095 for better flow. This is a very difficult job getting them all the same. The head precup chambers were opened up with a custom ground ball end mill to 1.168. from about an average of 1.137. They were deepened about .060 because Frod had them raised that much for better EPA certs. They were trying to clean up the polution in the exhaust but it costs in the power side of things. I bought a new intake manifold off Ebay and really cleaned it up. Everything is port matched so the air flows very well in and out of the motor. The Banks sidewinder turbo is really clean and didn't need and porting. The block was sleeved, line bored on the crank and the block was decked. I watched all this and felt the shop did a fine job on the machine work. The entire rotating element was balanced. Thats the vibration dampner, crank, rods, pistons and 3 part flywheel for my E4OD trans. I used Kens studs, Felpro gaskets and Mahle pistons, 10 under rods and mains along with cam bearings. The Mahle pistons are the coated type. I used a turbo pump from DIS and "G" injectors. Each time I drive it the temp runs up to about 199 or 203 and just holds there. I'll be checking on that for a while. I don't see any leaks but the coolant drops about 1/2 inch so I'm watching that. The coolant overflow tank is full and does not seem to be backfilling the radiator. I know its clean but will be checking it out later. The rings have not seated yet but will be watching for that too. If I have left anything out please just ask. I'll try to explain everything here or on Email if you want.....

 

[krawlr]

WOW

 

[TLBREWER]

The precup work is interesting. Any photo documentation on that?

Tom

 

[geonc]

Just be careful on the breakin....I'm sure you know about very limited idle and short trips that don't allow for full operating temps, etc....

Dunno how you plan on using the truck but after you are happy with the coolant level and all, LOAD HER UP! and make her work !

Some sand bags or concrete blocks in the bed

Then it's time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your commitment and attention to detail

 

[Tynian]

Sure would like to find a shop that could do all that to my engine. Where are you located? I want to copy what you did. Hell I,ll bring my engine over there if I know its worth it.

None of the shops around here offer such services, especially for our engines.
They act like its a piece of alien hardware.

 

[icanfixall]

Tynian, I'm on the west coast in California. Really the only thing the shop didn't do for me was assemble the motor or port the air path. I probably have about 250 hours spread out over 14 months doing this. The shop name I used is L&R Automotive Supply in Santa Fe Springs Ca. Phone # is 562-802-0443 and the fax is 562-802-8684. I toured several shops and being a retired machinst I felt they could do what I needed. They also offer porting work. They have a small block head cut down and it looks great. On our heads the bigger and the better they shine the better they flow. Remember we just pump in as much air as we can so the porting is important for breathing. Were not a gas motor that can only smooth out the ports so far then gas starts to bead up on the ports and the droplets of gas don't atomize and slobber into the heads with a bad burn. We just pump air and the more the better. Surely you have some kind of a machine shop that can use my ball endmill. The centers of each cylinder is constant accross the heads so measuring that will be easy for any good machine shop. I used a stage 2 Bridgeport mill to do this work. I set it up to crank up and down the table with a dial indicator near the depth I wanted to go. My mill required me to crank it up and down about 25 times each precup because it was .100 per turn of the crank. The precups are something you will need to pay attention to. I wanted mine larger in the fire path but thats just me. You can just clean up the bowl and call it good or go as far as I did but keeping things the same may be tuff. These motors will run the way we get them. I just wanted something more and I think I got it. Time will tell. I'm at 145 miles now and the rings are not seated yet so I'm working on it. I have plenty of pics on the assembly and the before and after porting work. The port pics are very dramatic looking to say the least. The motor buildup was done with pics because I wanted to be able to remember what I had done as I buttoned things up. Way too many things to remember. The pics saved by butte a few times too. I found out something interesting about the bottom of the oil pan. DO NOT DENT IT.... The oil pickup is only about 1/4 ich off of it and any dent will drcrease flow to it. The pickup draws oil from the back side also. The next time you change oil stick something small up the drian hole just to see what I'm talking about. Yes,,, I'll be posting all of the pictures gathered over the last year and all the internal parts used.....

 

[Agnem]

I hope you dyno that wonderful piece of work.

 

[icanfixall]

Mel, I'm still breaking it in. I have about 145 miles on it so its coming just takes some time to build up the miles. I plan on hooking up my 3 horse gooseneck today or tomorrow and starting the real work of breakin. I just want the temp to be correct before this.