A military rebuilt 6.5

n8in8or · Mar 20, 2015

FellowTraveler said:
Thanks

I'm curious FT, why were you wondering that? What plans do you have rolling around in that busy head of yours now!?

FellowTraveler · Mar 22, 2015

n8in8or said:
I'm curious FT, why were you wondering that? What plans do you have rolling around in that busy head of yours now!?

Increasing feed pressure seems to be a good approach on a mechanical pump say a moose pump. The only time I've seen fuel return lines pop on a 6.2/6.5 is when housing is cracked allowing higher pressure to the return lines but wondering if the lines will stay on at higher fuel return rates if that is even a consideration?

n8in8or · Mar 24, 2015

I got quite a bit done last night, though it didn't get the engine any closer to sitting under the hood (I'm still waiting on the replacement rocker parts).

I worked on the new HX40 so it was ready to install later. You can read about it here. http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/threads/my-hx40-install.43856/page-4

I also wired the power supply to the new fuel pump. I had previously wired a relay in to the OPS circuit to take the load off the OPS, so I used the same relay but provided a dedicated power from the fuse box to the relay rather than use the existing power feed to the OPS. Sorry, no pics.

I also installed a new horn while I had the grill off for the oil cooler install so now it sounds like a truck and not a Honda (that's how bad the old horn was).

I also laid out everything I need to do the engine assembly once I get the rocker parts so I can get that done ASAP. A pretty productive night overall as it was stuff that I was planning on doing after the engine was in, so I guess now it will be nice that once the engine is in it will be that much closer to firing up right away.

Since we all love pics, here's the only one I have to share at the moment....my faceless Tahoe. Billy Idol anyone???

Burning oil · Mar 24, 2015

Eyes without a face

n8in8or · Mar 25, 2015

My parts from Harland Sharp showed up today!! Engine assembly resumes tonight.

n8in8or · Mar 25, 2015

I spoke too soon. Looks like the 8 replacement rockers they sent me are 1.5 ratio where as the old ones are 1.6. Notice the difference when side by side on the shaft. The new rocker is the one with rounded corners and the original is the one with square corners.

DieselMike1 · Mar 25, 2015

n8in8or said:
I spoke too soon. Looks like the 8 replacement rockers they sent me are 1.5 ratio where as the old ones are 1.6. Notice the difference when side by side on the shaft. The new rocker is the one with rounded corners and the original is the one with square corners. View attachment 44697

Man, that really sucks, hope you get it straightened out with them sooner than later. I would be losing my patience with that company about now.

NVW · Mar 25, 2015

Were the old ones damaged? I thought all that was needed was new spacers.

This is looking to be a bad winter to build an engine.

n8in8or · Mar 25, 2015

DieselMike1 said:
Man, that really sucks, hope you get it straightened out with them sooner than later. I would be losing my patience with that company about now.

NVW said:
Were the old ones damaged? I thought all that was needed was new spacers.

This is looking to be a bad winter to build an engine.

Ha you're not kidding it's a bad winter for that!!

Well it's a little complicated....at first I sent my rockers in to be evaluated because of the galling. HS and I both agree that was due to the coolant in my oil. So I paid $100 for new shafts. After that Leroy and I discovered the spacer issue. Once I knew there was an issue with the middle rockers I looked at them again and the galling was more pronounced on the middle rockers...so Leroy managed to get them to agree to replace my middle rockers. So while the galling happened due to a problem of mine, the spacer problem made it worse for the middle 8 rockers. They said I was OK using the existing ones but I told them that since this truck is my daily driver and our camper hauler I would feel better knowing the worst rockers were out of there. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock so they had to make 8 new rockers which would take a week. I told them it was worth it to me to wait. So I don't have a really strong case to jump up and down and throw a fit...they could have flat out told me no that they wouldn't replace any rockers just change the spacers but they kept their end of the bargain and made me 8 new rockers. It's just really deflating that they are wrong. I really don't want to wait another week for new rockers again so I hope they have a quicker solution this time. We'll see.

Here's a pic of one of the sets of rockers. You can see more galling on the middle 2 though all of them have it to some extent.

n8in8or · Mar 25, 2015

Well I managed to not just throw my hands in there and actually get some stuff done tonight. First I took the opportunity to make the coolant bypass restrictor I hadn't made yet. I tapped the fitting on the water pump with a 1/2" NPT tap. Then drilled a 3/8" hole in a 1/2" pipe plug.

I had planned on not putting any sheet metal on the engine until I had the rockers on but decided I was tired of waiting and might as well spend the time putting the bottom of the engine on. So I put the oil pan, starter and motor mounts on. FYI, the motor mount bolts are SAE on a 97 but Metric on an Optimizer. Luckily the exhaust manifild bolts that came on the Optimizer that I wasn't using were a suitable substitution. I could have put manifolds and oil cooler lines on but ran out of "want to" for tonight.

n8in8or · Mar 26, 2015

Just got an email from Harland Sharp. They are going to send me the 1.6 rockers today with a return label for the 1.5 rockers. If it all goes to plan I should be ready to rock again tomorrow night (pun not intended).

SS FORCE · Mar 26, 2015

n8in8or said:
Just got an email from Harland Sharp. They are going to send me the 1.6 rockers today with a return label for the 1.5 rockers. If it all goes to plan I should be ready to rock again tomorrow night (pun not intended).

Glad to see they are taking care of you and fast. I keep checking up on this thread waiting to hear the rattle of that purdy motor in the Ho. I'm sure your chomping at the bit to get this wrapped up.

Burning oil · Mar 26, 2015

Nice work on the restrictor.

n8in8or · Mar 26, 2015

SS FORCE said:
Glad to see they are taking care of you and fast. I keep checking up on this thread waiting to hear the rattle of that purdy motor in the Ho. I'm sure your chomping at the bit to get this wrapped up.

Thanks SS. Yeah I'm glad too. I'm am so excited to get this thing on the road for sure! Of course, with any new engine I'm always a bit nervous, wondering what I may have missed or done wrong, but I feel pretty good about this one overall. This is the most comprehensive and complete build I have ever done so I'm excited to have something that I have put so much thought and effort (and MONEY) into actually come to life. I'm glad I have you guys to share it with, because the rest of the world doesn't really get doing this to a 6.5...

Burning oil said:
Nice work on the restrictor.

Thanks Leroy. I was going to wait and see if I needed it once it was together, but I was seeing enough people talking about it being a good thing to do that it made sense to do it now while everything was so accessible. Oh and I also didn't have to drain any coolant to do it now too!

n8in8or · Mar 26, 2015

Ok I'm all prepped for the arrival of the arms tomorrow. I put the oil cooler hoses and exhaust manifolds on. I have the workspace cleaned up and tools & supplies all laid out. Tomorrow after work my brother and some pizza are coming over and we're going to finish buttoning it up then lay it in the framerails. I could drop it in by myself but it will be nice having an extra set of hands to guide it in so the new paint doesn't get all scratched. I'm still hopeful I'll get it fired Sunday but I won't rush it. I still have to figure out where I'm going to remote mount the FFM and then make the bracket to do so. I want to hang it off the AC bracket but we'll see how things look once everything else is in place.

Oh yeah I almost forgot I couldn't resist setting a few pieces on the engine to see how it's going to look he he. Tomorrow should be a good day, fingers crossed!!