p400 on order, Looking for pointers before install

[98HMC4]

After consulting with heath diesel about all topics covered in this thread, this is what I've decided on : I am in no way saying this is what Heath diesel said - Just after conversing with Bill for about a half hour and listening to his experience with things, I've settled here. thanks for all suggestions and i hope to document information for others from now on.

Head studs
hurricane 7 center section
ht4 camshaft
stock bosch injectors
updated heath tune
Griffin Radiator
Leroy crank pulley
fluidampr
frc10
pre filter, new water separator
upgraded oil filtering - not sure what yet, most likely centrifuge and larger capacity filter.



Leaving stock chain / timing setup - chains run less resistance then gears most times, the chain is also designed to never wear from the way it was produced as far as slop or slack goes, Call heath and ask them about these parts. it was interesting information to learn

not using gapless rings - not a believer, ill leave it at that

Rocker arms - Not needed,

 

[Will L.]

The ht4 camshaft- isnt that the one he had special made for the side mount truck turbos that ran the driver's side at a different rate than the passanger side so it would overcome the crossover tube delay? Not sure I would want to "unbalance" the flow of the engine to make up for lag that does not exist in a centermount turbo. I might have his cams confused.

Running the chain isn't horrible - but check your timing when you first build it, then again every 25,000-30,000 miles. Ds4 makes up for some of it. Db2 can't. In the fleet we had a guy that got really good at adjusting timing.

More friction is possible. Would be intersting to test. I might just get the numbers on that. There is a professor of engineering that owes me one.

Keep us updated on your build.

I wonder if Heath got any dyno numbers on his p400 build...

 

[98HMC4]

Will - He did mention something of that nature with the cam, Not sure if he was sidetracked because he knows we were speaking about a hummer but I'm sure he gets fishing phone calls all day long from johny redneck about his 6.5l.....so either way. I'm sure mr heath would be able to provide the proper product for the application.


I was only intrigued by reduced spool time,

 

[JayTheCPA]

ht4 camshaft

Toward running the ht4 cam, just make sure that the P-400 vendor will still cover the motor during warranty. And even if the answer is 'Yes', it does not mean that it is a hassle-free experience if something does happen during warranty (don't ask how I know). This is where the quality of the vendor will come into play.

Rocker arms - Not needed,

Consider some extra zddp during the break-in cycle.

 

[Will L.]

That's what I thought. His introduction of that cam a few years back was at the time I spun a cam bearing scratching my cam. So I called him up and was going to order it, and was going to do some other improvements in the valve train while at it. I spoke to him about it and the quick spool time is supposed to be because ALL of the lobes that control the driver side of the engine are fairly advanced timing compared to the passanger side, and it has built in advance in gear mount also. This is how it helps the pickup trucks with the turbo being 10 times farther away from the valves.

So I asked if he knew how much it would help, and he went over some numbers, and said it would infact hurt spool up time if the turbo were to be mounted on the driver side of the engine- thats how much it will help your pickup! It then hit me- and I said what about a centermount turbo? He goes Oh, well know you dont have to worry about getting your pickup convered to a centermount 'cuz this would hurt that performance wise. That is when I mentioned this is for my hummer, and I dont even own any 6.5 pickups anymore.

It kinda stopped the conversation in its tracks.
I asked what other cams he had and that one was all he was going to deal with anymore.

So now I would question- did the story change or did he redesign the cam...?

If you buy his cam, hit me up with a price for your p400. But to be fair, read up about the cam in the p400 before you abandon it...

 

[WarWagon]

If Bill doesn't sell it it's Krap. Keep this in mind when talking with him. There was a time that a Turbomaster was God's gift and other turbo's were horrible along with not liking the idea of a different camshaft or grind. I would recommend taking the advice of your engine supplier above all. He does sell some of the items in question...

I recommend you reconsider your reliability goal in context of the timing set choice. Reliability is less stuff to mess with as chains require a frequent adjustment on 6.x diesel engines.

Chains do not wear, but, they continuously stretch like crazy in this "wrong tool for the application". Fact: the other "Forgotten IDI Diesels" of the same vintage, Like Ford, use timing gears. GM had Bean counters cut that corner. I replace every timing set on 6.x engines due to extreme slop with some only running 30,000 miles. I have only seen one chain "wear" and that one was wearing the key and keyway out. The chains STRETCH because they can't take the peak pressure from the IP. (Fun fact the PSI goes up after the pop is reached.) To compensate for this GM set the "slop" on them to 0.8", no typo that's nearly one inch! GM had to use a gear to the IP itself as a cheaper chain couldn't take it along with another one. I install the chains new and they are as tight as a string on a guitar. 30K later they are sloppy in 6.x engines I have pulled down for uh... other reasons. So a 350 or 454 will go forever on the chains with zero issues, but, the 4 IP peak pulses every revolution overcomes the tensile strength of the chain and it yields. This requires an IP adjustment (advance) generally every 6 months.

More friction? You are kidding right? You are worried about timing set friction, dismiss the high friction rockers that clearly show wear, and this is all a rounding error of relevance in getting the the heavy pig of a HUMMER moving anyway... I suggest more efficiency is found when the valves open and close when they should and you don't have retarded IP timing...

 

[Husker6.5]

On the subject of gasket matching intake/exhaust manifolds/head ports. NOT worth the expense if you have a shop do it and NO significant gains in power/torque doing it anyway, except when dealing with extremely high performance (racing) engines where gaining another 10 HP on top of the 800 it already makes could make the difference between winning or not.

Vic Edelbrock (of the manifolds and carbs) did extensive research on flow (mainly on SBC's) and came to the empirical conclusion that unless it was a gross mismatch (over 1/10") all the way around between the openings, gasket matching serves no useful purpose. Internal head passage work (smoothing, radiusing, unshrouding valves) gives much more significant, useful and measurable gains. In the vast majority of engines, "gasket matching" is mainly for Saturday Night cruising bragging rights.

 

[Husker6.5]

Chain Drive vs. Gear Drive. Chain Drive has higher friction, greater wear and less timing stability than Gear Drives. Period.