Project Gallopin' Gerdy

[Chevypoor]

Good chance to install a new rear main seal.

Bottom end looks very clean.

It live a good portion of its life as a fleet truck and it shows....the oil was obviously changed religiously. I also found zero sludge anywhere in the oil pan or block.

 

[Chevypoor]

Got the cylinder heads stripped and did a little bowl blending on the heads. Got all the pistons, freeze plugs, galley plugs, and cam bearings out. Cleaned up all the gasket surfaces on the block and heads. Ready for honing and cleaning. I also forgot to mention got in the center caps a couple of weeks ago. They showed after the same day the wife pulled her home. Ironic...

 

[GM Guy]

looking good!

599 6.2Ls: all the turbo hookups and a 1 piece rear seal, with smaller bores for more "meat" in the block. best of all worlds!

 

[Chevypoor]

looking good!

599 6.2Ls: all the turbo hookups and a 1 piece rear seal, with smaller bores for more "meat" in the block. best of all worlds!

Thanks. As far as I can tell except for the extra meat in the bores it is identical to a 6.5 block, even the heads appear identical. The injectors and the angle match to. Finding the 93 C2500 parts truck was just luck... I did not even haggle over the price too much. I knew what she was and the value she represented to a 6.5 guy. Just happy to see NO cracks anywhere. That was the gamble.

 

[GM Guy]

ARP the shit out of it, and it will be a monster.

 

[Chevypoor]

ARP the shit out of it, and it will be a monster.

I guess we will see.

Cleaned all the valves and lapped them. Got the heads back together except the one pre cup. Need to pick up some indian shellac to glue it in. Thanks for the diamond cups and the tip about gluing them in 6.2 Turbo! Cleaned the block and honed the cylinders. Got a coat of paint on the block and heads. Checked the clearances on the mains with plastigauge and everything was within spec with standard bearing. Got the crank in and she turns over real smooth. Torqued the main caps down and got the freeze plugs in. Maybe I can get this screwed together before new years!

 

[Chevypoor]

I also flushed the coolant passages in the block and ran a tap through the head bolt holes 3 times. Getting them suckers ready for studs! More pics....

 

[btfarm]

I also flushed the coolant passages in the block and ran a tap through the head bolt holes 3 times. Getting them suckers ready for studs! More pics....

Make sure to chamfer (or at least deburr) the block holes you tapped.

 

[Chevypoor]

Deburred the holes... Thanks btfarm!

Got the pistons in, oil pan on, studs in, heads on, timing chain, front cover, water pump & backing plate, injector pump, and injectors in. Tried to pre prime and that was a disaster. Hooked a gauge up out the back and used a 5/16 long nut driver to spin the pump. Oil comes out the oil pump dive hole. Ran the pump at low rpm at 25psi for awhile. So I take apart the oil pump drive so I can use the body to "plug" the hole. Got 65 psi and oil came up out of the top still and I did not notice the needle bearings inside the oil pump drive body until after I had spun a few down into the motor! :mad2::dr: Off came the oil pan, found all the needle bearings, ordered a new oil pan gasket, and kinda had to walk away at that point.

 

[GM Guy]

at least you caught it before you fired it off. could be worse! glad to see its coming along.

 

[tanman_2006]

So if I understand correctly the oil pump came apart?

Source Unknown

 

[Chevypoor]

So if I understand correctly the oil pump came apart?

Source Unknown

Not really. The oil pump drive at the back the lifter valley...

I am used to working on small block chevy's. For priming my small block engine builds I took an old small block distributor apart and used the base to plug the "hole" in the back of the block and seal the galleries so the lifters would pressurize. Then I took the stock distributor shaft and chucked it in a half drill motor to drive the oil pump. Then I used an oil pressure gauge I have for just block priming and I mount it in the rear oil pump take off on a small block. This way I can prime the motor before it goes in a vehicle.

I was attempting the same thing with the 6.5. I took the oil pump drive assembly from the 6.5 apart, removing the oil pump drive gear and the shaft it is attached to. Inserted a 5/16 long nut drive through the center to engage the oil pump. I was unaware that there were two caged sets of needle bearings inside the 6.5 oil drive assembly. A small block has no bearings and I have seen dizzys with 300,000+ miles with minimal shaft wear so I had no clue they would put needle bearings in there. Seems like pointless overkill. Makes that oil pump drive assembly on a 6.5 a million mile plus part. So when I pulled the magnetized nut driver out of the oil pump drive shaft assembly it had needle bearings stuck to it. I guess for the next 6.5 engine re build I need to find a proper priming tool or strip one of these oil pump assemblies down and make a good priming tool for the 6.5. I was also surprised how much oil came up the oil pump drive assembly.... I could not maintain full power for than a couple of seconds and oil was dumping out. I will spin her over in the truck with the computer unplugged a few times until I am reading pressure on the gauge.

I forgot to plug the turbo oil supply feed on the front the first time I tried priming her with the stripped oil pump drive assembly and it shot oil over 3' across the garage! I can see why a high volume pump is unnecessary. The gauge hit 65 psi with cold oil before the oil hemorrhaging got to bad.

GM Guy
at least you caught it before you fired it off. could be worse! glad to see its coming along.

Yes I am glad too. Those little suckers could have made a mess of things.

I too am glad she is coming along... hoping to have her in the truck this weekend.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I have one I made from an old 6.2 vacuum pump. crude but it works

 

[Chevypoor]

Anybody here have any old oil pump drives they want to "donate"?

BTW forgot to thank 6.2 Turbo for sharing his Indian Head shellac trick on installing the new pre-cups. Thanks!

 

[Chevypoor]

Got the motor in! Hopefully tomorrow I can get everything finished up and take her for a spin. (FINGERS CROSSED!)

 

[Burning oil]

Charge the batteries now.

 

[Chevypoor]

Charge the batteries now.

Thanks. They are brand new and I will have the charger hooked up.... last time it took 5hrs of cranking. Hopefully I can cut that down this time. Maybe this thick skull learned something.

 

[GM Guy]

truck is looking good! I take it the pre-lubing round 2 went alot better?

also, check out the deal finder, I found some reg. cabs.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Thanks. They are brand new and I will have the charger hooked up.... last time it took 5hrs of cranking. Hopefully I can cut that down this time. Maybe this thick skull learned something.

Remove the glows and disconnect the inj lines, it will crank much easier as well as bleed easier.

 

[3500GMC]

As per Missy Good Wrench, glows out, injectors locked down, watch for fuel mist from inj holes during crank, thread in glows, cycle and fire. Worked for me.