great white
Well-Known Member
Well, my 6.5 is finally up to snuff and running OK, but it's got a fair bit of ring blowby going on.
It's got great oil pressure, but at around 300,000 kms it closer to the end of it's life than the beginning.
She's good for a couple more years, but I need to start planning for the eventual engine failure.
With this in mind, I'm sussing out a plan for the trucks future.
My priorities are:
1. Reliability. I'm Search and Rescue and I fly the CH149 Helicopter. We do everything from medivac to pulling people off sinking vessels. When I get called out in the dark of night or dead of winter I need the truck to go and I need it to go right now with no fuss nor muss.
2. MPG. Yup, it's expensive to run a rig and it's not getting any cheaper. MPG is King....
3. Comfort. Hey, I'm old and not getting any younger. The basic GMT400 chassis is fine, but the less diesel noise the better.
4. Performance. Yup, still a kid at heart. More power the better. But notice, it comes in dead last on priorities...
Looking at options for swapping/rebuild, it seems these are what's available to me:
1. Replace, rebuild or build a short block while waiting.
pros- swap in swap out, no muss no fuss. Good mpg. readily available parts and not that expensive.
cons- all the problems that plague the 6.5 (cracking, low power, no aftermarket, etc). loud. low power and will probably always be that way. the design is getting pretty long in the tooth...
2. P400.
pros- reliable lower end, bit more modern design. Slight fabrication required but mostly a drop in solution.
cons- HOLY FREAKIN' PRICE TAG BATMAN!!!!!!
3. Cummins swap
Pros- good aftermarket support. decent MPG. fairly easy swap and it's been done many times before.
cons- bone crushing front end weight, kills IFS. Expensive. Requires lots of fabrication and downtime. Loud. depending on year electronics can be an issue.
4. Duramax
pros- power. quiet (relatively). modern design. it fits. It's been done before so a knowledge base is out there.
Cons- Expensive if you can even find one, lots of custom fabbing. Electronics, lots of 'em.
Honestly, I'd probably just stick with the 6.5 if it didn't have all it's little quirks an issues. Power has never really been an issue (I don't tow) and the MPG is good (better mpg would be nice). Quieter would also be nice, but this ol' IDI is only ever going to be so civilized.
Feel free to comment and discuss.....
It's got great oil pressure, but at around 300,000 kms it closer to the end of it's life than the beginning.
She's good for a couple more years, but I need to start planning for the eventual engine failure.
With this in mind, I'm sussing out a plan for the trucks future.
My priorities are:
1. Reliability. I'm Search and Rescue and I fly the CH149 Helicopter. We do everything from medivac to pulling people off sinking vessels. When I get called out in the dark of night or dead of winter I need the truck to go and I need it to go right now with no fuss nor muss.
2. MPG. Yup, it's expensive to run a rig and it's not getting any cheaper. MPG is King....
3. Comfort. Hey, I'm old and not getting any younger. The basic GMT400 chassis is fine, but the less diesel noise the better.
4. Performance. Yup, still a kid at heart. More power the better. But notice, it comes in dead last on priorities...
Looking at options for swapping/rebuild, it seems these are what's available to me:
1. Replace, rebuild or build a short block while waiting.
pros- swap in swap out, no muss no fuss. Good mpg. readily available parts and not that expensive.
cons- all the problems that plague the 6.5 (cracking, low power, no aftermarket, etc). loud. low power and will probably always be that way. the design is getting pretty long in the tooth...
2. P400.
pros- reliable lower end, bit more modern design. Slight fabrication required but mostly a drop in solution.
cons- HOLY FREAKIN' PRICE TAG BATMAN!!!!!!
3. Cummins swap
Pros- good aftermarket support. decent MPG. fairly easy swap and it's been done many times before.
cons- bone crushing front end weight, kills IFS. Expensive. Requires lots of fabrication and downtime. Loud. depending on year electronics can be an issue.
4. Duramax
pros- power. quiet (relatively). modern design. it fits. It's been done before so a knowledge base is out there.
Cons- Expensive if you can even find one, lots of custom fabbing. Electronics, lots of 'em.
Honestly, I'd probably just stick with the 6.5 if it didn't have all it's little quirks an issues. Power has never really been an issue (I don't tow) and the MPG is good (better mpg would be nice). Quieter would also be nice, but this ol' IDI is only ever going to be so civilized.
Feel free to comment and discuss.....