redshift96
Diesel Knucklehead
A few years ago, I bought very cool 1990 4x4 3/4t diesel Sub. It had been a news van, had the side compartment for gennie or inverter/batteries, a full aluminum roof rack with diamond plate platform, and most of the wiring still in place from the removal of the microwave tower. The rack not only had weatherproof 110v outlets on three sides, but weatherproof XLR sockets and a big recess for what was probably a "shorepower" type input. Perfect, as I do a lot of location sound work in remote areas. I was psyched.
Since the FCC & DMV documents still in the glovebox showed it had been based in the Sierra foothills, while the TV station itself was based in San Francisco, it seemed likely that it's mission had been to run the weather guy up to Blue Canyon everytime a storm blew through, so he could stand out in the snow in his North Face parka shivering for a few minutes in front of the camera, then jump back in and go home. Probably treated reasonably gently, and maintained fairly well by the station motor pool. The A/V electrical mods looked like they'd been done fairly well, and the price was right... $1500, talked down to $1200 due to the TH400 feeling a little loose.
The second owner had used it as a painting contractor's vehicle. Lots of latex all over the gold interior. Mostly in the back, and all stuff that was replaceable, so I set out to whip it into shape.
Took it to a mechanic recommended by a friend (ungodly terrible mistake), who reported it had poor compression, needed an injection pump, the trans was in bad shape, etc.
$10,000, two rebuilt motors (first one spun a rod bearing), three trans rebuilds (first two burned themselves up do to the TPS being set incorrectly according to the trans shop), one transfer case, a new set of tires, some new glass, and too much cleaning to think about, it ran strong and I started to be able to think about doing something with it besides repairing it all the time, or waiting for it to get back from the shop. Frankly, I was a complete diesel newb at the time, and didn't particularly want to undertake a whole new line of gearhead education. Been there, done that. Had other things to do. Ungodly terrible mistake number two.
Over the following year, I did get time to stuff a Dana 60 in the front, and was about to get around to putting the matching D70 in the back. I'd done a LOT of clean up and cosmetic stuff, just getting used to the truck and making it liveable. Ran a lot of bio through it, and loved the smell of dinner cooking whenever it fired up.
But before I could get much further, I was sitting in my office one day, and smelled smoke. Not unusual, lots of fab and welding here. But it was evening, and it smelled strong. Yeah, you can guess the rest. The truck had been parked inside the shop, and somehow spontaneously caught fire after sitting parked for 6 hours. It was almost a total loss. Started under the hood, and it was too hot to get the hood unlatched by hand, so after 5 fire extinguishers sprayed through the gap at the front of the hood did little but slow the spread, the fire department finally arrived and put it out with a hose after unlatching it with a crowbar. By then the flames had gotten through the firewall, burned the dash to a crisp and started to make it's way towards the rear. Everything from the front seats forward was pretty much useless, the windshield had popped, and it stank to high heaven.
Took me a few months to even want to open the hood to try to see if I could tell where the fire had started. I still don't know really, but my guess is an unholy marriage of abraded starter cable and seeping mech fuel pump lines.
Soooo... after watching a while for a good swap candidate for the fairly-fresh drivetrain, I found a sweet '85 3/4t 4x4 diesel with new paint, a 6" all-spring lift, and dealer-installed Banks kit under $2k.
The reason for the low price was that the seller's son had overheated it and blown a head gasket, and thinking it needed new gaskets and possibly heads as well, they decided to just put a new pair of Clearwater heads on it and not bother with troubleshooting the mode of failure further.
After installation and a drive around the block, they had coolant in the oil again, and once the oil pan was pulled they could see coolant dripping down two of the bores from above.
[Photo above: Pulling the engine from the '85. It was a Goodwrench svc rplcmt in 1999. Yep, the infamous 506 squirter block. 10mm outer main bolts didn't save this one.]
I crossed my fingers that it might be a problem with the new head gaskets, but no such luck. Block was cracked up the webs, and the crank was shot. Time for a new motor.
Good thing I already had a new(ish) motor.
A nice lightly-baked NA 6.2 that had been running fine for a year now, and prob still had less than 25k on the clock. Excellent. At least the bottom end should be usable. I started tearing it down to install the newer 6.5 heads, since they'd accept the turbo with no mods to the lines, and had better precups for the turbo, etc.
[Here's what the cave looked like
just before the motor came out.
Ow, ouch, yikes. Any wonder I
hadn't wanted to look?]
[More carnage. I know how you guys love this stuff. :nonod: ]
Finally got the crank and rods out (Pistons were pretty stuck in
their bores, even after lots of penetrating oil. Fire's a funny thing.)
And guess what I found?
Failing rod bearing (ground all the way through at one edge!!
), another prematurely worn rod bearing, three prematurely worn main bearings including the thrust bearing faces, and inserts on 2/3 of the outer main bolts holes. Nice... not. It's a 141 block, no squirters (but still used grooved bearings... wtf?), 12mm main bolts all the way around, and a crank journal that was obviously damaged from the worst of the rod bearings.
Um... darn. And stuff.
Time for a new motor. Ah-gin.
Too bad the guy who built this one has gone out of business and subsequently retired completely. He was sympathetic when I called him about it, but not motivated to make good on it in any way. Even after painfully f'ing up the first two attempts at rebuilding this thing. Terrific. (See why I can relate to so much of your trauma, Aces? ):h )
So after a lot of casting about looking for an affordable used GEP or 599, I was about to give up and use the block from a running (but otherwise unknown) '82 6.2 with the turbo heads, and hope for the best.
Then I get a call from the machine shop that had planned to mag the old block for me before noticing the cracks by naked eye, saying they had a source for used 599 blocks. $500 for the short block.
And here I am today, about to pull the trigger and start this rebuild rolling. Finally. I know that sometimes you have to do things yourself if you want them done right, but really... this is kind of ridiculous.
But first... today's decision point is.... since I already have a set of std bore 1999 6.5TD pistons from the cracked block, maybe I should have the 599 punched out to 4.030 for the std 6.5 pistons. Or... should I try to find a set of .020 or .030 over 6.2 pistons in order to leave more meat in the block? I'd prefer to go the latter route, but it appears that it'll cost me $400 for the privilege unless any of you fine folks happen to have a line on a used set, or have a friend who works for Mahle or Silvolite.
Apparently the block is in such nice shape that if it weren't for one cylinder showing a little too much taper, I might have been able to get away with using the original 6.2 pistons. That would've made my day. But it needs at least an .020 overbore, so there we are.
Tomorrow I take the 6.5 injectors, burnt 4911 pump, and Banks turbo to Diamond Diesel for a checkup. I know the pump needs attention (and probably a full rebuild), but I'm hoping to get away with the injectors as they are. Could've used the almost-new set from the burned truck, but some of them saw a lot of heat, unfortunately. I'm guessing they're toast. Literally.
As soon as I make a decision on the pistons, the block will be bored, align bore checked, decked slightly (for the usual erosion near the end cylinder) and squared, crank polished, and the rotating assy balanced. I guess I need to decide if I'm using studs/girdle on the bottom end before checking the mains alignment, eh?
Here's to an imminent ressurection. Just hope I don't run out of cash before getting this thing running. Work is slow as molasses lately. And being truckless really doesn't help matters much! :toetap05:
I'll try to take some snaps of the new motor when I drop off parts at the machine shop. Haven't seen it myself yet. Maybe some shiny metal will make up for all the inferno pix you've just suffered through!
Since the FCC & DMV documents still in the glovebox showed it had been based in the Sierra foothills, while the TV station itself was based in San Francisco, it seemed likely that it's mission had been to run the weather guy up to Blue Canyon everytime a storm blew through, so he could stand out in the snow in his North Face parka shivering for a few minutes in front of the camera, then jump back in and go home. Probably treated reasonably gently, and maintained fairly well by the station motor pool. The A/V electrical mods looked like they'd been done fairly well, and the price was right... $1500, talked down to $1200 due to the TH400 feeling a little loose.
The second owner had used it as a painting contractor's vehicle. Lots of latex all over the gold interior. Mostly in the back, and all stuff that was replaceable, so I set out to whip it into shape.
Took it to a mechanic recommended by a friend (ungodly terrible mistake), who reported it had poor compression, needed an injection pump, the trans was in bad shape, etc.
$10,000, two rebuilt motors (first one spun a rod bearing), three trans rebuilds (first two burned themselves up do to the TPS being set incorrectly according to the trans shop), one transfer case, a new set of tires, some new glass, and too much cleaning to think about, it ran strong and I started to be able to think about doing something with it besides repairing it all the time, or waiting for it to get back from the shop. Frankly, I was a complete diesel newb at the time, and didn't particularly want to undertake a whole new line of gearhead education. Been there, done that. Had other things to do. Ungodly terrible mistake number two.
Over the following year, I did get time to stuff a Dana 60 in the front, and was about to get around to putting the matching D70 in the back. I'd done a LOT of clean up and cosmetic stuff, just getting used to the truck and making it liveable. Ran a lot of bio through it, and loved the smell of dinner cooking whenever it fired up.
But before I could get much further, I was sitting in my office one day, and smelled smoke. Not unusual, lots of fab and welding here. But it was evening, and it smelled strong. Yeah, you can guess the rest. The truck had been parked inside the shop, and somehow spontaneously caught fire after sitting parked for 6 hours. It was almost a total loss. Started under the hood, and it was too hot to get the hood unlatched by hand, so after 5 fire extinguishers sprayed through the gap at the front of the hood did little but slow the spread, the fire department finally arrived and put it out with a hose after unlatching it with a crowbar. By then the flames had gotten through the firewall, burned the dash to a crisp and started to make it's way towards the rear. Everything from the front seats forward was pretty much useless, the windshield had popped, and it stank to high heaven.
Took me a few months to even want to open the hood to try to see if I could tell where the fire had started. I still don't know really, but my guess is an unholy marriage of abraded starter cable and seeping mech fuel pump lines.
Soooo... after watching a while for a good swap candidate for the fairly-fresh drivetrain, I found a sweet '85 3/4t 4x4 diesel with new paint, a 6" all-spring lift, and dealer-installed Banks kit under $2k.
The reason for the low price was that the seller's son had overheated it and blown a head gasket, and thinking it needed new gaskets and possibly heads as well, they decided to just put a new pair of Clearwater heads on it and not bother with troubleshooting the mode of failure further.
After installation and a drive around the block, they had coolant in the oil again, and once the oil pan was pulled they could see coolant dripping down two of the bores from above.
[Photo above: Pulling the engine from the '85. It was a Goodwrench svc rplcmt in 1999. Yep, the infamous 506 squirter block. 10mm outer main bolts didn't save this one.]
I crossed my fingers that it might be a problem with the new head gaskets, but no such luck. Block was cracked up the webs, and the crank was shot. Time for a new motor.
Good thing I already had a new(ish) motor.
A nice lightly-baked NA 6.2 that had been running fine for a year now, and prob still had less than 25k on the clock. Excellent. At least the bottom end should be usable. I started tearing it down to install the newer 6.5 heads, since they'd accept the turbo with no mods to the lines, and had better precups for the turbo, etc.
[Here's what the cave looked like
just before the motor came out.
Ow, ouch, yikes. Any wonder I
hadn't wanted to look?]
[More carnage. I know how you guys love this stuff. :nonod: ]
Finally got the crank and rods out (Pistons were pretty stuck in
their bores, even after lots of penetrating oil. Fire's a funny thing.)
And guess what I found?
Failing rod bearing (ground all the way through at one edge!!
), another prematurely worn rod bearing, three prematurely worn main bearings including the thrust bearing faces, and inserts on 2/3 of the outer main bolts holes. Nice... not. It's a 141 block, no squirters (but still used grooved bearings... wtf?), 12mm main bolts all the way around, and a crank journal that was obviously damaged from the worst of the rod bearings. Um... darn. And stuff.
Time for a new motor. Ah-gin.
Too bad the guy who built this one has gone out of business and subsequently retired completely. He was sympathetic when I called him about it, but not motivated to make good on it in any way. Even after painfully f'ing up the first two attempts at rebuilding this thing. Terrific. (See why I can relate to so much of your trauma, Aces? ):h )
So after a lot of casting about looking for an affordable used GEP or 599, I was about to give up and use the block from a running (but otherwise unknown) '82 6.2 with the turbo heads, and hope for the best.
Then I get a call from the machine shop that had planned to mag the old block for me before noticing the cracks by naked eye, saying they had a source for used 599 blocks. $500 for the short block.
And here I am today, about to pull the trigger and start this rebuild rolling. Finally. I know that sometimes you have to do things yourself if you want them done right, but really... this is kind of ridiculous.
But first... today's decision point is.... since I already have a set of std bore 1999 6.5TD pistons from the cracked block, maybe I should have the 599 punched out to 4.030 for the std 6.5 pistons. Or... should I try to find a set of .020 or .030 over 6.2 pistons in order to leave more meat in the block? I'd prefer to go the latter route, but it appears that it'll cost me $400 for the privilege unless any of you fine folks happen to have a line on a used set, or have a friend who works for Mahle or Silvolite.
Apparently the block is in such nice shape that if it weren't for one cylinder showing a little too much taper, I might have been able to get away with using the original 6.2 pistons. That would've made my day. But it needs at least an .020 overbore, so there we are.
Tomorrow I take the 6.5 injectors, burnt 4911 pump, and Banks turbo to Diamond Diesel for a checkup. I know the pump needs attention (and probably a full rebuild), but I'm hoping to get away with the injectors as they are. Could've used the almost-new set from the burned truck, but some of them saw a lot of heat, unfortunately. I'm guessing they're toast. Literally.
As soon as I make a decision on the pistons, the block will be bored, align bore checked, decked slightly (for the usual erosion near the end cylinder) and squared, crank polished, and the rotating assy balanced. I guess I need to decide if I'm using studs/girdle on the bottom end before checking the mains alignment, eh?
Here's to an imminent ressurection. Just hope I don't run out of cash before getting this thing running. Work is slow as molasses lately. And being truckless really doesn't help matters much! :toetap05:
I'll try to take some snaps of the new motor when I drop off parts at the machine shop. Haven't seen it myself yet. Maybe some shiny metal will make up for all the inferno pix you've just suffered through!
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