Well with no real part delays we were able to make some headway with no major hiccups. Got the new lifters and guides in, put the rocker boxes on the heads with new glow plugs and wiring harnesses, and replaced all the seals and washers on the injectors and locked into place. I settled the bill with the local machine shop today and let’s just say I was a little shocked and getting further disgusted at what this failure is adding up to.
Got the front cover on, water pump, rear cover, and rear crank seal installed. Later in the day, after hours, we were able to get the motor back onto the engine mounts and bolted up to the tranny. Mike hit the oil cooler (OEM upgraded) and HPOP and got those on the deck. I prepped the block for the head gaskets and we were both too tired to heave them up there so going to wait until the morning.
I’m going to try to compile a complete list of parts, both required and optional, to be able to both make this easier for the next poor soul to deal with this when it happens to them as well as be able to make ordering the required parts a little more simple. Enjoy.
Sorry, I took this one on the engine stand before we flipped it. Just turn your computer monitor over for correct viewing.
Got a little more accomplished today but Mike’s shop closes early on Tuesday so wrapped things up about 2:00. Got the LPOP installed and capped, got the heads on (not even close to damaging the injectors), heads torqued to spec., all the rocker plates torqued, upgraded (shorter) OEM push rods in, and got the exhaust manifolds set.
Used the ARP torque sequence sheet that varied slightly from Ford’s sequence fromm the coffee table book. Ended up at 210 ft.lbs. and sort of missed the note on ARP’s sheet mentioning to follow Ford’s 3 step sequence of increasing torque but ARP’s sheet was folded in half and I sort of missed that note. In any event, I went up to 100 then to 210. I’m sure I’ll get scolded by more than one person, but it’s done and nothing I can really do about it now. It’s was definitely an upper body work out and it’ll put any personal trainer or musclehead to the test.
Not much more holding us up. Should be on to the rest of the top of the motor and all the accessories (power steering pump, AC compressor, etc.) and hope to be able to hit the emergency drop button on the lift and drop the cab on it by Friday. If anyone has any other constructive advice (not related to the botched torque sequence) please feel free.
We made a substantial amount of progress today. I had an appointment this afternoon and we could’ve gotten a little more done but I hadda do what I hadda do.
Got the high pressure oil rails on (new tubes and D plugs), valve cover gaskets, intake manifold, turbo and mounting plate, EGR tube with delete welds, oil / fuel filter platform thingamajig set, downpipes, new AC compressor, fuel lines, alternator, tensioner pully, and glow plug harnesses. Going to replace the bearings on the two upper tensioner wheels as well. Gotta replace the tranny temp sensor and filter tomorrow. I realistically think we can get the cab set back on tomorrow and hopefully even fired up.
I’m planning on picking up some lower cost 15W40 motor oil in the morning to use as the break in oil. Any suggestions and comments on the length of time I should run the break in oil before changing to the Motorcraft synthetic, as well as some general break in rules of thumb? I’ve never had to break in an engine before and want to make sure I don’t “drive it the wrong way”.
Again, I’m looking for some possible “smoking gun” suggestions for the failure of the lifter that caused this whole thread in the first place. # 1: to prevent it from possibly happening again, and # 2: to put some closure on the mystery. I’m not expecting a definitive answer, hopefully just some possibilities.
I’ve also stumbled across some posts, and some internet information, regarding both fuel and oil additives. Wondering if anyone has any concrete opinions about either. I have seen the RevX oil additive from dieselhelp.com and I’m just wondering if all these additives are just selling tactics. My previous mechanic (who used to work for Caterpillar) highly recommended a shot of two stroke oil at every fill up. With temps dropping unusually low up here this season, gelling has become a concern and has happened to me once already even, with an additive that claims it prevents it.
Hope to come home with good news tomorrow. Wish me luck. Thanks again.
Well day 10 (yesterday) was kind of a lost day. Mike was pretty busy and there was little I could do on my own. Ordered two upper idler wheels for the serpentine belt and the parts store sent us the ones for the tensioner. They made good awhile later so I got those on. Pretty much everything that belt touches is new. Started filing the pan with oil.
Today I started filling up the tranny and we finalized the routing of the wiring harnesses. Had to remove the AC compressor to get the crank position sensor in and also re-worked the main power cable end to the starter. The old one pretty much rotted away. Tied up all the harnesses, hoses, and everything nice and compact to drop the cab back on.
Ready to drop it like third period French.
Also had to replace the temperature sensor in the tranny. It’s located between two of the front solenoids. I looked for it for awhile but Mike finally helped me locate it. The original was black and the new one was grey so I wasn’t looking for the right color. Just a couple pics of the bottom with the pan off for those who would like to see it.
This was the doughnut magnet from the tranny pan. It was coated with a pretty good amount of very fine metal particles which looked and felt like graphite paste. It had a grey color.
Frame mounted tranny filter. Guess it was due for a new one. I also replaced the rail mounted fuel filter and I’m too embarrassed to post of the pics of that one. Let’s just say I put in a new one.
All in all everything went a little better than I expected. We took our time lowering the cab, making sure cables, steering, brake lines and such all went where they belonged and nothing got pinched. We did roll the frame back and forth a couple times since the cab came off and the cab needed a little convincing to get lined back up (side to side) but it wasn’t too bad. Re-attached virtually everything in the engine compartment and took some aggressive cleaner with some hot water to the inside of the coolant reservoir to sit till Monday. Replaced the front lines for the tranny cooler as they were looking like they were not long for the world. I sprayed them with the high temp black (which was originally intended for the engine block) to possibly help them last a little longer. I’m pretty positive this was the 2nd time they were replaced.
Mike had to get ready to dance at some bachelorette party this evening so we were cut short on time and we are going to drop the hammer Monday morning and take our time. He doesn’t want to rush it and neither to I. I was hoping to hear it start today but I’ll just have to lie awake in bed till Monday wondering if there was something I forgot to tighten, installed wrong, what have you. If this doesn’t work out, you can look for me on the news with a story where “Man commits suicide by running over himself with own truck.” Hope to be rollin coal and layin rubber.
While I regret the costs I don’t regret the knowledge and learning experience. Strange as it may sound I’d actually welcome rebuilding another. I learned so much on this project it might actually be a little more enjoyable to not make the mistakes while learning.
I wouldn’t lose sleep over the heads being torqued on in 2 stages instead of 3 stages; the sequence in which you tighten them is of much greater importance, so if you tightened everything in the right order you should still be OK
The body seems great so putting a couple grand into the driveline and other misc wear items coulda just doubled the trucks life. What undercoating / anti rust are you doing?
Funny you should mention that, and funnier you should say “couple grand”. I just completed the spreadsheet with all the parts and machine shop workr. It came to about $ 6,500.00 (without labor) or to put it into perspective, $ 5.06 / $ .01 repair cost to penny ratio for the cost of the $ 12.85 lifter. I have this all on a .pdf file so if anyone can tell me the best way to paste it up here I will.
This spring / summer I hope to get it all oil coated, something I should’ve done when I bough it but never had it on the top of the list. The body and undercab are actually not in that bad condition and I had planned to get some “issues” done on the body this season as I had decided to keep the truck.
