Engine rebuild time

[Eric Selinger]

Allright everybody,
I'm about ready to order parts for my 94 6.5LTD

I knocked a hole in #6 piston, looks to be from bad injector most likely. I had the original injectors in the truck with almost 195,000 miles on it.
I want to ask some questions about how I'm wanting to go with the engine rebuild, but first i need to let you all know that I don't pull heavy on the truck, but more city and around town driving in my busines.
Here's my idea of how I want to make the engine repairs and how I plan to equip it(I am on a low budget and doing all the work(except machining).

I plan on buying a complete master kit with .020 over pistons. I have the opportunity to get the 18:1 pistons but am undecided because I am concerned about lower take-off power from less compression.
I am open to any ideas & suggestions that anyone may have.

I plan to:
Rebuild the 6.5 with new pistons(either stock or lower compression pistons)

Redoing the exhaust with a kit that has a 3" downtube into 3.5" pipe.
New H.O. injectors (high pop)
pyro and boost guages
hayden fan drive assembly
upgrade to 130GPM water pump
water injection (maybe intercooler later)
homemade crossover on the back water jackets on the heads.
new 11G glow plugs
This with the machine work and the master kit, i hope to spend no more than 2700.00

Any other parts I should think of replacing at this time?
What is the general opinion on the LC pistons.
Anyone ever had any dealings with Diesel-Direct.com?
They have a really good price on the master rebuild kit, so good it seems that something must not be included(I dont need the cam or lifters)

Please let mw know what you think before I make a mistake.

I already have a heath turbo master on the truck and a hypertech chip. I am concerned with power off the line, because of my daily use(i drive it mostly in town and stop and go all day long. Will the partially opened wastgate(because of the Heath TM)help with off line performance of the truck or will it be a dog because of the lower compression pistons. I'm ready to order parts but am still undecided on the compression choice. stock comp.sounds like a safer way to go, but I want to make more power if I can, who knows maybe my combination of parts might make it a "stroke smoker"

Please everyone chime in before I take the plunge.

Thanks in advance for all your help. :cool:

Sincerely,
Eric Selinger
Midland, Texas 79706
selingere@starband.net
Cel:(432)349.2994
Wk:(432)683.7258

[bromak]

It's buyer beware with Diesel-direct! They sell quality new parts but have questionable ethics with rebuilt and are very hard to contact and deal with after the sale. They never did resolve my issues with them, just ignored me until I had wasted half a year trying to get a response to reasonable questions about what they shipped to me. Brian

[tom.mcinerney]

Eric--
I.) Read the 'blast from the past' article More Power reprinted here http://forum.thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006793

concerning cooling issues. More Power + John Kennedy know what's knowable about these engines. It might be feasible to run off the rear head ports, but probably would want to block off part of the forward ports -- so this properly becomes a research project. {I'm temporarily running heater fron rear port, intend to do dual-stat upgrade soon. My guess is blocking off 1/3 of forward port would improve flow, but not worth a blind-guess unless have lots time to test, etc}. Otherwise the larger water pump is a step forward, the dual-stat crossover can follow.

II.) CHECK BLOCK FOR CRACKED MAIN WEBS BEFORE INVEST IN IT!

III.) Regarding OEM(21-1) vs 18-1 pistons: I think the higher peak pressures yield marginally improved cold starting, increased fuel efficiency, and accelerated cylinder wear, and increased block-cracking stresses.

IV.) I would suggest new roller-rockers, since More Power discovered that the soot particles in the oil wear out the rollers. However, they may be fine, esp if oil changes were done religiously. If you don't renew the cam followers, be absolutely certain to follow the recommendations 0f the Helm manual, namely to reinstall each lifter in the Same Orientation in the Same Bore from which they were removed. I didn't replace mine because i was unaware of the soot/wear factor, but i did get them back where&how they belong. I used a large compartmented organizer/'tackle-box' from Sears/Home-Depot, wiped and marked each with permanent marker.

V.) Another thing--renew the oil pump, we've just found out the pressure regulating spring craps out with mileage.

VI.) A timing chain is OK for a while, but a gearset lasts forever, better timing, less stresses.

VII.) Thorough cleaning of all up-front heat exchangers is essential.

VIII.) More Power recently tore down his 'Power Project' engine. He found essentially no wear after 100K Mi of wear. I had identical experience with a NA 1.6L VW that i just pulled head on [to change gasket at 100K Mi]; I had carefully bored .020" over with rigid hone & dial bore gage reading to .0001". A key to minimum wear is thorough soap&water wash of finish-honed cylinders, to remove all grit.

IX.) Harmonic balancer needs renewal unless fresh; check engine mountings too, good time to change....

X.) The crankshafts must not be reground.

XI.) For parts, don't know outfit you mention.
Don't try used parts, except maybe manifold, crossover, etc. Northern Auto Parts has engine kits (http://www.naparts.com/). Rumbler1 (Member # 7734) bought a reman engine kit from RebuiltDiesel.com in Florida , Salesman@RebuiltDiesel.Com , price said to be good.

XII.) Peninsular Engines {mattk@voyager.net, pen-eng@voyager.net. http://www.peninsulardiesel.com/} has greatprices on new heads.

Good luck!

[rj]

Hi Eric,

I'm running a 1995 suburban with 18:1 pistons, a turbo-master, stock injectors, and the stock GM-4 turbo. I too was concerned about initial acceleration, but opted for 18:1 pistons for longevity since the vehicle's primary use is to pull a 27' travel trailer. I have the TM set for about 16 PSI boost on a hard pull. At this setting, off-the-line starts aren't too bad. I noticed more of a change in the initial acceleration when I changed from computer controlled wastegate to TM controlled as compared to the change from stock pistons to 18:1 pistons. The burb will lay out a pretty heavy cloud of black smoke for about 1 to 2 seconds on a hard start, but the turbo spools up quickly and exhaust cleans up nicely. A lot may depend on driving habits, but I am not disappointed with the initial accelaration. Be prepared that simply changing to 18:1 pistons is not going to make the 6.5 a "stroker smoker." Good luck on the rebuild.