1 month to 8.1 swap, then another month to Nv4500 swap

[#Burbslut]

Well usually no news is good news.
So here is the news.


The 8.1 is toast......

I decided to take a break from school for the weekend and head to Sandlake Oregon. No problems all day. I was 800 miles from home, so I had no intention on beating it. I putted around most of the day. I hit a few dunes, but nothing big or aggressively. Just before I was going to head off the beach I hit one more hill. I got to the top and, knock knock knock....... It sounded like a rod bearing. It only made noise above 1500rpm or on the down rev.

I checked the oil, it was full, with a added sparkle at the tip of the dipstick. I got it back to camp and changed the oil, filter and a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer. Same sound, no change. Oil pressure was hovering around 15 at idle vs 35-40 normally.

No cell service and I needed to get back to school before Monday. So Saturday around 5pm I started my 120 mile journey. I took the longer way to avoid any hills. I kept the rpms low and speed under 55. After 70 miles I had to pass through a smaller town to connect to a hwy. As I got into town I heard a tapping, ticking, knocking. I pulled up to a stop sign and all off a sudden the sound got louder and the rpms were being affected at the same timing as the sounds. I knew something was/or coming/came apart.

I shut it off and spent the night in a parking lot until a friend could haul me to a friends house in Kelso Wa. I have 3 more weeks to finish up Heavy equipment school. My buddy loaned me a beat up grand cherokee for the next three weeks while I make some decisions.


I don’t have the time to rebuild it(if it’s even repairable) or swap another motor. Tilden Motorsports has offered up help, but the burb will be down for some time. I’m also 800 miles from home, so there is that situation to figure out too...


dammit!!! I’ve pushed that thing harder, hauling over mountain passes, done religious oil changes and monitored oil levels constantly.

you always roll the dice when you run a used motor.
Shit happens. I’m determined to put a 8.1 back in.

Where can a guy find a decent 8.1?
Stay tuned.

 

[skunked]

What help did Tilden offer?

 

[ZooMad75]

That sucks dude. I'm curious what Tildon offered too.

 

[#Burbslut]

Tilden offers a 1 yr limited warranty. My engine was purchased over a yr ago. The fact that they are offering any help is cool.

it was a used motor. When I get it home and tear it apart, I’ll be in contact with Tilden Motorsports and see what happens. It just sucks to deal with. These motors aren’t a easily found as there smaller displacement cousins. I can’t even find one for sale for under $1800.

 

[#Burbslut]

Wow. Shit hit the fan in California.

My family got a mandatory evacuation order yesterday. The fires are merging into one larger one. We had a unusual lightning storm and it has lit up the surrounding mountains. Conditions have been dry and windy.

Luckily I has a amazing wife and friends. She packed up all the important things and my friends helped haul off the vehicles on the property. She connected the camp trailer and loaded it up, unloaded the utility trailer of a1000 lbs of scrap at the landfill and loaded up what else thought was important. The fire is a few miles away and closing. My landlord owns all the adjacent land around our house and will have a few fire lines and breaks cut in soon.

They unfortunately couldn’t grab my 67/72/78 conglomerate project, the front axle isn’t bolted in and the body isn’t attached to the frame. Fingers crossed that the house and burb make it through. Things are replaceable though.

family and dog are safe.
Heck of a time to be 800 miles away with a broken truck.

 

[skunked]

Damn fires!

 

[mrk5]

I hope all your stuff survives and everyone stays safe!

 

[#Burbslut]

Anyone done a full rebuild going as deep as boring out the motor?

Any links on some rebuild kits offering slightly better parts than stock?

I cruised the Raylar site today.

 

[#Burbslut]

Well, house and everyone is safe. I’m finally back home after being gone for 9 weeks. I was visiting family in Medford two days ago but had to leave early because of all the fires. I helped my in laws pack up their house and I had to take the long way home because I-5 was shut down. I drove clear to the coast, then south, then west, and hopped back on I-5 in Redding. Nothing like making a 6hr drive and turning it into 11. I’m just happy to finally be home with my family.


So. Back to the Burb.

I had a friend come get it and haul it to another friends shop in Mountain Home Idaho. I didn’t know if I was going to even be able to get back into my home at the time because of the evacuation orders and the roads to my house were closed. I knew that I was going to be in Mountain Home in the end of September for a 4x event, so my friend opened up his shop for me to use. I’m thankful to have such a amazing group of friends.


Which led me to having to make more decisions. My friend has a 8.1 from a box truck that he was willing to give me as long as I replace it. I really didn’t want to go that route, these motors aren’t getting younger or cheaper so I found one in Oregon and picked it up on the way home.

It’s complete with a harness, ecu and Allison controller. My friend bought it for a project, but decided to go another route. I rented a small pickup and just got in the garage yesterday. I plan on removing the accessories, brackets, water pump, harmonic balancer, harness, exhaust manifolds, and intake manifold. I’ll be pulling the valve covers and oil pan off to inspect a few things and I’ll put a new front/rear main seals and oil pan gasket.

When I pull the old motor out of the burb, I’ll swap all the other parts onto this long block. I’ll be pulling the pan and inspect the bottom

 

[2Dogs]

Did you come up with a set of tools? I should have enough to get you covered, just let me know.

 

[#Burbslut]

Step 1. Pick up replacement engine out of state
Step 2. Haul it 500+ miles home in a rental
Step 3. Unload it.
Step 4. Put it on a engine stand
Step 5. Realize that 95% of your tools are 800 miles away.
Step 6. Start disassembly with a 4” crescent wrench
‍‍


Ok crescent wrench. That’s enough. Bed time.


Luckily I found a few tools that got me to this point. Ordering up parts tomorrow.

 

[#Burbslut]

Does anyone know if I can just make a adapter harness for the camshaft position sensor. This one looks different than mine. I’ll order a pigtail for this newer version and try to figure it out.

Any leads or pointers?

 

[2Dogs]

How does it look?? Are the intake manifolds different/why did you pull the intake...?

 

[#Burbslut]

How does it look?? Are the intake manifolds different/why did you pull the intake...?

The intakes are the same. I wanted to inspect the engine, do the gasket update if need be, and my fuel rail is different, my intake is super clean with the tube mod and has newer injectors in it. I didn’t want to damage the fuel rail removing it. The injectors are sometimes in there super tight.

It looks ok. I am going to drain the oil and hopefully get the balancer, timing cover, front/rear main seals out and pop off the oil pan today. We shall see.

I think I’m going to go ahead and order a hi-volume oil pump too.

 

[#Burbslut]

How does it look?? Are the intake manifolds different/why did you pull the intake...?

All the middle intake bolts could be spun off by hand!


I believe someone already has been in there because the bolts heads looked like someone struggled to either get them off/on.

I highly recommend doing a bolt check on any 8.1 intake bolts. My other one wasn’t this loose, but definitely not at the recommended torque spec.

 

[2Dogs]

Alright. I think I recall seeing a TSB for intake gaskets possibly helping with excessive oil consumption. So I might do that at some point as well.

 

[ZooMad75]

Cam sensors differ between 2001-3 and the 2004+ version. What year is the one in your truck and which year is the replacement. Knowing which way you are going will help in finding which connector end you need to wire in.

 

[#Burbslut]

Cam sensors differ between 2001-3 and the 2004+ version. What year is the one in your truck and which year is the replacement. Knowing which way you are going will help in finding which connector end you need to wire in.

Cam sensors differ between 2001-3 and the 2004+ version. What year is the one in your truck and which year is the replacement. Knowing which way you are going will help in finding which connector end you need to wire in.

My motor in the burb is a 01. I’m trying to identify what my replacement is.

 

[ZooMad75]

Raylar has a good page explaining the differences, but it looks like by the cam sensor/timing cover shape and the returnless fuel rail it's a 2004 or later 8.1.

Here is a link to Raylar's page with the explanation: Raylar

They list a pigtail for the later sensor as Standard HP4240

 

[#Burbslut]

Raylar has a good page explaining the differences, but it looks like by the cam sensor/timing cover shape and the returnless fuel rail it's a 2004 or later 8.1.

Here is a link to Raylar's page with the explanation: Raylar

They list a pigtail for the later sensor as Standard HP4240

That’s the one I ordered
I’ll check it out. I figured it was a 04+ bit earlier than a certain yr because the valve covers are black.