In the process of tearing down my 6.5 to see how bad it is. Stopped driving it after blow by was coming out of the oil fill, dipstick tube and turbo. Also the coolant tank stayed pressurized even after a few weeks of not running.
Anyways this is going in my 93 dually with a nv4500. I use this truck for pulling my 85k10 on a gooseneck.
While it’s torn apart I’m looking at waking it up a little to help pull me up the mountains in southern Kentucky and Tennessee. Not looking to make it a fire breathing monster. Just something that doesn’t fall so far on its face when a hill shows up.
I’m not very knowledgeable on these motors so looking for some help.
Not interested in swapping a 5.9 as that is gonna go in my 85 crew cab build.
What mods would you do to make a 6.5 better for towing.
Thanks in advance.
Here’s some advice and tips for you good sir! Let me know if you don’t understand or need more clarification with pictures.
1. Chamfer the main bolt holes 1/32”-1/8th” helps reduce cracking of the mains.
2. File 1/32”-1/8” on all sharp edges of the mains. Helps reduce cracking of the mains.
3. File 1/32-1/18” around the sharp edges where the starter mounts reduces cracking of the block.
4. Chamfer starter bolt holes 1/32”-1/8” reduces cracking of the block.
5. You can add brass tube in the coolant passages between the valves of the heads to protect against coolant from going into the block if the heads ever crack. Or use this same modification to fix cracked heads.
6. A girdle is a great upgrade!
7. Main stud kit is a great upgrade but not necessarily if you have done 1-2-6 recommendations.
8. Quadstars turbo oil drain tube is a must have IMO.
9. Keeping everything mechanical as much as possible for reliability and simplicity.
10. Bigger turbo such as an HX35W. The custom HX30W hybrid I built can push a consistent 12-15 psi boost pressure all day long with low egts. Choosing the right turbo depends on your elevation.
11. 4’ exhaust is a must have to keep your egts down.
12. All new bearings, new timing chain, injectors, rebuilt IP, resurfaced deck and heads, fresh valve job, polished cam, balanced and polished crank, HO oil pump, etc
13. Head stud kit is a great upgrade but not necessarily.
14. Coolant upgrades such as the PBD kit, 4 core radiator, 9 blade fan, HO water pump is a great idea.
15. Adding some vents in the hood to help keep her cool.
16. Having lower gearing helps as well for those hill climbs.
17. Personally I like to advance the IP some to give it more power without turning the internal IP fuel screw.
18. Keep the suspension and tires stock but reduce as much weight as possible. Going from steel rims to aluminum rims helps a lot. Any other kind of weight reductions you can do =more power!
19. Oh yeah let’s not forget to open up that intake as much as possible!
20. An innercooler if you have room to squeeze one in really helps add power and keeps egts lower.
Definitely get
@2INSANE in the conversation for the rebuild.
Also I was looking for more info on the 6.5 to improve the power and I found a forum with a wealth of information, I will try to remember the name but the gist of it is, better turbo, bigger exhaust.
93 was a changeover year, do you have mechanical or electronic injection?
Thank you for the referral!
