82 stepside. Thoughts and crazy ideas

[KirsL]

So I finally had a chance to finish up the downpipe last night and today.


I made up a basic downpipe flange out of 3/8 plate with a 3 inch opening. I have plans for a better one machined from a piece a stainless but this will work for now. I bought a couple 3" stainless 90s and a flange clamp setup.

I'm a little out of practice with my TIG skills

Been probably a solid year since I have, but it's all sealed up. Nothing like welding at 10 pm on a Friday night. That's where I stopped last night to allow the pieces to cool over night.

 

[KirsL]

So today I got the downpipe installed. I have a header wrap kit and I'm debating using on the downpipe as it sits pretty close to some wires and hoses.

It's easy enough to remove that I probably will after I do some test driving. I still need to replace the wastegate actuator and run the boost reference hose.

So I fired her up and kick in the fast idle. She warmed up pretty quick to click it off but it is 90° today. She had a nice haze while idling but the oil from assembly does have to burn off yet. I didn't hear and strange noises so I think she's going to be a good runner.

SHE MOVED!!!!! All of 2 feet. After I shut her off I noticed two areas of concern. First the fitting I brazed on the turbo oil supply is weeping a bit. So I need to touch the up. Then I noticed the second leak, right at the rear most corner of the passenger valve cover . I guess I missed a small spot when I put the rtv on when I installed them.

So this is how day ended.

The worst thing about the 6.x engines is the injector lines going over the valve covers. In order to do it right you have to pull the intake and the lines on the problem side. It really sucks but I want it to last so oh well.

I hoping to get it done tomorrow.

 

[campfire]

So today I got the downpipe installed. I have a header wrap kit and I'm debating using on the downpipe as it sits pretty close to some wires and hoses.View attachment 278018

It's easy enough to remove that I probably will after I do some test driving. I still need to replace the wastegate actuator and run the boost reference hose.

So I fired her up and kick in the fast idle. She warmed up pretty quick to click it off but it is 90° today. She had a nice haze while idling but the oil from assembly does have to burn off yet. I didn't hear and strange noises so I think she's going to be a good runner.

SHE MOVED!!!!! All of 2 feet. After I shut her off I noticed two areas of concern. First the fitting I brazed on the turbo oil supply is weeping a bit. So I need to touch the up. Then I noticed the second leak, right at the rear most corner of the passenger valve cover . I guess I missed a small spot when I put the rtv on when I installed them.

So this is how day ended.View attachment 278029

The worst thing about the 6.x engines is the injector lines going over the valve covers. In order to do it right you have to pull the intake and the lines on the problem side. It really sucks but I want it to last so oh well.

I hoping to get it done tomorrow.

And of course it's on the turbine side, eh?

I feel your pain. But 2 feet is a great milestone. It's the best 2 feet a truck can ever drive, when it finally starts working.

 

[campfire]

She warmed up pretty quick to click it off but it is 90° today

Any idea how long that took? Mine could sit and idle for 20 minutes before it got hot enough for that. But I'm not in Florida.

 

[KirsL]

And of course it's on the turbine side, eh?

I feel your pain. But 2 feet is a great milestone. It's the best 2 feet a truck can ever drive, when it finally starts working.

Seems like it's always on the side. Course the intake had to come off no matter which one it was. I had to pull the turbo to fix it's issue any way.

I'm beyond happy she moved under her own power. Progress is being made!

Any idea how long that took? Mine could sit and idle for 20 minutes before it got hot enough for that. But I'm not in Florida.

I'd say it took all of 5 to 10 minutes. But it was 90° and late afternoon and the driveway gets sun all day. 20 minutes just idling is about average depending on temperature.

 

[campfire]

20 minutes just idling is about average depending on temperature.

At 20 below zero, I'm pretty sure it won't ever warm up while idling. I know I can drive for quite a few miles before the gauge starts to move. I have a CUCV cold-weather grille cover, I should throw that on and see how much difference it makes. It seemed to help the CUCV, but there was no gauge to verify that.

 

[campfire]

Course the intake had to come off no matter which one it was.

I've changed at least 4 covers by disconnecting just the injector side of the lines and slipping it out the side. Can't do that with the turbine manifold, but it works with the N/A manifold.

I suppose that's the wrong way to do it. But I think it has less risk of collateral damage than tearing it down to the IP. Especially given my recent track record of messing up bracketry and cross-threading bolts.

 

[KirsL]

At 20 below zero, I'm pretty sure it won't ever warm up while idling. I know I can drive for quite a few miles before the gauge starts to move. I have a CUCV cold-weather grille cover, I should throw that on and see how much difference it makes. It seemed to help the CUCV, but there was no gauge to verify that.

At 20 below, yes use the winter front if you have one. It makes a HUGE difference in winter performance. My dodge I actually have pieces the attached to the grill, 4 in all. I'll leave the two lower ones on all year even with the crazy heat down here. My commute is 12 miles each way, she would never warm up otherwise, even in summer.

 

[KirsL]

I've changed at least 4 covers by disconnecting just the injector side of the lines and slipping it out the side. Can't do that with the turbine manifold, but it works with the N/A manifold.

I suppose that's the wrong way to do it. But I think it has less risk of collateral damage than tearing it down to the IP. Especially given my recent track record of messing up bracketry and cross-threading bolts.

I have the early serpentine setup, so I have to move the alternater and a/c compresser. But otherwise it took me all of 45 minutes to get it torn down to the last photo.

I cracked a line once by bending it, so I just pull the intake. I'd rather take a little longer and do it right.

 

[campfire]

At 20 below, yes use the winter front if you have one. It makes a HUGE difference in winter performance. My dodge I actually have pieces the attached to the grill, 4 in all. I'll leave the two lower ones on all year even with the crazy heat down here. My commute is 12 miles each way, she would never warm up otherwise, even in summer.

Yeah. My old commute was <5 miles. New one is ~8 miles. Neither one gets much heat. But with the grille insert it would start warming the cab as I pulled into work. So I know it was working, I just didn't have a gauge.

Come to think of it, I never figured out what it was supposed to hook to. I have snaps but nothing to snap to. It just sat there loose behind the brush guard.

 

[campfire]

I have the early serpentine setup, so I have to move the alternater and a/c compresser. But otherwise it took me all of 45 minutes to get it torn down to the last photo.

I cracked a line once by bending it, so I just pull the intake. I'd rather take a little longer and do it right.

I hear ya. But if you knew how badly I've mangled alternator brackets this month...you might change your mind on which way is less destructive.

 

[KirsL]

So I ended up doing errands and relaxing on Sunday. Which mean's I worked on it after work today! It's kinda cool when I get dirtier working on my stuff at home then I do at work any more .

All I had left to remove tonight was the turbo side injector lines and the valve cover itself.

And just like I figured I didn't put enough rtv in the lower corner and it pushed out what little was there. I proceed to get all sealing surfaces clean, reapply and healthy amount of rtv to both the cover and skim coat to the head. Put it together fingertight and walk away from it for the night.

If if get up early enough I may try and torque them down in the morning, but more then likely it'll happen after work.

I'm going to test it out before reassembling everything though. Run the oil pump with a drill and see if it leaks, hopefully it wont.

 

[campfire]

Run the oil pump with a drill and see if it leaks, hopefully it wont.

What fixture are you using to connect to the oil pump shaft?

 

[yellowK20]

What fixture are you using to connect to the oil pump shaft?

I made one from and old vacuum pump

 

[KirsL]

Oil pump shaft is 5/16. So I'll use a 6" locking drill extension with a 5/16 driver. Works as a good as a socket but no need to tape the socket onto the extension so it doesn't fall off.

A low speed drill is all you need then. You can over spin the pump making too much pressure if you're not careful.

 

[Truckman4life]

Do the valve covers use only rtv and no gasket? I haven't worked on any 6.x engines very much. Mostly all International engines and other medium/heavy duty stuff.

 

[KirsL]

Do the valve covers use only rtv and no gasket? I haven't worked on any 6.x engines very much. Mostly all International engines and other medium/heavy duty stuff.

They do make gaskets for them but most folks don't run them. They're very prone to leakage. RTV is definitely the way to go on these engines. I just didn't put enough in the one corner. Least I found it in my driveway and not on a trip far from home.

 

[max 02]

Glad you made a build thread for it finally! Always have been interested in your truck.

 

[KirsL]

Glad you made a build thread for it finally! Always have been interested in your truck.

Thanks, finally had the motivation to do it.

 

[KirsL]

So I finally get around to fixing the leaking valve cover. Just as I suspected, when I applied the rtv I didn't put enough on the one corner and it failed. So I cleaned everything up, applied some new rtv and put it back together.

Now since it's a pain in the ass to pull these from a fully together engine. I decided to check it without having to fully reassemble everything. So just like every other GM V8 the oil pump is driven in the same spot on the 6.x engines. My cordless drill on low speed and a 5/16 extension makes easy work to check it.


I like the cordless because it turns slow enough in low gear. High gear can cause the oil to splash out of the pump drive opening. Once I was sure it was sealed up good, I buttoned everything back up.

I rebled the injector lines and she's finally roared to life again.

Success! Mostly . After running long enough to kick off the cold idle advance and quadruple checking for leaks of any kind. I slowly reved her up to around 1500 or so. I was noticing a slight knock and when I bliped the throttle it was worse. So I shut her off and went to bed since it was late that night.

Fast forward to today and I'm thinking about why it would be knocking. Then it dawns on me. The pump is set for 100 ccs of fuel and I had the timing waaay advanced for a stock compression engine.

So tonight I set out to adjust the timing and see how she sounds. So I knock the timing down to about a 1/32 between the marks. That's a while lot less then the 1/8 that I had . Start her up, kick in the fast idle and let her warm up some. Knocking is way down but I think I might have a lifter sticking. I have to run it more to see if it goes away or not. So in figure I'll try and pinpoint where the knock/tick is coming from. I shut her off to go look for my stethoscope. Yes an actual stethoscope with a long 1/8" bar on it. Very handy to locate strange sounds.

I go to restart the old girl and I get my gauges and such, but no starter. Nothing, no clicks, no clunks, nothing . Since there's no power draw of any kind I'm leaning towards my ignition switch partially failing. But in had had enough for tonight. I'll deal with her tomorrow.