99 6.5TD SAS

[Chevman88]

It's assembly time! Between missing various odds and ends and things breaking last minute that take priority this project keeps getting put on hold. Block painted, crank is in, goal is the short block and heads tomorrow. Need to disassemble the heads, Dremel some leftover casting that will slice up my fingers on the injector bosses, lap the valves, and give them a good overall cleaning. Still need to pull the rings that came on the pistons off and then check the gap on the new "gapless" rings before getting those all assembled.

 

[AgDieseler]

What a beaut’.

David

 

[Chevman88]

What a beaut’.

David

Question for ya, did you happen to check the ring gap of the secondary rings you got from total seal? The set I have is coming in at 0.025+ (my feeler gauges only go to 0.025 and the gap is slightly bigger) and the specs I have is 0.0035 per inch of bore which lands me at around 0.014.

 

[Babaganoosh]

The white block looks really good.

 

[K85 Octane]

The white block looks really good.

It's also beyond ballzy for a diesel LOL

Obviously both knuckle mounted steering arms should be the same, but the arm that has the draglink (the hole to pivot distance) affects a lot. A shorter arm will have less leverage but will rotate the knuckle more. This is opposite of the pitman arm.

If folks swear by the pitman arm, my guess is the axle side steering arm is too long. Pretty easy to measure the sweep of the pitman arm and make sure the steering arm meets the demand.

 

[Chevman88]

It's also beyond ballzy for a diesel LOL
...
If folks swear by the pitman arm, my guess is the axle side steering arm is too long. Pretty easy to measure the sweep of the pitman arm and make sure the steering arm meets the demand.

Guess I better not screw up getting everything sealed up nice and tight...or if I don't at least the leaks will be easier to spot

I've got a bunch of high temp cerakote for all the parts that I can sandblast (exhaust included). Only come by this way every so often, might as well take my time and do it right and make it perty

As far as the steering goes, pretty sure the last I looked at it, my steering arm was too long but have just dealt with it. I'm sure I'll come back to it as other more pressing issues are resolved.

 

[shady]

Eh. Leave the gap at .025. that leaves room for MORE boost

 

[AgDieseler]

Question for ya, did you happen to check the ring gap of the secondary rings you got from total seal? The set I have is coming in at 0.025+ (my feeler gauges only go to 0.025 and the gap is slightly bigger) and the specs I have is 0.0035 per inch of bore which lands me at around 0.014.

That's a bit far back in the rearview. My dad did check them in the bore before shipping them off for modification, but I don't know where he would have written it down.

David

 

[Chevman88]

While waiting to hear back on the ring gap issue, got one of the heads broken down and built in blood extractors dremeled away.

Went back and forth on lapping the valves (there's articles for and against it) and decided against it after talking to Mike at Quadstar. He doesn't lap his valves for these heads but does break them down and clean them out, which is my next step anyway...so into the parts washer they go.

Found a nice little surprise in that these heads have the better valve stem seals than the old o-ring and or umbrella seal.

Also looks like UPS may have had a few fumbles with this as I found a few dinged/chipped corners, nothing a flattening stone couldn't handle.

 

[Chevman88]

Head #1 done. Figured with it off, might as well get the rockers all aligned and lube them up. Snugged down the valve cover with Quadstar's valve cover plate kit to keep bugs/dust/dirt out.

 

[Chevman88]

Making slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Rotating assembly assembled, cam and timing set installed, and second head broken down. Starting to prep the area for parts that are going to be cerakoted.

 

[GWeakland620]

I love seeing the 506 stamp!

 

[Chevman88]

Ran into an excessive play issue with one of the rockers on the last rocker set, contacted quadstar and now have a replacement rocker on the way - should be here today . While waiting I decided to start sand blasting parts to get them prepped for cerakote and the compressor pump decided it was gettin too old for this, so it's time to replace the pump...and build it back better. Going to put an aftercooler between the pump and tank along with a 3 stage air filter/water separator to keep the air nice and dry. Already have the pump (just went with the HF 175 PSI 15CFM @90psi special for now) and the extra parts should also be here today.

 

[Chevman88]

Finally had some time to work on this today and got the compressor mostly plumbed and the electrical ran enough to test everything...note to self - stacked plate cooler probably doesn't flow enough or hold a high enough PSI for this compressor...Need to look at some other options.