engine swap

[rattlecan6104]

engine swap it runs! with video!

So I have had the misfortune of blowing 3 turbo's in recent history... the first I attributed to turning the fuel up too much when I tried to adjust it without a pyrometer and cooked the poor little guy, it was seven different kinds of toast, gouges from impellor blades on the intake side and the exhaust blades were... well... demolished. when I replaced it with a used turbo, I installed a pyrometer and boost gauge so I can monitor the turbo and prevent another failure. Within a week the second turbo failed, the bearings just gave out. I was pretty irate at this point and kicked myself in the ass for making a craigslist purchase and took a crowbar to my wallet and purchased a rebuilt unit. Before installing it I ran the engine without the turbo hooked up to see if I was getting oil flow through the turbo oil feed like, 8 seconds of run time netted about a gallon and a half of oil blown out, so surely I figured I was good. Pre-oiled and installed turbo #3 and about 2 months later It gave out as well...

I sat and pondered for a while trying to figure out what was consistent between all three failures... all of them had bearing and seal failure, but why? I did my periodic oil changes, I (after installing the pyro) kept the EGT's to manageable levels. It has to have something to do with the oiling system... Ont thing I noticed in the past was that I was getting increasing amounts of blow by. This also caused the oil to get "frothy" So I started to think that it was causing air bubbles to go through the system and running the turbo bearings dry. I talked with a mentor who is a diesel mechanic and he said that another thing to consider is that a lot of diesels feed oil to the turbo after it goes through cam bearings. If I have an intermittently spinning cam bearing it blocks off the oil flow to the turbo. When I tested for oil flow it would have just happened to be in place for proper oiling.

This brings me to where I am at now. The one consistent variable is the engine, it is worn out and blows turbos, so now its time for an engine swap. FLYUSN99 was kind enough to pick up an engine at a good price and bring it up this way during his PCS move, so now I have a replacement, its time to yard out the old power plant.

 

[swbradley1]

I'm getting ready to change mine as well. I finally got my 5-ton chain hoist on crane with a new trolley on Saturday. We are going to have an engine swapping get together after the GA Rally.

I tested my setup by picking up the front of the Deuce.

 

[rattlecan6104]

my gantry crane isnt that strong, but just enough for an engine swap, just finished assembling the whole setup earlier today.

 

[swbradley1]

We are going to pull the entire power pack at once.

Although it says 1-ton on the beam that was for the 20-25 foot long beam, mine is about 12 feet. I believe in having a lot of unneeded capacity for safety.

 

[gimpyrobb]

What turbos have you used? Were they all "C" turbos? Were they all "D" trubos? Both?

 

[cattlerepairman]

On the positive side, you only have a few mosquitoes near your truck. Most won't make it through.

 

[Bob H]

Couple things;
1. "frothy" oil says to me coolant in oil, white exhuast smoke sugests water/coolant to me.
2. are you idling for 5 minutes prior to shut down to allow the oil to cool the turbo?

 

[rattlecan6104]

I thought about the coolant in the oil, however checking the oil, it is still black... and yes I idle the engine before shut down, I have a pyro installed and wont shut down until EGT's get below 325. All three turbos were whistlers... The first one I ran in the truck for about 3 years no problem. The smoke only happened after blowing the turbo, it was spewing oil out the stack as well.

 

[rattlecan6104]

So today the replacement engine came in, we got it unloaded as well as another "parts" engine and stuffed them in the shop. The engine looked like it has seen better days, and for piece of mind I pulled all the external components off so that I could get a better look at everything. I thought it was amazing that both engines came with whistler turbos... both are usable, but can benefit from a rebuild as well.. at this point I have torn nearly everything off of the engine, and now the cleaning and reconditioning can commence.

 

[rattlecan6104]

Got a bit of progress done today, after finding that the flywheel on the replacement engine wasnt good, I had to pull the bad engine out of the deuce ahead of time to inspect its flywheel before I order my parts. I got lucky and that flywheel was good enough to machine. So after pulling it out, I settled back into work prepping and painting the replacement engine block and heads... I plan on doing a black and OD green paint scheme to match the rest of the truck, so all the accessories will get painted individually before they get installed, it should look pretty slick when I get done.

 

[barefootin]

I thought about the coolant in the oil, however checking the oil, it is still black... and yes I idle the engine before shut down, I have a pyro installed and wont shut down until EGT's get below 325.

It looks like you are spending some quality time with your rig, they like that....
As for shut-down EGT's, personally I let mine get down to 285-290F before shutdown. It may be a difference in where our pyro's are tapped in; but if I used 325F as the bogey on mine I'd never need to let it idle at all.....

 

[rattlecan6104]

mine is pre turbo... it takes about 5 minutes to get that cool, after its "warmed up" it sits at about 300-315, so I figured that waiting until I hit 325 was a good bogey... mine is always running on WMO, so that may account for the higher EGT's as well.

 

[barefootin]

My pyros are pre-turbo on the manifold runner. Mine must be a cool runner because 315 to 325 is second gear going through a parking lot. By the time I park, set the brake and chock the wheels I'm at 290.....

 

[rattlecan6104]

Today I tore into the compressor base, oil cooler, and valve train cover plate... There was a LOT of corrosion in the oil cooler, so this was a good chance to clean it all up before the pieces received a good coat of rattlecan. I had also taken my flywheel to the machine shop to get resurfaced, One thing I figured I should point out is that for proper clutch operation and life it is imperative that they machine the outer ring of the flywheel to maintain the same depth to the flywheel surface that it had before and also they machine the WHOLE flywheel surface, if they dont get all the way to the outer lip, it causes an interference for the pressure plate. This was advise from a diesel tech who I have essentially made my mentor... I just figured this tidbit of info was too good to keep to myself.

All the parts I need to reassemble the engine have been ordered, and tomorrow I will order the turbo rebuild kit. So until them I have plenty of time to clean, prime, and paint all the parts going on the engine. The wife asked me why I am putting so much tedious effort into the detail of this engine. My response was that since I am trying to start a shop, if I didnt put any real effort into my own project, what does that say to the potential customer. Makes sense, right?

 

[JAYHAWK 1962]

Thanks for the pics. Hope all goes well for you. What kind of gantry crane are you using? thanks kyle

 

[rattlecan6104]

Thanks for the pics. Hope all goes well for you. What kind of gantry crane are you using? thanks kyle

Its a harbor freight unit... capacity is 1 ton, you have to purchase the trolley and chain hoist separately, for those I opted for 2 ton capacity, I know I am still limited to one ton on the crane, but I figured the trolley and chain with higher capacity will operate better at 50% capacity, rather than 1 ton units at 100%. I would have gotten a stronger gantry crane had I found one...

 

[swbradley1]

Its a harbor freight unit... capacity is 1 ton, you have to purchase the trolley and chain hoist separately, for those I opted for 2 ton capacity, I know I am still limited to one ton on the crane, but I figured the trolley and chain with higher capacity will operate better at 50% capacity, rather than 1 ton units at 100%. I would have gotten a stronger gantry crane had I found one...

I'm glad Gimpy found the gantry up the street from my house that I bought, AND he found the 5-ton chain hoist at the Marengo show in July.

The parts and everything look pretty clean and the engine will be pretty when it's done. Almost too pretty get dirty.

 

[rattlecan6104]

as I start pulling the valve covers off of my engine I saw a nicely horrible sight, walked over next door to show my mentor and he said right off the bat, "blown head gasket" I pointed out that the oil on the dipstick showed no signs of water, he said sometimes it doesnt, but if I drop my oil pan, it will look just like the inside of the valve covers. Good to know... Anyway, back to cleaning, priming and painting... Them valve covers look pretty nice now, but I think I can do better...

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Looks like you are doing a nice great!!! Keep it up!!

 

[Gunfreak25]

You may wish to take the opportunity to steam clean that engine compartment while you have everything out. Or is it just me that suffers from OCD.