TFaoro

Sounds good to me! Although, I don't know how "controlled" of an experiment this is. Maybe one of us has a warped pan, timing cover ect.

I thought about a girdle, but at only 700 (The MAX this truck would ever see) I don't need one. If I was going Ppump and 800+ then I would have put in rods, stronger head studs, gorilla girdle ect ect.

I would. That's rediculous.... You pay good money you want what you paid for it's simple.

Thanks buddy. Friday is the goal... When are your injectors supposed to be back?

Nope... I used high temp RTV on the timing case and timing cover. I know it sealed well because I had to take it off once haha. Everything else was fine... Just a little bit of RTV where needed. The problem with coloring... What goes with blue?? Not much, so black it was. I could have painted the whole motor the same as the manifold and turbo but that was too flat for me. I think rburks is correct about that gloss dying off.... Not sure about before the first oil change though! 150 - 200 miles is the first change. 1,500 is the second change.

You guys really do enjoy messing with me... I think you all might be a little bit crazy

You're welcome guys. As long as this thread stays positive and informative I'll keep updating it. The gloss will fade with time, I'm sure the heat cycles will take it's tole on it. It will fad out to where the oil can be seen. If not.... well hopefully my eyes stay young for a while! Got a lot done today. Worked on it for about 13 hours. I painted some parts and bolted on almost everything I could before setting it in the truck. Got it in (That's PS fluid on the ground) I worked on wiring for what seemed like forever today... I ran things differently and I really like the way everything turned out. I've still got to bolt the dash down, bolt the steering column up, and put the finishing touches on the wiring. Then I'll start assembling the front. Tomorrow I should be drilling the crank for the fluidampr pins..... That should be fun! Hopefully have everything done so I can start on the trans Tuesday. Here's how it sits now. (Turbo is very dirty don't judge)

That's why she's not supposed to leak!!

Sorry not much time for an update... It's 2:45 am here. I'll throw up some eye candy for the night though. Started here Mid day Pulled tape. Started putting accessories on. (oil block-off plug, bell housing, mechanical lift pump plate ect) Ended here. Tape is still on the valve cover because I have to paint the exhaust side of the head with 2000* paint. Did a little work on the injection lines too. Clutch / billet rear freeze plug. Exhaust side

I'm not here to argue right and wrong. The BOOK says to use engine assembly lube in many of the places, specifically the stuff I bought. The guy I learned how to rebuild diesels from has rebuilt hundreds of OTR truck engines with ZERO failures. I am not in the slightest bit concerned that something is going to get hurt. I do plan to turn the engine over with the starter and no injectors until it builds oil pressure. The white lube will melt into the oil and won't hurt a thing. Thanks for looking

Here's where things went bad.... So the oil ring popped out of the compressor on one of the pistons. No big deal it happens all the time, so we put it back in the vice. Got everything back in and popped the piston in the hole. I had a bad feeling about it so I decided to pull it back out. Well a chunk of the oil control ring fell out when the piston came out. Right away I called the guy who machined the motor and let him know what happened. He said no problem... get here before I close and you can have an oil ring for free. So I drove 125 miles up there and got the ring just before he closed. Came back home... after 4 hours of driving I was tired but kept working. So we popped that piston and the last two in. Here they are all in. I then flipped it over, loosened each of the rod bolts and re-torqued them down again. Put the pan gasket and pickup tube in. Then dropped the pan on. Rolled it over, put the studs in, and dropped the head gasket on it. Went and grabbed the head. Here's some pics before I installed it. Set the head on. Man that was easy with the studs sticking out! I then torqued the head down to 40, 80, 130. Tomorrow I will loosen each stud (individually) twice and re-torque it. This is EASY compared to doing it on a CR with twins. Threw the valve cover and gasket on it for tonight. Also threw the front cover on to keep dirt out. Here's how she sits for the night. The plan tomorrow is to do the studs, and bolt on everything else that we can before paint. I'll then paint it and rebuild the transmission while the paint dries. Hoping to drop the motor back in the truck Sunday.

Alright tons to update: Started the day off by putting the rods on the new pistons. All done. Then I bolted on the front cover Dropped in the tappets. The lube for those was like grease! Stuck the cam in. Put in the billet piston cooling jets. They had to be driven in with a punch... Very tight fit! Here's where they start and end up. Seated. Dropped in the tops of the main bearings. Pulled the crank out of its wrap. Even has my name on it! That is the point I went OH SH**. The crank gear doesn't fit past the timing case.... Pulled the cam back out, and took the front timing case back off. My original thought was to do the cam first because I could reach in and guide it as it went in, but that backfired. I guess I should have put it back together the way I took it apart! O well I was wrong. So we dropped the crank in, torqued the mains, installed the timing case, and put the cam back in again. Only lost about 20 min so the day was still going well. Started installing pistons.

Thank you. I am going to run two vents... One will go into a catch can the other will be to atmosphere. This motor is built to hold 700+ all day long, so it's going to have slightly more blowby than your average engine. It won't be anything extreme though. I never kept up with the marine stuff, so I can't help with that info. These are marine pistons though.

VP front seal is a known culprit for dumping fuel into the crank case. I doubt they will find anything in the injectors. Everything is aligned toward diluted oil though.

I'm making some progress.... Check piston ring gaps and set them when they were off. New starter contacts. This is oem vs Larry B's One installed Oil pan, front cover, and 12V tappet cover all prepped for paint tomorrow. Plan is to drop everything in early in the morning, then paint later. Hopefully get around to the transmission tomorrow afternoon or saturday.

I am not married.... but she is gone this weekend. Plus she'll come over and help me get things ready if I ask! I don't think that'll last too long haha!

Thanks rburks! The engine hasn't been touched. Tonight will consist of cleaning all mating surfaces, checking ring gap (grinding if necessary), and prepping the garage to work. If I still have time I might start throwing parts on it.

Starting to put things together!!

I'm going to keep posting everything in this thread until I have it rebuilt. When it comes time to do a writeup (When I head back to school) I will do just as you are saying. Great thinking rburks.

No it's not bad once you have the springs off. Even easier with the head off and no oil in it! The tool is from CPP diesel. It came with my brothers valve springs (bought last Thanksgiving.) If you'd like to borrow it just let me know it's all yours. It'll get a manifold when I go twins. I don't want to drill the top side of a new manifold only to flip it over and drill two more holes. And like you said I don't think the performance gains constitute buying one at this time.

Finally got some time to work on the truck tonight. Been doing hay for the last week and haven't even touched it. Painted the manifold, turbo exhaust housing. turbo cartridge, and manifold bolts. I was very pleased with the way everything turned out! The manifold almost doesn't look like the stocker. I also got the 104# high lift springs in tonight. From the side they don't look much different than the stock springs, but they are WAY harder to squeeze. They also have a larger diameter. Few random pics of installing springs

Genos garage. Should be able to find it in a google search!

Make sure you get the updated bracket. The earlier year VP trucks had problems with the bracket breaking. Where was the silicone? I guess I'm not familiar with a solonoid on the outside of the pump.

Mike, have you done a writeup on the rebuild? When I go to third gen brakes and drilled / slotted rotors I'll likely rebuild the calipars.

I left mine in and put a little bit down the two edges, the front and the back. If it's tight I wouldn't take it out! Make sure you use a mirror to see if the key is entering the gear correctly.