2nd Gen Resto Build

We also find some cracked pistons.

Trans/T-case out and engine coming out.

And now we find 2 cracked/broke mains on the block.

I jumped the gun on the pistons and bought a set of .020 over coated pistons for this block since it was already .020 over and the cylinders looked fine. After I bought them is when I discovered the block is junk, so they are for sale in the 2nd gen section. I decided on using a brand new short block. I also got a good head from a buddy of mine. I pulled the pistons from the short block and took them and the head over to C-Tech Performance in Grand Rapids, Mi. They are going to cut valve relief in the pistons and firering and port the head. I thought of cutting off the intake shelf but I just can't swallow $1300 for an intake. Once they get done with it I am sending the pistons and head to SwainTech to have the pistons coated and the head and valve faces coated also.

I got a modified Gorilla Girdle and studs from Industrial Injection to stiffen up the bottom end. The crank is going to get sent out for balance. I think I'm going to use my old rods since they are the England made rods. The rods that came in the short block are 5 from Mexico and 1 from Brazil. They way I understand it the England rods are supposed to be better. They are going to get magnafluxed for cracks and checked to make sure they are still straight.

I am having a hard time getting a hold of Hamilton Cams to talk to them to find out which cam to go with. I'm looking at the 188/220 and new tappets.

I want to build me a sleeper truck. Retain as much of the stock look that I can, even under the hood. There is gonna be a lot of powdercoat under there too. This is my daily driver. It is not going to turn out to be a Saturday Mecum or Barrett Jackson auction truck but hopefully it is good enough for a Thursday or Friday nite show.

CumminsCowboyNE said:

subscribed....oh the carnage....love it...

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Here's some more carnage that we found in the block and in the bottom of the oil pan and had a good part of the oil pickup tube blocked. It's not magnetic and it is too dark in color to be aluminum. Cast is the only thing we can come up with but there is nothing missing from the block, even where it's cracked. This is about 1/2 of it. the rest got lost in the disassembly and clean up process.

durajunk said:

Wonder what made the block crack like that almost looks like someone tighten that thing up with a impact gun you got any pics of the rod and main bearings

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We are wondering the same thing. I specifically remember when we were doing the build my buddy, diesel mechanic, pulled out this huge, very expensive looking Snap On digital torque wrench. I swear he told me that thing was all of $800. Can't imagine it being out of calibration.

Here's the main bearings. Left is top and right is bottom.

Here's the rod bearings. Same deal.

The camera made them look WAY worse than what they are. I though they looked pretty good. We have a family friend who works in the powertrain division for GM and has been in the automotive industry for 40 years. He has one of them cool jobs of blowing up engines and transmissions all day and then figure out why it failed and send the engineers back to the drawing board. I called him up and had him come over to get his thoughts on this. He looked at the bearings and said they look pretty darn good. Both the mains and rod bearings. The river rock in the bottom,.... well, that's got him kinda stumped also. It is very hard and very light. Without having it tested he is thinking either the oil got so hot it's actually coke or some kind of ceramic. Oddly enough all the junk is around the rear oil drain port that the bottom turbo drains to, yet the turbo spins and looks good. We have to tear Both turbo's down yet. ALSO, when we were taking the oil pan off and getting into the bottom end the left over oil in there smelled extremely burnt. If the turbo's come out ok then I gotta do some homework to see where I can have a sample of this sent off to find out what it actually is.