A good deal gone wrong..my 1985 k10 diesel build.

[ol'blazer]

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

Look around your local area, check CL, etc. There was a guy selling NOS Military surplus heads for GM 6.2L, still wrapped in wax paper in the crate. I think he might have been selling them for $400 a set? Can't find his ads anymore but you may find a similar deal in your area.

thats the plan! plus i have been looking at local junk yards. i found one guy who has a set for 300 without injectors.. but i found another guy with a running whole 6.5 for 400, he said he would even pull it himself. my plan is to probably buy the 6.5 do a compression test, then either swap the heads onto the 6.2, or use the whole 6.5 Engine with my 6.2 injector pump.

[ol'blazer]

haven't done an update in awhile. not any huge progress, i picked up a 4" stainless magnaflow exhaust from a early 2000's cummins on sale, i payed 200 for the whole kit! i know 4" is way overkill but, for the price it will look cool!


also got myself a fuel filter and water separator off a john deer tractor we had out back. i know ill loose my water in fuel light and fuel heater, but i believe its a better filter than the stock one.



i also tracked down a 6.5 engine out of a 1993, i paid 400 for the engine. i heard it running one weekend and the guy had it out the next!

it came with everything minus the turbo. i had already started stripping before i took a picture. the truck ran great, had 220 000 kms on the truck. because the bottom end is rebuilt on the 6.2 in my truck im just going to use the heads off the 6.5 for now. if it causes a problem in the future ill swap the heads back on the 6.5 and drop that in. the engine looks very clean, no sludge!

my gasket kit came with new valve seals, so while i have the heads off im going to clean all the carbon off, lap the valves, put new valve seals and paint them up. i started stripping down one head today.

by the end of this week im hoping to have the heads ready to drop on my block.

[dieseltech]

any progress? I am curious on how you plan to run the exhaust. I'm planning a 6.5 swap in the spring on my 86 and really don't want to do a body lift to clear the exhaust

[ol'blazer]

Originally Posted by dieseltech

any progress? I am curious on how you plan to run the exhaust. I'm planning a 6.5 swap in the spring on my 86 and really don't want to do a body lift to clear the exhaust

Sorry I hadn't had a chance to update. Once I started cleaning the carbon off the 6.5 heads I noticed the precups were cracked over the 1/3" tolerance. So I'm in the process of Gently pulling the precups from the 6.2 heads and swapping them in my 6.5 heads. I'll post pictures later tonight!
As far as the exhuast I'm planning on running a 3" downpipe I'll fabricate myself, and I've held the exhuast up just to see and the pipe doesnt hang to low and the tailpipe seems to go nicely over the diff, the only thing that might cause a problem is where it cuts out the side.

[ol'blazer]

finally got a night in the shop, as i mentioned previously, the precups in the 6.5 heads were cracked over spec. after doing more research i found that they were also the diamond precup, which is the largest one available. but for the low boost engine im building they were not the best option anyway.



so i pounded the the much smaller cups from the cracked 6.2 heads out,




i also used a grinding compound on all the valves

[Country705]

Very interesting. I am working a deal out on a 1986 K20. I am very interested in your progress

[ol'blazer]

so today i built a socket to pull the injectors, make pulling them a lot easier, i started with a 30mm socket, but the injector line and return line hit the top, so i cut the top off then welded a 1 1/4 socket on the socket, worked perfect!







i got all my cups out, but i found a full set of 8 on ebay new for $80, so instead of messing around with the used cracked ones im just going to try them out. heres a picture of the diamond cups vs. sock 6.2 cups



you can see the diamonds are alot larger, but with a low boost engine they would just produce extra egts, the small cups would run a lot more efficient in my set up.

[ol'blazer]

i ordered the pre cups off ebay, but they wont be in for 2-3 weeks, so in the mean time im going to put in all the valves,paint the heads, and work on another one of the many things that need to be done on this truck.

tonight after work i got a quarter of the valves put in! i should have one head completed tomorrow.

[ol'blazer]

got my heads together, just waiting on the pre cups to come in then i can drop the heads on, in the meantime i painted the heads, i like the color of the calve covers because it reminds me of the Detroit green.






should have the heads on soon after the pre cups come in

[ol'blazer]

a friend of mine had these 4" blocks he gave me, so i got some longer u bolts made up at a local place for 60 bucks, worked perfect!


after i test fitted everything i took a grinder and knocked everything down to bear metal and used red rust paint to seal it up. when i'm doing the body work with the box off i'm going to undercoat everything anyway

[ol'blazer]

i got the rear blocks in, i just have to get the shocks in and build an air bad set up. i want to do that when i have the box off, and after i sandblast and undercoat my frame. i ordered a set of 4" front springs and a raised steering arm as well.
my precups finally came in so i pounded them into my heads tonight


it took me a while to get them in the 0.02 tolerance, a couple of them would not pound down far enough, they're out by at most 0.005 so i hope it doesn't hurt. i read that fitment issues are to be expected with these cheap aftermarket cups

[68Timber]

I don't know how to work on a diesel motor, just learning as needed, so it's cool to watch you save this one. Especially since you resisted putting a small block in it. I'd never even heard of precups, I guess that's where the fuel enters the combustion chamber, but how is that a wear item? Just a bad design?

[ol'blazer]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

I don't know how to work on a diesel motor, just learning as needed, so it's cool to watch you save this one. Especially since you resisted putting a small block in it. I'd never even heard of precups, I guess that's where the fuel enters the combustion chamber, but how is that a wear item? Just a bad design?

this has been a huge learning curve for me! i'm learning as i go as well!. precups is actually short for pre combustion chambers. the old GM 6.2 and 6.5s, and ford 6.9, and 7.3, ext. were called indirect injection (IDI) because the fuel was not injected directly into the cylinder, but first into the precup where the initial combustion takes place. over time i guess the constant expositions cause them to crack.

[youngblood78]

Just stumbled across this looks interesting what did you end up doing?

[ol'blazer]

go the heads on and torqued tonight! hopping to go hard all weekend!

im not a very big guy (5'6'', 140lbs) so i needed a little help getting the heads in place

[lilpoindexter]

Very cool build. Diesel for the win!

[ol'blazer]

Originally Posted by lilpoindexter

Very cool build. Diesel for the win!

thanks!!

woke up early this morning and got majority of the engine together!



i'm not sure why i did this, but i smoothed the thermostat housing, it looks real nice!


i had to remove the vacuum pump the clear the 6.5 fuel filter at the rear of the intake manifold, but i replaced it with the cam sensor off the 6.5 to turn the oil pump



i also got the in line pump and fuel lines ran, all thats left in re-wiring the glow plugs and putting the turbo on. few big steps left

[ol'blazer]

today i bought some metallic manifold paint and cleaned up the exhuast manifolds, and turbo with it. i also painted the turbo heat shield with the same paint as my valve covers. i really like how they looked


i also converted the wastgate to a manual one. i believe the 6.5 came with around 15 psi, whatever it is its more than the 7-8psi i want to run. so first cut the cup around the spring:

then i cut the factory washer holding the spring off, then welded a piece of 1/4" threaded rod to the end of the factory rod

then i drilled a hole in the factory washer and used a lock nut to hold the spring in place.

by doing this i can control my boost by tightening or loosening the nut. they make aftermarket kits that are basically the same as this, but they cost 100+ ! saved a few being resourceful!

[ol'blazer]

got a lot of my wiring done this weekend. i removed the glow plug controller. the glow plug controller from the factor engages the glow plugs when the key is turned on, and also controls the fast idle solenoid and cold advance on the injection pump. the wiring to the controller had been hacked by the previous owner,so it was easier to remove it, then rewire the glow plugs, cold advance and fast idle.

the first thing i did was take the junction block out of a 1994 chev 1500 to provide power to a few different things


i made new glow plug harnesses

i wired it to a solenoid that was already wired for manual glow plugs. i mounted the junction box on my firewall and am using it to power the solenoid, and glow plug switch. for the injection pump i had to run two wires with 12v on a switch, that way i can hit the switch when starting it, but also kick up the idle in the winter when its idling for a long period of time.
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i also got the turbo mounted and a air filer i had laying around on

and finally got the alternator and power steering pump black on, its coming very close to being able to fire it up!

[ol'blazer]

well guys i have good and bad news. first off i got the truck running! the coolant problem is gone and it runs like a top!. here is the bad news, the tranny is shot. it was fine the last time i drove the truck, but now it drives well in first, then second and third slip and overdrive is like neutral... i got an offer of 1200 for the engine with the turbo set up... and i really think i might take it...

[ol'blazer]

well guys, i sold the engine. 1200 for everything. ill pull the engine and keep the rest of the truck for parts. i picked up a 1987 k10 wrangler with a 350. the body is in better condition and only needs a fuel pump.


i like this truck alot more... maybe its the sport bumper and the black interior.. i dont know. but hopfully i have better luck with it

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by ol'blazer

i got the rear blocks in, i just have to get the shocks in and build an air bad set up. i want to do that when i have the box off, and after i sandblast and undercoat my frame. i ordered a set of 4" front springs and a raised steering arm as well.
my precups finally came in so i pounded them into my heads tonight


it took me a while to get them in the 0.02 tolerance, a couple of them would not pound down far enough, they're out by at most 0.005 so i hope it doesn't hurt. i read that fitment issues are to be expected with these cheap aftermarket cups

Those pre-cups should always stick about .001-.002" proud. Is that what you were aiming for?

Cheap head shops that don't know what they are doing will mill those diesel heads with the pre cups installed and eventually that leads to a head gasket failure.

[Corts60]

That's too bad you got rid of the diesel. Would've been a cool truck. ALthough I am sure you'll have much more fun with that small block.

[ol'blazer]

Originally Posted by Corts60

That's too bad you got rid of the diesel. Would've been a cool truck. ALthough I am sure you'll have much more fun with that small block.

For the precups I was aiming for the 0.01-0.02" tolerance, that was the tolerance I found so I spent a lot of time making sure they were there. It really would have been a cool engine, definitely a lot different from most people's trucks...I have no regrets building this engine, it introduced me to many new things,and I had a lot of fun building it. I still have the 6.5 bottom end sitting in my shop and I'm considering totally rebuilding it and maybe someday in the future dropping it into the wrangler..but time will tell I guess.