Well i thought itd never come out. the front of the truck started to go up before the head popped loose. Any who anyone kno where i can get the head cleaned up. and also there is some junk in my cylinders, how do i clean them. any other things i should do.

 

Well Fear, half of the battle is won. you got the heavy part off finally. are you needing the head cleaned internally, or just need to get the oil and grime off the outside. if the outside is the only thing that you are worried about, then soak it down with a good degreaser from the parts store and hose it off. if you want the innards cleaned then you'll need to have an engine shop tank it. but you probably dont really need that done.if you have it tanked then you have to strip the valves out. and it costs a little money to.

 

some gunk ran down in to the cylinders, do i just use a rag amd wd45 and whip them out

 

Yeah, clean them as best you can. Use a rag that does not leave lint. Clean the head up pretty good and look for cracks before you sink any money into o-ringing or grinding it flat if it's warped.

 

can i spray the degrease on the hole head like the valve springs and stuff. also how hard is it to adjust the springs. may as well do that while i got it out.

 

can i spray the degrease on the hole head like the valve springs and stuff.



yup. dump as much as you want on that thing. if you're going to get it flattened (which i would highly recommend) though, the machine shop will want to through it in a hot tank first anyway.



also how hard is it to adjust the springs.


are you talkin about the valves, ftd? you want to do that with the head torqued down to the block. if that's not what you're talkin about, what kind of adjustment are you thinking about? if you can afford it i would also recommend getting heavy valves springs. about 100 bucks for a whole set. and if you get it flattened, have the valves done too. when i had my head off it cost me about 125 to have it and the valves done. you might as well since you now know how much of a pain it is.

dave

 

where do i get the valve springs. and i meant to make adjustments when the head was backon, also if i take it to a machine shop are they gonna kno wut to do with it? if i just say i want it flattened

 

you can get the springs from many of the vendors your familiar with. just make sure they are genuine cummins parts!!!!! i know this from experience. are you anywhere near schieds? heard nothin but good about them and their machine work. any machine shop that specializes in engine work should know what to do though.

dave

 

Drop the cash to have it magnafluxed AND decked. When they're done have them punch/advise how much they had to take off...then if it's not too much you can use a stock head gasket...if it's too much you'll need to use a thicker head gasket to keep pressures reasonable.
Believe it or not, Cummins actually says that there is an "allowable" amount of cracking that is acceptable and still have a good servicable head. If you have signs of cracking that are minor you might want to invest in some head studs too....the 12mm studs are enough for your purpose.
If the head is decked more than .010 then you should get a '10 over' gasket so you are back into the 'spec' range.
This becomes important if you are going to be playing with it, running high EGT's/high RPM and lots of boost. It'll at least give you a fighting chance to save your head gasket and the work you put into getting all done right.

pb...

 

On a side note... How heavy is the head exactly... 200-250lbs?

And

How Thick and how thin can you go with the head gaskets?

 

id say its about a 100 pounds, but im no judge of weight, i can carry it but it gets uncomfortable, and ive seen three gasktes standard 10thousandths and 20 thousandths Hopefully in gettin everything done monday then i should be starting on the major install thursday or friday

 

pastor, can you explain to me something i've been wondering about? like how taking .010 off a head with no combustion chamber would affect anything? something i realised after i put my .020 on after taking .010 off and now get lots of smoke at idle. does the almost unmeasurable difference in the valve cavity come into play or something? i'm not questioning your logic or anything, just puzzled by the whole thing. thanks.

 

".......does the almost unmeasurable difference in the valve cavity come into play or something? ...."

Yes it does and, the amount of boost pressures also contribute to the increase in risks....
You have exactly the type of effects you describe in smoke increase when the gasket is too thick as well.
If you run a modified cam you also have to watch for valve/piston clearance. In addtion to this the injector tip needs to have a proper spacing from the piston bowl as well.
There are some other issue's that I'll not go into at this time....

The single largest factor though, is boost numbers and cylinder pressures as relates to injection timing....that is something that factors in as well.

pb...

 

cool. thank you. on this subject, does pdr sell thinner injector washers? or can i just make some?

 

K i called a shop and they said to have it magnafluxed deck and the valves and head flatten it was gonna be bout 150 to 200 sound right. also any part numbers on them springs?