I just posted in the wrong forum. Long story short. Compression check-failed. Pulled the head only to find 3 good pistons and 3 BAD pistons. Gonna go with either a rebuit long block or a swap in a used p-pumped motor. Any hang up's on a p-pumped motor swap? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks, Kevin.

 

I isolated the white smoking problem though!

 

What caused the failure ??

 

Maybe the previous owner believed higher was better on the pyro reading.

 

If the block was good, I'd rebuild the one you got. The P-pump can really flow the fuel, but the VE can also be tuned to over- fuel a set of twins. plus, the internal timing advance gives you better low end torque on less fuel. The pump will FIT with no modifications needed.

It is a Cummins acceptable practice to replace only the bad pistons, and bore and sleeve the bad cylinders, if applicable. (just make sure the pistons are the same compression ratio as the others) I'm amazed it would still run.

If I were to replace all the pistons, I'd go for 15.3:1 or 16:1. Lower compression equals longer engine life. Timing and airflow can be improved to make up for the lack of compression.

Daniel

 

How many miles on it already? Any marks on the cylinder walls? Are the rings still intact? Head still straight , any cracks? Might check the turbo too for a damged pin wheel from the debris.

 

That's not pretty. Like the other guys said, how does the hole look? Nothing wrong with just slapping in a new piston if the block is OK or salvageable by a rebore in that hole.

To answer your question, a P-pumped motor drops in fine. There will be minor hassles with intake plumbing, throttle linkage, and wiring, but nothing major.

 

cylinders 2 and 6 are scored a bit. There is enough material out of two of the bad pistons to see the top ring. I was amazed when i saw the damage because it didn't run too bad. A sort of odd thing i noticed last week when i was tabbing the killer dowel pin was that the timing gear was advanced 3 teeth too many. I pulled the gear and put it back in the right spot and the motor ran smoother and pulled the most boost i'd seen on this motor(25psi). It ran pretty good, didn't use oil or freeze. I've only had it for 5000 miles. I live in midwestern IL and i drove it almost to minisota last month and got 16mpg highway. I've been averaging about 13 regularly. It never started hard or left me stranded which i'm pretty amazed of though. Kinda sucks that i just put a rebuilt pump on it and new bosche injectors, lift pump, and etc... For the last 3 months this is all i've been working on. I just shot a new coat of Imron bright white on her so nows she's looking good. I can't wait to see how it'll run with a sound motor. The head has a real bent valve on #6 that must have not been fixed when the bad stuff happened. There was piston to valve contact on #4. The turbo looks fine to me, no play and good wheels spinnin' freely. What kinda money am I lookin at rebuilding what i've got? Also time is of the essence if i'm gonna get it running because it's about harvest time and we've got a lot of acres to cover. So i'm thinking bout just getting a complete motor and throwing it in. Well, i think i've talked enough for now but i appreciate all the support i've received over the last few months. Thanks, Kevin

 

Gack. They are real expensive to completely rebuild, and it sounds like yours is a candidate for that. If you can find a used motor around $1500 you will be in business quicker for less money - unless you can get your machine work done close to free.

 

Yeah, sounds like it's gonna add up with the head damage too. Don't limit yourself to just looking for an engine. Watch for rust buckets and wrecks where you can listen to the engine run. Like Dave said, probably 1500-2500 for a turnkey 1st gen.

 

Machine work is kind of few and far between around here and the local shops don't work very fast at all. That is what scares me otherwise i would just put her on a stand and rebuild it myself. If i don't get it running by labor day it probably won't get done until october. Since this is my one and only daily driver i kind of need to have it goin'. Also, i'm driving my cousins rough '79 flatbed with a 460 ford right so i'm feeling very rushed to get back into my dodge/cummins. Gotta love it.

 

man if you were closer to az there is a guy sellin some engines out of a 93 for pretty cheap

 

look on craigslist and places like that. i just scored a complete parts truck, and i just put the motor in my truck. got it for 1100. has 248,000 miles and runs great.

 

i bought a complete 4x4 five speed with some issues for 2k. body is munched.

 

Sorry to see that happen hope you get it back up to speed