Building a Motor

adamsmarshall

adamsmarshall

Drilling Crooked Holes
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
1,915
Alright Guys and Gals heres the deal. Motor is thrashed from what a mechanic told me just by listening to it and said he recommends just buying a new one. Well due to money situations at the time I decided to use a different truck as a daily driver for now and pull the motor from the truck and inspect my own damage.

Anyways my question is, is there a good manual/referance out on rebuilding these motors or any just tips on right and wrong ways to go about this? I've never rebuilt a motor before so this will be a first and plan on doing it right the first time and upgrading the bottom end etc. Gonna end up going with 12v USA rods and QSB 480 pistons in her for starts and this is all going in an early 04 commonrail.

I am not afraid to ask questions and if I get to a dead end I will definatly take it to a shop. Just looking for all suggestions etc for this build. Thanks

Marshall
 
My freind recently tore into his 396 big block. it was his first motor rebuild too. once he got the heads loose coolant went every where because he didnt think to drain the radiator..... :hehe:

SO, drain the oil and the coolant before you go terin into stuff..... makes things lots cleaner.
 
The most important thing is to keep things clean when u put it together. make sure all your internal parts that u will be reuseing are put back in the same order they came out, like your conecting rods and push rods.
 
Organization and cleanliness go a long way. Also if your going to tear it apart and then get the parts be sure to store you crank and camshafts on end.
 
ok will do, already though about draining the fluids but appreciate the reminder, I bet that was a mess, and just out of intrest I'm assuming you lay the crank and cam on end so they don't warp do to hanging weight?

Also any special considerations to mounting the 12 valve rods in a commonrail?
 
adamsmarshall said:
ok will do, already though about draining the fluids but appreciate the reminder, I bet that was a mess, and just out of intrest I'm assuming you lay the crank and cam on end so they don't warp do to hanging weight?

Also any special considerations to mounting the 12 valve rods in a commonrail?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
for the rods, u could get them polished and shot peened. i would recommend going with a set of A-1 rod bolts, remember that the 12 valve rods need the correct rod bearings, make sure you get those.while your motor is out,and if you go with studs i would bottom tap all the head bolt holes. get a new Cummins oil pump, and go with Cummins gaskets, the main bolts are torque to yield so your gonna need new ones. i changed out my main bolts, cam and flex plate bolts. oh yeah, get the block decked, as well as the cylinder head so you have 2 completely flat sufaces,save you from blowing head gaskets. pm me if you have any more questions
 
no problem. contact Snedge, he will get you everything u need. yeah i saw a guy the other day at the gas station who had a shirt that was the same as my avatar, i laughed. its good to know i am not the only radical that thinks that,lol.
 
yeah already got a hold of jeff, just taking this step by step as I have a wedding to fund right now so unfortunatly the motor takes back stage
 
when u get your crank out tape some blue shop paper towels around the journals to keep dirt out
 
Is there are a book our anything out there for beginners about rebuilding diesels? Say you have someone who wants to learn and wants to do a rebuild but just has basic knowledge, what the best way to really start learning? How did most of you that are doing this kind of thing start?
 
get someone over to help you thats done it before, invest into the manual for the cummins engine, its 40 bucks.
 
I don't know about you, but I havn't been able to find one.

E: Nvm, thought there were different manuals for each displacement. I found one now. Thanks for your help.

E2: Is there a different manual for the 1st and 2nd gen b series?
 
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I have been learning from working at a diesel shop part time for the last year or so, but a nice manual on the cummins itself would be a great thing to have around for reference. any idea where I could pick one up?
 
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