Blueoval_boy_64

Now if I could just find the steps to properly remove the heads on this thing.....

[F2C]MaDMaXX

So are you tearing this one down and repairing?

Blueoval_boy_64

That's the hope. In the end it seemed silly to not tear this one down to see what's wrong. If it's just a head gasket I could do a top end, upgrade to ARP head studs, helicoil all 10 spark plug holes, have it back together for less than a much higher mileage junkyard engine.

Blueoval_boy_64

Blueoval_boy_64

So here's the head scratcher. The head gaskets didn't appear to be bad, no obvious cylinder w/water in it and I couldn't see any obvious cracks in the heads or cylinder walls. No pistons seem to have any damage and can see no damage to the blocks. All pistons appear to have the same amount of stroke. The only thing that's not uniform is the amount of carbon build up. Cylinders 1 and 3 have a bit more than the other 7 and 7 has more than those 2. I'm hoping to hear something from the machine shop once I get them dropped off tomorrow.

TruckGuy24

Interesting build, props to you for keeping with it.

I have to say though, this is exactly why these swaps are never worth it. They'll bleed you dry with time and money. The idiots on the FB groups are asking about what oil to use, preach wrong information like it's fact about vehicle specs and maintenance, but then turnaround like a bunch of boneheads and tell people to do 6r80 swaps and swap in coyotes and 6.2's. Just not worth it. Very few people can pull it off and actually Integrate everything seamlessly.

I hope you get it running like a top!

Blueoval_boy_64

I'd like to show you guys my new engine core. I've decided not to fix this engine right now and get another engine from a junk yard. The wait time on machine shops are a bit longer than I can wait and I just really need my truck running. The plan is to rebuild this in a year and then swap it back into the truck. Off to get the next engine and get this thing covered up and up on the shelf!

Blueoval_boy_64

If they could get an affordable option to electrically swap in a 6.2/6R80 into the 11th gen truck I don't think I could agree with you on this. I would like to say that I haven't really looked into that swap and what it takes, but you can pick these trucks up for quite a good deal now a days! If you found one of these with a blown 5.4 and got a good pull out you could build one of these reasonably and have a nice truck when all said and done. I would also like to state that I wouldn't want to do it, but as far as a swap I wouldn't tell people not to do it.

The way these really end up bleeding you dry is when you're the idiot that does the first (insert all the quotes of me telling people NEVER to do this swap). Someone could save thousands if they did this swap and learned from my mistakes. I wouldn't say that it's worth it, but some people really like doing projects like this. If I ever get lucky enough to have kids someday that get into trucks, I wouldn't hesitate from trying a swap like this again in the future to help teach them about things that simple projects won't teach.

But for 95% of the people out there I do agree with you. The basic backyard mechanic shouldn't do things like this. It will bleed you dry (one of the reasons this project got sidelined a few times) and test EVERY SINGLE one of your last nerves. Most people end up giving up and losing money hand over fist.

Make sure for ANYONE thinking of doing any swaps like this that you don't end up stepping over dollars and picking up dimes. Do lots of research, and when you think you've got a good game plan DO MORE RESEARCH! I definitely didn't do half as much as I thought I needed to when I started this swap.

Blueoval_boy_64

Second engine is paid for. Should have it here tomorrow!

TruckGuy24

That's what I was saying - such a product doesn't exist, therefore for 95% of people, it makes no sense and is dangerous financially. It's more of the comical factor of people who have zero experience doing anything of that nature, recommending it to others. When a vehicle is your daily driver, being pioneer on a 6R80 Swap is foolhardy. That's all I meant.