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Got roughly 1500 bucks to spend on prep for long towing trip

G

great white

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The missus and I have budgeted roughly 1500 buck to get my 98 ready for the trip that looks like it's now probably going to happen. Read more here if interested:

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/sh...ngggg-trip-for-a-6.5-to-haul-a-trailer-advice

In short, it's around 4100 miles towing a 35 foot/8000 lb-ish trailer on my 300 000 km engine and 400 000 km truck. And I have some decent grades to climb before the flat lands:

Untitled-1-4-1-1.jpg


The 1500 bucks is kinda over and above changing fluids and the couple spare parts I'm buying (turbo solenoid, vaccum pump, etc). I'll be taking my spare injection pump (I got off simon), spare PMD (simon again) a spare PCM and enough tools to change them.

Here's what I'm planning to do to the ol' girl to try and make the climbs easier and flat running better:

1. 3 inch down pipe, 4 inch turbo back exhaust (probably diamond eye, can't find an affordable stainless system) - roughly 500 bucks
2. Devils Own water injection or the basic Heath one (Snows?)- roughly 500 bucks
3. Fluidampr - roughly 500 bucks

Any suggestions on what would make a sucessful trip more likely?

Any suggestions on where to buy (Remember I'm in Canada so UPS/Fedex is not an option)?

Any suggestions on money better spent elsewhere?

I'm not looking to build stupid Hp (or even 300 HP, the 6.5 is ok for my uses in the power dept so far), just a good puller that keeps the temps down and gets decent MPG towing. I wish I could frop a P400 or LB7 conversion before I go, but that's just waaaaaaay too far outside my budget right now.

Hopefully it doesn't drop it's guts on the road there or I'll have to spring for a remain and install on the way:

money_02.gif


Oh yeah, I've already done the clean the rad, fins, etc, etc and will do it all again before I go.
 
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Warpspeed Performance is another exh to consider, from what I've heard they ship out of Alberta.
 
I would do the A team turbo, exhaust, change all the fluids, give the whole truck a good inspection and hit the road.
There is no reason you have to do any of the mods, I'm sure your truck will make it there just like it is.
 
Joey D said:
I would do the A team turbo, exhaust, change all the fluids, give the whole truck a good inspection and hit the road.
There is no reason you have to do any of the mods, I'm sure your truck will make it there just like it is.
Click to expand...

Not changing the brand new gm8 turbo.

Dunno about the rest of the engine, she's got more blowby than you can shake a stick at and there's somewhere north of 200,000 miles on the engine alone....
 
Have you checked delivered cost on the DE exhaust from Tvdiesel . com? Mine here in the states was $275 delivered.

I also just recently installed both the Doreman dampner & crank pulleys from Autozone, looked like very well made parts, both were about 150 bucs iirc.

Brakes good to go or maybe some EBC rotors & pads...?
 
she's got more blowby than you can shake a stick at and there's somewhere north of 200,000 miles on the engine alone....
Click to expand...


BLOWBY,......We aint skeered of no friggin BLOWBY! :skep::WTF:
 
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great white said:
Nope.

Got one sitting in the garage, but it's not going to happen before the move.
Click to expand...

You said you weren't doing the move until Spring... plenty of time to get it installed.
And, how are your oil cooler lines? Stock or aftermarket? If you're running the stock oil cooler, you can get a larger one.
 
great white said:
Not changing the brand new gm8 turbo.

Dunno about the rest of the engine, she's got more blowby than you can shake a stick at and there's somewhere north of 200,000 miles on the engine alone....
Click to expand...

Exhaust will pay you back on this trip and over time. W/ MPG, Power.

Synthetic engine oil just for this trip if not already in use.

New fan clutch if over 5 years old (Or test yours pulling a hill before the trip date.)

Save the rest of the cash for emergency parts fund on the trip.

Have you narrowed down the blowby cause? Oil sample results? The blowby is a definite concern as a overall wear indication for the engine.

Does the truck look like it is on fire with a road draft tube in place of a CDR after coming off the freeway from blowby? :hihi: My last 6.5 did and ran well. The intake manifold would puddle with oil on the driver's from a small air leak: yes, putting out that much blowby. The dipstick would smoke at idle. When we tore it down it had copper showing in the bearings. Tough engine, but, wear will get the survivors. Didn't stop me from towing more miles than your trip has. :eek: I did see "luck" reflected back at me in the copper of the bearings though. (Because it made it and did not spin the worn bearings in the middle of nowhere.)
 
WarWagon said:
Exhaust will pay you back on this trip and over time. W/ MPG, Power.

Synthetic engine oil just for this trip if not already in use.

New fan clutch if over 5 years old (Or test yours pulling a hill before the trip date.)

Save the rest of the cash for emergency parts fund on the trip.

Have you narrowed down the blowby cause? Oil sample results? The blowby is a definite concern as a overall wear indication for the engine.

Does the truck look like it is on fire with a road draft tube in place of a CDR after coming off the freeway from blowby? :hihi: My last 6.5 did and ran well. The intake manifold would puddle with oil on the driver's from a small air leak: yes, putting out that much blowby. The dipstick would smoke at idle. When we tore it down it had copper showing in the bearings. Tough engine, but, wear will get the survivors. Didn't stop me from towing more miles than your trip has. :eek: I did see "luck" reflected back at me in the copper of the bearings though. (Because it made it and did not spin the worn bearings in the middle of nowhere.)
Click to expand...

I don't oil sample. I used to work in a spectrometric oil analysis lab (SOAP Lab) and while a high content of one element can indicate a bad part, it's more about the trend you see sampling over time. I haven't had this truck long enough to set up a sampling average. When I finally slip in a new engine, I'll probably start up a program.

Blowby is rings. It smokes out the dipstick tube at idle and when I pull the tube off the turbo ducting (after the cdr) the smoke plume is huge:

18574-bigthumbnail.jpg


My ducting and intake are also puddled with oil from what I believe is the shear amount of oil vapor. you can pull the turbo ducting tube, the oil dip stick and the oil fill cap and they all smoke at once (well, dipstick not so much with the others open).

The truck runs well and strong. Spins the tires anytime I'm not paying close attention to the throttle. Not so much on dry and straight (although it will break both them loose, g80 works just fine), but any kind of moisture on the road or turning can fry 'em without notice.

My block shows 37-40 psi of oil pressure at idle and shows 40 psi while driving (rotella T 15w40). Never drops any lower, never goes any higher. I'd rather see around 50 psi though....
 
Crap.

WarpSpeed no longer ships to Canada, can't get a treasureValleyDiesel kit unless I ship UPS.

Anyone else have any options for a 4 inch kit?

BD diesel over in vancouver offers a 3 inch kit for 500 bucks, but I might as well use my 3 inch pipe and muff I have from my old 89 350 if that's the case....
 
I liked the SSdiesel 4" stainless kit. Somebody posted that JC Whitney sells Heart Throb Exhaust - same as SSdiesel's.

When I talked to Heart throb they said they would do a custom 4" for my Tahoe. Give them a call you may be able to stop there on your trip and get a system installed. for the same price as getting it delivered

I ended up paying more for a custom 3" and the butthead that did it used regular clamps on a stainless exhaust. I never noticed till later.
 
OK, the wife and I are worked up into a tizzy about the health of my 6.5

Thinking about a complete replacement now.

P400 may be a possibility, but she wants a new trans as well.

We'll be into it for over 10 grand at the end of the day and I just don't think I can float that.

I've considered puling the 599 apart, re-ringing it and slapping in some new mains. BUt I'm terrified if I pull it apart I'm going to see cracks. Then I'm committed to buy a new one.

Of course, if the cracks are there when I pull it apart, the cracks are there now and what does that say about the engine's longevity expectation driving across the continent?.....yeep.

And then there's concerns of head cracks too.

Yeesh, I wonder if my boroscope can see all the way down into the block mains?

I wouldn't be so worried if my CDR tube and dipstick didn't blow out a destroyer sized smoke screen when hot.

Crap, what to do?


I really like my GMT 400 chassis, but I can't help but think if I'd done a bit more research on the 6.5 I would have bit the bullet sucked up another 15 grand and just bought a used DMax or Cummins......
 
Sell the camper, drive out East and buy one there. Problem solved. Simple solution.:hihi:
 
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