I'm starting a thread about the engine build for my '99 K3500. I'll start with a little more info about it and where I want to go with it. You can follow along as I get there. Feel free to add your thoughts, as some of you have far more experience with this kind of thing than I do!
I bought this rig in 2007 with 289,000 miles on the clock. It ran great, starts easy, no blow by, and it used no oil to speak of. I assumed that the engine had been replaced with in the last 50K miles and was probably a complete drop-in with turbo and injection system. It had a homemade PMD cooler and homemade extension harness already on it. Everything else was stock. The oil cooler lines were leaking something awful when I got it. After a few miles I became worried that I'd lose this good engine to a blown line. So I took the cooler lines out and plugged the ports. Just for a few days, until I could make arrangements for a better solution. Everything seemed fine at first, but a few days later I noticed that the hot idle oil pressure was nearly 0! A tap on the throttle brought the pressure up, but not to the level it had always carried before. This happened all-of-a-sudden, not gradually. A quick check of the oil on the dipstick showed metal flakes! Dang. Reminds me of when my '94 lost a cam bearing.
Fast forward 18 months. I tore the engine down this last week, and to my suprise all the cam bearings are where they belong! I found some metal on the oil pump pickup that I can't explain, and I still don't know what happend to the oil pressure! Also to my suprise I learned that the engine WAS NOT a replacement. It was the original engine with 291,000 miles!!! The block was cast 1 month before the truck was built(11/98), and the engine has not been rebuilt!(no internal marks what so ever) Had I not lost oil pressure, I wouldn't have opened it up becasue it ran so well. By reading the rings, I'd say it had maybe another 100k in it before it started using oil and getting weak.
So here I am with some decisions to make. I want to build it right the first time so I don't have to do it again. I just can't afford, or justify, the P400 I so desperately want. The 506 block looks to be crack free, the crank and other parts look to be completely usable. Should I re-use the stock crank or spend $350 on a Scat? Should I spend the money on splayed mains? If I spend the money and the block lets go, it's wasted.
I'm planning to add an exhaust, tune, and maybe a turbo before this is all over. I already get enough grief from Cummins/Powerstroke driving neighbors, the last thing I need is for it to grenade and have to do it all over again! Not to mention that my funding won't support two engine builds!
I'll post some pics of the parts, including the metal I found on the pickup screen, when I get my camera battery charged.
I bought this rig in 2007 with 289,000 miles on the clock. It ran great, starts easy, no blow by, and it used no oil to speak of. I assumed that the engine had been replaced with in the last 50K miles and was probably a complete drop-in with turbo and injection system. It had a homemade PMD cooler and homemade extension harness already on it. Everything else was stock. The oil cooler lines were leaking something awful when I got it. After a few miles I became worried that I'd lose this good engine to a blown line. So I took the cooler lines out and plugged the ports. Just for a few days, until I could make arrangements for a better solution. Everything seemed fine at first, but a few days later I noticed that the hot idle oil pressure was nearly 0! A tap on the throttle brought the pressure up, but not to the level it had always carried before. This happened all-of-a-sudden, not gradually. A quick check of the oil on the dipstick showed metal flakes! Dang. Reminds me of when my '94 lost a cam bearing.
Fast forward 18 months. I tore the engine down this last week, and to my suprise all the cam bearings are where they belong! I found some metal on the oil pump pickup that I can't explain, and I still don't know what happend to the oil pressure! Also to my suprise I learned that the engine WAS NOT a replacement. It was the original engine with 291,000 miles!!! The block was cast 1 month before the truck was built(11/98), and the engine has not been rebuilt!(no internal marks what so ever) Had I not lost oil pressure, I wouldn't have opened it up becasue it ran so well. By reading the rings, I'd say it had maybe another 100k in it before it started using oil and getting weak.
So here I am with some decisions to make. I want to build it right the first time so I don't have to do it again. I just can't afford, or justify, the P400 I so desperately want. The 506 block looks to be crack free, the crank and other parts look to be completely usable. Should I re-use the stock crank or spend $350 on a Scat? Should I spend the money on splayed mains? If I spend the money and the block lets go, it's wasted.
I'm planning to add an exhaust, tune, and maybe a turbo before this is all over. I already get enough grief from Cummins/Powerstroke driving neighbors, the last thing I need is for it to grenade and have to do it all over again! Not to mention that my funding won't support two engine builds!
I'll post some pics of the parts, including the metal I found on the pickup screen, when I get my camera battery charged.
