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Old 10-17-2018, 10:57 AM   #21
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Thanks to JWA's review, I just pulled the trigger on doing the same.

Long story short... A couple months ago I was pulling a long grade in eastern oregon on a hot day, with a fuel filter that was plugged. It lost some power earlier in the weekend, and was running lean, but I though I could make it to my destination before fixing it. Ended up melting a spark plug, and it turned out a valve seat too. So I've been running as a V9 for the since then. Still pulls the trailer just fine, but has a gnarly idle.

Anyways, I dropped it off to have a reman head put on, since they're only $600 at NAPA. But book time for a head replacement includes engine R&R. Once you factor in the added labor of doing the head swap, and considering current miles (458,000) I decided to proceed with a complete Ford engine as well. So looks like I'll be keeping this rig a good while longer!

Since it comes with a 3-year unlimited mile warranty, I figure I might as well get the most out of the warranty with a Pan American highway road trip, tip to tip, late 2019.

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Old 10-17-2018, 12:40 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by carringb View Post
Thanks to JWA's review, I just pulled the trigger on doing the same.

Since it comes with a 3-year unlimited mile warranty, I figure I might as well get the most out of the warranty with a Pan American highway road trip, tip to tip, late 2019.

I don't think you'll be disappointed on both actions!

Will you be doing your own install?

I'd carefully consider replacing the intake too----sounds a bit much but the Engine Support group do point out should any debris from a top end issue make its way into the intake and that in turn causes a failure it is NOT covered under their warranty. I'm guessing if we claimed a warranty they'd want a dealership to inspect the engine as installed---also guessing they'd be careful to check the intake too.

Seems there's no good way to thoroughly clean an intake should any metal bits make it that far upwards---they get stuck in the plastic and naturally would only come loose at the most inconvenient time.

My installer did clean mine being careful to look for any signs of anything that could be an issue and didn't find anything which was comforting. Since my failure was all in the bearings (still running very strong at time of replacement) I didn't feel replacing the intake was really necessary.

Anyway CarringB good on ya-------that's a great choice IMHO.
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Old 10-17-2018, 01:01 PM   #23
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No, I'm having a shop do it. I'm way too busy with work stuff right now. I have no concerns about debris up in the intake, since I didn't even really have a catastrophic failure. Just lost the ability for the intake valve to seal. It's possible the spark plug electrode got sucked up into the head (and hence might be why that valve won't seal) but I'm sure it wouldn't have gone any further than that. That said... I'll ask to them to give everything a good deep clean.

PS - I did scope my engine, which is how I saw the valve isn't closing fully. Cylinder walls still have their crosshatch!
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:45 PM   #24
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You're not going to smuggle a 3 valve in there while you have the chance? I suppose in OR you might not even have to hide that fact.
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Old 10-17-2018, 08:59 PM   #25
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You're not going to smuggle a 3 valve in there while you have the chance? I suppose in OR you might not even have to hide that fact.
No, not attempting that. I talked this over with John at QuadVan previously. Pretty much a no-go without trimming the firewall for valve cover clearance, which would then require building a new doghouse.

The 2-valve with Banks Powerpack makes the same power as the 3-valve anyways. I will have to figure out the driver side header for 4x4 clearance. I'm leading towards just clocking the t-case and running a 2-piece front driveline, and keeping the headers intact. Option B is having the header cut and re-welded (which QuadVan did for "factory" Chinook 4x4 conversions), but it's quite a but of labor, and would require the same mod if I ever damaged the header.

The one thing I am pretty set on is doing a 6R140 swap, as soon as Baumann Electronic Controls has their standalone TCM finished (they have the 6R80 controller out now).
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Old 10-18-2018, 04:52 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by carringb View Post
No, I'm having a shop do it. I'm way too busy with work stuff right now. I have no concerns about debris up in the intake, since I didn't even really have a catastrophic failure.

PS - I did scope my engine, which is how I saw the valve isn't closing fully. Cylinder walls still have their crosshatch!
Completely understand farming this out---have to make the money before we can spend it right? You should be 100% okay with a thorough cleaning and inspection of the intake---much like my own situation there wasn't a failure where parts of parts disintegrated and could have found their way into other parts of the engine.

Wow on the crosshatching still visible---that's fascinating and encouraging too.

I'll be interested hearing how the transmission swap goes if that ever comes to be.
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Old 10-18-2018, 12:05 PM   #27
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JWA, I would think that long hours of idle time could be an engine wear issue? As in lower psi at idle over time? You are asking a lot of a engine, at least to me.
Why so many hours of idle time?
Also, with a fleet vehicle, you get what you get. Maybe a decent serviced vehicle, but maybe also abused between services. I would be checking all other components from front end to the rear end also, if you haven't already.
Good luck with your project.
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Old 10-18-2018, 12:43 PM   #28
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JWA, I would think that long hours of idle time could be an engine wear issue? As in lower psi at idle over time? You are asking a lot of a engine, at least to me.
Why so many hours of idle time?
Also, with a fleet vehicle, you get what you get. Maybe a decent serviced vehicle, but maybe also abused between services. I would be checking all other components from front end to the rear end also, if you haven't already.
Good luck with your project.
BTDT on checking everything else Max---great points though, thanks for sharing!

I've been told the PCM strategies can effectively reduce fuel to the cylinders while idling and for that reason I've never been too concerned with excessive fuel being dumped into cylinders under the same long idle times as we'd see with a carburetor motor---fuel blow-by would destroy the cylinder crosshatching and oil usage skyrocketing. Sooooooooooo.......

During winter months when working outside I like to keep my materials and parts somewhat warm as that aids in a better job, those without issues I have to address later on. As I've installed a nice hot coolant rear heated ducted overhead running the engine is my only real heat source--most days the engine will idle about 3 hours max, the occasional time when its up to 5 hours. Not all day every day but enough for that practice to potentially be or become an issue.

I've been doing this on two different 5.4 motors, each with between 85K miles and 100K miles, not adverse effects I can detect at the moment. That's not a good reason to continue it but it is mostly necessary.

And yes with a fleet owned/maintained vehicle I got what I got---to date the engine and transmission have both been renewed. Injectors were changed too---existing parts weren't serviceable at all. Suspension is tight, new front and rear Hellwig sway bars, Bilstein shocks and an Accusump engine pre-oiler system installed. Apart from a soon to be throttle body cleaning mechanically I'm about as good as I can get--or so I think.

Thanks for the good wishes too!
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Old 10-18-2018, 01:39 PM   #29
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CHEERS JWA! You sound through. You gonna 4x4 it?
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Old 10-19-2018, 04:03 AM   #30
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CHEERS JWA! You sound through. You gonna 4x4 it?
Negative on the 4x4---this is a work-only truck. The only off road it sees are pot holed gravel covered parking lots. Although now that I think about on some of those lots 4X4 might prove helpful now and again.
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