[i-Zapp]

@i-Zapp, did you have an engine failure at 270,000 miles or what was the reason for the rebuild?

no failure, quite the opposite. it was disassembled to demonstrate how clean and wear-free one of these engines can be at 270k miles, for promotional purposes.

As an aside, I have reused both the head bolts and rod bolts (of necessity). So far, I haven't had any failures, but it is definitely something I've worried about.
I've also looked for suitable replacements for the rod bolts, and came up empty. I'm sure they could be built, but would probably be costly and have a minimum quantity to run.

the rod bolts are M9 x 1.0 x 50mm long. Although ARP has something similar, they warned that the new bolts and associated torque/tension would result in an egg-shaped rod bearing. no bueno. I'll take my chances with reusing them.

some pics below. ultrasonic cleaned pistons and block ready for rotating hardware.
i'm cutting rings and will be assembling the short block this weekend.

 

[i-Zapp]

also, here's the ring gap information. I'll be taking about 10 thou off the Hastings second ring...

 

[67_Valiant]

also, here's the ring gap information. I'll be taking about 10 thou off the Hastings second ring...
View attachment 93328

Nice! I ran mine a little tighter than your planning to, but no problems so far:

Piston Ring Gaps
	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6
Top	0.013​	0.011​	0.011​	0.013​	0.011-0.012	0.012​
Middle	0.016​	0.017​	0.015​	0.016​	0.017​	0.021​
Oil	0.011-0.012	0.011​	0.010​	0.011​	0.009​	0.013​

 

[i-Zapp]

Nice! I ran mine a little tighter than your planning to, but no problems so far:

Piston Ring Gaps
	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6
Top	0.013​	0.011​	0.011​	0.013​	0.011-0.012	0.012​
Middle	0.016​	0.017​	0.015​	0.016​	0.017​	0.021​
Oil	0.011-0.012	0.011​	0.010​	0.011​	0.009​	0.013​

I would have preferred a tighter top gap like 10 on mine but the Hastings rings came in at 20. I wonder how/why yours were that much tighter.

 

[67_Valiant]

I lightly honed the cylinders, so that probably tightened them up a bit.

 

[i-Zapp]

I lightly honed the cylinders, so that probably tightened them up a bit.

I also lightly honed with same Flexhone you probably used. ANY honing would theoretically INCREASE the ring gap, but the reality is that since the circumference changes by a factor of 3.14X the diameter, the bore would have to be different by about 3 thou to translate to 10 thou difference in ring gaps. For whatever reason it seems I’ve gotten a larger set of rings. I may reach out to Hastings.

 

[67_Valiant]

I built another engine that was on the looser side, and had intermittent problems with crankcase pressure (P04DB code), but was still able to get through smog in California. That's the reason I was looking for oversized pistons and ended up with the "experimental" engine.

All the engines I'm dealing with have been through a fire which was put out with water. Since the intakes are melted, some of the cylinders ended up with water in them and therefore there rust pitting. In an ideal world, they should have been overbored or sleeved. I probably would have been better off just getting the cylinders sleeved, and reusing the original pistons, but I wanted to experiment a bit, and the cost wasn't that much more.

Hopefully someone will start making oversized pistons for these engines at some point.

 

[biodiesel]

This is off topic, but I was thinking about buying a new engine and storing it for a few years or until I needed it. Would I be able to rotate the crank every month or so on a new engine, or am I asking for problems by letting a new engine sit for that long? They run these engines at the factory, so I assume the CP4 pump and injectors would already have some degree of fuel in the system.

 

[67_Valiant]

This is off topic, but I was thinking about buying a new engine and storing it for a few years or until I needed it. Would I be able to rotate the crank every month or so on a new engine, or am I asking for problems by letting a new engine sit for that long? They run these engines at the factory, so I assume the CP4 pump and injectors would already have some degree of fuel in the system.

If it were me, I'd probably take some additional measures to protect it. The aviation industry has some protocols for engine storage- maybe more than necessary, but it could at least give you some ideas: Engine Storage 101:The 30-Day Rule - Aviation Consumer

I'm sure there are many other options/ideas out there as well. Good luck!

 

[Bounty Hunter]

Sorry for just tossing this in the first engine thread I came across.....

Wondering if anyone, after blowing their 2nd gen ED, has heard of replacing their ED with either a 3rd gen ED or even a Hemi afterwards???

I'm coming up on the last 3k miles of my bumper2bumper warranty and have no confidence on the reliability of this 2nd gen ED motor. Here's the kicker, besides all the recall BS to deal with, it's been totally reliable, never leaving me stranded once, so I'm kinda conflicted.

You're truck is in good running order now. If you're scared, get rid of it now before incurring a huge expense or having a heart attack.

 

[biodiesel]

no failure, quite the opposite. it was disassembled to demonstrate how clean and wear-free one of these engines can be at 270k miles, for promotional purposes.

Which oil were you running?

 

[i-Zapp]

This is off topic, but I was thinking about buying a new engine and storing it for a few years or until I needed it.

good luck finding a new engine. if that was possible, there would be no reason for this post lol.

Which oil were you running?

broken in on Shell Rotella T6, and then Guardol XT full synthetic, changed every 10k miles.
GUARDOL XT® FULL SYNTHETIC DIESEL ENGINE OIL - Phillips 66 Lubricants

 

[biodiesel]

good luck finding a new engine. if that was possible, there would be no reason for this post lol.

This website had some in stock last month, but it looks like they are already sold out. There was also a place in Texas that had new engines in stock. 5158048AE 3.0L Eco Diesel Complete Running Engine* - Mopar Powertrain

broken in on Shell Rotella T6, and then Guardol XT full synthetic, changed every 10k miles.
GUARDOL XT® FULL SYNTHETIC DIESEL ENGINE OIL - Phillips 66 Lubricants

Nice! Guardol 5W-40 is hard to find! What made you decide to run Guardol XT?