7.3 head gasket break in period

Cloverleaffarm · May 1, 2013

lincolnlocker said:
why not put the gooseneck on the truck with the fresh motor and put the other truck on the gooseneck and get it out on the road and set the cruise on a conservative/stock tune and work that bish! stop somewhere to let it cool and repeat for a couple hundred miles!

live life full throttle

truck that hooks to the sled only has a single fresh head/gasket. not a whole motor yet. it will be hooked to seed tender and fuel tank here very soon during planting season. it will get worked like it does every year. by the pull it should have hauled 25 pro boxes of seed and over 1000 gallons. so it will definatelly get a workout with plenty of heating/cooling cycles

lincolnlocker · May 1, 2013

Cloverleaffarm said:
truck that hooks to the sled only has a single fresh head/gasket. not a whole motor yet. it will be hooked to seed tender and fuel tank here very soon during planting season. it will get worked like it does every year. by the pull it should have hauled 25 pro boxes of seed and over 1000 gallons. so it will definatelly get a workout with plenty of heating/cooling cycles

thats right, brain fart, only one gasket.. if its gonna get worked like that then it should be ok with many heat cycles on it to bake it on and cool off and bake it on etc, etc...

live life full throttle

4.0l sahara · May 1, 2013

If it was me I would have gone wot in the first 25 miles. I wouldn't worry just give it hell.

Cloverleaffarm · May 1, 2013

i'll go on a WOT run here soon. its been to long of a time without a run. kinda need to blow out the cob webs

TARM · May 2, 2013

Cloverleaffarm said:
i'll go on a WOT run here soon. its been to long of a time without a run. kinda need to blow out the cob webs,or a head gasket, or block.

Fixed to include all likely possibilities LOL It may be fine. I would just try to get it up to temp and cooled back down as many times as you can between then and now. I always thought it was the actual number of heat cycles with good amounts of time at full operating temp but maybe its just time at operating temp. Never really looked much into it other than to know it takes a good number of miles to get the seal like the old factory engines have.

Either way good luck at the pull HAVE FUN!!!

Cloverleaffarm · May 2, 2013

Thanks Tarm for the unbrella answer.

riest:
I put 200 more miles on it in the last 24 hours, got it up operating temps. and made a few stops to let it cool down some.
gonig to just keep driving it and putting it through heating cycles. work it for a few weeks. then hook it to a sled and see what blows apart :rockon:

TARM · May 2, 2013

IT will likely be fine. You were in bad position having to only do one head. So unless you wanted to pull the other VC off and yank the injectors etc to switch to all studs not to mention the cost of doing it.....head bolts it was. If it was studs I would think you would be for sure 100% fine. The only reason I was wondering was because it was factory yield to bolts.

But you know how things go if it does actually come apart, watch it will be the other head gasket that was not touched!?!

Just run it and have fun. But yeh put all the miles you can on it from now till then.

Cloverleaffarm · May 2, 2013

i would have loved to do both. however i only had 1 cracked head. I found it was cracked when i was installing my RR fuel kit, so i had spent a good chunk of change already and the i found the crack on the back side of the head.
I couldn't afford to have the my cracked head replaced with the spare head off my other motor. then pay for studs for both sides.
My luck would be the other side that has ALOT of heat cycles would be the one that blows! but by the time that happens i'll have a company truck so i can let it sit awhile and possibly do both heads with a port/polish job.

TARM · May 2, 2013

Yep that is the way it always seems to work out. Damn things never seem to happen on our time and in a way where we have the funds ready for it.

Cloverleaffarm · May 2, 2013

exactly.
knock on wood i don't have to many more issues. mods are done with this motor. time to drive it awhile then park it and save up the 7K its going to cost to build the other motor.

DocBar · May 3, 2013

I'll have to ask David how many mes he put on my motor before he took it to the track and gave it hell. I don't think it was very many.

TARM · May 3, 2013

Doc,

But did it have studs or bolts?

PDT1081 · May 3, 2013

DocBar said:
I'll have to ask David how many mes he put on my motor before he took it to the track and gave it hell. I don't think it was very many.

I thought SOP for motor break-in at DI was a big healthy burn out :biggun:

DocBar · May 5, 2013

TARM said:
Doc,

But did it have studs or bolts?

PDT1081 said:
I thought SOP for motor break-in at DI was a big healthy burn out :biggun:

It has ARP studs. A big healthy burnout could've been the break in period. Of course I broke it on the third burnout I did in it. The freeze plug on the back of the pass side head blew out. Scared me to death. I thought I broke the block.