Cab off repair and lift installed on my 6.4

Zeb · Oct 7, 2019

Hpfp, I’d leave it.
Water pump, I’d put a new Motorcraft in.
Cam, Colt Stage 2 and new Motorcraft lifters.
Get your injectors tested while it’s apart. That hole in the piston would make me suspect a bad injector. Last 6.4 I built had a piston look almost identical to that, and 3 injectors failed when they were tested.

Your organization looks good, but I’d get the rails and injectors in individual zip lock bags to protect them from dust etc.

Connor M · Oct 7, 2019

As far as water pump, I'd run the rcd aluminum one, it's cheaper than oem and better. Might as well do it now IMO if you have the money. The more wear items you can replace in one shot the happier you'll be down the line.

FourEyed · Oct 8, 2019

Nice, I didn't know about the RCD one. I will probably go that route. Should be sending injectors off to them this week for testing.

Talked to Side Action yesterday, will likely be getting a lot of their parts as well

Connor M · Oct 9, 2019

FourEyed said:
Nice, I didn't know about the RCD one. I will probably go that route. Should be sending injectors off to them this week for testing.

Talked to Side Action yesterday, will likely be getting a lot of their parts as well

Hope their triple turbo kit is one of those parts? LMAO

White_monster · Oct 9, 2019

My non vgt compound kit is for sale if interested. Cones with everything to install.

woodsman · Oct 9, 2019

Might as well throw an industrial injection XP HPFP in it while it's apart. Better fuel pressure on kill tunes and DLC internals for piece of mind. Also will give more fuel when you decide to go with bigger injectors in the future

Connor M · Oct 9, 2019

Big spendy. Plus i think you need a lift pump to supply that.

For the same or more fuel i'd run the rcd cp3 kit, for less money.

FourEyed · Oct 9, 2019

Nothing fancy.. I might replace the hpfp just because it has 200k on it. Not looking to get crazy at all. Staying stock fuel, and will never take this truck beyond that. At most I'm looking at doing a 72/59 charger set.

Just coming up with a budget of what it's all going to cost. Things get out of hand quick with the "wants" over "needs". lol

sootie · Oct 9, 2019

Connor M said:
Big spendy. Plus i think you need a lift pump to supply that.

For the same or more fuel i'd run the rcd cp3 kit, for less money.

horrible recommendation to run a cp3. Impossible to tune and very difficult to control rail pressure.

powerstroked08 · Oct 9, 2019

FourEyed said:
Nothing fancy.. I might replace the hpfp just because it has 200k on it. Not looking to get crazy at all. Staying stock fuel, and will never take this truck beyond that. At most I'm looking at doing a 72/59 charger set.

Just coming up with a budget of what it's all going to cost. Things get out of hand quick with the "wants" over "needs". lol

That's why I did a budget build. Kept my wants from overcoming my needs

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

kleake · Oct 10, 2019

Almost exactly what happened to mine. Did heads, studs, and most all of the top end at 220k. Gaskets started leaking again at 230k. Replaced the heads again and added another 10ft/lbs of torque on the studs. Truck ran great for another 10k before my piston looked like yours. Scored the wall bad enough that .020 didn't quite clean it up and ended up with a good used block. Machine shop bored it, new pistons and all of the goodies again including a stage 1 cam. So far all has been great but like you, I regret not doing pistons the first time around. Sure would have saved some headaches.

FourEyed · Feb 26, 2020

Been a while since any updates, but have finally made some progress and decided what I'm doing. I just have to keep telling myself "it's still cheaper than a new truck"

While it was apart, I figured now is better than ever to go through the transmission. I had it rebuilt by a local shop I've always had good results with my race car transmissions.. Kept it simple, upgraded the clutches and went for a billet input shaft, and new converter.

20191229_163444 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

At some point, whoever had the truck before me must have had the trans out at one time, and forgot a converter bolt. Looks like it bounced around a bit, and damaged the case. Must have made a hell of a noise! Case had cracking evident going to the pump, so a brand new case was used..

20191229_181853 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

20200220_192036 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

New converter ready to go.

20200222_120235 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

Trans installed and ready for the motor.

20200222_120248 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

I've been in contact with my machine shop, and the shortblock should be ready for me within a week. I ended up with the following:

From RCD:

- Stage 2 cam
- Maxxforce 7 coated pistons
- Gapless 2nd ring
- Heads gone through (again)

From Sunrise Ford:

- New HPFP and harness
- New injectors
- New oil cooler and oil pump
- New Ford head gaskets
- New set of lifters (even though mine have 30k on them)
- New top end gaskets

Still need to order turbos, up pipes, and a couple misc things. Should be going together pretty soon.

kleake · Feb 26, 2020

Looking good. Very similar list of goodies as I did.

FourEyed · Feb 26, 2020

sounds good. did you upgrade turbos or running a stock set?

FourEyed · Mar 26, 2020

Well got the motor back. Looks like they did a real nice job on the shortblock from what I can see.

For the motor I went with:

Maxxforce 7 pistons .20 over and coated from RCD
RCD Stage 2 cam
New lifters
OEM Head gaskets
Heads were gone through, new guides, valves and springs
Rockers have 30k on them so re-using them
same with pushrods

20200322_210746 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

Got some new turbos as well. 72/59 RCD setup. Should be sweet
Stocker vs 72mm for comparison

20200319_193026 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

20200319_202849 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

Picked up the BD Diesel manifold and up-pipe set since my Rudy's set started to leak after 30k.. Hopefully these do better.

20200312_213811 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

Started to work on it again, and assemble the top end. Rockers installed, and put a fresh set of injectors in for good insurance.

20200325_210649 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

sootie · Mar 26, 2020

Flycut the pistons while you still have the chance....

FourEyed · Mar 26, 2020

Oh man.. You really think that needs to be done? I would be about starting over at this point if I did that.

I was on the fence, spoke to a few vendors, and even RCD said I could run standard pistons and wouldn't need to cut them. But coming from you that means a lot... If it's really going to be an issue I could swap to a stage 1 cam. This is more of a driver / tow setup than race truck.

kleake · Mar 26, 2020

Check your pushrod length too. Mine was an early build and had longer OEM pushrods. When I changed rockers I had a few valves that wouldn't seat all the way. Ended up having to replace all pushrods with new ones, and the new ones were in fact shorter. Those valves that were not seating all the way, did leave impressions on the pistons when I ended up tearing it down later. The later build dates had the shorter pushrods from the factory.

Zeb · Mar 26, 2020

FourEyed said:
Oh man.. You really think that needs to be done? I would be about starting over at this point if I did that.

I was on the fence, spoke to a few vendors, and even RCD said I could run standard pistons and wouldn't need to cut them. But coming from you that means a lot... If it's really going to be an issue I could swap to a stage 1 cam. This is more of a driver / tow setup than race truck.

If the block has been decked, and nothing taken off the top of the pistons, you almost certainly will have piston to valve clearance issues.

I have NEVER seen a Stage 2 cam fit correctly under those circumstances.

At a MINIMUM, whoever built the engine should have measured piston protrusion, and valve recession. Ideally piston to valve clearance should have been checked with a set of solid lifters and adjustable pushrods.

I would be very very hesitant to install and run it if you don’t know piston protrusion, valve recession, or piston to valve clearance.

FourEyed · Mar 26, 2020

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I called RCD again today, and they basically said what Zeb is saying. They run into issues if the motor / heads have been decked, but other than that they don't see issues until going to the stage 3 cam. They said I will be fine.

I had the machine shop bolt the heads on for me and assemble the shortblock. They did not have the rockers / pushrods to check p/v clearance.

I will call the machine shop in the am and see what specs on protrusion and valve recession were. I know the block was just surfaced not decked. Will report when I have the info.