My small build

[strokin6L]

Figured I'd start a thread of a small build that I'm gonna be doing on the truck in about 5-6 weeks. My truck has an issue with #3 cylinder...only has 85lbs compression. This all started back in August of last year. Truck started acting up spuraticly upon startup(rough shaky idle for a couple seconds). Only did it like 2 or three times over a course of like 3 weeks. Then all of a sudden it did it every time the truck was started. It threw a code for cylinder #3 contribution balance. After a bunch of testing and and swapping parts...come to find out #3 cylinder only has 85lbs of compression. Had a leak down test performed and found out that just a little was leaking into the crank case(probably due to the truck not running and rings not sealing), but almost all of the air was leaking out through the intake side. So it seems as if an intake valve for #3 cylinder isn't sealing for some reason. Whether it be bent, sticking for some reason or there is a bad seat for an intake valve. It cranks and fires right up....even in the cold. Truck has been sitting since then and hibernating through the winter while I've been slowly getting parts. Truck also need a new torque converter as its pretty worn out. I will be pulling the cab to replace the heads with UCF o-ringed heads and install new ARP's. Tranny is getting RCD's billet converter.

The parts that I have already are RCD 120lb valve springs, RCD chromoly pushrods, RCD platinum racing head gaskets, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets, stand pipes, new glow plugs, glow plug harnesses, oil, coolant, filters, new standard ARP's, Absolute Performance delta kit with billet oil cooler fitting, VDP aluminum degas tank, WPE ported intake manifold

 

[strokin6L]

Here's some pics of the RCD gaskets, springs, and pushrods. My truck is an early build '04(build date july '03) with all the '03 stuff. So it still has the original length pushrods...I've heard that ford updated them and actually shortened them. I stood a stock '03-04 pushrod next to the RCD pushrods and they seem/look the same length. My truck has always used 5w-40 synthetic oil since I've owned it and oil changed every 4-5k miles. And had the amsoil oil bypass since about 45k miles...it now has 80k on the odometer. I've heard that the extra pressure of the stiffer springs isn't good on the lifters and stock cam. I don't plan on replacing the lifters or upgrading the cam....just not in the budget. I don't see lifter failures as being a common problem. I know they can happen, but it doesn't happen much I believe. I think it's more do to poor maintenance and high mileage

 

[strokin6L]

I have a spare '03-early '04 parts engine. I ended up cleaning up the rocker boxes, primed, painted and cleared them...used VHT engine enamel. Also did the same to the valve covers. Got all new valve cover bolts. Nothing flashy, just wanted a clean/simple paint scheme. I will be swapping the rocker arms that are currently in the truck into these rocker boxes.

 

[strokin6L]

I painted the ported intake the same color as the rocker boxes. Wanna thank Oliver for building a kick a$$ manifold...thanks again man!

 

[strokin6L]

I got the billet oil cooler fitting from Steve at Absolute Performance so that I can send coolant from the oil cooler to the degas tank since coolant will no longer be going through the intake manifold.

 

[strokin6L]

I suppose I could reuse my current ARP's from when I did fire ring head gaskets and ARP's back in '06, but I decided to just get some new ones. I went with standard ARP's again. Thought about Extreme studs and even ARP 625's, but I couldn't bring myself on spending that much on studs. Talked to Jared at RCD and Craig at MPD, and both told me they use nothing else but standard ARP's.

 

[strokin6L]

Been running a 68mm vgt that Charlie worked on for me that started out as a MTW 68. Only put 1500 miles on it last year until this issue with the truck started. Been really thinking about down grading to Charlies stage 2 turbo only because 90% of my driving is below 3K rpms. I think it will be better suited for me and how I drive since I don't truck pull and drag race anymore.

 

[strokin6L]

Wanna give a shout out to Nick(nighthawk285)! He did a great job with the polishing as usual...thanks again man!

 

[Strokethis34]

Whats the deal with rcd pushrods being the same length as factory? Shouldn't they be shorter?

 

[Powerstroke Man 6.4]

Subd

 

[strokin6L]

Why would they need to be shorter than my stock ones. No one else has any issues with the length.

 

[Strokethis34]

They changed the length from ford.

 

[strokin6L]

Aluminum coolant tank installed!

 

[strokin6L]

They changed the length from ford.

Yeah I know. Nothing wrong with the original length ones I've been running for 80k miles.

 

[swinky]

Shorter length decreases lifter preload.

 

[strokin6L]

yeah I understand that. But do you think that maybe they shortened them because lifters started failing? I know many early 6L trucks that are still using the original length pushrods with high miles and no lifter issues. How much shorter are the updated pushrods?

 

[04cr450]

U can tell for sure holding them up togethor not sure what the measurements are. I installed the updated rods when I did my studs etc.. if anything I did it for prolonged life out of the engine internals.

 

[strokin6L]

I have RCD 120lb springs and chromoly pushrods. Seeing as the RCD pushrods are the same length as the original stock pushrods I wonder if I should either just run the updated stock pushrods or use 6.4 chromoly pushrods. I thought I read somewhere that the 6.4 pushrods are shorter than the 6L ones. can anyone confirm this?

 

[04cr450]

The 6.4 rods are the same as the 6.0 rods *updated ones... they are the same part numbers

 

[strokin6L]

gotcha....so if that's the case the RCD 6.4 and 6L chromoly pushrods would be the same length. Damn...I don't know whether or not if I should just go ahead and use these or opt for the updated factory pushrods. I'd hate to bend a stock pushrod with the 120lb valve springs. Would it be a bad idea to run the stiffer springs and use stock pushrods? I don't plan on truck pulling or drag racing the truck.