Saudi Syclone - 2612

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

Engine is in the machine shop getting the cylinders rebored - probably .010 unless they can save them.

I'm going to do what I originaly intended and POR15 the frame up front and clean up the engine bay.

Should get to work on it some time in December...

The used motor that I bought with 2 cracked heads and two damaged pistons is the subject of a dispute with the company that sold it as well as the credit card company. I'm hoping for a positive outcome as the machine shop did an assessment of it for me but the breaker's yard might take me to court.

Douglas Valley Breakers are unscrupulous and sold me a piece of junk.

I'm wondering if I had better just take a hit on it.

In other annoying news, I found a place that does marine rebuilld short blocks for £900 shipped with a 12 month warranty.

I wish I knew about them first. :rant: I already have £800 into this engine and still have £300 of work and prob £300 of parts (rebuild kit to worry about). If I pay up £900 for the marine block, I'm only £300 more expensive and it might end up being a lot less hassle.

Then again, I've never built an engine before

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

The machine shop took a look and they advise taking .030 off the cylinders so I need new pistons after all. The crank is getting ground down by .010 as well so I'll be purchasing a few items to get this engine back together.

My question is this: has anyone used the engine rebuild kits available on Summit or Rock Auto amongst other places?

For about $350 I can get 6 new pistons to match my bore as well as all the gaskets and freeze plugs etc. Does anyone have any recommendations of the kit or things to watch out for?

I was mostly thinking of hypereutectic vs cast vs forged pistons. Forged are a bit more pricey obviously and I am not sure I have seen any in a kit.

I'm also waiting to find out if the rods can be reused. If not then I'm in for a set of Eagles and if I have to do that, I may as well go the whole hog and get 4 bolt mains and the forged pistons. I really hope the stock rods are ok. I had a set of TRWs on stock rods that fivetodrive was trying to help me out with but it looks like a couple of the rods there are bent. Shame - the pistons looked good but I guess they can't be salvaged.

My £600 "ready to run" engine is not looking so cheap. The credit card company won't help me out as they say that I disassembled the engine and there is no proof that it wouldn't run. I have one avenue of approach left.

Machine work has come back at £765 inc taxes for boring, facing, cleaning the block as well as testing the heads and resurfacing them as well. That's a lot more than I wanted to spend.

I bought another set of heads for £250 so all in I'll have about £1600 before parts . £250 for the Eagles and then another £500 for forged pistons takes my £600 engine up to £2350 which is what I paid for the truck. Throw in the mains and the line boring and £3000 seems to be the price.

Or do I get the £900 engine and drop that in? Hmm... half the price... I guess it depends on the rods at this point.

Rods ok: £760 machine work, £300 rebuild kit and I'm done.

Rods not ok:

A) £760 machine work, £250 rods, £300 rebuild kit (optional extra £600 for the 4 bolt mains and the forged pistons) = £2k approx.

OR

B) £900 engine with the £250 worth of heads testing = £1150.

I suppose I could put the Eagles in there and reuse them someday.. Decisions, decisions.

 

[fivetodrive]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

I had a set of TRWs on stock rods that fivetodrive was trying to help me out with but it looks like a couple of the rods there are bent. Shame - the pistons looked good but I guess they can't be salvaged.

I found some more towanda rods so I think I have a good set of 6 towanda rods, with TRW .030 over pistons.

I also have 6 .030 over pistons on romulus rods so find out what your current rods are. I have not seen a picture of the big end of your current rods yet. With that I can get you what you need...

As much as I would like to sell you my parts I would suggest seeing if anyone has a set of eagles for sale. But definately make sure that the big end is checked. I have seen more than a few failures because the big end is not perfectly round.

Aaron

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

Thanks for the offer. They're turning the crank down by .010 so I expect they'll the big ends at the same time. I'll verify that before I go to collect on or around the 4th Dec.

Depending on the outcome of the rods (see options above), I may just go for a preassembled block. All the hassle will be taken out and I'm still paying the same price.

I think this truck needs to be made roadworthy then sold.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

So my plan for a cheap rebuild has failed spectacularly.

The rebuild kits that had forged pistons are all press fit and so won't fit the Eagle rods. So I couldn't buy a standard rebuild kit. So I needed different pistons and had to buy the kit separately.

Looks like I will have a forged bottom end minus the 4 bolt mains. Maybe I could do them later but I don't plan to do anything crazy with the turbo (just yet). I'll be running stock compression for the vortec, 9.65? give or take and am keeping the cam in there as well.

So much for keeping it stock and easy. Oh well - this would have been easier in the US but now at least I have a project to look forward to. I'd like to get it rebuilt by Xmas but that might be tight.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

So, plan for Christmas was to strip the front end, prep for paint and also rebuild the freshly machined engine from the machine shop.

Heads all done - I'm putting Cometics under them.

The truck needs some TLC, that's for sure:

Lots of rust

So...wheels come off and we got to work.

Filled the bed - standard for these things!

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

Time to strip the frame down..

Torsion bars were a PITA. A really BFH helps A LOT.

The wing was toast.

Dropped the diff as well and the frame was exposed.

Lots of wire wheel later:

Then POR15 degreaser:

Then POR15 acid etch..

Acid + base = salt.

Phosphorous Hydroxide I think.. who knows?

Small snag - the instructions on the tin were pretty inadequate. The temp in the unit was cold, maybe 55-60F and the etch works best at 70. We did the etch then left it for 20 min and then decided to call it a night and paint the following day. I spent the evening reading the tech sheets and realised I did a couple of things slightly wrong.

1. After wire wheel, the shiny metal surfaces need to be keyed with sandpaper prior to washing and etching or the POR15 won't work. I didn't know this. POR15 sticks to rust, hence the etch but I thought it would be fine. It won't be.

2. Leave the degreaser on for about 30 min. It is ideally mixed 1:1 with hot (boiling preferably) water and left on for up to 30 min to get the grease off the frame. I didn't leave it on long enough.

3. The etch needs a warmer temperature. 50F was too cold. I will heat the unit up the next time I try this.

After 48 hrs:

You can see that there are still areas of shiny metal which the POR15 will not adhere to. I will be sanding them with a coarse grit sandpaper when I next work on it and then re-degrease and re etch in a warmer temperature.

By then I hope to have resolved the cam issue.

Thanks for looking and Happy New Year.

 

[hatrik8]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

I like all the POR15 prep info and pictures.. I want to clean up my underside someday and use POR15. Looks like quite a bit of work....

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

I like all the POR15 prep info and pictures.. I want to clean up my underside someday and use POR15. Looks like quite a bit of work....

Thanks - I didn't find much on here so hoped these might help.

If I were to do it again, I would recommend steam pressure washing the truck first and using Nitromors or an equivalent paint stripper to remove old chassis paint. All the effort is with the prep so I want to do it properly. Nothing would please me more than to slap on the chassiscoat but if it's not done right then what's the point?

I'm starting to have a lot of time invested in the truck so flipping it is looking less and less likely This POR15 should last the lifetime of the truck. I wonder how long that will be...


I also brought the front suspension to London so I can work on it at weekends. :tup:

Then there's the cam issue... :screwy:

 

[Logan]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

The truck is coming along nicely. It gives me motivation to work on mine. Now I need to go rob a bank and I will be good on funding. haha.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

I also had to mount the oil drain fitting. I used a 3/4 NPT tap and a XXmm hole saw. With hindisght, this was too big and gave me no margin for error if I messed up. I also need to make sure the fitting clears the rods inside the pan. I also needed to grind off part of the stock casting so I could have it as far from the starter and the motor mounts as possible.

BTW Your oil pan bung is the same height mine was installed. I am changing mine to hopefully fix my smoking issue when idling for extended periods of time.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

If mine ever gets to idle for a prolonged period, I will regard the fog of smoke as a victory!

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

Painted thre front end with POR15 Rust Preventative paint and then the chassis protect topcoat.

Time to build the engine.

It was all going well until I realised that the forged pistons don't clear the crank. It needs to be ground/cleared and then rebalanced. :tdown:

 

[Logan]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

All this time and effort to have two of the sweetest Saudi trucks......then never drive them. Looks like progress is being made. I haven't forgotten about your fog light hardware. A couple more days and I'll be home and I'll let you know.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

I thought it might be time for an update. Please please please... if you're reading this and appreciate it, please say something. I sometimes get the feeling no-one is reading this. It's massively demoralising to work on these things with no encouragement.

Anyway,

I had some issues as you can see above. Rusty truck, blown engine and then the rebuild wasn't quite suitable.

I have tonne of pics so here goes...

Started with the cleaned and POR15d frame and a clean block bored .030" over..

New heads to go on..

Got the pistons and rods installed

So I assembled the block...

The vortec motor has the balance shaft and the cam retainer plate was missing a screw from the machine shop so that slowed me down a day or two...

That slowed me down from putting on the pan and the timing cover and installing it.

I've never done this before so I learned a lot as I built the engine. The little plastic piece in the rear main seal? Really useful!!

Got the goop around the timing cover and rear seal...

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

The machine shop also forgot to install the cam expansion plug...

I had to improvise as that meant I couldn't install the engine...

A UK can of WD40 is the perfect size but it crushed..

So I ended up using my power steering pulley installer tool to get the plug in...

Then it was time to torque up the flexplate and install the engine. It all went quite well at that point...

So I managed to get the engine in the truck quite quickly.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

What really slowed me down were the solid motor mounts...

Passenger side (the little P)?

Driver side (the little D?)

Well, the engine was connected to the trans while it was on the crane and the whole assembly was too far forward. I swapped the mounts around et voila, c'etait parfait! {/FRENCH]

The following day, I added a few more items.

Solid fuel lines? WHAT A BITCH! I have braided in the Ty so this is my first "stock rebuild" - man, they were a PITA to do.

But I got them in. They were savaged on the way out so needed some massage before reinstallation.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

So part of the plan for the truck was to address some rust issues. I can't blast and paint every bracket there is so I stuck to the big ticket items. The rad support was in a dire state so that went off to a marine place. The grain they used was pretty large but it came out well I thought:

Then primed:

(I also blasted the transmission X member as part of the experiment. It too came out well)

After priming the rad support, I sprayed it with about 4 cans of rattle black. I was trying to not spray too close and pool the paint but I was perhaps too far and used too much. Next time I paint anything, I am buying a spray gun.

It did highlight how crap the rest of the parts looked:

The I pulled out the upper intake. It was caked in grime and my first thought was to blast it and be done with it but that is money I don't have right now so I thought I would try and clean it. It came out really well!

I ended up blasting and painting the throttle cable bracket but I used BBQ enamel paint and it came out a bit dry looking. Hopefully the turbo will cook it.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

So with the engine in and the rad support saved, there was no more ado - I put on the front clip. I had new fenders from eBay as the originals were FUBAR.

And from the side...

It still needs some paint and the cladding cracked on both eyebrows (Which genius used u-clips to connect the two pieces knowing they would rust solid????)

I have to put the balancer on in order to turn the engine and set the timing. Once that is done, the top end gets tightened and I can connect all the sensors and wiring. I hope to start it soon.

The a -arms are getting blasted and I will paint them and install new ES bushings. I also plan to add a new tie rod and ball joints kit.

After that, truck should drive!

Wish me luck!

 

[oCancerPatiento]

Re: Saudi Syclone - 2612

Great progress. I hope everything from now on out goes smoothly.