Just a minor update...

I still intend to update with pics/vids... when I can. The truck ran beautifully for a few days, then one morning just shut off on me on the way to work. Wouldn't start back up. Get to work, call AAA to get it towed. Around the time they were supposed to be there I went to my truck, and wouldn't you know it, it fired right up. My shop thinks the PCM may be on it's way out. So that's potentially on the to do list.

Got it back, and it ran great for about another week and a half. Then I noticed what sounded like a bolt or something being thrown around inside the engine. But wasn't quite sure where it was coming from. Had the guy at my shop swing by my house on his way home and he listened to it. He specializes in transmissions, and right away when he heard it said it's most likely the torque converter.

This all the month before my wedding this Sunday. So the truck has been sitting in my driveway the past several weeks, waiting for me to get some time & money to fix yet another thing. I'll look into finding a beefier one and get that done, eventually. I've been fortunate enough to be able to drive a company truck around in the mean time. But I want my own truck back on the road :/

 

Check your convertor bolts. Had one loosen up on me, you'll never forget the sound after that.

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

That's what I'm hoping for. But with the wedding coming this Sunday and working 12+ hour days clear up to it, I've literally had no time. It's something I''ll have to check after the honeymoon. I'll update as soon as I can get to it.

 

Did you use loctite on your flywheel and converter bolts? Blue will do, but it's something you should always do.

 

Minor update. I've got a company truck now, so between working 60+ hrs/wk, unpacking, working on/around the new house, and trying to spend any leftover freetime with my new wife, the Dakota has been moved to the backburner patiently waiting for me.

The buddy of mine who helped me out thru this build quit his job and decided to open up his own shop. I sent my truck to him to run things over. As far as the tranny sound... Sure enough the TC bolts were loosened. Loctited, tightened. All is well.

I picked up a new oil pressure sender for him to try. Once it was installed, there seemed to be less valve ticking and the oil pressure gauge was reading 35 psi at idle. A few small revs and the gauge jumped as high as 60 psi. But after the truck warmed up, the gauge dropped out again. IDK what the deal is. Bearing clearances are still a possibility, but that's not something I can check/assess without opening up the whole block.

I'm pretty confident I've got good oil pressure, but I'm picking up a mechanical gauge today either online or at Pep Boys on the way home, since I never did get one a while back. That way I can be sure at all times.

As far as the vavletrain noise, IDK why it's been so noisy. IDK if it just needs some adjustment, or if the factory stuff even can be adjusted. I'm really hoping the machine shop didn't deck the block too much that with the factory head gaskets, valves have tapped the cylinders. Being my first build, that's something I overlooked during the install. If it persists, I may have to pull the heads to verify. Hoping it doesn't come to that.

In any case, I should be picking my truck up by this weekend latest I'd imagine. I'll get her cleaned up and put a few miles on. Then I'll get those pics and vids I've promised for months.

 

what pistons did you use? I can't possibly see having piston-valve issues with a stock setup. You'd have to have long rockers or a big cam, I would think. Easy thing you can do if you or your friend have a valve spring checker or on-head compressor, is bring the motor around to 15 degrees before TDC on the intake stroke, then compress the intake valvespring. Turn the motor 5 degrees, repeat. All the way until the piston is going back down again. This will tell you how much clearance you have, since the valve will already be open via the rockerarm, and you are opening it further. We put a dial indicator on the spring retainer to get the numerical value.

Remember, the piston is chasing the exhaust valve, but the intake valve chases the piston. So intake will usually hit before exhaust. That said, we cut it close when we were at 505 cubes. 80 thou exhaust clearance and 130 thou intake.

 

Hughes Iron Ram heads - which uses stock valvetrain.

Used the Hughes HER1418AL cam Hughes HER1418AL.

Used THIS Stroker Kit - CES318C4IKR-30 (top item on the chart). 6.123 Eagle rods, .030 KB Pistons -23cc dish.

I don't imagine the valve train would be kissing the pistons either, unless the cam was more aggressive than I realized. As I mentioned earlier, It'd be a realistic scenario that the block got decked more than I expected. Then combined with a slightly more aggressive cam valves & pistons may have kissed. And not saying that is what's happened/happening; just that I didn't check those clearances during the build, so I couldn't say for sure one way or the other. For all I know this may all be in my head and I'm paranoid over my first engine build.


After I picked up the truck yesterday I headed back to work and filled the tank up with 93 instead of 87, which she really seemed to like. I didn't care for the $80+ tank tho. I wish premium was just $0.20 more like it used to be. Now it's an extra $10+/tank. Anyway, with the low compression 87 should do the truck just fine, but with the advanced timing it really liked the more octane. I'll play with it over time to see how things go.

On another note, when I left my office yesterday evening, before even getting to the end of the street, the serpentine belt snapped on me. I parked it at the office, got a ride home. Need to pick up a new one to throw on. Really not sure what happened until I can take a look at it, but the belt was brand new.

 

a -23cc dish is a BIG dish.

I'm assuming you read this on that camshaft page, and had the springs on those heads changed to suit?

If you're using the 1.6 rockers, the intake lift is .520. With the Harland 1.7's, it's .552 (and you'd be coilbinding without a doubt).

Even with that lift, I can't see any P-V interface issues considering the head gasket thinkness and 23cc dish.

 

Well damn, that may very well be the issue...

It was a setup suggested/supplied by Hughes and I had assumed they swapped the needed valvetrain assembly for the setup I was buying from them. "***.U.ME" being the operative word. I'll have to do some homework to see what springs and retainers I actually received. But I'll bet that I got the stock ones and they're coilbinding :/

However, if that's the issue, I'll actually be kinda happy that I can get the motor running good finally - short of the annoying oil pressure ordeal. I'll see what the mechanical gauge shows me and if needed I'll drop the pan and check the oil pump. If all looks good, it'll have to be the clearances being too tight. There's nothing else I could possibly think of.

I've learned so much through this build so far and I can't tell you how much help you guys have been. Especially you, magnethead. I feel I owe you a beer.