[char1355]

You always think those things are built like a tank but some little defect like that can bring a lot of grief. A duel temp gauge setup sounds like cheap insurance. Not sure if they have one for coolant temp but Hewitt Industries makes several dual gauges. Like on your truck with twin turbos they have dual reading boost gauge like the one shown below. Not a company you hear about a lot but they make high quality parts that are often found in big trucks. That dual gauge is like $150. They have dual fuel pressure gauges so you can monitor pre and post filter and dual pyro gauges. By the way, they invented the pyro for diesels about 70 years ago. Their stuff is also found in aircraft.

 

[A310]

Nice, years ago guys were using those on Detroits to monitor turbo and airbox boost pressures. I monitor engine vitals with an Edge CTS monitor. Might get the CTS3 as I can monitor 10 gauges at a glance instead of 5.

 

[A310]

Here's the CTS. This is throttle close descending an 8% grade at -20C. Exhaust temps are very low.

 

[A310]

Quick update. I pulled the truck into the shop for some fixes that I needed to do as well as trouble shoot an increase in emissions. I suspected it was the blower bypass valve and it indeed had failed closed, so I repaired that. I repaired a cracked turbine housing on my K31, turns out it was a hairline fracture that had grown, so I stopped drilled it and tig welded it with nickel rod. I replaced the water pump, fixed the issue with too much tension on the V belts. Repaired the cracked filler on the valve cover and repainted it. Lastly before the cab goes down I set the valves and injectors. I also wanted to rule out the injectors so I pulled one to have a look and it was coked really bad. I'll pull the other 3 and clean then and re-install. I've ordered 9B90 injectors and will install in the fall and that should give me the 250HP I'm looking for. Oh lastly I also needed to raise the cab another 1/8" to address cab rubbing on the valve cover, so that should fix that issue.

 

[A310]

Forgot the videos.

 

[A310]

Lastly I lowered the governed no load rpm down from 3200 to 2700.

 

[A310]

Decided to have a peek into the cylinders while the injectors were out. Looks like cylinder #4 ingested some aluminum or piston rings, so I'm pulling the head for an inspection to see what it is. Here's the full story.

 

[A310]

I pulled the head yesterday to figure out what was causing the low compression. Turns out the ceramic coatings have come off the pistons and dusted the liners. Pulling the piston and liners this week and hopefully salvage the pistons. With any luck I can save them and just order up 4 piston ring sets and 2 new liners as I have 2 new liners on the shelf. Looks like Detroits don't like modern coatings.

 

[sks72107]

That stinks. Do those coatings have a history of coming off?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[char1355]

Curious whose coatings you were using? Never heard of those coatings coming off if properly applied. The people at Polydyn in Texas have been doing those for a long time and have a good reputation. Was your ceramic coating just on the crown of the piston? Is it possible this engine has a curse on it? LOL.

 

[A310]

That stinks. Do those coatings have a history of coming off?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

They are supposed to be lifetime.

 

[A310]

Curious whose coatings you were using? Never heard of those coatings coming off if properly applied. The people at Polydyn in Texas have been doing those for a long time and have a good reputation. Was your ceramic coating just on the crown of the piston? Is it possible this engine has a curse on it? LOL.

I used an outfit called Calico Coatings out of North Carolina. Came highly recommended. Top coating is a ceramic compound and the skirts were a CT-3 coating that's like a teflon. It rubs off with a thumb nail, pulling the liners this week. Went through my stock and found 3 new liners, so I only need one new liner and 4 piston ring sets.

 

[char1355]

Not familiar with that company and I live in North Carolina. They are only about 10-12 miles from my house. Lots of that type business in this state due to the racing industry. But there only used to be one or two of those companies and now there seems to be one on every corner but not all of them are for automotive use. Have your been in contact with them and told them what happened? Sounds like something went wrong in their coating process. I know Polydyn has a special coating for piston skirts and that doesn't rub off easily. It is baked onto the piston. It is designed to retain oil. They coat bearings with a similar material.

 

[A310]

Not familiar with that company and I live in North Carolina. They are only about 10-12 miles from my house. Lots of that type business in this state due to the racing industry. But there only used to be one or two of those companies and now there seems to be one on every corner but not all of them are for automotive use. Have your been in contact with them and told them what happened? Sounds like something went wrong in their coating process. I know Polydyn has a special coating for piston skirts and that doesn't rub off easily. It is baked onto the piston. It is designed to retain oil. They coat bearings with a similar material.

Ah ok, no I'll pull the pistons and liners first. I'll take some pictures and send them off to them.

 

[A310]

Forgot to update this thread. 4-53T is back in the truck and running great again. 1200 miles on the new rings and bearings and its breaking in nicely. I went back to a single turbo for now just to optimize exhaust and compressor housings. I'm running an old Garrett T04E I rebuilt with a .81 A/R exhaust housing. So far I'm very happy with it, just needs a tad more air.lol I've ordered a new larger compressor wheel from 55.6mm to 60mm to improve airflow. I'll turn the housing to fit the new compressor as well as upgrade the thrust bearing to a 360 degree bearing. My compound setup was pretty close, but the primary K31 was too large and could only get it up to 6 psi boost. The secondary was K27 was too small and really needed a larger bypass valve, so I'm back to the drawing board on turbos. I'll probably end up with a compound again, but this time more research and experience will give me a better system.

 

[cjfisher]

Hey A310 - what ever happened with the liner coatings?

 

[A310]

Hey A310 - what ever happened with the liner coatings?

Coatings were on the pistons and bearings only. I removed what was left of the ceramic tops and left the dry film on the skirts. Most of the dry film was gone anyway so I don't think it will be a problem. As for the bearings, they also had the dry film coatings and I just replaced with new bearings. I had the liners honed out 2 thou to clean up, 3 of the 4 liners came good, but one liner was replaced with new. That liner was the worst and would need 5 thou to clean up, so I replaced it.

 

[A310]

No rest for the Detroit. Got it running with a clean exhaust with the single.

 

[A310]

A quick update on the 4-53T swap. Engine is running great with another 10,000 miles on it. Haven't done much to it but upgrade the Garrett T04E with the 60mm compressor wheel from the 55.6mm stock wheel. While I was doing that I got a little sidetracked and made a T51R insert for it. This was to make the turbo whistle a little more and give it some surge protection. Although the Detroit doesn't need surge protection because of the blower, it was part of making the T51R. I was going to upgrade the power some but am now running WVO, so I'll hold off on the larger injectors until I get a year of driving on WVO. I'm running a single tank system with 80% WVO and 20% Gasoline. I've got about 8000 miles on this setup and running great. I'll be building a second tank for winter ops this coming Fall.

 

[A310]

Here's a video of the T51R mod.