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Re: [RC] 'nother truck poll question - Stephanie E CaldwellI thought diesel's lasted longer than that? My truck's engine has 191,021 and my back up tow vehicle has 173,496. They're both techincally running, but the truck has very little power and needs to be rebuilt. We've looked into rebuilding our truck and buying a new one. To rebuild our 350 engine with the modifications we want is right at $5,000 with a shade tree mechanic. The advantages are that we can get an engine that will take the abuse that we dish out to it. We blew the compression rings out of the front cylinders almost four years ago, and the mechanic has been "gonna" rebuild it since. The modifications that we make to the engine will increase power, decrease fuel consumption, and make it a HD engine. Remember I'm a woman, so if any of you more mechanically inclined people want more information then email me and I'll ask my father! Our truck already has the 3/4 ton underbody, it was done in the Z71's from 88 - 91 or 92, they also have HD brakes, Tranny and Oil cooler, so we had planned to bore and stroke the engine. Use heavy duty racing parts in it, the lighter parts are cast vs forged and tend to warp when it's overheated or run without oil. That should make it a 383 vs a 350. There's some kind of cam that you put in it that throws all your torque into the low end gears. Supposed to give the 350 as much low end power as y'all's power stroke diesels, gas consumption in lower gears is 3 - 4 mpg, but out on the highway it increases up to 18 - 20. Down side is you have no power once you get into high gear. Then we are going to put some kind of thingy that makes it fire four times, another racing part. That will increase the power considerably when coupled with the cam. Our mechanic built an engine like this for a steel factory and put it in a C60 Chevy, they've ran it hot enough to melt the gaskets and ran it out of oil and the engine is still working with minor repairs. If I ever get my engine then it should last and be strong enough to pull anything the truck is capable of stopping. Even if we have to have the rear end redone, which is a given with teh older Chevy's, that's their weakest link usually, and redo the Tranny again then I've got $7,000 - $8,000 in a truck that's built heavier mechanically than anything I could walk into the dealer and buy new off the showroom today. I like that thought, but the down side is that pidly things keep going wrong and leaving it not running. Engine Modules, the chips that control the engine, have gone out twice now. Or not twice, but two different chips once. The Fuel Pump, they have to either take the rear end out or remove the bed to get the tank out. We also own a Chevy S-10 Blazer that I tow with since the truck has been having problems and we will not rebuild it, probably junk it. It's had the top of the engine done twice and still has major problems, it needs a new computer. New computer and all the chips is well over $3,000 from a junk yard, no guarantees. So, IMO it depends on what else might go wrong and what other issues the truck has other than engine problems. Just my 2 cents, Steph For those of you that are close to or pushing 200,000 miles are you gonna keep the current truck and replace/overhaul engine or get a newer truck with lower milage? ...and please state why. I have a '97 Ford diesel 3/4 ton, automatic that I love and currently have 150,000 miles on it. When the time comes I'm thinking about just replaceing the engine vs getting a lower milage truck. Pro's? Con's? Regards, Penny __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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