jimbo486
New member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2010
- Messages
- 1,617
I recently installed an ATS manifold and S362 turbo. When I pulled the stock manifold, I noticed a little bit of oil in the exh. tracks of almost all of the cylinders but mainly #'s 2-5 in both the head and manifold. I have no idea how long it's been that way but would explain the blue-ish haze I have accelerating after a cold-start. I replaced the original head gasket back in 2009. The upper engine gasket set I bought from Cummins came with the top-hat style valve seals which didn't fit around the valve guide boss as told by the machine shop/engine builder that I sent the head to. Not knowing the Cummins part number for the correct ones, the shop had valve seals that were the correct I.D. for the valve and threw them on to complete the job. Does it seem normal for valve seals to give up that soon? I mean, hell, the original seals didn't seem to leak one bit as best as I can recall. Could this just be a result of cheap seals? What about condition of the valve guides? Could excessive wear cause them to leak or would I have bigger issues with those?
Anyhow, I'll obviously need to replace the seals. I believe I recall where I can find the Cummins part number for the correct seals. My main wondering is valve springs. I've given some thought to upgrading the valve springs since the existing ones will be out for this job. I've read through a handful of threads here regarding springs. One that stood out was in regard to running heavier springs on a stock cam (http://www.competitiondiesel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169632).
What should be taken into consideration with upgrading springs? RPM and boost pressure range come to mind. My truck is dedicated to the streets. No drag racing, sled pulling or anything that extreme. Best guess is the motor has half a million miles on it. I certainly don't want to wipe out the cam. A cam upgrade is on the (very) long list of wants in the future though. Boost pressure with the current set up listed has been 50psi at most. The VE has a 3800RPM spring in it but I've only wound the motor up to roughly 3200RPM. From what research I've done so far and information I've gathered, staying with the stock cam for now, it seems that 60lbs springs would do just fine. How about keepers and retainers? Is there anything wrong or unnecessary about going with titanium? If they can't hurt, who can they be purchased from? I'm thinking of going with Hamilton or Manning push rods while they'd be easy to change as well.
What say the experts? I'm sure there could be other things to consider for the upgrades that I'm not thinking of.
Anyhow, I'll obviously need to replace the seals. I believe I recall where I can find the Cummins part number for the correct seals. My main wondering is valve springs. I've given some thought to upgrading the valve springs since the existing ones will be out for this job. I've read through a handful of threads here regarding springs. One that stood out was in regard to running heavier springs on a stock cam (http://www.competitiondiesel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169632).
What should be taken into consideration with upgrading springs? RPM and boost pressure range come to mind. My truck is dedicated to the streets. No drag racing, sled pulling or anything that extreme. Best guess is the motor has half a million miles on it. I certainly don't want to wipe out the cam. A cam upgrade is on the (very) long list of wants in the future though. Boost pressure with the current set up listed has been 50psi at most. The VE has a 3800RPM spring in it but I've only wound the motor up to roughly 3200RPM. From what research I've done so far and information I've gathered, staying with the stock cam for now, it seems that 60lbs springs would do just fine. How about keepers and retainers? Is there anything wrong or unnecessary about going with titanium? If they can't hurt, who can they be purchased from? I'm thinking of going with Hamilton or Manning push rods while they'd be easy to change as well.
What say the experts? I'm sure there could be other things to consider for the upgrades that I'm not thinking of.