1987 a good year for the 6.2?

[AndyC]

Hello all,

I'm after a 6.2 or 6.5 to fit into my Land Rover 110, in place of the petrol (gas) 3.9i V8 currently in there.

GM diesels aren't too common over here in England, so I can't be too picky. There's an 87 GMC truck on ebay uk at the moment with a 6.2 diesel, it will also have an autobox, which I will need - I'm guessing it will be a 700R4?

What I'm wondering is whether an '87 6.2 is basically a good engine? I don't mind if this particular one needs work or a re-build, but only if it's an engine worth spending money on, if you see what I mean...

Thanks,

Andy.

[john8662]

None of the 6.2's were bad if I remember correctly. The 87 engine should be fine to use as-is if the condition is good. In 84 Felpro changed head gasket material and they had a good gasket, these later engines saw less head gasket issues in service.

[veager]

well you might want to check to see if it sounds normal, as there have been plenty of them that cracked the mains.
I had to toss a couple of them even though they still ran.
The newer castings were like the 6.5 and are more resistant to this but not immune.
I think they started producing them in 91.

[john8662]

well you might want to check to see if it sounds normal, as there have been plenty of them that cracked the mains.
I had to toss a couple of them even though they still ran.
The newer castings were like the 6.5 and are more resistant to this but not immune.
I think they started producing them in 91.

Blocks developing cracks on the mains is a problem that has been an issue with all of the GM 6.2/6.5 platform up until the AMG Navistar casting in late 2001.

From the information I have collected and confirmed with engine remanufacturers I will tell you that less 6.2's (of all castings) devop cracks than than ALL of the 6.5 Blocks casted up until 2001.

Many engines that do crack on the mains do not fail as a result of the cracking. The cracks are usually found when rebuilding an engine, and a cracked block shouldn't be used for a full-out rebuild, unless repaired. Cracks to be repaired depends on the amount of cracks and the depth of the crack.

So, if I was looking for a good running 6.2 to use for a conversion, I wouldn't care as long as it ran really well. In looking for one strictly for rebuild, yes, I'm going to be picky and would prefer either an '82 block or a '599 6.2 block, or a known well-seasoned crack-free block.

FYI 97-2000 6.5 blocks really shouldn't be rebuilt due to the HIGH chance of cracking which specifically leads in this series of blocks to cracks getting into the water jacket and mixing oil with coolant (thanks to GM's poor implementation of piston oil spray cooling).

[AndyC]

Great, thanks guys for the info. I'll take a look at the truck - shame it's on ebay, as it's harder to check beforehand, but it's about the only place to find these things over here.

Andy.

[veager]

Well I had one cracked so bad that the engine was making a thumping noise under a bit of load.
After disassembly it revealed all three center mains cracked enough for the Mains to move up and down when running.
I was amazed the crank never broke.