rebuild 6.5 or not

[jimbo56]

I have a 98 Burb,319,000 miles on it. I am losing a lot of coolant lately and of course it is in the oil. If the block is cracked wouldn't it overfill the oil pan. It is obviously burning coolant, I can smell it and see it. This leads me to think it is a head gasket or intake gasket problem. When I hit the throttle hard I can hear what sounds like the valves tapping, I am also having transmission problems and the tranny guy said I need to fix the engine first to make sure the transmission problem isn't engine related. It will not shift into overdrive or final gear whatever you might call it. It puts out quite a bit of engine noise at 2000 rpm on the highway at 60 mph. If I tear this thing down to rebuild I am concerned about the block. With the history of block cracking it worries me that I could do the rebuild and have the block crack anyway, does the girdle kit stop the block from cracking. I am also considering 18-1 pistons on the rebuild but I have been told this will make the engine even louder that stock. I live in Missouri and understand the cold start issue. What should I do, do you have any better ideas.
Jim

[rjschoolcraft]

I don't have much faith in the girdle approach. Splayed mains are the only hope, in my opinion, of stopping the cracking problem. In my mind, the jury is still out even on the splayed mains. Simply not enough miles on engines with them to definitively say. Mine has about 10,000 on it with the high mile unit (Kennedy's 96) having in the neighborhood of 50,000 IIRC. Most of the blocks in the poll cracked after 100,000 miles.

From an engineering perspective, though, the splayed main approach presses all the right buttons (so to speak). It is proven in the world of gas engines and should work here. The 6.5, though, is a beast of its own.

Edited to correct a stupid spelling error...

[ 12-27-2005, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: ronniejoe ]

[jspringator]

Splayed mains, if done correctly, are clearly the best approach. However, that is quite an expensive and time consuming undertaking. A guy at the Place ordered a Gold engine with splayed mains from DAS and it failed in short order. No one knows why it failed, but apparently the splayed mains can be exacting to install. They still haven't replaced it, and warranty coverage is in doubt. Like most of us, he wasn't totally stock. I know of no other source for ready made splayed main engines.

I have asked this at least a half a dozen times; has anyone seen a new AM General block with cracks? I haven't heard of any. You have several reliable pre-fab choices, namely Kennedy (new block, lots of new other stuff, stock compression, but lower than GM) and Peninsular (All new, all options from mild to wild).

I wouldn't expend the effort to put in a reman without either having an AM General block or splayed mains, at least on a truck I planned to keep.

[john8662]

Sadly, I've heard of the AMG block cracking. But, when I was told of the cracking, I wasn't informed to whether it was the mains or the cylinder walls (more cracking cylinder walls seen on Hummer turbo models).

Stud Girdle? Does it help, I dunno, but I have one in my 6.2L.

Splayed Mains, jury is sure out on that one, but I bit, I'm still convinced it's the best thing you can do, and necessary at higher power levels.

[Tough Guy]

My 18:1 6.5L has 190,000+ miles on it now...

The engine has no girdle or splayed mains.........18:1 pistons, gear drive, intercooler, HO cooling mods and all the other goodies for reliable power.

A girdle will help. The big power 7.3L guys use a girdle...(500+ rwhp).

Splayed mains are a proven concept, but remains to be proven in the 6.5L

If you love the truck and have the cash to spend do it. Build a 6.5L correctly and you will love it forever.


Chris

[Kennedy]

Installing splayed mains is not rocket science. The DAS engine in question has some other big questions as to who's caps and who's pistons were used. There has been elusion to the Kennedy name, BUT I haven't sold DAS any of these parts in years...

Splayed mains have been proven in Mark Bajus' repaired cracked block, my old '96 running 25+ psi boost, and several others. I know of no failures in service.

[Marty Lau]

Originally posted by Tough Guy:
My 18:1 6.5L has 190,000+ miles on it now...


Chris

I was wondering how many miles you got on the Beast...

[jspringator]

Does any vendor (other than the one named), provide a splayed main reman? You know, they are stupid for jerking this guy around. They have either a unique or nearly unique product for which they charge a premium price and they throw away their reputation because of one failure.

[eracers999]

43k on my splayed main 18:1, i guess that would come up to a 183 k on the block total. So far im very pleased, 20 lb's of boost pretty regular, great working engine set up.

Kent