Cucv Blazer Turbo 400 same as Civilian

[darkroad]

Hi I was wondering if any of you know if the turbo 400 from a cucv blazer is the same as the civilian model? Will it bolt up to the np241 or is the tailshaft different? Have a chance to buy a whole blazer with motor and drivetrain still in it for $500.

Thanks

Phil

[Robyn]

All should be the same.
I am not aware of any wierd MIL only 400's
$500 is a good buy

[darkroad]

Well I went and looked at it last night. Pretty well gutted. About all that was left was body, axles and motor and transmission. You could turn the motor over with a ratchet ( glow plugs out). Ended up buying just the motor and transmission for $200.00 I figured at that price it was worth the risk. Have to take it out tomorrow but all that left is one motor mount bolt and the transmission mout bolts and it ready to yank.

Darkroad

[Robyn]

Dont sound like a bad deal to me.
Hope it all turns out OK
Robyn

[darkroad]

Well I got the motor and trans pulled out Sat. I took off a half day today to disassemble it. Can't get in the garage (too full) so I am having to do it on the back of the trailer in the low 30's with light snow and a little sleet every now and then.

Good news, everything is in excellent shape. Heads are excellent, no visable cracks between valves, head and block surface are really smooth and had original gaskets on it, no erosion on the deck surface in water passage areas. Cylinders still have cross hatch slightly visable, Rods and Mains will polish out to standard. The pistons show no sign of ever overheating. Skirts still have all groves high and visable , all rings are free and only a slight carbon buildup above the top ring. All groves above top ring are visable not full of carbon. All the lifters and camshaft look good as new. Funny thing is , the first main bearing that I pulled out was dated 1982. So would this be a high nickle block? I haven't even had time to pull off the date code numbers from the block. Did the military still require the better blocks?

All I was looking for was just a good bare block but with the pistons, camshaft and crank in such good shape I have to decide what to do. I was going to order a new set of 6.2 lower compression turbo pistons with the tops ceramic coated from Mahl but now am wondering if that is necessary. I am going to use ARP studs for the heads as I will be running 15 PSI boost from a Banks wastegated turbo. Don't tow a lot but do a 2000 mile trip to the Outer Banks of NC every spring to surf and pier fish. Pull a 16 foot dove tail trailer with electric brakes with either a 4 door S-10 blazer or a 1992 K-1500 suburban. We go for two weeks so this lets me fish while my wife runs around and shops. Too expensive to rent a car for two weeks. Ran into than when I lost a Trans in another suburban with a cracked transmission line flare. Limped in and rented a Durango for 9 days, over $800 rental and $2400 for the trans. Now have extra coolers and filters on all trucks.

I don't know if you remember but last spring I was just going to do a top end rebuild with new clearwater heads, rebuilt rocker arm assemblies, DB2-4911 pump and 6.5 turbo injectors and gear drive When I checked the bottom end ( I wasn't planning on rebuilding it but couldn't resist giving it a quick look to see what the main and rod bearings looked like) all bearings were worn to the copper so I had to do quick poor boys rebuild. This was a week before I was to leave on a 2000 mile vacation trip. Carbon buildup was half way up the pistons. Had about 5 orders comming in UPS Red the same day. I wore out a set of hones just getting the cylinders decent, slapped in a set of standard bearings and rings, added a stud girdle and new oil pump and fired her up. Well as you can guess it is pretty noisy with the loose pistons and such but I didn't have time to get parts in and get the block bored and decked. I fired it up on Tuesday and left out on Thursday. I now have about 10,000 miles on it and it just keeps on running noisly along.


So I guess the game plan is to use the 6.2 pistons with the .010 thicker fel-pro gaskets, add new bearings and rings and swap over all my new top end stuff from the motor I am running in it now. Also will port match the intake to the heads and the heads to the exhaust manifolds. Did get smart this time and ordered a 2000 lb folding engine stand , due in tomorrow. My little beefed up 750 lb stand looked like it was about to fall apart even after I added bracing. I will do one neat thing after this engine is off the stand. I am going to take an extra hub off an old front axle and weld it in place of the rotating cylinder on top of the stand, weld the mounting plate to the cut off axle stub and reassemble with the Warn hub so I can index the motor to any position I want just by unlocking the hub and then locking it where I want.

I do have a question , would you consider trimming a little off the tops of the pistons to lower the compression and then ceramic treating them? Have any of you tried doing this yourself ( the ceramic treating)? I seem to remember reading about where you could get the ceramic liquid, spray it on and bake the pistons or heads or exhaust and also get the moly liquids to treat the skirts. Or is this beyond the capabilitis of the home mechanic?

I would like to be about 19:1 compression, just a little above the 18:1 to help on the starting.

I am not afraid to try anything myself as at 19 I did own a NAPA auto parts store and auto machine shop, kept for 10 years so I am game for just about anything and right now I work in an an industrial machine shop within the plant where I work. They have all kinds of ovens I could use to cure the coatings. Maintenance tech/ machinist for Dana Corp 18 years now since I sold out my business.

Have even been toying around the idea of machining my own splayed main caps and installing them myself, then letting a friend do the line boring and honing.

Sorry if this post just keeps going on and on but I have had a hundred questions rolling around in my head as I ponder what to do.

Thanks in advance, between answering my questions and reading about others you have helped me out tremendously


Darkroad