Builds 1997 FZJ80 to HDJ80 1HD-FTE + H152F (6 Viewers)

[jomelo]

So here is where we are at. This engine kills me. I purchased it and then paid for it to be rebuilt. Whatever it needed. Blah blah blah truck ends up at @SNLC shop. At that time it had not been ran since the rebuild. So Ian and @Onur spent a little time and fired it up. Sounded amazing. There is a video in the thread somewhere. Great.

Engine came out. I bought the FTE. And then another truck. And then another truck. And so this FT was going back in this truck. That brings us to last week. Ian does a compression test. It was horrible. Like not even believable. Went back and confirmed what was allegedly done to it during the “rebuild.” Said again those numbers just cannot be right.

@SNLC took it apart today. He will post pics. I do not know s*** about engines. But that’s even enough to know this is not good. Here are some photos and Ian has more and can go over his findings. There were some moving parts that were not supposed to move.

In good news, the new H152 transmission and associated parts cleared customs and has departed the LA DHL facility.

 

[AussieHJCruza]

@jmlockwood This isn't good to see - do you have any recourse on the so-called rebuilder?

 

[chapel gate]

cross hatching is too flat.

 

[SNLC]

We are still tearing it down. Oil pan coming off right now.

Here is a little something though.

More pics, video and info at days end.

Cheers

 

[OGBeno]

The "rebuilder" obviously did not rebuild. Or anything close to it. Sad, sad, sad. This really sucks all around.

 

[OGBeno]

cross hatching is too flat.

Least of the worries on this engine at this point.

 

[chapel gate]

Least of the worries on this engine at this point.

agreed, merely an observation..

 

[SNLC]

agreed, merely an observation..

Scoring in the bores and on the piston skirts.

@Onur and myself ran this 90-120 seconds total. There was debris in this engine.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We are still checking rings but it appears these bores are tapered. So at most it got a hand hone.

Cheers

 

[bottombracket]

The only good news here is that you have this project in the correct hands now. @SNLC will do it right where others have not.

 

[Bludozer]

The only good news here is that you have this project in the correct hands now. @SNLC will do it right where others have not.

Agree. "Rebuilt" is always an unknown as you really have no idea what they actually did. Truly sucks and I'd be pissed but silver lining is you'll know exactly what you have now when it's done.

 

[TonyP]

That is rough.
Hopefully the "rebuilder" makes it right.
Unfortunately, you can't get recouped the investment in time.

 

[wngrog]

Holy hell. Just getting caught up. I thought that dude that built it was some kind of diesel expert? Hate to see “experts” take advantage of others or overpromise above their skill level.

I was pissed about the dirty engine bay from page 3 or so.....

 

[SNLC]

Alright, day is over.

First up, I am not posting any of this to throw anybody under the bus or call them out. We know nothing about this engine’s previous life and we don’t even know how many miles are on it. It came to us rebuilt, to give John confidence and piece of mind it was decided to compression test it, it tested low, best cylinder was 370psi and lowest was about 300psi. We know very little about what it received in the rebuild other than what we see and what John has informed us of. I also would not post any of this without asking the customer and or being asked to post it.

Here is the piston slop on this FT.





Now here is another clients FTE that recently arrived from Germany. It has 230,000kms or so and has never been opened up until we cracked it open. It also tested low on compression.

https://youtu.be/nuNu6npydgE

Clearly that is not good.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

The top of the block checks out and is within specs.

Here is our conrod end play numbers and piston ring numbers, all tested as per the FSM.

So the conrod end play is within specs but is on the low end of the specs. The rings are within specs but are all over the map, this is just end gap test and specs. Out of curiosity we checked the rings bottom, mid and top of the bores, you can see some of that in our notes. What we found is the bores have a slight taper to them which shows they are at the most hand honed. That is normal wear and tear but not what you expect to find on a freshly rebuilt engine. On top of this we have the scoring in the bores and in the piston skirts, we believe because there was debris in this engine upon and after assembly. There is also scoring on the BEB, less than cam caps but still there. The crank did not receive a polish or anything else. The oil pump rotor set does check out good, in fact it is probably new as the specs are at the top end, like new.

We could continue with checking specs of the piston ring gaps on the pistons, wrist pins, piston bores and so forth. The head is with my head guy and until he goes through it we won’t know what he finds.

I did a cost analysis late in the day. What’s it going to cost us to rebuild this bottom end? Comparing to other options. John made his decision after a discussion with me, I will leave it to him to post about that but we are not doing anymore testing or checking of specs on the bottom end.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Again, not posting to talk crap or start anything. Just showing what we found.

These pics are just to show general overall lack of attention to detail and sloppiness. If you don’t know John, he is the kind of guy who never wants to cut corners and he always wants it right and he is willing to pay for it. So for me, this is just sad to see.

Duct tape left in intake manifold mating surface after painting.

Exhaust manifold not cleaned out properly.

Thermostat not installed correctly, hole is supposed to be up top.

Hardware store bolt where there should be a OEM plug on the oil cooler cover.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

The injection pump was supposedly rebuilt, I am not even saying it wasn’t I am just showing what we see.

Here is the IP on another customers FTE that we believe has never been touched.

On the head, the large roller arms on the rocker appear replaced but the small arms do not.

The water pump, oil cooler cover and spill tube all had silicone on them. Why??

Cheers

 

[cruiserdan]

Krylon overhaul.

My Kyrlon overhauls look a lot better than that.

 

[wngrog]

Bah. **** it. This is all in the past.
Let’s hear the future?

Crate 350?

 

[SNLC]

The head, like I say more to come on that in a week or two.

Oil after 2 minutes of run time since rebuild.

Exhaust manifolds is a two piece design, it obviously was not separated, rust removed or new gaskets installed.

Truly a shame when John would have easily paid for any of these things to be done right. I have been self employed for 22yrs and have had well over 500 customers in that time. John is right up there with the top three most easy to work with, most generous, least hack job or cut corner kind of guy that I have ever worked for. So it is frustrating, disappointing and sad to see this.

Cheers