Stopped by Ateb to drop off the 81 for a compression check John offered me and saw him under the hood of a 5 speed full load VX Limited 81 that had a rough idle. Seems it had a newly rebuilt pump from Holmes just installed. I learned a ton from John as he brought out his specialized diesel tuning equipment- never knew you could use a timing light to check injection timing! After confirming timing at 5 degrees, he whipped off the top of the boost compensator and showed me how it worked and how to adjust it. Seemed it was set to full volume injection. He put it in a spot he thought it should be and put it back together. Small improvement. He then adjusted the total fuel screw incrementally by feel and 'ear' for about five minutes until the engine sounded truly silky. A quick rip around the neighbourhood and the owner was very satisfied. All the while he kept up a running commentary about how every component worked and had to interact correctly with the others to provide acceptable performance- the difference in smoothness and performance he made to this 81 was shocking. John was careful to point out that Raj at Holmes did a super job on the the pump, it just required fine tuning to accommodate the 'age' of this 21 year old engine.
Naturally, I asked if he would do the same for my engine! I have had smoke issues since I got it which is great fun for annoying Christian (lol) but nasty to live with. We wheeled my rig in and started the compression check- an HDT wants 498 psi for standard numbers- well I had 5 cylinders at 520 and 1 at 320... Fxxx! well you can imagine how bummed I was. I was ready to fall on my sword so I left for work with visions of $5,000 engine rebuilds (John's rough idea)... I was thinking about how the heck I was going to pay for this when 2 hours later John called and said I was ok with 520 psi across the board. One of my valve shims was out just enough to screw the reading. He told me he thought I had a valve out of spec but he had a nagging thought that it may be a ring, and he didn't want me to get any illusions until he could test it. Anyway, John is taking my truck home to give it a thorough test drive and further refine the fuel settings.
Kudos to John for being such a straight up guy and being willing to share his knowledge to anyone who is genuinely interested in these trucks. I mean, I was ready to pay to rip the cylinder head off but he cautioned me to hold off and talked himself out of a very expensive invoice. Nice work.
Naturally, I asked if he would do the same for my engine! I have had smoke issues since I got it which is great fun for annoying Christian (lol) but nasty to live with. We wheeled my rig in and started the compression check- an HDT wants 498 psi for standard numbers- well I had 5 cylinders at 520 and 1 at 320... Fxxx! well you can imagine how bummed I was. I was ready to fall on my sword so I left for work with visions of $5,000 engine rebuilds (John's rough idea)... I was thinking about how the heck I was going to pay for this when 2 hours later John called and said I was ok with 520 psi across the board. One of my valve shims was out just enough to screw the reading. He told me he thought I had a valve out of spec but he had a nagging thought that it may be a ring, and he didn't want me to get any illusions until he could test it. Anyway, John is taking my truck home to give it a thorough test drive and further refine the fuel settings.
Kudos to John for being such a straight up guy and being willing to share his knowledge to anyone who is genuinely interested in these trucks. I mean, I was ready to pay to rip the cylinder head off but he cautioned me to hold off and talked himself out of a very expensive invoice. Nice work.
(and Helen, of course you too! 
)