Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Balanced & Blueprinted ???

[Mundgyver]

Good evening to the forum,



I have a question concerning our beloved 5. 9 L Cummins Engine.



Has anyone every balanced and blueprinted a 5. 9 L



If so, beside the obvious HP gain, what were the overall results? I'm thinking mpg, noise, vibrations, or anything else that would come to mind.



I just want to know if someone has done this and what the results were??



Thanks in advance for taking time to read this thread.

 

[DF5152]

u talk about balancing and blue printing a cummins or any engine for that matter what kind of horepower do u expect to gain. when u balance and blue print a motor the balancing part is self explanatory but when u blue print a motor u do nothing more than match all the specs. if there is nay HP to be gained it is minimal and may come from such things as CCing the head or piston if there is a recess. degreeing in the cam for more acurate cam timing which will bring the HP and torque u have in at different RPMs. so the most siginificant things u may gian in less vibration if it was out of balance prior to the rebuild more accurate oiling of crank journals because clearances have been matched properly torqued bolts since all fasteners have been measured. the only real way to increase Hp is to introduce more air and fuel in. think of ur engine as a giant compressor the more air u can pumo the more power u will make.

 

[Mundgyver]

I know what the effect is for gas engines, I just never heard of one of our 5. 9's being done. I was wondering if anybody has actually had this done.



I know that the balancing reduces emissions and give the engine much greater life.



I know that in a gas engine, if you want to increase your torque, you take the connection rod and replace it with one that is longer and at the same time replace the piston with one that the wrist pin hole has been relocated the same distance of increase toward the top of the piston. This allows the piston to remain in the same spot during its top travel. The effect is that when the crank reaches the 90 degree point during ignition with regard to the pistons travel, you are exerting more pressure on it and increase your torque. I know this is done in racing applications.



I just wanted to know if somebody has done this. I'm thinking about the future and what I think I might want to do when that time comes for my 5. 9. Just trying to plan ahead and set aside the money now rather than later.

 

[DF5152]

blancing and blue printing are always a good idea on any engine sometime a must especially if pistons are being changed to oversized or different manufacture or materials the resipricating assembly will need to be balanced as far as changing connecting rod lengths and wrist pin location now u are talking about stroking a motor and many things come into play one the the most important things is to maintain a good rod to cranck ratio longer rods tend to increase side loading on piston walls and shorten engine life. relocation of wrist pins in custom pistons sometime play games with ring land locations and skirt lengths. I know u are not getting the answer you want but the best answer i can give that any engine rebuild can benefit from a good balance job and the time spent to blueprint.



Dan

 

[Forrest Nearing]

changing rod length and pin location does not always imply a stroker... you can run a longer rod and still maintain the same stroke and displacement...



FWIW, the horsepower-to-dollar ratio is not there with these engines and altering geometry... custom rods and pistons are NOT cheap!!!! usually these engines just need rings and bearings... take the $2000-3000 you'd spend on rods and pistons and build a set of twins instead.

 

[DPelletier]

Balancing and blueprinting is a process to provide a better matched components and a balanced assembly while also going a step further on quality control. The process does not usually involve changing any components in and of itself, therefore there are no HP or emissions improvements to be had by doing this work. Engine life may be enhanced depending how bad the pre-balanced condition was or would be. The main reason race engines (gasoline) are balanced is to provide additional longevity at high RPM's. Our Cummins with a redline of 3200 RPM do not require balancing IMHO. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a balance procedure found that these engines are already built to a higher degree of quality than most gas engines anyway. I do believe balancing and blueprinting to be advantageous in some circumstances. I think my 455 W-30 race engine survived a stuck throttle at 6500 RPM for approximately 15 seconds because it was balanced. But in this case, I would have to agree with Forest.



Dave

 

[Mundgyver]

I probably did not word my thoughts right. I'm just curious if someone has actually balanced and blueprinted one of these 5. 9 engines.



I have no intent of trying to stroke one these bueaties. The balancing on the other hand looks like it would be worth the effort in the long run. I'm not interested in racing but just in durability. I've got 113. 000+ turns now and am just thinking out loud for the future. I beleive I will see 400. 000 on this engine with no problem with the current care that I am giving it.



I just want to know if it has actually been done and if so what were the results. My curious nature is in planning mode here

 

[Mundgyver]

I probably did not word my thoughts right. I'm just curious if someone has actually balanced and blueprinted one of these 5. 9 engines.



I have no intent of trying to stroke one these bueaties. The balancing on the other hand looks like it would be worth the effort in the long run. I'm not interested in racing but just in durability. I've got 113. 000+ turns now and am just thinking out loud for the future. I beleive I will see 400. 000 on this engine with no problem with the current care that I am giving it.



I just want to know if it has actually been done and if so what were the results. My curious nature is in planning mode here

 

[Mundgyver]

I probably did not word my thoughts right. I'm just curious if someone has actually balanced and blueprinted one of these 5. 9 engines.



I have no intent of trying to stroke one these bueaties. The balancing on the other hand looks like it would be worth the effort in the long run. I'm not interested in racing but just in durability. I've got 113. 000+ turns now and am just thinking out loud for the future. I beleive I will see 400. 000 on this engine with no problem with the current care that I am giving it.



I just want to know if it has actually been done and if so what were the results. My curious nature is in planning mode here

 

[Forrest Nearing]

balancing is always worth it IMHO

 

[drawson]

My engine will be balanced and blue printed when I get it done. I am also coating the pistons with a thrmo barrier and molying the shirts. I wasn't going to take any short cuts on this mighty motor being as I had to go through it. .