Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
On the morning of 1-14 I noticed a leak under my truck. After opening the hood I noticed the entire engine compartment had been lubed with oil. The leak was located at the front of #1 cylinder. I called cummings for a price on a head gasket. ($100. 00) But that would of been too cheap and I have always wanted to have the head oringed. So I called PDR up and spoke to Al and ordered a Stage 2 head oringed with associated gaskets. The Stage 2 head was 1500, oringing it was 200, gaskets where 132. 67, freight was 125, and there is a core charge of 750. The total was 2707. 67 which I paid via credit card. Four days later it was delivered to my driveway return address was from ADP DISTRIBUTORS INC. I told Al I wanted to oring the block as well and he gave me Brandons phone number as he has a $1700 oring tool. After talking with Brandon then again with Al and reading others experiences with copper gaskets on TDR I decided to just get the truck back on the road with a 3804882 head gasket for the time being. After getting the core head dropped off at PDR. (Thank you Bob W. ) I found out that the core has to pass magnaflux prior to getting the 750 deposit back. The core head had 58k miles on it. But never the less I was told from Mark at PDR that it failed magnaflux.
The entire project took me 22 wrenching/cleaning hours, eight cans of brake clean, three cans of carb and choke cleaner and a case of beer to complete. (But then again I wasn't in a race nor did I want to have to do it again. ) I used a engine lift for the 170 pound head and to line up the exhaust manifold. (Thank you Dave M. )There is a coolant cap on the front of the head that has to be removed from the core that requires a 10 mm allen wrench. When removing this cap I had to use penetrating oil and a breaker bar said the following,"By the power of Grayskull!" The rest was a straight forward stuff. (Thank goodness the top of the cylinder block was square. ) With the exception of the torque in the book the last torq is suppose to be 1/4 turn in sequence. I went with 120'lbs in sequence which turned out to only be about a 1/5 turn. But when I varified the torq a few of the head bolts turned so if nothing else seems to me that torq would be more uniform this way. Not to mention every mechanics version of 1/4 in an engine compartment may varey some.
The turbo spool up seems faster and the engine torquier at lower rpms kinda like a 12v. The economy has gone up 1 mile per gal according to the computer. After running through a tank of fuel I went to see Lenny at Dynomite diesel in Monroe for dyno. Horsepower was 27 lower and the torque was 9. 5 higher than the last time I ran at Shellys in Spokane. Which probably just confirms that the dynos measure a little different. Also the egts seem to be running between 100-200 degrees lower.
Was this change in performance worth 2707. 67 to me? If I had to do it again I would of done it a differently. I wouldn't wait for the gasket to of blown and I would have sent my exsisting head out for machining/oringing.
Opie
The entire project took me 22 wrenching/cleaning hours, eight cans of brake clean, three cans of carb and choke cleaner and a case of beer to complete. (But then again I wasn't in a race nor did I want to have to do it again. ) I used a engine lift for the 170 pound head and to line up the exhaust manifold. (Thank you Dave M. )There is a coolant cap on the front of the head that has to be removed from the core that requires a 10 mm allen wrench. When removing this cap I had to use penetrating oil and a breaker bar said the following,"By the power of Grayskull!" The rest was a straight forward stuff. (Thank goodness the top of the cylinder block was square. ) With the exception of the torque in the book the last torq is suppose to be 1/4 turn in sequence. I went with 120'lbs in sequence which turned out to only be about a 1/5 turn. But when I varified the torq a few of the head bolts turned so if nothing else seems to me that torq would be more uniform this way. Not to mention every mechanics version of 1/4 in an engine compartment may varey some.
The turbo spool up seems faster and the engine torquier at lower rpms kinda like a 12v. The economy has gone up 1 mile per gal according to the computer. After running through a tank of fuel I went to see Lenny at Dynomite diesel in Monroe for dyno. Horsepower was 27 lower and the torque was 9. 5 higher than the last time I ran at Shellys in Spokane. Which probably just confirms that the dynos measure a little different. Also the egts seem to be running between 100-200 degrees lower.
Was this change in performance worth 2707. 67 to me? If I had to do it again I would of done it a differently. I wouldn't wait for the gasket to of blown and I would have sent my exsisting head out for machining/oringing.
Opie
I STILL! have my head off from getting it o-ringed by Nowel and Willyslover that stoped by my place to do it. I've ported many heads so I'm doing that myself. I've decided to paint a few things and change the cam and pump while it was down so this is getting time consuming. Expensive! I hear ya,sometimes I wonder about what I'm doing
