mattb73lt

No, a ‘68 Kaiser-Jeep M715

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! I hope you all have a great time with family and friends. Yesterday was a good day. I had an old time Cummins/diesel mechanic at the shop to evaluate what I have. While I'm pretty decent when it comes to engines, this guy was just amazing and a wealth of knowledge. After a few hours of work, it would appear that the block is sound enough to move forward with the rebuild. We made several calls to the machinist that he uses and confirmed there's enough material on the top of the block to deck it and do the counterbore's. He immediately found several things he didn't like with a several parts and they'll need to be replaced. Like most of the push rods, the lower ends had been brazed at some point. He felt the block has never been completely disassembled or had a major overhaul in it's life, but someone was definitely in there. The goal now is to completely strip the block for the machine shop and once he says it's good to go, start sourcing what's needed to reassemble it. So, it looks like this engine will live on and be about as fresh as when new when it goes back in.

A little more disassembled, cleaned up and organized. I’ve got a Cummins guy coming by the shop next week to help me evaluate the block and crank to see where they stand. If the block isn’t worth putting the effort into it, I’ve got a line on another to possibly use. Been in touch with Mahoney’s in NH about availability of the liners and pistons. Tom says he can still get what I need to rebuild it. He’s ever so helpful and remembers me from when he helped me put the Jake on. The gentleman with the block has the whole rest of the engine along with the new parts to assemble it. But I have some big concerns regarding their current condition. A reasonable price the everything, but not if I need to redo stuff, like the heads. So we’ll see as we move forward with the evaluation.

Purchased from Iowa80, Quiet Muffler insert for 5” stack, P/N 185086

Sure, give me a bit to dig it up.

They were all really clean, but #6. No scuffing on the bores or skirts. I agree with the age issue. If ever faced with this again, I would open it up and check them and replace all the seals just to be sure. It'll get done now. I've been sourcing the parts, but need to tear it down some more to get a full list of parts needed. I do have a Cummins contact that I hopefully get to come to the shop to help in the evaluation and rebuilding efforts.

Yup, manga flux is still very common, dye penetrant, too. I think I was heading for trouble with these sleeve seals, one way or another. I think they were damaged during installation and not rolled as #4 & #5 bores and pistons were clean. I borrowed the sleeve puller from Matt Pfahl and we were having a discussion on older Cummins engines. He has a tuned (400 HP) Cummins in his crew cab Superliner. He had sleeve issues on it during a vacation trip. We were both of the opinion of tearing them down to at least pull the sleeve and reseal them to check for corrosion. Both our engines had sat for some time before going back into use. As for noise, yeah it was making a racket. That was why I thought I spun a bearing. What I was hearing though, was piston slap. When tearing it down, I was turning it over by hand and #6 would cant way over as it came up the bore. Doing so because there was no lower bore to control it.

Restoration Specialties should have them and Chuck Roser (kingofsalvage.com) carries them.

From what I see in your photos, if that sleeve presses on and is designed to wear, it wouldn’t be very hard to have one machined up if you can’t find a new one. It may not need to be hardened if it’s purpose is to wear, either.

The Holy Grail of Mack trucks. About 2,000 built and every year more re-appear, I wonder how many actually survived? Sacrilege that someone would have the balls to steal the fenders off it! A thought on that, I wonder if a pair of Peterbilt aluminum front fenders could be re-worked to fit, at least to get it back on the road. Someone was making fiberglass LT fenders a long time ago, but I don’t recall who.

One of theses things is not like the others...... They're out and still no visible damage to the block. We'll see about that as I clean it up and have someone look at it. If I was a betting man, I would say the main cause of the failure was poor workmanship and improper installation of the sleeves. While things were a little crusty on the inside, I found no major pitting on the sleeves. But, #4 & #5 and probably #6(too much is missing to be sure) had lower seals the were damaged, split and broken. What I think happened, was that as I was driving it they began to leak dumping the coolant into the pan. It then began to overheat #6 and score and break the sleeve. The temperature sender is way up in the thermostat housing and not in the block, once it runs dry it's not going to read an overheat internally.

Yeah, I’m in agreement with Glenn, too. I did have wet fuel on top of 3 piston heads, 6 being one of them when the heads came off. I barely ran it when I turned it around in the driveway. Everything was covered in oil as it came apart. I’m hoping to see some other kind of evidence to the cause when the sleeves come out. #1 piston looks brand new with almost no wear seen on it.

Ok, breathing a little easier. I've got it opened up and all the pistons and rods are out. It looks like all the damage was contained to #6, to the sleeve and piston. No spun bearings on the journals. I'll have to wait on the mains for a bit, but I think they're OK. The #6 piston took a beating, with most of the damage directed to the skirt and oil ring area. I'm waiting on a sleeve puller from a friend to get all the sleeves out. Lot's of scoring to the skirt and bore, all the others seem normal. The #6 bore, below where the sleeve broke off, only seems to have a few small burrs on it lower edge. The rotating internals and block area don't seem to have any scarring from the sleeve pieces. My thoughts now are, to check all the dimensions, get it cleaned up, new bearings, sleeves and pistons and back together. I'll have all the rods checked while they're out and overhaul the injectors and pump. So, I believe from what I'm seeing the block and crank have survived.

A lot goes into “what’s it worth?”, when looking it something. Is it what you want? Does it have the driveline that’ll make it drivable the way you want to use it? Is it’s basic configuration useable to you, body on it(as in a dumper or flatbed?)?. General condition, rust bodywork, paint? Is it a project or something turn key? That’s a big question, because if you don’t have the space, tools and skills to do it yourself, it’s going to cost you a lot more to pay someone to do it for you.

It was running great and sounded amazing on the road. Really good oil pressures and temps...until it failed. I think time was my biggest enemy. I was told it was a fairly fresh rebuilt when I bought it, but then it sat 20+ plus years in my shop before I had it running. Even if there was only a little corrosion on the liners it doesn't take much moisture to keep it going, just even a little bit. I pickled it, but I didn't fill the water jacket with anything. Maybe if I had filled and drained the water jacket with oil just in case. Tear down will show it there any corrosion in there.

Mahoney's is still around. They were VERY helpful when I was adding the Jake to the engine, by loaning me some fixtures to grind the rocker arms. Thank you for those numbers, They may come in handy as I move forward. I was in contact with the local Cummins shop in Rocky Hill, CT. The person I spoke to was very helpful and optimistic about putting a rebuild kit together, if needed.

It's out, let the tear down begin!! Came out a lot easier than it went in. In the shop and under cover which will be good. I'm hoping to have a better idea by weeks end to see the extent of further damage. I've had a few people reach out to me offering 220 parts that they have to help out, which is phenomenal. Not the direction I had planned on going at this point. I should be confident of the engine going forward, as I plan on going far and wide with the truck in the future. Looking back, I think I would go through this type (wet sleeve) of engine and automatically put a sleeve kit in it before using it due to the time it sat.

I’m going to pull the hood, fenders and radiator off and store them until the engine goes back in.. The rest I’ll leave where it is until it goes back in. All that should go faster than when I was putting it together, as all the fabrication and hardware is there now. The engine will go back into the shop for more work. It’ll need to go out for some work, but I’ll do most of it. I was on the phone and internet a lot today, sourcing parts and services for the rebuild.

Yeah, don't think the smaller pieces did. I'm going to cut the filter open and check the paper element. We always did that during an aircraft oil change just to mack sure nothing was making metal.

It all needs to get flushed out and checked. It's always a risk waking up something from a long slumber.

I'm pulling it back out. I don't trust what's left in there.

Yeah, I think it's age and fatigue related. About 4"s of the sleeve broke off.

It's a Cummins NH220

It needs to come out. I don't trust the sleeves that are left. It needs to be gone through completely and I need to have some confidence in it when I'm far from home. That's where it seemed to have fractured, right around the upper groove for the o-rings.

I may have lucked out with the block. I was just looking up inside and it looks like the lower skirt on the sleeve of #6 fractured and dropped off. Breaking up in the process. Crappy picture as my camera wouldn't focus on it. Everything else is intact.