You can guess by the title what happened. The crack is in the 6th cylinder wall, closest to the front of the engine, and is an inch and a half long starting just about at the top. I have 220,000km on my 01' HO 24v but I didn't check to see if it was a 53 block when I took it apart. I always understood that the 53 cracked on the RH outer wall between 5 and 6 causing coolant to leak on the ground. If this is correct than i'm looking at a different issue. I want to look into getting an already built performance crate engine. I read an ad in an issue of Diesel Power a while back of a company that sells crate CTD's that can handle up to 1200hp but I can't seem to find it. That doesn't mean I won't go for other alternatives. Any of you who have suggestions about what I should do or info/prices for engines it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

sorry to hear about your truck, that awful!! i'd like to hear about these crate engine's too

 

I wonder if Cummins would help?

 

just realize you're going to pay out the NOSE for a performance crate engine!

 

lock-and-stitch the crack?

 

or pop-lock-and drop it

sorry I just had to it's the rapper in me.

 

'53 blocks are fairly rare in '01 models, but they were made.

Check the MDH on your driver's door jamb. It will tell you the Month Day Hour of the assembly of your truck, and if it's an early '01 (built late in 2000), the odds of it having a 53 block are much higher...

Also, it seems that more 53 blocks went into St.Louis-assembled trucks than into the Saltillo-assembled ones.

jh

 

check with Tim at TRE about an engine.

 

Haisley Machine anyone?

 

If it was me, I would not buy a crate engine. I'd rather take an opportunity like this to build one. That is if you care to call a cracked block an opportunity. As long as you didn't drive it until the engine siezed up, you got a lot of parts there that don't need replaced. The bottom end of these engines can already support more hp and torque than you'll probably ever attempt to build or need. Obviously you'll have to address the block by either finding a good block to replace yours or have yours repaired. For the most part, I'd freshen up the bottom end...bearings, etc. I'd shave some weight off the crank and rods then balance the engine. The pistons will lose some weight when balancing. The crank is not so easily lightened(I've done it for some sled pulling cummins, but, it's a big pain). There's a lot of mass that can be safely removed from the rods(much less of a pain). Less mass in the rotating assembly is always a good thing in any engine. The most work I've ever seen done to the pistons is to have them fly-cut for valve clearance in some applications. You may even be able to choose a more aggressive cam. After that, I'd put the majority of the effort into the top end with port work on the head, etc. You'll probably get the most out of your engine from the head work. I just think if you're going to spend money on a crate engine, you'd be better served and happier by putting that money into building what you want rather than picking it out of a catalog.

 

I would contact Piers (hes just down on the coast) and see what hes got.
I'm pretty sure he would have a short/long block to replace yours with and if not he could point you in a direction that won't lighten your wallet as much as the crate motor will. PM me if you want his #

 

Sounds you have a good excuse to stick a 12V in it.

 

**** man that really sucks! My buddy has a 98.5 with a silver bullet, big injector tubes, bigger injector lines, Industrial custom injectors, hot rod pump, fass, quad and smarty. He cracked his block when we were doing donuts at dyno day in april. It just started leaking coolant everywhere.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, but I found an engine here in Kamloops. I talked to Harald at BD and he told me about an engine that was built by Piers 4 yrs ago. The guy who had it built rolled his truck and sold it to the guy I'm buying it from. It's been sitting in his shop for almost 4 yrs without being touched and apparently he is moving at the end of the month so he wants it gone. It has all pumps still on the engine, including the VP44 and I bought it for 3000 bucks! I am going to pressure test the head at the shop I work at first and if there's any leaks I'll send it down to Dave at Piers. Now I have the swap ahead of me. If any of you have any tips or tricks that a guy should know before hand I would appreciate reading about them. Thanks.

 

Nice deal! Sounds like a solid motor.