Engine stand for 2.8 rebuild .

jthomas999 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:51 pm **Posts:** 98

The crankshaft comes out the back of the engine block.

Does anyone have a picture of the engine on a engine stand where the crank is accessible?

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diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:50 pm

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the crank comes out like normal cranks do. The camshafts come out the back of the head......
On a side note I'd like to see a pic or 2 of the bottom end. I'm looking at upping the HP past GDE's hot tune and would like to know if a girdle could be installed.

geordi · **Posted:** Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:11 pm

The camshafts come out however you'd like. They are NOT part of the head, they are in the "valve cover" portion.

I'd suspect that on a stand, the engine could be rotated however you'd prefer so that on an angle, the crank could slide past the support post of the stand.

There is a theory that because this is a tunnel block design, the crank could be removed with the engine in-place. Heck if I know how that would happen however.

WisconsinDiesel · **Posted:** Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:16 pm

I've got a whole bunch of pictures of the rebuild process of a CRD engine on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/wisconsindiesel

Here's the crank going back in:

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:22 pm

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=74579

I copied this method, and we just got the crankshaft out on Saturday. There was just enough room. We also made a home made sleeve extractor if you'd like that info.

diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:18 am

Wow what a backwards design, oh yea its a VM :roll:

anyone know the reasoning behind it? Designed to use a light block but retain good strength in the bottom end by doing away with main caps?

GreenDieselEngineering · **Joined:** Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1111

I believe VM developed the tunnel block in the 50's. The bearing carriers supposedly reduce vibration loads and having the cast block surrounding everything increased stiffness. VM changed the design in 2008 with their new automotive engines to a sort of bedplate design with standard bearing caps.

The bottom end of the KJ engine is fairly strong, the top end design and head is a whole different story.

geordi · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 2:55 pm

Keith, if that was true about the strength of the bottom end (no argument about the top design)... Any theories about why the bearings on my two engines failed?

I had thought that the turbo failure on engine #1 was the contributing cause to the bearing failure and subsequent engine failure... But when engine #2 spat the rod end through the wall of the block while full of oil and oil pressure (measured in the main gallery) I'm not so sure anymore.

Both rod ends (#1 on engine #1 and #4 on engine #2) did NOT have at least one rod bolt in place, showing that the bolts themselves had backed out. Thoughts? I'm not certain, but I think both bolts will be in the pan on engine #2 - The rod end looked fully intact, it didn't even show any real damage despite being stuffed halfway out the block behind where the EGR had been mounted.

The remnants of rod #1 on engine #1 however, one rod bolt was completely out / gone... The other was halfway-out and badly damaged / bent from the breakup, BUT part of the rod cap was still captured by that bolt.

I know I'm not the only one to have a bottom failure like that, I seem to recall at least 2 others on the forum talking about similar failure modes. Do you have any theories about why and how to prevent / design around the problem?

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jthomas999 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:51 pm **Posts:** 98

I'm not concerned about the cams, the valve cover is off, and the head too. I still have to disconnect the injection pump, a/c and tranny to pull the block out. I plan on taking copious pictures to document as I put it back together. I have a trashed head, thanks to 2 broken valves. Also a trashed piston with a valve buried in it and a cracked cylinder wall. I have already purchased a sleeve and piston from idparts. com. These pistons are heavy compared to gas engine pistons. The part listing at idparts only showed a piston and sleeve, but there were a set of rings in the box ( rings for 1 piston).

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jthomas999 · **Joined:** Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:51 pm **Posts:** 98

The shop manual says don't turn the crank until you clamp down the sleeves. I didn't read that until I rotated the crank a couple of turns. I word have thought the sleeves were in tight enough to not move?

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WolverineFW · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:57 pm

jthomas999 wrote:

The shop manual says don't turn the crank until you clamp down the sleeves. I didn't read that until I rotated the crank a couple of turns. I word have thought the sleeves were in tight enough to not move?

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As you have found out according to the manual they are not. Since you are replacing one sleeve, you will just have to reset the other three according to the correct procedure when you set up the new sleeve.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:39 pm

That is not necessarily true. I rotated my engine more than 5 or 10 revolutions without the head in place, in both directions. The liners didn't move.

I don't believe that the liners of an engine that has run are in much danger of moving from a few turns by hand.

Engine stand for 2.8 rebuild .

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