HighbredAutosport - Parts & Services Delaware

07/20/2023

Off to the machine shop. I bought a 2005 Dodge back in the winter I’ve been building and this thing was dangerously close to throwing a rod. On cylinder number 6, one rod bolt broke completely and the second one backed out 3/8”. The piston was literally being slammed into the head and je**ed around by the crank as it rolled in the mains. The noise was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before and I’ve heard it all with this engines! Everything from rod knocks to broken valve seats being hammered into the piston crown and all things in between but this guy was particularly ignorant in its level of trash talk 🤣 In any event, number 6 scuffed the cylinder pretty badly and I tried to dust it clean with a 220 stone and a di**le ball but it wasn’t having it so I decided to have the thing sleeved on #6 and possibly #5 but the jury is still out on that. All the rest of the cylinders actually mic’d 3-4 tenths tight so I was happy with that. This truck should be a clean and decent ride at the end of it. Huge shout out to Dennis Webb and Beau Wilkins for the body work! Denny is as honest and straight as the day is long and Beau is a master fabricator. These guys get the job done right the first time!

07/20/2023

Here’s an interesting one! This 2002 Ford F-450 had a random voltage draw gremlin that was very hard to detect. I’m typically pretty good at finding the source of a battery drainage gremlin but this one got me. By sheer chance, a buddy of mine called me who is highly educated on engines; especially 7.3’s and 6.0’s and in his quest for Cummins knowledge on his end, I was able to just by chance figure out the voltage issue on my end. He asked me if I had two mismatched batteries in the truck and indeed this was the case. While the batteries were relatively new, they were indeed mismatched including their brand and their cranking amp rating. He said that this mismatch scenario causes the voltage regulator in the alternator to freak out and this in turn creates a voltage draw. It’s hard to say if I ever would have figured this out otherwise but for those of you who have ever experienced this, but batteries in pairs from the same manufacturer to alleviate your problems! Thanks Ben Cunningham!! Proper and careful diagnostics are priceless. Anyone can swap parts hoping for a cure but definitive diagnostics and research as well as having smart people in your circle can make all the difference. Thanks Ed Thomas for the engine assembly knowledge! Thanks Tom Binkley Tommy Lynch Ray Rodgers and more for the miscellaneous knowledge and nuggets I’ve picked up along the way. 💪

07/16/2023

Mike Mink We are going to lay down some with this little 5.9 common rail. I’ll leave it to Mike to fill you in on the specs but suffice it to say, anyone bringing the heat, better be packing some serious power indeed because this engine is going to be quite contentious and ignorant!

03/12/2023

Here is some basic machining. There’s really nothing to this but it may shed some light on how some basic modifications are made to these Dodge Ram trucks I work on.

03/12/2023