How was your experience with Asheville? I called and talked to Matt today. I think this is the route I may go in the spring. I'm not studded and I have a small oil drip (possibly bed pan) seems like the cost of a brand new studded long block just makes the most sense. Hell I have seen some shops that charge almost 4500-5k just to do a stud job.

 

I’m about 6K miles into this now and I couldn’t be happier. The overall purchase experience was good.
That sounds like a lot for a stud job. My tech charges less than $2K plus machine work and parts for most cab up bullet proof projects. The long block thing is pricey when you add all the things I did like regulated return, KC turbo, BPD oil cooler, misc small parts and gaskets. I would consider your engines overall health carefully before diving into a project like this,
k

 

Hey thanks for the reply K. My truck runs fine now, turbo seal is leaking so I'll get to that this spring. The truck is not a DD, so it only gets driven 5-8k a year. I just turned 180k on the truck and it runs great. Just not sure if all the machine work, gaskets, studs, etc etc is worth the money vs biting the bullet and getting a fully brand new long block. Not to mention the slight oil leak that points towards the bed plate. Add that expense to pull the motor and re seal I'd imagine id be close to the cost of a new long block. Here's a rough estimate on what I have added up.

ARP studs-$425ish
Complete gasket kit-$1,200ish
Oil cooler-$350ish
Stud job-$3,200ish
Bed plate re seal-$400-$800?(not sure on the cost of this)
Machine work on the heads -$800ish
Misc gaskets, fluids, etc -$200-$400

Rough total estimate puts me around $6400-$6700... The performance 20 is listed at $5,495. Add a stage 2 cam and I'm at $6,300. Sounds like a now brainer to go this route.

 

Just know that you still have to buy a lot of gaskets, seals, fluids and an oil cooler at the least. You're gonna pay the labor no matter which road you take. From your list what is included with the Performance 20 is a big portion of the gasket cost, the studs, the bed plate seal and machine work. Then there are the unknowns like oil pumps, turbo, injectors, front cover, water pump etc. I'm not trying to discourage anyone. I just want you to realize that the Long Block is not a one stop cure all.

k

 

Does this sound reasonable or am I missing something here?

 

yeah u forgot to add u get a warranty

 

^ that's a very good point Stevens, another plus to go with the long block option.

 

Ive been talking with Rob from Asheville over the last couple weeks.
I have a spare engine I am sending to him for a rebuild.
His reputation seems to match his attitude- great.

 

A few thoughts on this. My first long block was built by another builder that used to frequent this site. It wasn't bored just the standard rebuild, maybe that was a mistake it had excessive blow by the day it was installed of course not enough that they would do anything about it. 3 years later ends up it was a cracked block.

Fast forward now I have an Asheville .20 over rebuild its a much better build no blow by and runs rock solid. If your looking for performance .20 or even .30 over isn't really going to give you much that you will notice. The main thing with .20 or .30 over is your getting fresh cylinders and pistons that match the holes.

How many miles are on the standard rebuild blocks where the cylinders are honed and fresh pistons are put in. If they meet standards thats what happens even if the cylinders are close to max standards its still withing specs and it gets assembled. I am not saying Asheville does this but others do.

Get the .20 over its going to be as close to an OEM build as you can get. Also the stage II cam is very much worth the money, thats where your going to see an improvement in performance. The turbo spools right up and breaths way better. The stage II cam has much better ramp angles than stock which takes a ton of stress off the lifters that we all know have their own set of failures, some are due to old style push rods but still steep ramp angles do nothing to extend cam / lifter life.

The .20 over with a stage II cam is going to cost more but your going to be a lot happier with it. This is the route I went and couldn't be happier. Ashville's customer service so far has been second to none, they are always a pleasure to talk with and will always call you back within a reasonable time frame even if you don't leave your name and number they will call back, they use their caller ID.

 

Thanks for the insight. I knew I would have to buy some gaskets, but didn't even think about swapping the front cover etc etc.. When I get closer to pulling the trigger I will have to call Matt or Rob and talk it through. Really get an idea of what all needs to be swapped and or purchased (gaskets, oil cooler,etc) Kcoyner do you have a second to make a quick list of gaskets and or must haves to get the 20 in the truck and running?

Oil cooler (would buy a new one)
HPOP(re use my 180k mile one)
Injectors swap over (1-2kmiles on rebuild)
Water pump replaced by ford 3k miles ago.. Would most likely put in a BPD pump
Radiator replaced when water pump went. Ford OEM I would reuse
Exhaust manifolds.. I'd try to clean them up/look them over and re use.
Y pipe, most likely replace it with a mbrp pipe
Rocker box covers re use along with the gaskets
Manifold clean up and re use (gasket kit for it)
All sensors I would more than likely just swap over. Only one I'd consider replacing is ICP. IPR and STC were done 10-12k miles ago by me when I bought the truck.
New glow plugs
New glow plug harness depending on if I get my old ones off in one piece.
Oil+fuel reservoir
Oil pan + new gasket

Anything else I'm not thinking about? Is the bed plate already sealed up on a long block or will I need to buy the gaskets for it and bolt things up?

 

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. I just wanted to give you some insight on why you sometimes get blow by with rebuilt stock bore engines with some builders. The cylinders in a 6.0 wear egg shaped at the bottom of the cylinders because of the angle of the connecting rods when the piston is BDC.
There are people who try to build an engine as cheaply as possible (some "recondition" and engine not "remanufacture). Most of the time, the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the cylinder measures fine so those people rebuild them (sometimes just re-ringing the pistons) even though the engine should be bored.
We measure every single engine block from the top of the cylinders to the bottom in multiple places. In most cases with an engine block in excess of 100,000 miles, it has to be bored at least .020 to make the cylinders round again. If they aren't round at the bottom, you'll get blow by. We generally find that only about 15% of the blocks can be remanufactured without boring them. Even if the bore is perfectly good, all of our remanufactured engines get brand new pistons along with all of the other brand new parts.