Just a bottom view of the block.All machine work has been performed upon it.It came from a 1981 Cadillac Fleetwood.

Showing the arp olds 455 main studs in place.

A view of a new sealed power cs718 camshaft.All lubed up with Joe gibbs assembly lube.

A new cloyes timing chain and sprocket set has been installed

Showing a view of how the timing gears should be aligned.Dont forget the special orifice plug on the left with the .040” orifice.There is another one like it in the rear that oils the vacuum pump gear.

 

I started on this rebuild a few weeks ago as I’ve been acquiring parts for the past few years.Its punched .030 over with zollner pistons,sealed power rod bushings.Arp hardware almost everywhere.Its going into my fathers 79 C10 truck.

 

More pictures I wanted to add…..

 

 

Nice!

 

Thanks for sharing. Nice to see some diesel gut shots and assembly.

 

Awesome pics. Make sure you put a water separator in the fuel line. Here's the one I used in my 86 Ford F250 with a 6.9l IDI.

https://www.dutton-lainson.com/proddetail.php/

 

Thank you guys.Much appreciated.I’ll be back today with more pictures and information as I go along.

 

Good job!

 

Thank you.I appreciate that.

 

This was an engine I found back in 2002-2003 and I rebuilt it back in 2006.I put a lot of miles on it and it’s always been dependable for me.I have to say it’s never left me stranded.

So two years ago I decided to rebuild it one last time.This time I had all new valves installed along with bronze guides and replaceable valve seats.The block has no ridge since being bored out in 2006.I had the crank machined this time to .010/.010 and used a felpro viton rear oil seal.

Of course arp main studs are in place with arp head bolts.The rods have arp fasteners as well.I picked up some nos Ford roller lifters made in 1995.The pencil injectors were new from eBay when I installed them but I had two bad injectors right out of the box so I had Tim from accurate diesel send me two reman pencil injectors.

I figured I may as well go with arp intake manifold bolts and the rocker arms are held down with arp fasteners also.The old fasteners are 40 plus years old so i thought it was a good idea to toss them.

I have a new milodon oil pump driveshaft with trw oil pump.A sealed power oil pump screen will go into place.A milodon oil pan will close up the bottom end.

Sealed power moly rings are being used with nos zollner pistons.Camshaft bearings are clevite along with the rod and main bearings.I purchased both a valve cover and oil pan stud kit as well.

This morning I put the timing cover on with a gates water pump so it’s coming together nicely.More pictures are on the way.

 

Thank you.

 

I appreciate that.Thank you.

 

Much appreciated.I will for sure.I’ve always had a primary and secondary fuel filter setup on all my gm trucks.It definitely adds peace of mind with the second water separator.Thank you.

 

Tonight I figured I’d get this beast all painted up but I’m still waiting on the copper gasket that goes upon the rear cap to oil pump mating surface just to prevent air pockets from forming while the oil pump is sucking out from the sump.Hopefully tomorrow the gasket will arrive.I installed a old set of valve covers just to keep the paint out of the internals.More pictures on the way.

 

Here’s how it currently looks but I still have a lot to do before it finally ready.I have a question for you guys regarding lash caps.I bought a set from comp cams.The diesel is hard on valve stems.I’ve taken apart a lot of these engines over the past 25yrs and I see alot of wear upon the stem area.

Would these lash caps be a good thing to use?I’m just wondering about valve to piston clearance if they were installed.Would this be a problem on a stock valve train?I appreciate everybody’s input.I intend to use some of the comp cams additive to reduce valve train wear when I’m able to get this beast up and running.Thank you to everyone.

 

Here is a picture of the oil pump primer tool with oil pump bolts I bought from olds performance products.The bolts look good.I noticed emp 170m on the head of each bolt.I’m sure they’ll do the job.Also pictured are some of the cometic valve cover gaskets I plan to use on this engine.I’m definitely impressed with those that’s for sure.

Heres a bottle of comp cams additive I’ll put in with the oil.

 

I like the paint color. Did you use rattle can or POR15?

The valve lash caps are a good addition. I've never read about reoccurring damage to Oldsmobile valves. Just make sure you have the valve train geometry correct since Oldsmobile engines don't have adjustable valve lash.

When I primed oil pump in my 455 I just taped a socket to the end of a 1/4" extension. Don't forget:

"He who dies with the most tools wins."

 

 

Thank you.It does look good with this Color I must admit.I bought a few rattle cans from Napa but they had to order it in.I will try the lash caps and see how it goes.More pictures on the way.

 

Man, this is a really, really nice job. Will you be going to the Nationals with this motor tucked into its intended Olds?

 

I've used that brand of engine paint before. It works well.

Can't wait to see the engine installed with the injection pump and injectors assembled. Did you have them rebuilt, or did you find some NOS parts?

 

Very cool build. You guys must get different Duplicolor paint than we get up here. I find it to be ruiny garbage that peels/chips easy and reacts to any other paint. I find VHT far superior. Too bad Olds didn't do just a few things like more head bolts and water fuel seperator in these diesels. Too bad the W-43 didn't make production. Imagine that as a converted truck diesel, similar to some of the more modern diesels and would have done 0 to 60 in less than week.

 

Thanks so much.I appreciate the nice words from everyone.This engine is for my fathers 79 C10 which was factory diesel equipped from the beginning but the original D block broke a piston pin and gouged up the cylinder wall.

Right now at the moment the 79 C10 became a K20 so I want to put this engine into a 1980 C20 3/4 ton 2wd chassis that my grandfather bought new.If it goes into the K20 then I have a feeling the headers won’t fit and I would like to use them.

 

I have a couple brand new roosamaster pumps here and one remanufactured pump that has the E tag on it which has the updated governor weight retainer so no more black chunks to worry about flaking off inside the pump causing stalling issues,etc.

The injectors were nos GM under part number 22502367 but I had two bad injectors right out of the box so I tracked down two reman injectors out of Michigan at accurate diesel.

 

Thank you.Much appreciated.I always find the duplicolor paint to be pretty good.I like the way it turned out.

This morning I trial fitted a remanufactured Acdelco Mitsubishi starter only made in 1985 for the 5.7 diesel to go with these headers.I must say it fit perfectly.It was a starter I bought a few years ago but I’m real glad it goes on nicely.

Arp starter bolts I find are the only bolts that will last on this engine.I’ve always had the inside starter bolt break if gm bolts were used.Since using arp starter bolts since 2006 I never had one break.

 

Here’s how the Mitsubishi starter looks after being installed.I plan on buying another starter to have as a backup.I also have the older 1982-1984 gear reduction starter but it’s too large and will not go into position.

 

The harmonic balancer is in place with the help of the Kent Moore tool I purchased a few years ago.The valve cover grommets arrived today so I could insert the gates ventilation filters.

The replacement oil pressure switch and coolant switch are made by standard.The switch behind the oil filler tube is the glow plug temperature inhibit switch from a 6.2 diesel.I also used a 6.5 diesel thermostat from the late 90s.

I reused the arp harmonic balancer bolt from
2006.Its torqued to 210ft/lbs with red loctite.

 

Moments ago I installed the injection pump adapter with a new seal.The injection pump is a reman 3916 which supersedes the 3840 pump.It has the E tag on the governor cover to indicate it has the updated governor weight retainer so no black chunks to worry about which blocks the return line causing stalling and rough running.

I’m still waiting on the gasket that goes upon the rear main cap as I want to prelube this engine with the valve covers off to ensure oil is reaching all the rockers,etc.When it’s prelubed I’ll continue onward with the injector lines and injector installation.

The spring in the picture prevents the injection pump shaft from moving in and out preserving the shaft umbrella seals.It keeps tension on the shaft while the pump is rotating.More pictures are on the way…

 

I'd be interested to know how you're going to set injection pump timing to start it.

When the 6.9l IDI in my Ford truck refuses to start due to air intrusion, I can overcome it by bleeding the fuel filter and then each of the injectors.

12734568 (it usually spits on 7 and fires off on 3)

Here's a good thread on the piezoelectric timing adapters used on the Ford IDIs (I use the same name on that site).

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-now-what.html

Awesome, I didn't see the installed IP until I posted.

Whenever you start the engine make sure you have a good, heavy blanket nearby in case the IP wants to run away. I've read there's a critical setting under the cover of a Roosamaster IP that will cause a run away if set incorrectly (at least for the International and Detroit IDIs)

 

I still have the snap-on mt480 with a new luminosity probe and inductive pickup.Of course they are obsolete now but they come in handy when checking dynamic timing.

A nos vacuum pump is laid into place and I installed the throttle linkage.Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to fabricate those brackets for the serpentine belt setup.I have all the parts with the exception of the brackets.I was going to buy them from pacific g body but I see the website is no longer in action.I’ll definitely keep a heavy rag on standby to block the intake if things get out of hand.

 

This morning on Amazon I purchased a couple jugs of Joe gibbs 15W40

break in oil so that’s what I’ll prelube the engine with when it arrives.

 

Excellent! 👍

In the past I could get Rotella T4 15W40 at Sam's Club. Now I buy the house brand Traveller 15W40 at Tractor Supply. I'll have to check the prices on that next time my truck needs an oil change.

 

The T4 is a pretty good oil.The past few years I’ve used either rotella T6/5w40 or the T6 15W40.And the Mobil 30W 1630 oil.

More pictures on the way……

 

The oil pump mating gasket to the main cap will be delivered today.Hoping tomorrow morning to continue onward with the oil pump and oil pan installation.

 

Wait wait wait.... You built a diesel .... as a ..... diesel?????
Good to see some of them are still alive! What's the specs on that cam? I couldn't find it in a quick search. Always wondered what diesel cams looked like.

And before anyone else jumps in: yeah, the oil pump to cap gasket isn't required and was never done by Olds, but hey, it certainly doesn't hurt anything and copper is pretty.

I found a very interesting problem on my D block. Oil pressure was always a little low. Pulled my hair out for weeks, finally put it on a stand and stuck a camera in the pan while turning the oil pump. The dirty oil galley from the pump to the side of the block had been nicked and was spewing oil out of a bean sized hole. I don't know if it was the guys that machined the block or the factory, but someone ran the boring head too low and it hit the galley. I had dumped a ton of money in the block already, so I drilled out the galley and sleeved that part with a small chunk of copper tubing. Still working several years later!

 

Thanks for the reply👍I like these olds 350 diesels.They are rare and I’m just trying to keep it alive.I still have a 1978 D block engine which is a complete engine with injection pump and lines all on it..I’ve had quite a few D blocks in operation over the years.I’ve found them good.I never had a single issue with them.Just a blown head gasket once in awhile but when I upgraded to the arp head bolt kit(180-3601) I never had a problem afterwards.

I have the specification numbers for both camshafts.I’ll dig it up today and I’ll post it tonight.

 

Today I got the bottom end all buttoned up and ready for drop in back into the truck a couple weeks from now.

A set of mahle oil pan gaskets were used,standard volume oil pump with sealed power pickup screen.The copper gasket upon the main cap worked out great.I installed two new oil pump bolts from olds performance products which were torqued to 38 ft/lbs.I put loctite on the oil pump cover plate bolts just for peace of mind.

The milodon oil pump driveshaft worked out great.It was just the right length with no binding once the vacuum pump was installed and tightened down.I could put my finger under the edge of the retaining clip and lift it upwards maybe 1/16-1/8” so at least I know the vacuum pump is not pushing down on the gears against the steel plate inside the oil pump.

I tried a milodon shaft back in 2006 when I first rebuilt this engine and I could not get it to work because whatever brand oil pump I had at the time must have had a different depth within it where the oil pump driveshaft is inserted.I can remember being zero play and I could not move the shaft up and down back when I did this almost 20yrs ago.But I’m glad this time around I was able to use the milodon shaft without issue.

I did a recheck of the rod cap torque and main studs before laying the oil pan on for the final time.I dumped a bottle of comp cams break-in additive over the rods and crank,piston pins,etc while the engine was upside down.

I used the right stuff to seal up the pan on both sides of the gasket.Just a light smear of that was all I used.

I included a couple pictures of the wear on the oil pump shaft that I removed from this engine that I bought from precision oil pumps some 20yrs ago.

Looking forward in getting this engine running in the next couple of weeks.More pictures on the way.

 

Here are the specifics for the 78-80 flat tappet cam and the 81-85 roller cam.The 784 is the 81-85 from Elgin.The 785 info from Elgin is the 78-80 camshaft.

 

Hoping to install the injector lines,etc when I arrive home from work and get a start on the serpentine belt setup.I also plan to get this engine into the 1980 C20 2wd chassis as well.I just need to get that out of our garage and start pressure washing the dirt and grime off it.The C20 chassis has been in the garage now almost 20yrs.So it’s time to get the ball rolling on that.More pictures on the way.

I have all new brake parts for the front and back along with new mevotech upper and lower control arms with zerk fittings on each side,tie rods,idler arm,etc.Its never seen a Canadian winter so zero rust on this chassis.My grandfather bought the C20 new in 1980 which currently has a Chevy 350 and TH400.I’ll probably sell the Chevy 350 or keep it for a spare in case my fathers 2018 gmc 5.3 engine blows to pieces….lol.Fingers crossed that it doesn’t.