Sorry dudes...procrastinating big time over here.
Thanks Elliott for posting that. I can't believe that was 10 years and 66,000 miles ago.
Tommy remembers well...I did the work at Jesse's house over 3-4 weeks while I was home from working on ships at sea. My GF (now wife) was not stoked at the time since I spent my whole vacation on it. It is the most complicated work I've ever done on a modern vehicle (although it really wasn't that technical, just nuts and bolts). I kind of forget how much work I put into that now because I've dealt with so many other issues, but it really was satisfying to do it myself and have it hold up all these years. As mentioned in several BLGT podcasts, working on your own shit gives you so much capability when it comes to a trail fix or maintenance.
To answer your question, Gort, I threw the best parts I could find at it (mostly from Bulletproof Diesel in Mesa, AZ). I read up on the process for weeks on Powerstroke.org. I also took the heads to a machine shop to have them resurfaced (I think he also used a 'premium valve seat material' to prevent the common cracking in that area and new valve guides). I want to say the headwork alone was $1600 since it had a lot of micro spider cracks (apparently this is common with these heads). The rest of the parts, fluids, and special tools might have been 4-5k? Pretty expensive but I haven't had any issues with the work I did (knock on wood).
General parts list (might find more detail later):
- ARP studs, OEM gaskets
- BPD heavy duty remote oil cooler
- BPD cold weather kit (oil thermostat)
- BPD external oil filter
- BPD bypass oil filter
- BPD EGR cooler
- BPD billet water pump
- STC fitting update
- IPR screen update
- Riff Raff Diesel intercooler boots (since replaced with a new set)
- New glow plug harnesses
- New o-rings and seals everywhere
