For that one guy.

I wasn't going to do a blog post today.  I feel like utter crap. 

However...

There was one guy on the Duramax Forums who wanted to know more about the valve adjustment because he was going through the same thing.  I hate for him to go uninformed.

So, we get a post. 

I woke up today and felt like crap.  But, the weather is going to take a turn for the frigid soon and that makes work suck too.  So either way.

I went down to the garage today armed with some papers. 

This link explains it better than I possibly could right now. It is what I used coupled with a list of torque values I found on The Diesel Place forums

To work.

Rotated the engine using a 12 pt, 36 mm socket until TDC for cylinder one

Checked the clearance with the .012 feeler gauge. Adjusted as needed

The valves that can be checked at the same time, color coordinated.

 It took a couple of hours. That included cycling the engine by hand a few times and rechecking clearances. I will probably do that again before I put the valve covers back on just to be sure. 

There was still daylight, so I kept going. I put in the glow plugs and thought about injectors, but decided the exhaust manifold needed to go on first.

New exhaust manifold gaskets on top of expectant injectors

Old glow plugs back in place.

Tissues for my face.

Snotty rags and oily rags. 

 The exhaust manifold defeated me for the day.  I couldn't get the top back bolt past the gasket and threaded.  There is a nut that I needed to adjust to get the head in place and again to line up the manifold.  I got literally every nut in pace, except the top back one.  In frustration, I went to the driver's side, which was worse.

When the kids came in to see if I was alright, I should have quit. 

I didn't. 

When the snot was dripping down my face because I was using both hands, I was shaking and cramping, then I quit.

I'll deal with the cold weather.

Evil adjustment nut in question

Stinky, stinking exhaust manifold gasket.

Putting it all together

Or, at least the pieces I can find.

So, I didn't get a lot done over the holidays. Now, I have three days off and that means truck work! Except for this cold we all came down with. That says get in bed and stay there.

Nope. 

Oh yeah,don't forget the book.

Now, let's put some pieces back on. 

The sequence for torquing down the head bolts.

 Armed with the sequence, I took the 17mm socket off of the regular ratchet and put it on the small torque wrench for the first step. The directions call for three equal steps to reach 125 ft/lbs. First step was to 42.  Life, the Universe, and Everything. I lubed up everything with the supplied pooky and went after it.

Don't be stingy with the pooky, they provided plenty.

All cleaned up and pretty.  Let's TORQUE SOME NUTS!

 Step one went fine.

Step two, 85 ft/lbs or so, worked too. 

But, when I started on round three, a problem appeared.

First bolt, around the second turn, the wrench slipped off.

That isn't good.  Not at all. The nut seemed to be fine. The socket showed a little damage.  Maybe I had it crooked.  

Nope.  Second pass at it went the same.  

Maybe it's the nut. I decided to try the number one nut on the other side. Same result. 

Shit.

Maybe it isn't the same 17mm 12 point socket.  Maybe these bolts are different.  Let's see if a 16mm fits on there better. There was a little play in it, after all.

Notice anything missing?

 Crap.  Another run to the store for a new 16mm 12 point socket. That's nearly an hour round trip. 

But hey, had to happen.

That's better.  And no guilt over Harbor Freight tools this time.

Worked like it was meant too.  Add that little nugget to my knowledge base. The ARP stud nuts are 16 mm. 

Step three torqued fine.  Then it was off to chop some firewood.  It's cold and our house has many drafts. What kind of jerk put the walls up on this place?

Today I went out and installed more stuff.

Like push rods. Fresh oil on both ends and inserted.

Forgot to put up a picture of my head bolt hole blower.  Here ya go.

 Then I put on the rocker arm assembly.  I went to look at the torque values on the sheet I printed, I don't have reception down at the garage, and it said some number in in/lbs.  Well, my wrench is only in ft/lbs. How do I convert that? 

I don't.  I go home and look it up.  And, when I got home, there was hot coffee waiting and my lovely wife and son were reading the book I wrote. 

My head cold is making me feel all weird and fuzzy headed.  I think I'll get back at it tomorrow. 

I left it like this for the night.