There's a post somewhere in the not too distant past with all the poop on gauges......Here:

http://www.pointedthree.com/disc/forums/showthread.php?tid=3857&posts=3&highlight=gauge&highlightmode=1#M39709

They're Isspro gauges that I got from Diesel Injection Service in Lubbock, TX.

I have two Yorks on the shelf now that I'll need to sell off.  If I get back to on board air on the 617A, it'll be with one of the small axials.  The one York is still bolted to the M110.  It's the one that Q bought for teh purpose of on board air, so it's probably high volume.  The other is the original one that was in my G when I got it, working for the AC system that was there, but non-functional (compressor spins fine though).

It's great to hear from you again.  But I sure know there's more to life than trucks.  Any number of times with the motor all apart I'd think, "I really SHOULD be out in the garage working on that motor, but I really NEED to just play a little banjo tonight!" 

-Dave G.

Thanks a million for helping to put my mind at ease a little.  I'm so paranoid about what might be normal or not normal with this engine.  Every little thing is a learning experience.  I'm so far out of my element that I don't even know what kinds of things I should or shouldn't wonder about!  But every successful mile on the odometer leads to higher comfort.  And having folks like you around to lend a kind word of assurance now and then makes all the difference.  Your description sounds like exactly what's happenning with my oil pressure.  Sounds like its 'sposed to be that way.

Thanks again!

Did you see that guy post a while ago who lives in Ely?  Now I have 2 nevadans to visit on my way to Mendocino next April!

-Dave G.

I'd be happy to try and answer any gauge questions you didn't find answers to.

-Dave G.

Very much so. Its no rocket ship. And coming off a light, I've shifted twice before I get across the intersection, so it takes some getting used to. But the driveability is more to my tastes than that of the M110. I like the way the torque curve sort of "rises to meet you" as speed and RPMs drop going up a grade.  And when it's cruising along at 55, on about 7-8 lbs of boost, giving a little welly is rewarded with a nice rush that was just never there with the low compression M110.

It just goes to show you the numbers don't lie. The performance I'm getting is exactly what I expeced when comparing the torque curves of the two motors.

I might like to fine tune the gearing a little, but in all honesty I have to remember not to be too hasty and try the performance in a wider range of use than just my commute.  I need to get it fully loaded, get it off road, etc.  I'll have time to do all that before I change anything.

Mark is going to have a look at it tomorrow and take care of any fine tuning it needs.  After that I'll fill the tank and in a month or so, have some honest fuel economy numbers to report.  Just from my first partial tank though, it looks like 18 will be doable.  A 50% improvement over what I was averaging long term with the M110. 

Thanks for all your help and advice.

-Dave G.

I didn't mean to ignore your engine braking question the first time around....It just came about after I couldn't really do much to evaluate it!  

Engine braking is definitely more pronounced from the 23:1 compression 3 liter than from he 7:1 compression 2.8!  Keeps me honest on gear changes, having to be better at matching revs to keep it smooth.  The gear changes and engine braking effects are of course also all a little different due to the fact I have the lower ratio box from the 300GD in there now too, so everything's being re-learned.  Like I mentioned to Dai, it's quite interesting to bin in 3rd out of four just getting across an intersection!  I'm trying to keep after it though, and once learned where the optimal shift points and gear choices are, and rpms for speeds in each gear, it rewards with really nice driveability and performance.

Keep thinking happy thoughts.  They really help!

-Dave G.

Thanks for that link!  It is a lot of good pix of the internals.  Simple and effective.  I'm sorry I didn't share more of my process, but in order to document a job like that usually makes the job take 2-3x as long as it normally would, and I just didn't feel like I had the time.  Those pix do bring back some recent memories though.  I wonder what he did with that engine.  It's sad for these to end up on a bone pile because they're nearly always repairable.  That one probably needed pistons, liners, bearings, and a valve job to be good for another 400k.

I did take a picture of the "bubble" procedure I used to time the pump that was VERY precise and much better, IMHO than the factory "droplet" procedure.  I'll get that posted one of these days.

Oh yeah, and I looked at his oil change article and MAN am I glad I don't have all that crap around the filter housing!  On Warren's recommendation I moved the heater outlet to the rear of teh head instead of teh side, so not only don't I have all that vacuum spaghetti that the EGR'd car has, but I don't even have the heter hose there.  Maybe I'll send a pic of that one of these days too. 

-Dave G.

I'm reminded of a quote I heard from Ricky Skaggs when he talked about being part of the "Three Pickers" concert where he played with Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs.  Ricky said, "....I can't say it's a dream come true, because I never dreamed something like this could happen...."

That's about where I am with the performance of the G after Mark spent half the morning tweaking the injection pump.  Holy cow!  I was happy to be able to do hills at 45-50 in top gear at full throttle.  Now I'm doing those same hills at 55-60, and not even floored!  Remember how I talked about the torque curve "coming up to meet you" as speed and revs drop on a hill?  Well now the speed and revs don't drop, at least not on the grades I'm doing, unless I let up on the pedal.  And if I press all the way down on the pedal, I'm actually still accelerating up to rev limits.....In top gear!  On steep grades!

I'm sure a little bit of this is off to the porting I did on the head and manifolds recommended by Dai and AMZ (THANKS GUYS!), but it sure didn't run like this before Mark's ministrations.  He told me he didn't do anything extreme, "...'cause I don't want you beating on it...", but just got everything tweaked in and oh what a difference.

Like Ricky said, "...I can't say it's a dream come true beause I never dreamed something like this could happen..."  I couldn't be more pleased with this outcome.

But maybe the best part was the conversation I had with Mark after my test drive as he was stripping the hull of a hydroplane he's restoring.  He'd say things like, "Thanks for letting me do that." Relating how the modern cars with computerized this and that didn't allow the kind of satisfaction in craftsmanship that the old ones would reward.  And that now he has to turn to his boats and tractors hobbies to get the satisfaction he used to get from working on customers' cars in his shop.  It was also kind of fun that he admitted, "I don't know why I do all this stuff for you, but I just like you and feel like you're a good person.  Anyone else coming in, asking for advice, borrowing books, stuff like that, I would have told them to get the *&#@ out and don't come back.  But with you it's all fun and rewarding like I haven't had in a long time."

How the hell does that happen?  The mechanic feeling good about working on my car?  Doing it for fun.  Saying things like, "I did it like it was my own....like I haven't done one of those in years.....I pulled out tweaks I thought I'd forgotten about..."  And maybe best of all was Billie at the front desk saying in a separate conversation with her later, "He must have been having fun because I didn't see him all morning and he wasn't in here cursing at me about it, which is more than I can say for most of the work he does any more."

Only once did I try to ask him what he did.  It was in association with a problem I had where, even with the car fully warm, if I shut it off and tried to re-start, it would spin all day doing nothing unless I gave it 5-10 seconds of glow before trying to start.  After Mark worked on it that problem was GONE.  Try the key warm and it fires right off now with no glow.  I asked him what he did to fix that and he said,

"Can't tell you.  At least not until you come back with beer."

And I will......  And not to find out what he did to my truck.

All the best to everyone, and thanks to everyone for the help and moral support along the way.  Hopefully there are many miles of enjoyment ahead.  Not least of which, putting some of those miles on to visit some of you fine folks!

-Dave G.