[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

Brad, I have been inside several hundred 6.2s and 6.5s. They really aren’t bad engines. The normally aspirated ones are a bit gutless. The biggest problems we saw were the thickness of the head decks( one or two millings and the valve seats would actually move when you torqued the head) and cracking in the number one main journal into the number one rod journal in the early 6.2 nodular cranks. The fuel injectors weren’t the most reliable but the injection pumps were bulletproof. The best 6.5s were the 6.5Ts installed in the late HUMMVs. 210hp, 500+ ft/lbs of torque.

I bought my first truck with a 6.5, in 2010, (93 K3500 dually) the engine still runs great, roughly a year ago, at 270,000 miles the 4L80E decided it was done. I replaced it with the 97 with a 454 in it, I'm not impressed with the 454 at all. I'd much rather have a 6.5, but a year ago when I was looking to replace the 93, I couldn't find any 6.5s that were priced reasonably. That was at the height of truck scarcity, and people were stupid on their pricing, so I ended up with a 454.

I'd trade the 454 truck for a 6.5 if I could find extended cab 4X4 in good shape.

I also have a C3500HD, 6.5 box truck I bought that is getting compression into the cooling system. I've tried every stop leak that there is to seal the small leak, none have worked. I might just pull the engine out of the 93 and stick it in, I know the heads are prone to cracking, and headgaskets can also leak. It's a fairly low mile reman engine, so who knows what is leaking. Pulling the heads in chassis is not going to happen, so I might just swap engines, but it's too tall to get inside of my garage. I'm still debating on what I want to do with it.