After every one suggested NOT wrapping the manifold due to cracking problems in the late 3rd gen, I opted to leave it off. I did wire brush it and the turbo casting and elbow, and painted with high temp rustoleum . Only 8 bucks at Home Depot.
Engine has the usual Rotella T conventional oil. It will get changed out at 500 miles. The transmission has Lucas Oil 50W synthetic. Not too pleased with the transmission, it is quite notchy in R,1,2 in comparison to my old transmission. I hope the synchros break in some.
There is little break in left to do, in reality. There was virtually no oil consumption in the first 100 miles, and no visible blowby either at the tube or oil cap. Next time I start it up I will put a cork on the blowby and video the oil cap to show the totality of the blowby.
The rebuilder's recommendation was to go out with the trailer on and climb some hills
That's what I did, and the truck will sit until the next time I want to go out and camp. I think next weekend is out due to subfreezing temps, but I hope to go the following weekend. I am definitely champing at the bit but want to be practical about it.
Slowmover,
right now the wallet is sucked flat, so I will stay with what I have as far as instrumentation/tuning. The Smarty Touch I have will do UDC tuning but nobody has pursued it much since the advent of EFI Live.
The built in MPG gauge is quite confused, so all it is good for is to reset it often and see what different gear/speed combos do relative to each other. I sure wish we could calibrate that overhead!
I see a future with possibly
less towing MPG, due to not being able to use OD as often. To amend that situation I will have to be diligent in upshifting whenever the opportunity arises.
All this changes with the future trailer design, which will have a lower CDA than the solo pickup
, coupled with a target weight of less than 5000 pounds.
The engine will be able to handle a moderate grade at 1600 RPM with those lighter loadings.
Starting out in first, it has enough gear for most any situation with the trailer. In the extreme case I can crawl out of a bad spot in 2wd low.