1983 G20 van build - looking for advice

[kv1]

I got lucky around mid July and found pretty much all of the parts I was lacking on craigslist from one guy. Fuel pump, radiator, alternator, and another water pump all for 150 dollars. New Starter+bracket and bolts came out to be $100:




Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the project done before I left for a year to Europe to study. I kept running out of money and by the time I found the parts for cheap, it was already too late. Irving and I put the van back together, finally putting on the transmission and stuffing it with my furniture. It's going to sit for 9 months starting today =( But it made my happy to see the tranny in there and knowing that we got all the parts, we should probably be able to get it running in a month after I get back in May.

[oil pan 4]

Looks like you got the gear reduction starter, good. If you ever have to replace it make sure you get a later heavy duty starter for a 6.5L diesel.
Also lose the mechanical drive fuel pump and put in an electric one. You will want this when you have to bleed the fuel system, say after changing fuel filters or if it runs out of fuel.
I cant tell in your picture what intake manifold you have but you should get the non EGR J-code intake manifold.
Since the van is a "heavy duty 3/4 ton" and an 83 you might not be required to have that EGR garbage. Trust me you don't want the EGR on a 6.2L. It will only increase fuel consumption, decrease power and increase the amount of smoke you produce.

[kv1]

@oil pan 4. Thanks for the tip on the electric fuel pump! I'll do that once I start working on it again. The block is a j-code so I assume that there was no ERG on it. For your 84 burban, how did you get 20mpg? Does a turbo increase fuel efficiency? I know it produces more power per fuel but if you take a non-turbo vs turbo will an engine with turbo consume more fuel?


As for cranking the thing, what should I do first? What would be my order of operations starting form where I am right now? Do I need to bleed the system if we never removed the heads?

Should I replace the injectors and glow plugs? I also got recommended to make a manual electric override for the glow-plugs where I use a relay to send electricity to the glow plugs, but if I get special ones that limit themselves then they won't burn themselves out.

[oil pan 4]

Diesels consume less fuel with a turbocharger.
I picked up between 2 and 2.5 mpg by adding the single turbo. A turbo diesel will use less fuel. The reason people think a turbo will cause an engine to use more fuel is because of gasoline motors, typically if you put a turbo on a gasoline engine it will use more fuel.
Diesels are different, the more air you give them the better power and fuel economy they will make.
I made no changes to the injector pump when I put the turbo on.

Since your fuel system is likely bone dry, it would be a good idea to have the electric fuel pump on when you are trying to prime and first start it up. That alone would be worth having the electric.
Don't replace the injectors unless you suspect them to be bad, its a few hundred $ you might not need to spend.

I say don't even bother with the factory glow plug controller. They cost around $70 and the cheap made in china replacements only last a year or 2. As a bonus, when the controller fails its favorite failure mode is the "stuck on" condition and burns out all the glow plugs.
A manual glow switch will cost less than $10 and will last the life of the vehicle.
For the glow plugs you should use G60 plugs, these are the self limiting ones. They last lot longer than the original early G7 and G11 glow plugs. Also do not use autolite part number 1110, they are the same as the early glow plugs.
From 2006 to 2008 I put about 20 glow plugs in. Then the first part of 2008 they all died again then I switched to G60 plugs and have not changed a single one.
The G7, G11 and autolite 1110 plugs are the early ones that like to swell up, burn out quickly and get stuck in the cylinder head.
Plus G60 plugs don't work so well with the early controller, they need up to 2 seconds longer power on time to reach the same temperature as the old plugs.