Upgrade an LDT?

[Desert Rat]

I have a question for anyone with the answers:


Can you upgrade a LTD engine to an LDS or are the blocks mutually exclusive? I know we can bolt on some common parts. However, I'm looking to keep the LDT block and avoid massive re-engineering of the truck to extract more power. My theory is simple. Buy an LDS engine with a hole in it, swap around all parts needed for the upgrade and stick-a-fork-in-me-I'm-done! My gut feeling is the cranks won't swap due to the bearings needing to be larger in the LDS to handle the extra power. I'd love to find out more. Specs would be nice too!

 

[Lee Alessi]

i was told, note i have not verified, that the lds block has oil cooled pistons. thats the difference

 

[Loose Deuce]

Oil Cool Pistons???? Would that be pistons with oil grooves on the skirts sorta like the oil groove in some main bearrings to help control heat plus lubing?

 

[Lee Alessi]

no, i was explained it was oil jets in the block (cyl wall) that sprayed the piston with oil.

 

[Desert Rat]

Hmmm, I never heard about that before.......

 

[Lee Alessi]

i didnt say it as fact. i said i was told

 

[Desert Rat]

McI,

I understand. I was just making an observation. I was kinda hoping someone else could either confirm or deny the rumor since you were not 100% sure.

 

[Wyattearp]

If im not mistaken all the multifuel diesel's have those, my ld-465-1c has them along with that huge hole in the block , but thats why i have another sitting to be worked on.

 

[Trango]

I've heard that there are differences in the pistons as well, but don't know who I've heard that from, when, or whatever. I was going to go with a 5 ton turbo and hope to bump some more power out of the LDT but was warned off by people who said I'd cook pistons. I was going to run a pyro on the exhaust to safeguard against my Pistons doing their best China Syndrome impersonation, but in the end, this proved to be one of the rare cases where I was told to not do something and actually listened.

Bob

 

[Desert Rat]

Bob,

Where's your sense of adventure??? Of all the people here, I'd figured you would try something like this just to see if it could be done.... (hmmmmm, maybe that was an unintentional "I double dog dare you" challenge....). I'm thinking more along the lines of swapping pistons, heads, crank and so on with the exception of the block itself and create a low budget LDS mod with an LDT block, not stopping at just the turbo. So the data I'm seeking is do the internal parts on the LDT and LDS match so I can buy a couple of these LDS engines with holes in the block and create more power or is it a waste of time and money?

 

[Desert Rat]

Would the LDT block be strong enough to hold together with any additional stress the LDS parts may generate?

 

[spicergear]

Oil is sprayed under the pistons to help cool them.

 

[Desert Rat]

Ah ha, that makes sense. I believe I'll be looking for some cracked LDS's once we're in TX then!

 

[spicergear]

I think it's 'texarkana' seems always to have a ton of neat parts on GL.

 

[Desert Rat]

SG,
Yep, I noticed that a long time ago.

 

[Red Neck]

I was told the radiator in the 2 1/2 ton is not large enough to get rid of the extra heat generated by all that HP. You could look to see if the LDS had piston coolers, there would be 6 and centered with each cylinder around at the crankshaft height. They spray up on the bottom of the piston to cool them and would melt without um.

 

[Desert Rat]

So far I have found out there are some extra modifications to the LDS not found on the LDT that do bolt on. Once I have a place in TX where I can do this project properly I'll keep y'all updated. It may be a while though.

 

[M543A2]

It is my understanding the T meant turbocharged where the turbo was added to clean up smoke, not necessarily build more power. The S meant supercharged, not used in the real sense, but to indicate boosted charging with the turbo, which is the whistler, resulting in power increase. We first put a normal T turbo on our deuce that was a originally non-turbo model, turned up the fuel, with no problems. We then got a whistler (S) and changed out for it, which built more low end boost. We have run the truck this way for three years with fuel turned up to the max with no problems. You can read posts I have put in the other deuce forum. Just do not floor it off the bottom as my other posts warn about. I believe virtually every diesel has the piston cooler jets that we call "squirters" on the tops of the main journals pointed toward the pistons. There is a difference in pistons as I understand it. The non-turbo models have higher compression, and some engines had the pump-down pistons. This si not from experience in measuring, etc, but from information I have read over the years.

 

[jeepthrills]

DR!
Dont forget my deuce has the LDS 465. If there is anything I can verify for you externally, let me know.

 

[Wick246]

I wonder what the fuel consumption difference would be? I know the LDS is rated to burn some 30 lbs. per hour more fuel, but that would be if installed in a 5 ton truck. How many LDS engines and parts are available out there?