Big Cam Cummins problems

Hello all! First post here. I'm having some problems with a Big Cam II that I need some advice on. First, some history. My customer has an old water well drill rig that runs a Big Cam 400. A few years ago, the engine went out and rather than rebuild it, he bought a truck cheap with a running Big Cam that the guy claimed was pushing 480 horse. We put the engine in the drill rig which required swapping injection pumps to work with the rear controls on the rig. The engine ran great, but temp would always climb when running the massive air compressor to blow wells. Over the course of an hour the temp would climb to 220 plus (and they never informed me of the problem). Well, they weren't paying attention, thermostat stuck, and piston 1 grabbed and broke cylinder 1 sleeve, and clunk... it locked solid. Well, the customer is looking to have his rig repowered in the not to distant future to meet ridiculous California regulations, so he wanted the engine patched up for the time being. I tore it down, replaced number 1 piston and sleeve, deglazed and reringed the other five cylinders, and replaced all the bearings as they were in sad shape. Put everything back together with a new thermostat and water pump and it sounds beautiful and has great low-end torque, but falls on its face running the compressor and temps are climbing much faster-210 in 10 minutes under full load. Some specs on the engine. It is CPL 393 which is 14.5 to 1 compression. However, it has cam part number 3000850 and injector part number 3047973 in it which do not match that CPL. I'm not sure what timing is set at, I put it back together with the same thickness gasket as came apart. Injection pump is number 0310, I think. This engine NEVER smokes, even when coming up on power when engaging the compressor. The customers said all previous engines would belch when rolling into power. I'm going to see if I can swap buttons with the pump that originally came off this engine. However, I'm looking for advice for what else to check. Thank you!

 

I cant be that helpful in your situation. But after 205 degrees your asking for trouble with a BC. I'm assuming that your pump set up is constant load? Like marine. You replaced it with a road engine. A road truck sees many grades and loads. It will put out the power but in shorter bursts. Unlike marine or stationary that goes to set rpm and very consistent load. Biggest thing is you need to build current engine to the cpl of the engine that was removed. Be injectors, timing, cam, compression ratio.




Best I have for you. Like I try to tell guys wanting a marine build engine. The coefficient of water dont change. It dont get heavier, taller, thicker. Well except ice. It's a different ballgame.

Maybe a few others on here can help.

 

Maybe start with what is your fuel pressure under load? What should it be with the current engine and the one that came out. Probably around 155 - 175?
Put a gauge in the drain plug hole at the right rear low on the block. It should read about 30 - 35 LBS constant pressure at higher RPMs.
When it is heating up what is the temperature at the top and bottom of the radiator.

 

Update for everybody. First, thank you for the replies! I understand what you are saying about the engine not being built for a constant load. However, rebuilding this engine to a different CPL is not within my customer's budget, especially because it will eventually be getting repowered after he gets some other equipment and his other rig repowered. I swapped buttons in the pump with what was on the engine initially, and it is now putting out the needed power with healthy EGTs. The radiator was only cooling 15 degrees between top and bottom, so will be pulling the top tank tomorrow to see what's going on there.

 

Less than 15 degrees is usually air flow problem. Radiator clean or fins coming apart? Fan pushing or pulling air?

 

About the only option. Keep backing the fuel off.

 

I grew up in the water well drilling business. Ran a lot of different machines over the years. Just curious what Rig he had.....???

The red Ingersoll Rand TH-55 had a 6V82TA in the truck originally that powered the rig as well as the truck. I pulled the Detroit and planted a Cummins 400 from a donor international truck. Never a problem.

These drills are like a marine application in a sense, lot of constant power consumed by the rig.

 

My grand father ( my moms dad) was a water well driller in Flemington NJ. He got out of the seabees after ww2 ended and bought a Mack mounted rig. Had 3 trucks by the time he retired and sold out in ‘75. I don’t have any pictures of that side of the family but one somewhere of him standing behind the rig on a location while drilling. I’ve been told they were Macks but my mom thinks she remembers one of them being a White.

 

The fins on the radiator are clean and the fan pulls air. The fan is moving a lot of air, so I don't think that is our problem.

 

Fan installed on the hub backwards?

That one's not always an obvious thing to think of.