New to me 1693 Cat - looking for upgrades

New on here, Back in the 80's up to early 90's I owned a pete which had a 1693TA plus retarder
3 cool things about the 93 #1is the precup rattle #2 is the turbo whistle there is nothing else like it. #3 the engine was a powerhouse back in the day.
I looked at your photo's you have the big turbo ''3-4'' wide compressor housing'' on it that is a 375 hp setup add the air cooler then its 425. A 325hp had no cooler plus small turbo. That turbo will easily put 35 psi if fueled correctly. One issue that concerns me is your timing method that isn't a stock setting. First is my disclaimer. THIS SHOULD ONLY BE DONE BY SOMEONE WITH FLOW TIMING EXPERIENCE THIS IS AS I REMEMBER IT. I HAVE NEVER DONE IT PERSONALLY I ALWAYS PAID A CAT MECHANIC TO COME TIME MY 93.
Ok so here goes. The best way to time that engine is called flow timing which involves piston TDC and removing #1 injection line and replace it with a 180 degree line at this point it's not as clear to me i believe they would pressurize the pump with air then fuel will drip out of the line the amount of drips in a certain time frame was how the timing was accomplished by rotating the pump. This method is more accurate then pin timing and fly wheel timing marks. Generally the more advanced the more rattle to it because your lighting a fire earlier in compression stroke. You state the engine doesn't rattle now as much which makes me think it was retarded. A 425 hp with advanced timing will easily run 550-600 hp. Learn from my mistakes, If you advance to far and you have 1 or 2 pump plungers out of uniform timing with the other 4 IE say your at 9 degrees and the other 2 are 13-14 those 2 will run extremely hotter then the others which can cause the engine to er lets say self destruct. Proof hindsight is 20/20. I had noticed the engine was trailing puffs of black smoke after fixing the hole in the side of the block and a complete rebuild I had the pump rebuilt and the pump barrels were out of time. Sorry about being long winded here I would hate to see you blow up such a great engine i sure miss my old one.

 

Good post. Thanks!

 

I believe the "newer" engines had the spacer plate between the block and head. I'm not sure if that ties into a change to a newer pump too.
I have an acquaintance that had 2-3 trucks with 93's He also had a truck shop with lots of 93 engine parts. The guy never throw anything away. The shop is closed but my guess is he still has " the goods" sitting in old trailers.
i would say he is in late 60's so still good info.

 

One of these days when I'm in his area I will ask. Adding a retarder is no simple project. I believe you would need to change out the big aluminum cam gear drive housing on the back end of the engine along with the engine oil cooler possible need a bigger engine oil pump to supply the oil along with the valve control housing and steel oil lines. The truck I owned had one it worked real well. Finding a unicorn might be easier for you.

 

If your talking about excessive smoke between gears then on the front of the pump is a adjustment that can be made to lean out the smoke. If your talking about excessive smoke driving down the road with a load then that is different. The truck I had burned as clean as anything else on the road, however, It would lay a loaf of smoke if you stomp it between gears. Need to soft peddle it between gears unless of course you have some 4 wheeler irritating you that you want to make disappear in your mirror.

 

I’m not much help on your air compressor issue. Hopefully it’s not your oil cooler leaking water into your cooling system. Getting the goo out takes a lot of time. When I have a problem such as yours I hook up a garden hose to the engine side where you have a port into the water jacket, Add some cascade dishwater soap. Get the engine up to temperature and open the hose up just a trickle withe radiator cap off, Oil naturally floats to the top this way it is forced out through the top of radiator,

 

Try Bepco in NC. They may have to build yours and you may have to go through a distributor. They built an inline four cylinder compressor off a Mack for me. I thank they should be able to help you out.