1983 Ford F600 Engine Swap
This was one of the more interesting jobs that I did when I was working at Ashley Construction. My boss had a 1983 Ford F600 water truck with a naturally aspirated Detroit Diesel “fuel pincher” 8.2L engine. The DD 8.2 is generally considered to be a “boat anchor.” Introduced in the early 1980’s, it was a throwaway engine without replaceable sleeves, and was known for head gasket problems.
This truck was used almost exclusively off-road, and with a leaky transmission and no power steering, it was quite demanding to drive. One of the guys came up to me one day and said there was something wrong with the water truck, that it was making terrible noises, etc. It was indeed making terrible noises, like someone was smashing the block with a hammer. Not to mention the coolant was gone, the oil was gray, and there was steam coming out of the oil filler cap.
That all added up to a rod flying around and busting the water jacket. Sure enough, when I pulled the pan… (note the clearly visible piston and cylinder wall chunks). I suspect that the head gasket went, hydro-ed one of the cylinders, and busted the piston.
This was not a huge surprise based on the symptoms. The condition of the air filter housing surely didn't help matters. It was even worse inside the intake runner.
Since the truck wasn’t worth a whole lot, we found a used DD 8.2 for sale from some crazy guy who pulled them from armored trucks. He claimed it was rebuilt and well-maintained, but was lying…at least it ran.
Due to space, time, and financial constraints, I had to do the job in a dirt lot. Ha-ha, I actually did.
The “new” engine:
My “shop” featuring a plywood floor, and a hot sun:
We pulled and installed the engines with a bucket loader. It struggled a bit since the 8.2 weighed about one ton.
If you look closely, you can see me behind the left (driver’s side) tire installing the bolts around the bellhousing.
