I showed the head ready to go back on the block but I did have some hesitation and ended up putting the head on, hand threading the studs in, and then removing the studs and the head again. My hesitation was the cylinder walls. I had meant to clean them up but I forgot to do so before I put the head back on when I got it back as it had been a couple of weeks between the head removal and getting it back and ready to install. Once I got the cylinders cleaned up and revealed the cross hatching, it made me feel a bit better about it but I know that the engine will need to come out for a freshening up. Ill get a feel for how soon once it is driving for a bit.
I had another scare once I did finally get the head on and buttoned down. I installed a new Cummins thermostat but it came with a different style O-ring and only one at that. There is both an inner and outer O-ring and it only came with the inner and it didnt fit the ID of the hole in the head like the original one did. I figured maybe they changed the style and used this style on some of the years and that it would still work. Wrong. I filled the cooling system with antifreeze and sure enough, I had a slight leak. Cue gut wrench feeling.
At this point, I just installed the thermostat and O-ring thinking it would be just fine and that although it looked completely wrong and as if it wasnt going to come close to sealing, someone designed it that probably knew better than I did? Wrong again. That is either the wrong part number(I want to say it even came in the Cummins Head Gasket Kit) or something isnt right there. I actually ended up looking up pictures at my local Oreillys to match the original O-rings. Those bolts on the thermostat housing a a ***** too! Id rather do that 10 times than have to remove the head again for a head gasket that I thought I somehow messed up.
September 2017 - Speaking of water, I also sourced a new water temp sensor. I got tied up in using the stock Dodge wire connector so I went on a goose chase trying to find one that would fit. I relocated the sensor location to the next NPT port forward of the most rearward port of the head because my clearance at the rear wasnt enough to get the plug on the end of the sensor. I would have just relocated the original sensor but it was not the same size as the next forward port. You can see the sensor at the far right of the head and then the next forward port is where I relocated the new sensor to.
Ive got two concerns with the new temp sensor at this point:
1.) Will the reading be similar to the original temp sensor port?
2.) Will this sensor read accurately and send the correct signal to my temp gauge?
