Gotta tear down my baby
 

Thanks to many stuck exhaust bolts, I have to pull the engine to replace my headgaskets. I may as well do everything I wanted to it now that it's out. Since this is my first rebuilt (and hopefully not my last) my plan is to make it bulletproof and efficient. Here's what I have in mind:
Head studs and head gasket
4" turbo back exhaust
mild tune
Engine oil cooler???
New lift pump ???
The question for the experts is what else could I be doing to bullet-proof this engine?

replacing the water pump if it hasnt been replaced yet wuld be a good idea, how many miles on it?

stuck exhaust bolts? are yo trying t pull your manifolds off?

Already replaced the water pump. Your directions were great!
The truck has 135K miles. Have to pull it out to replace the head gasket. I figured I may as well do some upgrades while I am at it.

yeah pulling the motor out to replace the headgasket isnt a bad idea, i just did it with the motor still in and its a PITA everything gets in the way on the driver side.

you sure that the HG is blown?

Asked the forum. Concnesus was the gaskets were blown.
Here's is what I was seeing.
Start the truck with full coolant. Coolant temp begins to rise and heat comes out of ducts. At about 3 minutes, heat suddenly dies and temps crash. Drive 5 min more and temps and heat finally come back. After 10 minutes, low coolant light comes on. Checking coolant shows almost empty reservoir. Reservoir HIGHLY presurized. Slowly releasing cap brings alot of air out of the system.
I am too far into this to stop right now. I may as well pull the engine. At least I can address the frame rust before it gets too much further.

is there any oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil?

i had the same problem and when i checked the gaskets there was no evidence of them blowing, were the injectors replaced recently before you started having problems?

No oil-coolant mixing. Assuming stock injectors. I have never changed them.

when you drive your truck agin let it sit over night and pull the glow plugs the next morning and check for colant

i remember your thread asking about hg now, theres a few more tests that could be done

Too late. Next step is to separate engine and transmission. This is PITA btw!