Case 730 or 830 power modifications available?

[Biodieseler]

Hi everyone,
My brother and I have a Case 730 diesel engine in a 1985 Ford F-250 and are looking to get some more HP out of it. We are considering buying an 830 engine or modifying the 730 to become an 830, but either way the HP is just lacking to keep the truck "workable" on the highway.

Does anyone know how to get more HP out of an 1960's Case 730 or 830? We currently have the multiple plunger injection pump on our 730 (as opposed to the single plunger pump available on the 730s) and wondering if there is a way to let the governers give it more fuel, or at least let it rev higher. Or aftermarket injectors that allow more fuel. We're tossing the idea of turbo charging the engine if need be.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Allan

 

[RGMartin]

Do you have any pictures? I just have to see under the hood. What gears and transmission?

The 300ci I-6 from 1985 wasn't exactly peppy in a 3/4 ton(my folks had two). I can't imagine cutting the hp in half and limiting the rpms by half.

What are your aspirations? Good merging onto a 70 mph interstate? Just cruising normal country roads? Do you plan on towing anything?

I think a turbo might be your only way out with that engine(won't be cheap), even then I think I would start looking at other more viable engines.

More fuel does you no good if you can't get more air into it. Awfully long stroke to try to run much faster.

 

[Brokengun]

You have an engine out of a 730 case in a pkup, WOW!

I thought the 730 had a 267cci engine that only put out about 48-52 hp.

The only thing I know to do to get more HP would be thin wall sleeves with new pistons and turn up the governor on the pump to say 2400 rpm.

to my knowledge 830 sleeves and pistons do not interchange with a 730.

P.S. I know of a guy that put M&W sleeves and pistons in a 267cci on an old 800 case and claimed he got 80hp out of it. it was a black smoke making machine

 

[Anonymous-0]

WOW .. I want to see that ,. I am Impressed . And would like t hear a run down on Performance and mechanical issues ,,. hope others can help //

 

[Ken in AZ]

I agree with others... need to know what your plan is. Sounds like you want to hypermile it or something. Power levels mean different things for different purposes.

What gears and gear boxes do you have? That low of horsepower you'll probably need lots of different speeds to play with.

Think turbo, intercooler. Compare to Diesel trucks; my Cummins powered 5.9 liter (360 cubes) turns 1700-2500 (max, in spite of 3000 Rev limit) when pulling decent but will run 28-32 PSI boost to get there and has an intercooler, tweaked Bosch pump, different injectors, 4" exhaust, different air filter and other things.

Hard to beat it's mileage and driveability (22-24 MPG at 65-70 MPH). Sounds like you have some work to do if you want to compete with something like this. My buddy with an 06 Duramax can't compete with my 97 Dodge mileage or towing capacity or range. And I think the Cummins might edge him out on engine longevity.

Could be a fun project with the right goals... or it could be a real beast to swear at. Some old semi-tractors had very small engines by today's standards but made up for this with slower road speeds and more gear selection and optimizing the engine to run in a small RPM window. I wouldn't feel comfortable merging onto a freeway with one of them but it HAS been done.

Let us know some more... lots of helpful folks frequent here.

Ken in AZ

 

[Gene Dotson]

Yes, you can get more power from that block. Can us 830 pistons for 301 cu. inch by boring the block OR since you are boring it anyway, why not go to 870 pistons for 336 Cu.In.? Standard 1/8" overbore will get 284 Cu. in.

Stock engine will stay together at 3000 RPM. Take out the set screw stop on the back of the pump and set timing at 33 degrees. Inline pump is easy to set fuel. Pull cover off back side and turn the set screw in. Then on the front of the pump pull the cap off and remove a couple of the washer spacers from the rack stop.

Be advised that if this engine is run hard with a lot of fuel, you will be cracking some heads as this engine will not breathe well enough to get the heat out.

Gene

 

[Biodieseler]

WOW... thank you all for the detailed replies! I have been searching for a few weeks to get information and have basically come up with nothing but a few old articles on the original tractor specs. This is great to find some folks who know a bit more about these engines.

Unfortunantly I don't have pictures at the moment, but with the excitement here I can probably get some on here at some point.

I currently have a '99 dodge ram, 24 valve Cummins diesel with lots of goodies (DTT transmission, 100 hp injectors, smarty computer programmer, 4" turbo back exhaust, and all the gauges like fuel pressure, trans temp, and yes, the ever important pyrometer to keep from overheating things) So I realize I'm looking at an entirely different beast here. My tractor powered truck will never be like my Cummins, and I don't expect it to have anywhere near the same power. I do however hope to be able to do some relatively heavy towing and be able to go down the highway. No hot rod needed, just enough to get me around safely.

As for gearing, my brother did some handy work to put it together with 2 transmissions... yes.. two of them, and one turned backwards to gear the driveshaft speed back up. Since a transmission slows down engine speed to driveshaft speed, if you put the 2nd transmission in backwards, it speeds the driveshaft speed back up. So, One transmission is out of a school bus, the other out of a tilt and load flat bed truck. Both are 5 speeds. Definantly a lot of custom work to hook them all together. Had to make a custom bell housing to go between each/to the engine. The truck is a 4x4 so it has the stock transfer case.

With the 2nd transmission in 5th gear, it's a 1-1 gear ratio. So we can shift it like a normal 5 speed, and when we get it going to highway speeds we can shift the 2nd tranny into 4th gear and it gives us a better overdrive. I suppose we have the gearing to do some crazy speeds, but we only use the 2nd transmission to get it to let the engine run in it's rated RPM at highway speeds. It's geared pretty good overall, so I'm not too worried about gearing.

I'm really encouraged to hear we can turn up the pump to let it rev higher. Yet I realize it's a balance between air and fuel. one is no good without the other. I intend to put an exhaust temperature gauge in if we turn up the engine much at all so I can keep an eye on EGT's and keep from overheating the heads.

I will post more later, but have to get going for now.
Again, thank you very much for your time and advice.
Allan

 

[Anonymous-0]

870 pistons (336ci)are not going to work with the 30 series heads, it's a compression issue. You either need to use 4 5/8 mm pistons to make a 336 with the power cell heads or you need di 70 series heads to go with the 870 pistons. I would like to see the engine in the pickup though. 730's had inline pumps as did 1959 700/800 tractors. If you had a single plunger pump I wonder if didn't have an engine out of a 1958 700/800 or older.

 

[D-C-741]

IF YOUR HAS ! Every one here missed one thing ! The Balancer & oil Pump /this Turns TWICE THE SPEED OF THE CRANK ! They will Not Take 3000 RPM For long/ it will be running 6000 Rpm .

 

[Gene Dotson]

Don't believe the 730 has a balancer.

Gene

BTW. I pulled my 700 diesel for a couple of years and started at 3200 RPM. Checked with PTO turning at 1000 RPM and developed 115 horsepower. Pump turned up to blow clouds of black smoke. Never a problem with the bottom end or pistons. It did crack both heads, but this was not evident till I tore the engine down. All this while I was also using it in the field. Would take the cultivators off on Friday night, remove the lift arms, turn the pump up and put the 18,4X34 cut tires and weight brackets and pull the weekend.

This tractor is still running today and is still my main working tractor.

Gene

 

[Biodieseler]

That's a good point about the balancer. When we got this engine we found that it does have a balancer.

I guess the question is what RPM will the balancer hold up to (or any other weak link in the engine at high RPM)?

We found a 1963 830 case-o-matic for sale with a good running engine, and we are considering using that engine instead of our current 730 engine. We know our 730 engine runs very smooth, so even if we don't get a full 3000 RPM out of it I wonder what we can safely get out of it.
Are we correct in saying that the 830 engine would have a balancer too? Or does the fact that 830's came with aluminum pistons change how the crank was balanced? Because the 730 has steel pistons it must be heavier and make the engine more "sluggish" but would it also change the way it's balanced?

I think if we go ahead with this project to finish it and put the truck on the road, we would be going with out and buying that 830 tractor and using the engine out of it since it's likely able to breathe better with bigger valves and already has a bigger bore/aluminum pistons.

So what RPM might it take?

By the way, we call this thing a "tructor" half truck, half tractor. haha

 

[Anonymous-0]

yes a 730 has a lancaster balancer.