Diesel engines aren’t cheap and when they aren’t maintained, it can be a costly repair. In some cases, the engines can be compromised entirely requiring the user to find a replacement or a rebuilder. We reached out to the crew over at Industrial Injection to talk to them about the engine program that they have been working on for quite some time.

This well-known shop based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been making a name for itself for years with all-out builds in every diesel motorsports genre as well as being included in some of the hottest street trucks in the country. They aren’t just a supplier of aftermarket goodies and hard parts. Their in-house guys and gals offer machining services and upgrades for most diesel trucks out there.

Proving their parts, Industrial Injection has a few of their own in-house builds that compete.

When we reached out, we were put in touch with the Sales & Performance Specialist, Tyler Kipp. Our goal was to gather information on what services they offer when it comes to engines. We tailored the interview so extreme enthusiasts could use these leads for future and current builds. So, we sat down for an interview, and here is how it went:

Diesel Army: Offering an engine program means you guys have a full machine shop at your location at your disposal, right?

Tyler Kipp: “Yes, we own and operate our own machine shop. Our machine shop not only does our engine and cylinder head machine work but a lot of our billet parts, as well as many parts for our fuel shop including our stroker shafts for CP3 high-pressure pumps.”

DA: I believe you guys specialize in the Cummins and Duramax platform. What options do you guys offer?

TK: “Yes, we specialize in the Cummins and Duramax cylinder heads. We offer many different services for these heads too. We offer regular cleaning, CNC porting and hand blending, o-ringing, fire ring jobs, valve jobs, etc. We do this for stock, performance, and race cylinder heads.”

Kipp went on to explain the process of some of their services on the cylinder heads that come in.

• Heads are brought in and jet washed in a high-pressure spray cabinet to remove oil and dirt.
• Heads are then glass beaded to remove the carbon buildup that has developed over thousands of miles.
• Next is either magnafluxing (cast iron only) or pressure testing. This ensures they are properly sealing and they aren’t any cracks in the operating surfaces.
• Valve guides and seats are removed as needed if the job calls for porting
• Using a SuperFlow 600 flow bench, port development is started and all of the flow measurements are recorded.

Getting High Flow Numbers

By this time, the heads just being checked and cleaned those services would be done. Moving on, Kipp went on to talk more about porting and how critical it was in terms of tolerances. When you are porting a cylinder head, airflow is obviously important and a big ingredient to making more horsepower, but you need to work within the wall thickness or you risk cracking.

TK: “Anyone can get a cylinder head to produce high flow numbers, but in doing so leaves the port wall too thin the casting will crack. High-performance diesel heads are more prone to crack because of the thermal shock experienced by excessive intermittent or long term exhaust temperatures. The porting is then performed using our new 5-Axis CNC cylinder head porting machine with CAD/CAM software specifically designed for cylinder head porting. CNC porting brings unparalleled accuracy to head porting with each port flowing the same. This helps balance the power that each cylinder produces, making tuning easier. After the CNC process, each head is then hand blended to smooth out and remove any sharp edges where cranks can occur.”

DA: It’s clear that you guys take quality seriously when it comes to getting these heads back into tip-top shape. What parts do you use when going back together to ensure reliability and a long, healthy life?

TK: “When we go back together with it all, we install new high-strength alloy and heat-treated iron-based valve guides. These guides are heat-treated to Rockwell 22 “C” scale, which produces the ultimate material for wear resistance. This is far superior to the original guide material, including bronze. The guide incorporates a spiral groove inside the guide to hold oil and aid the lubrication of the valve during engine operation. Once the guides are honed (not reamed) to the exact size using a diamond honing mandrel, the guide size is then verified using a valve guide bore gauge.”

This is the kind of clean quality you can expect coming out of their engine room.

“By using diamond abrasives, it allows for consistent size, surface finish, and bore geometry offering no variation guide to guide. It is important to Industrial that everything is “precision-cut” in each cylinder head. Other upgrades Industrial uses are valve seats that are made up of a nickel-based, non-magnetic material that is developed for extreme operating conditions.”

DA: When doing the valve job, what guarantees the seat is finished for a perfect valve to seat match?

TK: “The heads are treated to a multi-angle valve job to help maximize the flow of air in and out of the head. Using our Serdi 100 guide and seat machine, we can simulate the real valve stem during the centering process. That is what guarantees our perfect fit.”

[Kipp continued on as we neared the end of these heads’ life at Industrial. He mentioned that they resurface them with special tooling that gives them whatever surface finish they want.]

TK: “With our Berco milling machine we can control the surface finish to accommodate different head gasket types. For example, the MLS head gasket requires a very smooth surface finish. Once the heads are resurfaced, the heads are jet washed, dried, reassembled with new valve seals and performance valve springs, and prepared for shipment.”

Going Deeper 

Now that we’ve run through the resurrection process of cylinder heads, that raises the questions about entire engines. If you’re looking to upgrade cylinder heads or just have yours gone through to ensure a clean bill of health. But, as I mentioned earlier, not everyone’s rebuild calls for a quick fix. Some people need a full rebuild, right?

Industrial offers what they call a “Builder Box” and I think these are a huge help for those of you with catastrophic failures and just need a complete short block ready to go. Or, in some cases, you just want to just know that from top to bottom you’re covered with a well-oiled unit, you can put your trust into the hands of our Utah-based friends.

DA: What is a “Builder Box”? Any engine?

TK: “The Builder Box was designed for the mechanic inside all of us. This unit allows customers to save thousands of dollars in labor and assembly by having a complete unassembled, machined, and blueprinted short block sent to their door ready for assembly.”

“This kit literally comes with everything necessary to assemble the short block. They include premium upgraded parts resulting in industry-leading reliability out of an engine build. We use the highest quality parts and machining processes in every engine build guaranteeing the utmost precision. We strive to offer the longest-running engines on the road.”

DA: What if I’m wanting to build a race engine? Can a Builder Box still help me?

TK: “Yes, sir. We build everything from 100-percent stock all the way to custom-built units capable of well over 2,000-horsepower. Anywhere in between, whatever it takes to meet our customers’ needs and expectations, we have them covered.”

Where To Find Industrial Injection

For more information about Industrial Injection and the rest of the services they offer, be sure and head over to their website here. What do you think about their Builder Boxes? I think it is a great alternative for us out there just needing a trustworthy, ship to your door option. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Stay tuned to Diesel Army for the latest in parts, truck features, and event coverage.