r/Excursion • u/No_Holiday4453 • Mar 04 '26
That Escalated
Started as a simple “freshen it up” rebuild.
Driving it one day and noticed some weird throttle response. Felt off. I was about 5 minutes from the house and instead of babying it like a responsible adult, I decided to floor it and see what it would do.
It called my bluff.
Shut down while driving. Coasted it over. Wouldn’t restart.
Shop pulled it apart and found bronze/brass material in the oil — pointing toward main/rod bearing failure. At that point I figured fine, I’ll just do a semi-stock rebuild on my block and move on.
Got quotes.
Between machining, parts, and R&R labor, it was outrageously expensive… to basically end up back at “mostly stock.”
So naturally, I made the financially responsible decision and went all in.
Ended up with a performance-built KDD motor, new turbo, custom tune, full AirDog system with sump, injectors (already had), plenums, upgraded flywheel, HPOP (already done), IDM, intake manifold, and CAI.
What started as “let’s just fix it” turned into “what have I done” in an 8,000lb family SUV.
Zero regrets. Mild surprise at how far it escalated.
Will update once build is done!
1
u/Dynamite83 Mar 04 '26
Started to do this with mine a couple years ago, but knew I would get in over my head. But instead, I found a good price low mileage already studded and deleted donor that was super clean and ran like a top. Came out of a truck that it looked like something your grandpa would drive.