need some diesel opinions and advice..

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 5, 2010, 12:15 pm

For awhile now I've been throwing around the idea of sticking a diesel in my f250. Well my friend called me the other day and wants to trade me a 7.3L IDI out of a school bus for a 350 and tranny that I have sitting around. The IDI has under a 100000 miles and has all of the maintenance records and I can hear it run too. Now, I am going to do the trade but I'm not sure if I want to use this motor in the truck. I'd like to do some hauling with it but I know the IDI is kind of a dog when it comes to power and was really hoping to put either a cummins or a 7.3L powerstroke in it, but the IDI runs great and is basically free...thoughts? If I do any hauling, it would be with a single car trailor picking up cars or trucks from time to time. BTW, does anyone have recommendations for the stock dana 60 that came in my 65 as far as upgrades? Thanks

!!

fendermender · Post by **fendermender** » February 5, 2010, 1:29 pm

250 Slick loaded would weigh less a load of curtain climbers,
so power to weight ratio would be better.

Johnny

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 5, 2010, 2:12 pm

Curtain climbers?

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » February 5, 2010, 2:27 pm

I would do it, i love diesels....you can gain a bunch of power with a turbo kit down the road....

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 5, 2010, 2:49 pm

I heard its not good to turbo the idi's just cause the short block doesn't handle it very well

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » February 5, 2010, 3:36 pm

That's the first I've heard that. Banks and another big company make kits...

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » February 5, 2010, 3:38 pm

Actually, now that I think about it, Ford used to have a dealer installed turbo kit for those engines. It was made by ATS...

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » February 5, 2010, 3:46 pm

thenephilm wrote:Curtain climbers?

A school bus loaded with ..(Insert your own adjective)... such as curtain climbers, rug rats, ankle biters, half pints, ect...

Don't know anything about the diesels but I will learn with you...

aarons428 · Post by **aarons428** » February 5, 2010, 9:57 pm

IMHO any diesel is worthless without a turbo but that is the hotrodder in me talking. i have driven some turned up 7.3 idi's and they run resectable if you are going to use it for ocasional towing and are not looking for tire smoking power than i would do it, otherwise wait for a cummins.

R Pope · Post by **R Pope** » February 6, 2010, 8:09 am

A buddy turbo'ed one and broke the main bolts, stuffed 'em right out the bottom of the pan when the crank came around and caught 'em!. I wouldn't do it to a high mile engine.

Post by **Greg D** » February 6, 2010, 10:54 am

A guy at work has one of those big Dodge vans - they are also sold as Freightliners but are really made by Mercedes. He was telling me all about them - and I have some observations - Rode around in it for 3 days training him.
He gets 20 MPG out of this thing, it's loaded to the gills too, power everything, air ride seats. extra long, extra tall roof, thing is flipping huge.
It has about the quietest, smoothest diesel I have ever been around - 3.0L V6. Hauls the thing around with really good authority too. I was simply amazed by it. Seemed to have more power than a 7.3 or the 6.0 Turbo, this big ass van is HEAVY.
He also told me the previous generation of these vans had a 5 cylinder inline diesel - they got 25 MPG in one of those big vans. Only reason he didn't get one of those is he ordered his new and the 5 Cyl was no longer available.
Might be a real good option for a Slick, would likely weight alot less than a Cummins, 7.3, or 6.5. The Fusion has a 3.0 V6, this diesel can't be much bigger. You could probably put one nicely in a F 100 and get 40 MPG or better.

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 8, 2010, 6:02 pm

Does anyone have any pictures of a powerstroke or 7.3L in a slick? I'm just wondering how well the dam thing would even fit in there

jammck66 · Post by **jammck66** » February 8, 2010, 6:48 pm

I have a pic of a 6.0L in a 67 ( i know not quite the same) but it is very tight!! lots of custom stuff to get them to fit. ( or you could just dump the body onto a powerstroke frame and chassis....)

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 8, 2010, 7:35 pm

Any pics would be great...not sure. What I want to go with but I'm trying to do this as simply and cheaply as possible (I have skills though

)

Reds Rod Shop · Post by **Reds Rod Shop** » February 8, 2010, 9:01 pm

I am real close to closing the deal on a 95 f250 extended cab with the 7.3 in it. It will be the basis for my next big project, a crew cab hauler for Money Pit. Was planning on streching the modern frame but retain all of the modern suspension / Drive train.

64 f100 · Post by **64 f100** » February 8, 2010, 9:52 pm

My guess is you would have to do a lot of reinforcement in a stock frame to make it work. To much torque for our frames. The slick frame is made to flex, and is rivited together.I've been looking for a Mercedes car to do the esxchange. You can pic one of those up very cheap. Around 500 to 1000$. Might pay to get a little later one, with the 3.0. I have a freind that just bought one of those Mercedes vans, and he thinks it's great . He does carpentry work out of his van, and loves how you can stand up in it.

Rich

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » February 8, 2010, 10:07 pm

The slick crews are only as big as a newer super cab...you might not need to extend the frame....

I picked up a 97 today for $150....it needed a $20 part...

STOFFER · Post by **STOFFER** » February 9, 2010, 3:06 am

I'd do it... worse case scenerio someone on here can trade you a 350 /350 back in exchange for the 7.3 and trans

the ATS turbo produced almost as much power on the 6.9's as the '99 7.3 motors stock.

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » February 9, 2010, 6:53 pm

???? that doesn't make make much sense...

thenephilm · Post by **thenephilm** » February 10, 2010, 1:42 pm

Found a factory turbo setup for that 7.3 IDI so I suppose I'm going to try to use that and see how it goes..I'm just wondering about fitment issues but I'm not afraid of cutting stuff up to make it fit either..prolly going to box the frame till at least behind the cab esp since I'm using a 1 ton chevy front clip for the front