Rob's '93 at the dyno!

Macrobb said:

Nope; a stock Ford/ATS turbo. 2.25" downpipe, 2.25" exhaust(though it *is* straight-piped. Quietest straight piped IDI ever.)

The S360 is, um, waiting for me to rebuild the motor.
That turbo will easily boost 30+ PSI with the same pump, which will clean up nicely, but blow the headgasket on *any* non-studded IDI.
When I rebuild a motor for that one, it's getting a 150CC pump, PS forged rods, headstuds and should make 400+ HP.

Which means the goal of *this* build is to do what I can without having to stud it, keep it a 'mild' build using the 110cc pump.

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I thought you rebuilt already. My bad! You have a cam. I forget a lot when I'm out to sea. Lol.

Also when are you going to do that build? I look forward to seeing that! What cam are you going to run?

Same thing happened to my clutch pulling a dual axle trailer and two Toyota cameres cars, I was like wow the turbo does spoil a lot going up this hill next thing I know I'm going 25 mph max up to the top and my clutch was on fire basically lol did you have the dual mass stock set up on the 93?

This is really the setup I want to run on mine. ~250-300 whp should keep the 6.9 together for a while, especially if I keep boost at decent levels. I wonder how the 12" Luk clutch I have in there would handle it.

12.25 luk clutch in mine solid flywheel no problems so far! It's held up to about 20psi boost on occasion never slipped

So, I just wanted to throw an update out there:
1. Truck is still running, still driving me to work. Have to be careful with the clutch though, but it's still getting me up to 70 without issue.
2. I wasn't sure if I was going to just keep it DMF to be cheaper, but then I managed to find a Valeo 53052006 12" SMF kit for $207 shipped! SMF it is!
3. I'll have to show some pictures, but when I was under the truck a couple of days ago, trying to get a look at the clutch, I found something... concerning.
Especially on the passenger's side, I saw some white/pink powder trails down the side of the block. I'm running Zerex HD ELC, which is bright pink... and when it dries up, it leaves a white/pink powder behind.
After looking at it from multiple angles... it's coming from the edge of the head gasket, in multiple spots along the block.
I also found similar trail(s) from the other side head, though smaller...

Now, when I found it, it was dry, and I didn't see any wetness. Also I was not low on coolant; it didn't leak much... but that's a sure sign that the head gasket is either getting ready to fail, or I pushed it hard enough to lift the head just a tiny bit.
So... I'm going to check that all the head bolts are fully tightened down(and nothing worked loose over 25 years), and hope for the best. If it /wasn't/ loose, I'm going to have to be really careful and get some studs in it.
It'll be a good thing to know, here, because I'm /not/ pushing 20 PSI. I /am/ pushing far more HP out of 12-15 PSI than normal, though.

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In other news, the '92 that I picked up is now registered, and should be driving hopefully this weekend as a backup. Right now, it's got a dead glow plug, going to do an oil change, replace the slave cylinder, unbend the door, swap some less-bald tires on it, and it should be drivable to work and back.

Bummer!! Ill have to keep my foot under 12psi boost then. Im going to check the block n see if its an actual turbo block or someone jacked valve covers and turbo off a turbo block...

Got mine under the knife at the moment. Rebuilding oil cooler, new exhaust manifold gaskets, taking apart every piece of the exhaust going to new gasket and re install actually, ww2 time!, got 5" straight pipe on the way, front main seal, holly red elect fuel pump getting installed, new cdr valve- tired of choking on blow by from the road draft tube so its back to factory, and new ignition switch whilst the column is out for the cooler. Also u joints in front drive shaft.
Might take me a bit to get humpty dumpty together again, but should be an entire new machine!

shawn deere said:

Bummer!! Ill have to keep my foot under 12psi boost then. Im going to check the block n see if its an actual turbo block or someone jacked valve covers and turbo off a turbo block...

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Maby, or maby not. I suspect it's cylinder pressures not boost pressure that actually matters. Which means if you are running lean at 20 PSI of boost, it's fine. If you are running with enough fuel to use all that air(still probably before stoichiometric), the pressures are a /lot/ higher.

And, a turbo block would have the same problems. Remember, it's the head bolts that are the weak point, and those are the same NA or Turbo block wise.

Also, for checking turbo block: Check the serial number(flat part of block, driver's side of the IP gear cover and just in front of the intake manifold).
If it says "7.3TU2U...", it's a turbo block. If it says "7.3 D..." it's a non-tubo block.

shawn deere said:

Got mine under the knife at the moment. Rebuilding oil cooler, new exhaust manifold gaskets, taking apart every piece of the exhaust going to new gasket and re install actually, ww2 time!, got 5" straight pipe on the way, front main seal, holly red elect fuel pump getting installed, new cdr valve- tired of choking on blow by from the road draft tube so its back to factory, and new ignition switch whilst the column is out for the cooler. Also u joints in front drive shaft.
Might take me a bit to get humpty dumpty together again, but should be an entire new machine!

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Get a set of headstuds. It's worth the piece of mind if nothing else, and the ability to add a bigger pump and just bolt on some extra HP.

Thanks for the info! Head studs will have to wait......... i can hook up the waste gate if i need to. Im gonna run out of ambition after the current list....

So, just want to give an update, as it's been nearly 2 weeks:
'93 Truck still runs, no noticeable leaks.
Does not appear to be using coolant, oil or anything else.

I deleted the rubber pad that the clutch pedal stops against at the top of the stroke, giving it an extra 1/4" of travel. The clutch slipping-ness seems to have gotten better(it doesn't slip in normal use now, as far as I can tell).
It /is/ making a squeaking noise some times when it's slipping as I'm engaging it(mainly starting out in second. Probably a rivet or something.

I did pull the inspection cover off, checked all the bolts, and saw that there was a decent amount of meat left on it... but I'm not sure how high the rivets are.

It's obviously a DMF, and it has quite a bit of rotary play in it, but the springs are all in place and nothing appears broken... so it's on the back burner for a bit.

My 12" SMF clutch ended up getting 'redirected' to my new '92 F-250 which /really/ needed the clutch.
Surprisingly, the clutch disk didn't look too bad when I got it out, but it looked like the pressure plate was broken somehow - the fingers didn't stick up enough, and it didn't seem to put enough force against the clutch disk.

Interestingly, that truck ended up having a rebuilt 6.9 in it with 92 7.3 accessories and everything. Only obvious difference is the head bolts and I totally missed it until I tore into it.
The SMF doesn't seem to make the motor vibrate any more than normal, and I verified that it was drilled on center before installing the pressure plate(Fired the truck up and watched it spin).
It /does/ make a clattering noise at low idle, but that's about it. Not quite sure what's vibrating, but something is. Above that it quiets down and works just fine.
I have 1 extra quart in the ZF transmission.

And, another update:
What can I say: She's still working just fine. I haven't seen any leaks or anything like that. Not using coolant... and these days, I've been pushing her a bit.
Hauled a Chevy Blazer home a few days back, accelerating at full throttle multiple times, etc.

My clutch is... I don't know. It's not slipping much, if at all. Not nearly as bad as it was(Maby the surface roughened a bit? Maby something jammed in the pressure plate?)
It does make a squealing noise occasionally when letting the clutch out, but nothing critical. So, for now, she's just being ran.

At this point, my theory on the leaked coolant is that a while back, back before the dyno test, I was driving the truck at sub-zero temperatures and the belt tensioner snaps off. Belt shreds, and I'm left with no water pump(or anything else).

I had to limp it 2-3 miles to an auto parts store, and it got /quite/ warm... Not quite up to the red hot mark, but close.(Note: Unloaded, it says below the N. Loaded, it might get up to the O)... I'm guessing that might have something to do with it.

Anyway, I still need to get in there and check the torque on the headbolts, but, well... she's been doing just fine, and I'm proud of her.

Oh, wow... It's been a while since I've posted anything about my truck.

Between March and November, I've run this truck as my daily about half the time, and recently, full time.
I took a thousand-mile round trip down to Oregon and back with a big truck camper on it in August. It handled great, except for some transmission bearing noises when it got warm...

It still feels good, but I am still a little concerned - ever since that limp-to-autoparts-store with no fan belt, I've occasionally seen a few "trails" of coolant from a couple of spots on the head gaskets. Isn't really "leaking" coolant as much as weeping it occasionally, probably a few drips at a time. I haven't had to add any coolant in months, but I've just seen a few white/pink spots from the coolant I'm running.

Head bolts are still tight, no issues there...
Still starts and runs good, though it does feel like I need a set of injectors soon - it starts on 7, then 'picks up' the 8th over the next 30 seconds. Might also be a glow plug; haven't checked recently.

I have noticed a couple PSI less boost than back in march... I found a nice crossover pipe(drive pressure) leak, but don't have any new ends to weld on. I sent Justin @ R&D an email, but haven't gotten any response yet.

Clutch - I found the problem >.<
It wasn't the clutch plate like I originally thought, but the stupid DMF "torque limiter" clutch plate in the flywheel itself.
Just recently swapped in a LuK 12" SMF kit... and no more slipping! Awesome!

At the same time as I did the clutch, I decided to swap in another ZF S5-42. The one that came with the truck was OK; but once it warmed up, it has that bearing noise, especially in 5th. Rebuild time.
I replaced it with a junkyard S5-42 out of a '92; managed to get it for around $150. It's slightly better - synchros are in better shape, but it's had a constant input shaft whine, going up with RPM.
Not sure if it's anything to be worried about, but I'm just listening to it and calling it good for now.

Other problems I have with this truck right now:
1. Fuel tanks leak. Rear tank seems to have a pinhole somewhere; front tank I think needs a new sender gasket. Otherwise, it works just fine.
2. All the rust on the fenders and such; kind of planned to have it fixed by now, but it never happened.
3. Sure sounds like I have a 'lazy' lifter. I think I've had this all along, but only really noticed it once it started to get cold. One of these days, I want to tear into this motor, replace basically all the seals, lifters, check the valve springs and guides, check the bearings etc.
I mean... It might be in my '93, but I'm pretty sure it's a '91 non-turbo motor that has who knows how many miles on it. Well over 200K going by looks.

So the lesson here is that the stock "crushed" factory downpipe is still good for 250Hp at the crank???

david85 said:

So the lesson here is that the stock "crushed" factory downpipe is still good for 250Hp at the crank???

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With enough fuel(at the right time), yes.

Macrobb said:

With enough fuel(at the right time), yes.

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Everything I though I knew is a lie!!!

This really has me thinking though. My truck is still clearanced at the firewall to accept a full 3" DP, but I guess I don't need to be afraid of the stock setup anymore. Thanks for posting these numbers.

Oh and BTW, if you suspect a minor leak at one of your head gaskets, you might want to get on that sooner rather than later. The high compression will eat into the deck surfaces. Saw it on my Dad's 6.5, and later when I rebuild my 6.9.

david85 said:

Oh and BTW, if you suspect a minor leak at one of your head gaskets, you might want to get on that sooner rather than later. The high compression will eat into the deck surfaces. Saw it on my Dad's 6.5, and later when I rebuild my 6.9.

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If it was leaking compression into the water jacket, I'd be a lot more concerned. Looks like it's just leaking coolant(and barely doing that), so the gaskets will get replaced when I don't need it as a daily driver, or something else fails. As far as I can tell, it is *not* leaking across the fire ring.