1990 f250

[alexl]

hi, i am considering buying a 1990 f250 with the 7.3l idi non turbo diesel. The truck has no rust and only has 135,000 miles on it. What are things i should look for in these trucks? also, i am def. planning on doing a turbo upgrade, but will not pay over 2 grand for a banks or ats system, i am thinking of doing my own system. Either a single turbo, with a holset out of a dodge, or a twin turbo, with 2 smaller, mabee t3 or t4 turbos, one off of each manifold. The reason i am considering 2 turbos is #1 twin turbo duh! and #2 much less exhuast pipe bending and fabrication to make fit and #3 i want to have true dual stacks. What do you guys think? any suggestions? Is tehre anybody who has done this, with good or bad results? All coments/suggestions welcome.

THanks,
alex

 

[FordGuy100]

Make sure you ask the guy about SCA's in the coolant. Its a coolant additive that decreases the chance of cavitation, basically the cylinder walls are thin on the 7.3's and without SCA's in the coolant your block can caviatate. Look at the coolant, and look for oil in it, or look for coolant in the oil. Check for smoke when running, tell us if there is any white blue or grey/black smoke. Tell us how it runs. What kind of tranny?

You can buy a used turbo kit for around a grand, thats what I did. ATS uses a T3/T4 hybrid turbo, my turbo is a TEO4H, or T4EOH or something like that. Banks uses a Mitshubitshi turbo. Twins would be cool, compounds have been done, but twins havnt to my knowledge.

 

[alexl]

its got teh automatic trannie, which i believe is the E40d, correct? but it ahs an added large trans cooler. I would thing that a t3/t4 hybrid would be small for a single turbo setup, considering thats what honda ricers use, lol. I was only going to go taht small if i did my own setup. A grand for a used setup isnt bad at all, but i still like the idea of having twins

 

[FordGuy100]

its got teh automatic trannie, which i believe is the E40d, correct? but it ahs an added large trans cooler. I would thing that a t3/t4 hybrid would be small for a single turbo setup, considering thats what honda ricers use, lol. I was only going to go taht small if i did my own setup. A grand for a used setup isnt bad at all, but i still like the idea of having twins

Nope, thats what we use for turbo's. Remember unlike a Cummins/PSD/duramax, we cant run much boost stock. 15psi is the accepted max if not less for IDI's in stock form. The banks turbo comes off Mit. eclipses FYI, so yes they are small.

I found out that my ATS wastegated turbo has a .70A/R intake housing/wheel, and .86A/F exhaust housing/wheel. IMHO a cummins turbo is to big, to much lag (maybe not for a compound setup).

I really dont know when the E4OD came in, it was either 89 or 91, I can never remember right. If its a E4OD I would just sit in there and see how it shifts, and note any odd shifts. Check the tranny fluid, see how that looks/smells.

Other than that I really cant think of anything.

 

[sootman73]

a note on the E4OD. it shifts funny normally like shifts are slow and they rev higher than you expect. if the fluid is a nice red color and it smells like it should(not burnt like justin said) then it should be fine. if it has a large cooler on it then it sounds like it has been rebuilt before. at only 135,000 miles it sounds like a nice truck. make sure to find out as much about it from the owner as you can. what was it used for, did he four wheel with it, did it see any towing, does he have any of the maintenance records?

oh and make sure you personally start it up when it is cold if you can. if you get there and its warm to the touch after you requested to start it cold then i'd be weary of it.