$4000 for an engine install?

[BDCarrillo]

For $4k you could buy two more IDI trucks or 8 motors. Get a towing company to take it home. Or AAA. They're cheap and tow for free.

I could only maybe see $4k for a 6.0 or 6.4 swap, since it's a cab off job with gobs of electronics.

 

[Agnem]

I have to agree. They are charging you for a whole weeks worth of labor. It's a day in and a day out TOPS.

 

[icanfixall]

I have to agree. They are charging you for a whole weeks worth of labor. It's a day in and a day out TOPS.

Its as has already been posted. 2 days max job. Like I said. I installed mine and removed it 5 times in one day. What I mean by this is I dropped it in and bolted it up only to find the engine locked to the converter. Did that 4 times till I measured the converter pilot fit to the crank spacer. It was size on size. That means the inside was the same size as the outside of this fit. No way was it going to slide together.. I opened it up 1 1/2 thousands and it slid right in.

 

[dunk]

That's insane. I've never pulled or installed a diesel in these trucks but I've done countless small blocks and a few 460s. It's a 1-2 day job, worst case with turbo swap surprises and a lack of motivation you'd be looking at 20 hours, and $100/hr is nuts even with the overhead of a shop. If it was local I'd be happy to rescue your truck and bill you actual hours at $50/hr with a guaranteed max of 20 paid... Significantly less if you came and helped over a weekend. I mean, if I am understanding this correct in that more or less you got a new engine ready to go and a dead one bolted in.

I had an engine failure with a 460 from inadequate octane and had the engine out, freshened up, and back in, over a weekend. Totally tore down to bare components and rebuilt with new rings, bearings, cam, gaskets, everything cleaned, measured, and documented. If it needed machine work I woulda been delayed, but it didn't. I'd say that job I might have been in around 40 hours from Fri PM to Mon AM doing it solo except I had a buddy stop by for about an hour when dropping it in to help get the trans lined up. No way a simple out and in is gonna take 40 hours even with typical BS problems to run and get a part or bolt.

 

[riotwarrior]

Its as has already been posted. 2 days max job. Like I said. I installed mine and removed it 5 times in one day. What I mean by this is I dropped it in and bolted it up only to find the engine locked to the converter. Did that 4 times till I measured the converter pilot fit to the crank spacer. It was size on size. That means the inside was the same size as the outside of this fit. No way was it going to slide together.. I opened it up 1 1/2 thousands and it slid right in.

Clearly some take a bit longer than others to learn something is wrong.... right Gary?

 

[icanfixall]

Here ya go Al...

 

[BDCarrillo]

Ha!!!

Joking aside I do hope to hear a good ending to this issue!

 

[IDIoit]

it took me, a diesel noob, 9 hours to do the complete swap. 87 F350 with a 6.9 to a 94 7.3L IDIT
i also took both engine wiring harnesses from my 6.9 and 7.3 to do 1 harness, that only took about a half hour.
granted, ive been wrenching for 25+ years, but i did have a learning curve due to the fact that i had never used metric tools.
tow it here, ill do it for 800 bucks! you buy all the parts.lol

the hardest part of this swap was making my 3" down pipe.....childs play

 

[chris142]

you guys are fast! it takes me a full day to pull and 2 or more to get it back together by myself.

last one i did was a 392 ihc. i had the new engine ready to go minus carb and clutch. took 2 of us 12 hrs.

 

[IDIoit]

you guys are fast! it takes me a full day to pull and 2 or more to get it back together by myself.

last one i did was a 392 ihc. i had the new engine ready to go minus carb and clutch. took 2 of us 12 hrs.

i cant take credit... the credit goes to pnumatic tools and a forklift.
also, that was 9 hours total of actual work. running to the parts store, and rsearch not included.

 

[Pascal]

Hi Everybody,
GOOD NEWS! C_Luft from this forum has agreed to install the engine for me. I contacted Northland Diesel and told them that the truck would be out of there on Monday, they didn't mention any storage fees...I very much appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. Many thanks to Bill who pointed me in the right direction and of course C_luft for helping me out. I will keep you posted on the progress.
You guys are great! Many Thanks,
Pascal

 

[jaluhn83]

Something worth considering - are you **sure** they understand it's a 7.3 IDIT and *not* a 7.3 Powerstroke? $4000 plus the wiring and firewall comments make me think that may be the case - and that seems entirely possible if all they have is your "hey, I found a 7.3 turbo motor, what would you charge to put it?" call. (Making assumptions here, but certainly seems possible) If you look at it with the realization that most diesel shops probably deal far more with the PSD motors than idi, and it's not unlikely they've done a IDI to PSD swap, then the confusion seems more explainable. And $4k seems close to what I'd expect that swap to cost....

Now, if that is a IDI to IDI quote then they're full of it.... but do the legwork to make sure. Off hand I would expect ~8hrs for engine r&r, plus a few additional hrs and parts to get the turbo specific stuff worked out. Downpipe might be a pretty pricey thing to find as well. I would say around $1500 is reasonable, though possibly as much as 2k depending on the turbo specifics and other changes (glow plug wiring, alternator, AC, etc...) Remember that if you're asking them to do something that's not already documented you may wind up paying extra for the time it takes the tech to figure things out and do the research (ie, what wires need to be moved around to make 7.3 GP wiring work with the 6.9 chassis harness)

~John

 

[Pascal]

Hi John,
I had the same thought as you and I made sure that Northland Diesel knew that they were installing virtually the same engine...

 

[C_Luft]

Well, I was on my way to pick up the trailer and my steering box decided to puke power steering fluid, so I'm out, I called another shop in Bellingham and they wanted to charge 3500. I called pascal to let him know the situation. Is there anyone else nearby who could help pascal.

 

[riotwarrior]

Dayum....no can do from here Sorry, if I could I would...

Get the truck to BC then I can assist but not otherwise.

He could, Pay a flatbed to tow it...to you C_Luft