I'll go against the grain...I love the truck but hate the lack of power. Mine must be worse than most as it struggles to pull its self uphills much less with a load. Won't hold set speed on any incline with the cruise on.
Too bad it would cost more than the trucks value to put a turbo on it. Plus then I'd be pulling the heads to do studs and gaskets.
Oh I drive like a granny. But this thing us downright dangerous at times.
one of the few other idi trucks iv personally encountered,the owner said the same thing to me.it was a 8th gen n/a tow truck.at the time,my truck (chip truck) was n/a as well.
i said something doesn't sound right at all.so we went down the road.we pull out and it slowly goes.to my shock after a 1/2 mile or so,he says; it's been floored since we took off! lmao!
i said oh hell no.turn around,lets hop in mine...keep in mind still n/a (fresh ip/injectors/properly timed.) when we took off in mine,he was all smiles as i stabbed the throttle and bounced him in the seat it a bit.i don't think he believed they had the power they did,as much as i couldn't believe his didn't.
so as we're going along,i says so as you can see.they're not modern turbocharged diesels or anything,but they should get out of their own way just fine...and in fact,too fast if a cop is watching.
so i always tell everyone to be sure to do a compression test,and if good,then give the truck a idi tuneup.fresh reman ip/new injectors/timed 6-10 BTDC (anywhere in here our not going to "feel" a difference.)
that tow truck.good god.i couldn't imagine what it would be like trying to haul a car!.you could probably get out and push faster.
don't add a turbo to an out of tune idi truck,cus your still only going to get fresh n/a performance at best.as for pulling heads.no studs required (for turbo kits around 10 lbs.) that's been proven for the last 30 years.anyone who claims otherwise,has a set to sell ya.
the problem these days with an idi tune up (with decent quality parts) is it's going to set ya back around a grand.that's pretty expensive % wise when you figure many idi trucks sell for less and with probably the average just going for about twice that.that's a lot of $ for most to sink into their trucks.especially the well worn out and rusty idi trucks. (that 8th gen tow truck with n/a idi/zf5 with very high miles for example.i wouldn't have sunk a grand into that engine.that particular truck wasn't worth it.i dunno if he ever did either......i would have fed her a set of reman injectors though,cus what was in it,were shot! probably 150k over due.then the ip probably would have died though lmao.)
edit;
n/a idi trucks will still bleed off speed quickly on real hills though.don't expect the world.your moving 6500-8k lbs with just a whisker over 100 ponies under the hood (probably around 130-140 in fresh tune.) so having your cruise not hold her speed is normal."dangerous" should never fit the description of the n/a idi's performance though,if all things are in tip top.even with the 5.13's driving log truck home (her only n/a drive) she wanted to bleed off on the hills.you need to feed 'em the oil pre-hill.
