Factory 94 turbo IDI.

[BigRigTech]

If all goes according to the current plan I will have a 94 F250 4x4 with a 7.3T and ZF sitting in my yard Saturday afternoon. I hope to fire it up before I **** it for the IDI and ZF.....If it can be freshened up for a reasonable price I will swap it for the oil chugging 6.9 in my F350 this spring to help the power situation. By freshening I mean head gaskets, water pump and etc if needed...It all hinges on how it runs/sounds/smokes when I get it running and what I think of the turbo condition as well.

What kind of boost can I expect on the factory turbo and what can be sqeezed out of it with a larger down pipe (I will make one) and a little more fuel? I will do the usual low budget tricks to maximize exhaust flow and etc but I want to know if this swap is worth my effort otherwise the engine is Goofy's to buy if he wants it. I mostly want the ZF as a spare for my dually.

 

[coletrain777]

I can hit 14 psi on my 94 factory turbo. This iswith a 3 inch downpipe, the fuel screw maxed, and the wastegate rod shortened and the line plugged. My truck is a 4x4 5 speed with 4:10 gears and I see around 4-5 psi cruising at 70. With the WG rod shortened but the line hooked up I see 10-11 psi max.

I really could turn the fuel down some, or at least run an intercooler as my egt's will get up there pulling 12k up a steep hill/grade at 65 mph plus.

 

[dyoung14]

If all goes according to the current plan I will have a 94 F250 4x4 with a 7.3T and ZF sitting in my yard Saturday afternoon. I hope to fire it up before I **** it for the IDI and ZF.....If it can be freshened up for a reasonable price I will swap it for the oil chugging 6.9 in my F350 this spring to help the power situation. By freshening I mean head gaskets, water pump and etc if needed...It all hinges on how it runs/sounds/smokes when I get it running and what I think of the turbo condition as well.

What kind of boost can I expect on the factory turbo and what can be sqeezed out of it with a larger down pipe (I will make one) and a little more fuel? I will do the usual low budget tricks to maximize exhaust flow and etc but I want to know if this swap is worth my effort otherwise the engine is Goofy's to buy if he wants it. I mostly want the ZF as a spare for my dually.

Well safely you can make 15psi with stock compression and stock head bolts, with studs and/or lower compression you can go higher, i ran 15-21 psi for months on bolts, first time i hit 28psi boom there went a gasket, but this was with 20+ year old reused head bolts, now if you want to run crazy with boost then i would sugjest a turbo upgrade so its effieceint, then unplug the wastegated and wire it shut max the turbo pump, and hang on, mine had the stock downpipe made my own out of 2 3/4 pipe gained 3psi of boost, but i would not reckomend high boost unless studded and lower compression as its not reliable at all trust me i know

 

[BigRigTech]

Nothing fancy needed here, this truck makes me money at times and I need it to be reliable for that reason (plowing-hauling-towing). 10-15psi sounds ok to me as that should give me the extra torque I need while loaded or towing the trailer. Hopefully it`s not a basket case, I`m getting it from a buddy - he was told that it ran great but he hasn`t heard it running so we are going on the guys word. Most times if I`m towing I`m down to 70km-hr or less on the hills tickling the governor in 3rd gear and that gets old fast...

 

[dyoung14]

Nothing fancy needed here, this truck makes me money at times and I need it to be reliable for that reason (plowing-hauling-towing). 10-15psi sounds ok to me as that should give me the extra torque I need while loaded or towing the trailer. Hopefully it`s not a basket case, I`m getting it from a buddy - he was told that it ran great but he hasn`t heard it running so we are going on the guys word. Most times if I`m towing I`m down to 70km-hr or less on the hills tickling the governor in 3rd gear and that gets old fast...

If i was you i would set it at 10psi and call it good that way its reliable, if thats not enough power then turn the fuel up a hair more and knock it on up to 15

 

[itsacrazyasian]

I'm suprised you haven't put a turbo on your 6.9.

 

[coletrain777]

BigRigTech - When you say that you are towing slow going up the hills how heavy of a load are we talking, and what is a "hill" to you (4% grade, 7% grade)?

The only reasons I ask is 1. I have never towed with an N/A truck so I don't know the difference. 2. I can tow an 18K lb load up a decent hill here in mid Missouri and never have to drop below 55... but we don't really have any big "hills". Also, even our steep climbs are no more than a mile or so long at the longest. I would think that 7.3 turbo engine setup would really make a difference in your truck, especially since I would imagine your truck to be a substantial amount lighter than mine (CC LB 4x4 SRW... 7600 lbs).

 

[BigRigTech]

I have no idea what grade the hills are around here, they aren't all that long but they are steep, Goofy might know more than I. My truck is about 7600lbs empty, depending what's in tow I can gross around 16,000lbs usually.

 

[BigRigTech]

I'm suprised you haven't put a turbo on your 6.9.

As noted above, the 6.9 is worn and uses too much oil now....Boost would only make it worse....You can't see it out the tailpipe but it burns 2L in 500-1000KM on average. Hopefully the 7.3 will be in decent shape so I can use it with minimal work otherwise I will just live with the 6.9 as I don't want my truck down for any length of time and I don't have the dough right now to rebuild the 7.3T....No snow to plow and no cash work lined up, pretty grim times around here this winter so far.

 

[BigRigTech]

Well, my buddy's trailer is pinned up to the dually for an AM pickup of the 7.3T truck. I get to test out my new winch and the 2/0 cables I ran to the rear pintle plate to power it. I also get to test my old 6.9 with a truck in tow and a 9ft diamond plow on the nose...

 

[BigRigTech]

It's home and it runs!....Runs good too, the smoke cleared up almost immediately....It might have rolled over 5 times and it fired up. 364,000KM on the truck. Video and more detail to be posted this afternoon.

 

[Goofyexponent]

I have no idea what grade the hills are around here, they aren't all that long but they are steep, Goofy might know more than I. My truck is about 7600lbs empty, depending what's in tow I can gross around 16,000lbs usually.

Rifle range hill is about 6.5% for about 1/3 mile and then it slacks off to a 4% grade for another 1/4 mile.

Bayers lake is a pretty good 5.5% for about a 3/4 mile.

Those are the two major hills that I travel, but a lot of shorter pulls are around with about the same grade....steep and annoying.