Up grade for 1993 idi ?towing

Randy Bush

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No turbo on it? What are you trying to tow? I have a 93 IDIT dually 4.10 ZF5 2x4 It actually tows pretty good. Put air bags on the rear. Pull 18k -20 k behind it a lot. Pulls down on steeper grades but otherwise runs down the road as fast as I want it to.
 

Clb

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Read the stickies, nothing is cheap!
 

Pat Devlin

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This is non turbo ,and does not do good climbing hills with say 12,000 on the bumper.should I install a turbo$$ which is best I see ats does not make one for this unit anymore.
 

Oledirtypearl86

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This is non turbo ,and does not do good climbing hills with say 12,000 on the bumper.should I install a turbo$$ which is best I see ats does not make one for this unit anymore.

Hey welcome to the fourm
You gotta think of thease motors as a big pump air in air out so the more air in the more power as a n/a you can pour the fuel to it and get a slight gain but then you get the egts up open the exhaust up and it cools the egts keep reading on the sight and you will get a good idea of what thease trucks are able to do . They might not be fast but they will do just about anything you dare ask it to and keep going
 

Randy Bush

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Those that are rebuilders of the IDI claim that putting a turbo on a NA is not the best thing to do because of some issue those blocks have. When I got mine someone had put a NA engine in place of the turbo engine , split a cyl, later on started taking on coolant. Junked that engine and put a turbo one back in. A turbo block is built heavier , with rods and pistions and valves to withstand the turbo better. I know a lot of people do it and get by. Like said above I pull heavy loads and it holds up.
 

Pat Devlin

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Don't care about fast I have 113,000 orig.miles on 93 I am told it will out last me
 

Thewespaul

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That’s very low miles for that truck, have the injectors or injection pump ever been replaced? Likely those are getting tired, and you will see a good performance increase with a fresh fuel system. As Adam said these engines are air pumps, opening up the exhaust will make a good improvement in towing and will help keep your egts down. Investing in some good gauges to monitor your engine vitals is a good starting place as well.
 

austin92

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Those that are rebuilders of the IDI claim that putting a turbo on a NA is not the best thing to do because of some issue those blocks have. When I got mine someone had put a NA engine in place of the turbo engine , split a cyl, later on started taking on coolant. Junked that engine and put a turbo one back in. A turbo block is built heavier , with rods and pistions and valves to withstand the turbo better. I know a lot of people do it and get by. Like said above I pull heavy loads and it holds up.
Lots of people turbo na motors with out breaking anything. If this was true, turbo blocks would be worth more than my truck lol. Yes they’re stronger, but that doesn’t mean a studded na 7.3 can’t handle 15+psi.

To the op, a turbo is going to be your best bet on towing performance. Banks and hypermax are the only ones still producing but if you want ats, type4 makes factory turbo kits. Head studs and an intercooler will let you run more boost if you have the fuel. You can do a bigger down pipe and intake from r&d or Thewespaul on here. Water **** will make a little more power and let you stay in it longer by keeping egts down. Only your wallet limits what these old trucks can do. 600ft lbs isn’t too far fetched these days. You should really invest in a pyrometer even on a stock truck before anything else


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Randy Bush

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Lots of people turbo na motors with out breaking anything. If this was true, turbo blocks would be worth more than my truck lol. Yes they’re stronger, but that doesn’t mean a studded na 7.3 can’t handle 15+psi.

To the op, a turbo is going to be your best bet on towing performance. Banks and hypermax are the only ones still producing but if you want ats, type4 makes factory turbo kits. Head studs and an intercooler will let you run more boost if you have the fuel. You can do a bigger down pipe and intake from r&d or Thewespaul on here. Water **** will make a little more power and let you stay in it longer by keeping egts down. Only your wallet limits what these old trucks can do. 600ft lbs isn’t too far fetched these days. You should really invest in a pyrometer even on a stock truck before anything else


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Randy Bush

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While this may be true there are reasons why Ford made internal changes on a turbo engine to make it more reliable and to with stand the higher pressures and heat produced by a turbo in a stock engine. Because of casing flaws the NA engine is a weaker block, not all of them ,just enough to cause problems.
 

Thewespaul

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While this may be true there are reasons why Ford made internal changes on a turbo engine to make it more reliable and to with stand the higher pressures and heat produced by a turbo in a stock engine. Because of casing flaws the NA engine is a weaker block, not all of them ,just enough to cause problems.
There were no changes to the block as far as strengthening between the 92-94 na motors and 93-94 turbo motors, really the big change is the connecting rods. Although I totally agree that the turbo engine is the right choice for a performance build, a studded na motor will do fine up to 30 lbs of boost. I really think ford made the changes for the turbo engines as a marketing gimmick, ford have been telling idi owners that they would blow their engine up if they installed a turbo, and when they had to increase performance to match the competition of the Cummins, they were faced with having to turbo the idi. They didn’t want to eat crow by installing a turbo on an engine they had publicly stated would not hold up to turbocharging, so they made some basic changes and sent it down the line. This is just an opinion/theory of mine, na motors handle plenty of power

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Clb

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Lets add
Ford down rated the idit to not throw shadows upon the powerstroke..
 

austin92

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Lets add
Ford down rated the idit to not throw shadows upon the powerstroke..
12psi and maxed ip makes what, roughly 480ft lbs? I think first year power stroke was 525? Makes sense lol. I’ve heard ford told IH to not over power their 460 too


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Comptech

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Dont use peak number as a comparison. Don't get me wrong I love IDI engines, but the powerstroke has much better numbers under the peak. I have towed extensively with both, and most generally over the same routes.average horsepower and torque numbers tell the story far more than the peak as far as engine performance goes. The IDI I had more room for power, but the high compression produced nox. levels that could not conform with emission levels at the time.
 
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