How did you get into an IDI?

My IDI History
I have always had a pickup in my life due to my dirt bike habit. Had a 78 Toyota, a 93 Ranger, and a Dodge W-150 4x4 with a 360 previously. Then we had my first daughter in 2002 and the need for a bit bigger cab and better MPG became valuable. I wanted a diesel and after looking at the price of the Cummins Powered Dodges I found the 87 brown and tan extended cab F-250 6.9, C6, NA, 4x4 in my area for $3,400. I checked it out and although I wasn’t a fan of the color combo the rest of the truck won me over. It had been used as a travel trailer hauler in Texas and only had about 67k miles on it. I joined the previous forum hangout (TDS) and started learning. Soon I found a used Banks turbo kit and put that on it along with a new set of injectors. It was my daily driver, motorcycle hauler and camper rig for many years. I stopped daily driving it about 2014 after about 120,000 miles that I personally put on it. It needed some serious attention, but my attention was focused elsewhere. My sister and brother in law had picked up a 1987 F-350 4x4 crew cab with the 6.9 in blue and silver. After a bit they came to the realization that the head gaskets were blown. They wanted nothing to do with it at that point and gave it to me. Well it was a garage queen for a long time while I slowly poked away at the repairs. It has now been on the road for about a year and is the main truck with the Banks kit pulled from the brown truck and running strong. It is in need of an injection pump and injectors and a ZF-5 swap, but isn’t my daily so I am saving up. The brown truck is sitting in my driveway waiting for me to pull the motor as a spare and the body will be scrapped when I am done unless I can find someone interested in making it whole again.



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I bought mine for towing a travel trailer full time because i couldn't afford a PSD and the higher repair costs. A year later i finally got a trailer and found it to be too much trouble. Id have been better off with a gasser, maybe, since I'm not towing again right now. A 4.6L F150 would probably do what I'm doing now, but I'd have to start all over potentially repairs wise.

I already have new since i got it:
Starter
Alternator
Vacuum pump
Glow plugs
Driveshaft carrier bearing
Return fuel lines/o-rings
Rear differential rebuild (and after $1500 the seal still leaks!!)
Tires
Complete front end (all tie rods and linkage, ball joints)
Front and rear shocks
Brake work (pads, master cylinder, hoses)
Full floating axle wheel seal (the $40-50 one)

Probably that more I'm forgetting.

So yeah, unless the engine blows up on me, im kinda stuck with it. For the money loss selling it and starting over with something else, it pays for slughtly higher fuel in this.

For a long time I had two vehicles, an Acura MDX as my DD and a 2500 suburban with the gutless 350 TBI. I used it to tow a boat around and do general truck stuff.

When I burned the exhaust manifold gaskets out of the 350 towing I figured it was time to upgrade to something that could handle the 8500lb boat. So I sold both vehicles and bought a 2011 Eco-Boost. While that truck was a monster, it had some annoying issues that kept popping up and I got tired of it. I drive a LOT (30k/yr easy) and I figured it was time to get rid of it. I also decided that towing a boat that large, even with a good truck is not for me, its just too much of a hassle dealing with all the maintenance on a saltwater trailer, and crowded boat ramps.

So I sold the truck, boat and bought a Toyota highlander for a DD with the idea that I would buy another, less expensive truck in order to pull trailers, move stuff around etc...

Fast forward a few months and I bought a house, so the need to get a truck to assist with the move was imminent. Because I thought the IDI platform was cool, and I found one for the right price, I bought an 85 bullnose with the C6. I ended up loving the truck and the design of the engine, but hating the C6 just for the lack of overdrive. After the move, I listed that truck for $500 more than I paid for it, and it sold in 12 hours - and I kept the almost brand new weatherguard toolbox.

So with the idea that I wanted a slightly newer truck with 4x4 and the ZF5, I found my current truck on Craiglist all the way in Pennsylvania. After a few phone calls, pictures being sent, I flew up to PA and bought the truck, and drove that sucker 7 hours home in the same day. With the idea that I would be spending a lot of time restoring it.

Several thousand dollars and lots of busted knuckles later, the truck is running and looking pretty good.

So I got into mine as a beater it's a 1986 with a 6.9 idi with a hypermax turbo . It's also a crew cab long bed and 4x4 I payed 3200 for it and the guy said if it didn't run for 5 years he would give me my money back 3 weeks into owning it the mechanical lift pump went **** up on me called the guy and he gave me my money back and a new liftpump so I ran it ad a hunting rig for a bit then had a big move were I quit my job and sold everything I owed money on . The truck loaded with the trailer was just shy 20k and I pulled that 1382 miles to bumfuk Montana in that trip I grew a deep appreciation for my beater I got 13 mpg and could pretty much stand on the gas and never have to downshift it is the easyest asi most comfortable truck I own besides my 95 2500 so after getting rid of the 6.0 and 6.4 I have a great all around work truck and pull rig thattakes a beating and loves every minute of it

Oh man I love reading how all of you guys got into your trucks! It truly makes me giddy. These trucks truly do change lives. This is the other part of idis that I love. I love the sound of international diesels, whether it be a 466, 360, powerstroke, or idi or honestly most any older diesels but I am partial to internationals. Anyway, I love the people that go along with them. I love hearing the stories that they bring and I love the down to earth people that continue to run them!

03wr250f said:

Oh man I love reading how all of you guys got into your trucks! It truly makes me giddy. These trucks truly do change lives. This is the other part of idis that I love. I love the sound of international diesels, whether it be a 466, 360, powerstroke, or idi or honestly most any older diesels but I am partial to internationals. Anyway, I love the people that go along with them. I love hearing the stories that they bring and I love the down to earth people that continue to run them!

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It's just a tool to me. I got it because it was cheapish to buy, it's stupid simple to work on, and parts are pretty cheap. And it's rugged and not super pretty, so I don't feel bad about not washing it in over a year.

The only automobiles I really have any affection of sorts for are classic VW Beetles/Super Beetles.

Desperation.........

I'll save everyone the sad song and make that part short.

Laid off+no money=truck repo.
New job+no wheels=desperate for transportation.


I knew the guy selling my current truck, not well but knew him. He had the truck for sale 3-4 years before I bought it. Talked to him then said he was having trans trouble, hard shifts, and had the solenoid pack replaced. Had to pass on it then, but did some snooping about the trans, found it had a transcommand on it and that was the way they are.

Fast forward to '15, when I got back on my feet and had a little cash, there it is back for sale. Knowing the reliability and longevity of the IDI I called him up. Everything I was looking at was gassers with well over 150K miles on them, so I knew they would never last. This one had 211K and was decently cared for so I haggled him down to a comfortable price (kinda stole it from him)and haven't spent more than 1k fixing it to almost how I want it.

Don't need a truck this big, but what do you do when your desperate for wheels..
Now I dread having to replace it some day, love it.

nostrokes said:

I haggled him down to a comfortable price (kinda stole it from him)

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Isn't that the best price? I only gave $400 for my current 85 Ex. cab, 4x4. I put a couple of batteries in it and drove it almost 300 miles home after being dropped off at the truck. Although I did go farther away from home first to see a good friend first (did I mention that I took the long way home?). There could have been a few (few too many) alcoholic beverages served. It also may have been a long drive home the next day when I actually made it home.

I bought a 1985 F250 bullnose std. cab 4x4 with the 6.9 and a 4speed in 1989. The truck was a clapped out farm truck, but I wanted something "different" and did not want something computer controlled. It smoked badly when I purchased it, but after I had the IP rebuilt, it ran great and pulled strong. I had no experience with diesels, and when the head gaskets eventually started leaking coolant at the rear of the block, I mistakenly thought the engine was done for. I traded it off for a 1989 F250 supercab 4x4 with the 7.3 and 5 speed. The truck ran okay, but was a money pit. It would also take a lot of cranking to start, and I didn't know enough at the time to realize it was a simple case of air intrusion. Anyway, I got sick of it and went back to gassers. Years passed, and I started to think about getting a diesel again. I found my current truck at a dealer in Detroit while searching the internet. The dealer had brought it up from down south and it was clean with very low miles. I flew to Detroit and drove it home. I found out about broken showerheads and about not being able to draw fuel below a 1/4 tank on the that trip home to Wisconsin. I have been working (and learning) on it even since. It isn't as pretty as it was when I got it, but it runs way better and has way more power. I dread the day I am going to have to replace it. It just does everything I need it to do, and it doesn't cost a fortune to maintain it as I can now do almost all the work myself.

In response to the thread title "I opened the door and climbed in" I'll be here all week.

In 2007 I was running a business installing tanks, piping, pumps and doing controls for said equipment. This kept me in Houston Texas for the better part of 16 months. Home was Atlanta back then. My 78 f250 just wasn't reliable enough to use for that.

My dad had an 03' GMC 1500 he never drove and wanted to sell me so I used that for a few months but it just wasn't strong enough for my needs. I had been eyeballing trucks for years at that point and knew a diesel was what I needed.

So one day, while in Texas, it became clear it was time to buy a truck. I was a big fan of the powerstroke but was unwilling to take out a loan on a truck. My requirements were 4x4, solid axle, diesel and something I could pay cash for.

After spending some time looking I found my truck, 93 F350 standard cab NA E4OD, for $3200. Had 225k on it. At the time I purchased it was in good shape body wise. No rust or bad dents. Interior was nice and it ran well. It had a gooseneck hitch and heavy rear bumper already which was a plus.

I ended up having to replace the IP (big thanks to Oilburners even way back then) due to hard hot starting and there were various other small leaks along the way for the first few months but eventually it was reliable and leak free. In the first 2 years I owned it I put 35k miles on it with just regular maintenance.

Then I added the turbo and moose pump and enjoyed it like that until my divorce in 2012. At that time I had also acquired an 06' F250 6.0 King Ranch and the decision was made to leave the 93' on the farm as I needed the 06' at that time.

Fast forward to November 2017. After years of trying to settle my divorce I decided one day I needed to use a truck to haul some stuff. I had gotten rid of the 06' in 2015 as I just didn't need it anymore. So I said rather than rent a uhaul for the day I'll just use the 93' that's still on the farm.

When I got there what I saw saddened me to no end. It was sitting parked near the fenceline, hood open, windows down, no batteries, and the bed piled 2 feet above the cab with garbage. Mostly scrap metal.

The weather had taken it's toll on the interior and the engine was covered in rotting leaves.

I bought 2 new batteries and said to myself if it starts I'm taking this truck back. Turned the key, waited for the glowplugs to cycle and it started immediately.

The past year has been a lot of repair and restoration (still ongoing) but I finally got it road legal again last June and have taken it on several road trips including Tampa Fl, Montgomery AL, and Greenville SC. Even made it to the OB Rally for a couple days. This site is probably one of the main reasons I've been able to enjoy this truck so much. Also, I just love how this truck drives.

Bought my 94 new off the dealer's lot in the year they switched to Power Strokes. It was 10 HP less, an established reputable engine, manual tranny, and thousands less than the new guys on the lot.

Fast forward to mid-2000's, toasted turbo and low compression, I swapped in a rebuild from a Canadian shop. The truck was soon replaced as my daily driver and relegated to ranch truck status.

I have been through several other primary vehicles but love the OBS, simplicity, WMO capability and dependability of my old truck. Lately I have been refreshing the engine, new bumper, cleaned up interior and planning a new paint job, thinking about the new Raptor dark, flat gray color? It's now becoming my dedicated "hunting, fishing, gravel and wood hauling, get away from the common vehicles on the road" rig. I drive it more lately than in the past 5-10 years. Thinking about a cabover camper for those other interests.

It's much like a well worn pair of shoes. Always fits, relatively comfortable, not flashy but very functional and still very useful.

I have always wasted crazy amounts of time looking stuff up on the computer when I'm bored. One day at work someone mentioned something about these old IDI's so I started looking. Mechanical injection, no computer, stupid simple and reliable to boot.

I've been looking around on and off for several years, basically hoping to find a beater. A few years ago I saw a bullnose dually for sale about 45min from my house and decided to stop and look at it. It looked really decent for the age but they wanted about twice what it was worth ($5000). I took the wife with me to look at it again and get her opinion. She wasn't thrilled but didn't mind it too bad.

I was mulling around the idea and asked a buddy of mine how bad these duallys really were in the snow. He said "there's a nice 92 down here (Texas) with a 5 speed I almost bought for my wife" I started asking him more questions about it and got some pictures. I had to have it when I saw it. It wasn't a 92 but it was a 91. After a few months of back and forth over the price (they wanted $4500 for a $2500 truck) and getting a loan I flew down to DFW and drove it home.

After driving it for a while I still paid too much ($3000) given it's condition (Interior needs lots of love, AC doesn't work, blower motor wasn't even hooked up, etc) but I don't regret buying it at all. I love this beast and if I can get the small issues I have with it sorted out I'll love it even more. I'm trying to work my way into a Regular Cab Long Bed for a daily because this Crew Cab is just cumbersome at times, but I bought it with long term plans of hauling a camper with room for family so it's not going anywhere. I plan on having it for a long time.

My story is less of how I got it, and more of why I got it:

Well I've generally liked Ford pickups most of my life, first vehicle was a 71 F100 2WD with a mildly built 390 and a B&M 4 on the floor. Sorta got me hooked...
Being the kinesthetic/mechanical type I wanted to learn how to take care of my own vehicles(oh and I was young and broke so I couldn't pay someone else to fix them). Unfortunately I didn't really have someone to learn from, so thank God for forums!!!

I worked for, and now own a small side business that requires I drag a 4-5,000lb trailer around for the about 13 weekends a year. I had since bought an 88 F150 5-speed inline-six and really liked it, but the Mazda transmission couldn't take it. It was only rated for 2400lbs or something absolutely pathetic like that. Let's just say the ATF came out all shiny when I did the last severe-duty fluid change before selling it.

Anywho by then I was about 23, and had a good list of what I needed: A pickup that could tow my trailer all day every day, 5 speed, extended cab(to keep things dry in the cab and the extra space), 8ft bed, extended cab, inexpensive enough to pay cash for it. I am allergic to debt.
But what power-plant? After much internet research, the IDI was the ticket. It was about all I could get in my price range, and mechanical to boot.
So I prayed for exactly those things, didn't care about color or looks too much as long as it did what I needed it to do mechanically. Only a week of searching led me to a craigslist ad in Eastern WA(I'm in the Seattle area.) I took a one-way flight to buy this thing sight-unseen from a little hole-in-the-wall dealer. Pretty nerve wracking for someone that could barely afford the $130 plane ticket!
And they wanted $1000 for it before tax. No significant damage or issues compared to what now sells for $3,500. They said all the glass was good but it wasn't, and I got it for $900 plus tax.
Turns out it had all the classic issues, glow plugs were tired, air intrusion, worn out suspension. But overall she's been super solid and I'm glad to still drive her for my side job and as often as I can otherwise.

Since then I've done tons of repairs, but mostly it's all from worn out components, not from bad engineering. I might have $5,000 into this pickup in 12 years besides fuel and tabs. Pretty darn good, I'd say. I thank God for my pickup and all the learning experiences she's given me. And also for the faithful service!

Speaking of experiences:
Really the only time she's let me down was due to a worn out IP, glow plug system, or:
Aug 21 2009 I got married to my beautiful wife and we took my(not beautiful) pickup on our local honeymoon. To the San Juan islands about 2 hours north of where we live. It is tagged "JUST MARRIED" on the back window, as it should be.
We have the wedding, reception, and a good night at a nice hotel before embarking on our trip. About 1 hour on the road and my darn pickup just quits. No lights, no power, no engine, no nothing. Pull over and do what little diagnostics I can and after 10 mins I have power again so I try to start-- works fine.
Drive along...same thing happens again. I think, "ok my ignition switch took a poop on me", pull over and get another. Swap it out, works fine and before we get to the ferry it happens again. ***?!?! I buy another because apparently I'm not thinking straight, and the issue happens AGAIN. ON THE FERRY. And this time my IP is heat-soaked and I can't start it, even though power came back to the cab.(and I didn't know about the cool water trick yet.)
The crew is prepared for lame, day-old husbands like me though! They have an electric car with big bumpers on it to push guys like me off the ferry, haha. They call it "The Bull".
An absolute saint of a man sees us off the ferry on our honeymoon trying to fix this dumb pickup in the dark and offers to tow us with his tow strap to the cabin. Wow! Turns out being towed 10 miles at 10mph takes AN HOUR! And remember I don't have engine power, so no brakes. On a 20ft strap. I was white-knuckling it the whole time for sure. My hands and knee hurt so bad by the time we got there! (of course now I know that we could have left it in 4th gear and had brakes all day since the engine would be turning, making the vacuum pump turn, but I digress).
So by now the issue is much worse, and power comes to the cab in fits and spurts, but the wife doesn't want me under the hood all week(that makes two of us!) so we keep chancing it and I keep trying to fix it but can't get it.
We take a few more ferries and "ride the bull" 3 more times. By now the crews laugh when they see my pickup due to the hot-start issue. At least they thought it was funny and weren't jerks about it.
Eventually we are on another island at a friends cabin, get stuck and spend the night. I work on the pickup and with the help of forums finally find the answer: the fusible link that provides all the power to the fuse panel had CRACKED inside it's insulation. Impossible to find visually, and only shows up sometimes with a multimeter, because half the time it worked an after it got too hot, it would stop working, etc. Turns out it mainly stopped working when the lights were on and wipers were going, all the extra load over the wire made it worse.
So for 9.5 years now I have bypassed that damn thing and instead run a 20amp automatically-resetting breaker. Works always.
Oh, and the last ferry ride home the pickup started ok, but I thought about faking it just for old times' sake.

Happy IDI'ing!!!

One of the few here, if not the only guy, who can say "I ordered it in April of 1983, and took delivery in July of that year." In fact, my truck was the first Ford diesel pickup sold by Stoner-Wade Ford in Quarryville PA. I had been watching with interest, the 6.2 in the Chevy's and was really itching to drive a diesel because I love trains, and wanted exhaust the smelled like them. I was really hoping Ford would make a move and introduce one. When they finally did, I was working my first "professional" job in Baltimore, and I went to 3 Ford dealers to make my purchase. Two were local to me in the big city. I ultimately picked Stoner-Wade, because even though the price was the highest of those quoted, they had the most integrity, lack of gimmicks and were trustworthy. The salesman, Kent Wade, showed me his price book and proved that the other places were charging me their cost, but making there profit on gimmicks. He told me flat out if he couldn't make $500 on the sale, it didn't pay him to sell it. That made sense to me. It would be the first of 9 or 10 vehicles I would buy from them in my lifetime so far, and they have been friends ever since. When the Moose Truck (a name I picked before it was built) finally arrived, delayed by a trucking strike where it languished on a lot in Buffalo NY, it was covered in road salt, had no windshield wipers or antenna (they were in paper sleeves laying on the seat) and had a twisted alternator belt. There were 3 miles on the odometer. I got the phone call around noon on Friday that it had been delivered, and I asked my boss if I could take off early to get there by 5pm. I drove my 1970 Maverick from Baltimore to Stoner-Wade and walked into the closed and shut down shop where I had only sunlight coming in the windows to look at it by. I opened the door and sat in it. I can still remember that moment. The smell of a new car as it was, back then, was quite overwhelming. The plastics and vinyls used were rich in what are now probably illegal chemicals, and the smell was quite strong and pleasing. I didn't have the key, and did not ask to start it. They still needed to do the dealer prep on it, and I would have to wait another day. By the time I picked it up, the Quarryville ***** (as I jokingly called her) had 11 miles on it, because everyone at Stoner Wade had a turn with her (took it for a drive). They were so excited to see their first diesel! She shone brightly in the Saturday sun. I said goodbye to my 1976 F-100 which I had bought for $600, and had done a clutch job on, as I traded it in. I sat high in the seat, and turned north onto Route 222, and laughed out load as the truck rode rough over the uneven concrete highway, bouncing me along like a mother holds a baby to make it smile, and I had smiles a plenty. My first stop was the only ATM available at that time, in the town I now work in, and I made a $20 withdraw. Plenty of money for a good time that weekend. I turned south and took her home. I took a few pictures of it sitting in the driveway, and then got a Philips and took off the silver colored grill. I got my can of glossy black Rustoleum, removed the Ford logo, and painted the grill. By evening it was back on, and I was ready to drive it around. Two things I noticed that I didn't like. One was the horn. It was wimpy even by car standards. My future wife laughed at me when I blew it coming into her driveway. That would change soon enough with help from the JC Whitney catalog. The other problem was that the key in ignition buzzer didn't work. I didn't even know it had one, until I heard it one day. It's operation was very intermittent until eventually it didn't work at all. I was fine with that. Had it worked, I would have gotten rid of it. Strangely, like a ghost from the past, on rare occasion that buzzer will make a brief sound and remind me of its poorly executed life. I also, on occasion, when my old nose is working well, I still catch a whiff of that new car smell I first experienced over 35 years ago.