blakpete91 88 F-250 IDI Build thread

I could have it turn on when you depress the pushbutton to trigger the relay, but it won’t be automatically be triggered by the controller since it will be fully manual controller now, or we could put a gauge in place of the wts light screen to make the space useful.

While I had the engine still out, decided to replace the stock steering box with a rebuilt red head unit, and replace the steering shaft with a borgesson splined shaft.



Popped the drop pitman arm out of the stock box, got the red head installed and suspension hooked back up. Cut the new shaft to length with plenty of travel in either direction, much tighter steering wheel feel so far.



While working in the engine bay I pulled the master cylinder and brake booster out in preparation for my hydro boost parts from Bosch that should be here any day now. Going to be upgrading to a larger bore mc and super duty hydro boost to support the 4 wheel disc brakes.

That Borgesson splined shaft looks hella stout!

I did the red head and borgesson shaft to my '93, tightest/best steering setup in an OBS I've ever driven. I would do it again in a heart beat.

1993 F350 Crew Cab Dually
XLT
7.3 Factory IDIT w/Banks Sidewinder
5spd Manual

Got the trans and transfer case pulled out, power washed, blasted and washed them again before hitting them with a light coating off paint to prevent corrosion and help keep them clean.





Still waiting on the hydroboost parts from bosch, so went ahead and got started on the intercooler mounting while I still have the engine out. Had to cut the latch support just below of the hood latch, and the small support bracket off the air dam to fit the 3" core, but it allowed me to set it far enough back to fit the stock grille with very little trimming. Got the core support cut out for 3" piping and the brace between the frame rails welded in to mount the intercooler.

Engines in the truck, swapped the head gaskets over to the modded turbo gaskets and checked everything out after running it on the stand. Valve to piston still looked good after running it so back together it went. Left the pretty modded intake off and turbo kit to make installing the engine easier. Turbo takes up a lot of space behind the engine and after tearing the modded intake off I’ve decided to offset the v band to make the inter cooler piping easier to clear the turbine housing. Hydro boost is freshly rebuilt with a new big bore master and installed with a sd pedal.

Fuel system is going in as we’re sticking the trans and t case in today to figure out driveshafts. Made a mount to set the filters nice and high in the frame.

Opted to put both the batteries on the passenger side to make more room for piping and to make a nice place for the wiring for the starter and glow plugs to run and mount on the side of the tray. Need to pick up some material to make a brace for the tray to sit on.

Flywheel, clutch, trans and t case installed. Sitting on the old c6 X member for now until the 4x4 X member comes in.

Mocked up the turbo and pedestal to check clearance to the firewall, had to just tap in an area around the top of the cold side and file an edge off one of the bosses on top of the housing. Good clearance all around the turbo now, hard to show it in the pictures but about a 3/8” air gap at the tightest spot.

Coming along great Wes! Glad I didn't go with a bigger turbo haha. Talk about tight fit.

Excited to see it coming together!

After getting the transfer case in it was pretty crowded on the driver frame rail, fuel filter bracket would be in the way if the driveline had to be serviced so flipped the bracket around and spaced it so the e brake cable passed behind the filter head without interference, mounted the Walbro gsl392 on top of the frame rail and plumbed it into the filter head with AN/pushlock fittings. Ran the feed line up the cab line next to the frame rail to keep it away from the front driveshaft and heat from the turbo kit up to where the regulator will mount on the driver side of the engine bay once intercooler and intake piping is laid out.

That's how I'll most likely be mounting the fuel filters on the Ex Wife after I convert it over to electric (the 6.9 can run on a mechanical). I'm going to mount a plate in front of the filters to act as a shield against debris thrown up off the road. I may end up mounting one underneath the filters too. I'm paranoid of something like a rock puncturing a filter. Mounted on the outside of the frame, the filters are also easier to change since you don't have to crawl underneath the truck to take a fuel bath. It will also be WAY easier to wipe all of the dirt off of the mount before you install a new filters.

A couple few v belt brackets later, power steering pump and ac compressor are installed. Swapped power steering pump to a dual port reservoir and plumbed it to the hydro boost, ready to bleed brakes in the morning.

New champion radiator installed, now ready to run charge piping and set a final location for the battery tray. This champion rad seemed nice and straight, no weird bends in the cores like others have reported recently. Good looking cooling stack through that brick grille.

Some more progress, acquired 4x4 crossmember and transfer case shifter linkage for the truck, and stumbled across a spare skid plate cover I forgot I had that ended up working perfect as well. Got em cleaned up and painted chassis black, and got the 20 micron steel serviceable prefilter installed on the frame and plumbed. Need to mill my qd fittings for the selector valve ports then the fuel system will be plumbed up to the engine bay and back.






Since the 15 psi gauge just wasn’t going to cut it anymore we sprung for a complete set of vdo gauges and a quad gauge pod for the a pillar, modded the obs gauge pod and fit it snug on the brick a pillar, with the accessories tapped into the factory ignition source fuse for the radio and clock.

Brakes are flushed and bled, and boy even with no power assist from the engine they will stop a 9k lbs forklift in its tracks with ease, stoked on that since the brake performance was a little lackluster despite the four wheel brakes, going to the larger master sure helped. Today I’ve been working on plumbing in the engine bay while we’re waiting on the custom intake mani from the fab shop, ended up being sort of tricky with the 4” intake, larger master and hydro boost lines, and ac pump and lines sort of all taking the same space, but was able to fit it all in there pretty well. The hotside intercooler pipe is complete with a single boot on each end, and the intake tube is mostly complete once the rest of my 4” aluminum stick comes in, don’t mind the ugly aluminized steel place holder in there. Cold side is done up to the engine as well, once the intake mani is done, hopefully this week, I’ll be able to get that installed along with the ip, and run the rest of the cold side piping up to the V band flange.

Happy to hear back on the brakes. Stopping was always a little sketchy, especially towing with a heavy load. On a side note, that filter is massive wow!