1990 IDI 7.3 into 2000 Excursion PS

[crazytwo]

My question to the Ford gurus is this, can I put an IDI 7.3 in place of the Powerstroke in my Excursion? I want to use the turbo setup from the PS. Will everything bolt up to the IDI block? I have done a lot of searching and reading and have not found my answer. Any ridicule will be accepted as long as you answer my question. If you don't answer my question, you will have to say hello to my little friend.

 

[Rot Box]

That's random I have often day dreamed about the same swap... Well I thought about replacing the V10 or V8 gasser with an IDI, but still I think an IDI Excursion would be sweet!

The bellhousing should bolt up, but I don't know if the 4R100 would work with the IDI the way a 4EOD would. I know they are similar, but honestly I have not dealt with either enough to know for sure. Also very few people have used the PSD turbo on the IDI. It is uncharted waters and you take a risk (and would have to devote a lot of time and money) making it work.

Why are you asking? Did you find one with a blown motor or something?

 

[crazytwo]

I have the Ex already. I want to run it on alternative fuels and I know the IDI is more forgiving and much cheaper to repair. If the truck didn't weigh so much(8k), I would go non-turbo. I was just wondering about manifolds bolting up. I know they make controllers for the transmission.

 

[towcat]

My question to the Ford gurus is this, can I put an IDI 7.3 in place of the Powerstroke in my Excursion? I want to use the turbo setup from the PS. Will everything bolt up to the IDI block? I have done a lot of searching and reading and have not found my answer. Any ridicule will be accepted as long as you answer my question. If you don't answer my question, you will have to say hello to my little friend.

yes it can be done...but with a really big BUT......
first, you will be violating all sorts of smog laws.
second. your life will be greatly simplified if you choose a turbo system set up for a ford IDI.
third, you will be the first in doing the IDI to Ex swap. good luck

 

[icanfixall]

The torque converter will not bolt up to the idi motor. The psd motor has 10 bolts and the idi has 9 bolts. The psd torque converter has 6 bolts holding it to the flexplate and the idi has 4 bolts. Its just as towcat posted. If you try this do some smog checking in your state first... Here in ca you wont be allowed to do it but.... Who will know if you did this change... Sometime down the road here in ca we will have to do the smog testing on the diesel trucks. Hopefully the id rigs willl never have this issue. I do know the f450 trucks are getting this mess put on them. Its an expensive problems for the oweres too. Just ask around how expensive...

 

[Agnem]

Your best bet is to drop in a 7.3 IDI turbo with a ZF 5 speed, and you can cure that Excursion of all it's ills. I know. I have one. I hate that 4R100 trans, and hope to ditch it in favor of a 6 speed if I can ever find one. Ford never made any manual Excursions, so this is all the more reason to want one. I can be easily converted using parts from a manual Superduty. I would expect your motor mounts will cooperate, but everything else will require some engineering on your part. Should be hard. Certainly will be easier than going the other way (pulling an IDI to put a PSD in). Going manual would also greatly simplify things.

 

[GenLightening]

Step #1 will be to check with the DMV to see if putting an older engine into a newer chassis is allowed (last I checked it isn't, but that was gas to gas). If you go ahead and do it and then go to re-smog, there's gonna be more problems than you'd ever want.

 

[crazytwo]

Thanks for the input. The truck will be in a state where it won't ever be checked.

1. So scratch the PS bolt ons and use an aftermarket turbo.

2. Can I use a flex plate and TC off of an IDI and use the same trans? Was there a 4R100 behind an IDI? If so, what year vehicle? I want to keep the auto trans. What about these trans shops that build customs transmissions, they could make me a flex plate that has the same holes for the TC and the 9 holes for the IDI.

I know doing a swap is not the easiest thing to do, but I would like to plan it so there is the least amount of hassle.

 

[93turbo_animal]

It will run on alternitive fuels as easy as the IDI. Its a little easier to hook stuff up to an IDI but that would only be an extremely small challenge compared to swapping out to an IDI plus no legal hassles with motor swaps anyhow. I've ran wvo in my PSD and IDI and my buddy has ran it in his PSD for almost 200K and he now has over 340K on the factory injectors still no problems and thats unheated SVO

 

[93turbo_animal]

No IDI ever came with a 4r100 although it is basicly the same tranny as the e4od. I do know you can use PSD 4r100 torque converter on a PSD e4od so I wouldn't know why you couldn't do it the other way as long as the IDI converter was the same as the PSD except for mounting and balance

 

[Agnem]

We do need somebody to try putting a 4R100 behind an IDI. Inquiring minds will want to know.

 

[DragRag]

Thanks for the input. The truck will be in a state where it won't ever be checked.

1. So scratch the PS bolt ons and use an aftermarket turbo.

2. Can I use a flex plate and TC off of an IDI and use the same trans? Was there a 4R100 behind an IDI? If so, what year vehicle? I want to keep the auto trans. What about these trans shops that build customs transmissions, they could make me a flex plate that has the same holes for the TC and the 9 holes for the IDI.

I know doing a swap is not the easiest thing to do, but I would like to plan it so there is the least amount of hassle.

It will be checked, every two years to be exact, that is a smog vehicle as of this year. Even diesels get smogged now here in Kali 1998 and newer. If your excursion is a 7.3l it will burn wmo, wvo , or bio just fine. Now if it is a 6.0 you can forget about the wvo, or wmo, but the bio is fine to run. I would not even think about changing it out if it were a 7.3l. I have run wmo up to 75% for a very long time in those w/o affect.

 

[trackspeeder]

We do need somebody to try putting a 4R100 behind an IDI. Inquiring minds will want to know.

Give some time. I have to break my E4OD first.
No problem with doing that. IDI uses the 4 stud converter. Use the 4 stud converter with the 4R100 tranny. The tranny will bolt up to the IDI.
You won't need the turbine speed sensor or the output shaft speed sensor.

Upgrade the cooler and lines and drive it like you stole it.

 

[crazytwo]

It will be checked, every two years to be exact, that is a smog vehicle as of this year. Even diesels get smogged now here in Kali 1998 and newer. If your excursion is a 7.3l it will burn wmo, wvo , or bio just fine. Now if it is a 6.0 you can forget about the wvo, or wmo, but the bio is fine to run. I would not even think about changing it out if it were a 7.3l. I have run wmo up to 75% for a very long time in those w/o affect.

It will not be registered in CA. I understand about the new smog check regs that are coming. I want a simpler and less expensive motor to run. Injectors and pump are cheaper. I know I will be losing some power.

I have heard of two companies that rework the 4R100. One was in AL or TN and the other was in Socal. I'm sure there are more. The search button does not help a whole lot.

 

[Diesel JD]

My understanding was that if your truck is going to live in California it will be subject to CA emissions rules provided it's there 3 days or longer at a time, but that is for commercial vehicles. In Florida we don't yet do smog testing and if we don't let the greens take over we might never. I don't know the rules on this sort of thing here but I bet you could do it with minimal to zero problems here and never be checked so long as you were otherwise law abiding. Some other states here in the South are like that. If you want to build a bulletproof E40D or 4R100 you want to go with Brian's Truck Shop. He's out of Arkansas or Missouri close to AK, not cheap but builds them to last and has some satisfied customers on OB.