7.3 idi build for my S1654

[Isaac Ristow]

I scooped up a 85 international s1654 with a 6.9 in it and a spicer 5 speed. I know it's not a ford idi but I'd rather post here that the medium duty forum because this post is mainly about idi engines. I have a January 1992 7.3 stripped down to the block on the stand one of the cleanest nicest looking idis I've taken apart. I also grabbed a Eaton Fuller RT613 13 speed transmission from a L9000 with a 3208 in it that I have the gears and related parts to convert it to a RTO613 overdrive unit. I'm gonna hop up the idi I've never actually done a mildish performance build on one my 84 has a studded NA with a almost maxed NA pump and a turbo engineering / rajay turbo kit on it moves along very well. On this NA 7.3 this is my plans for building

ARP head studs
R&D turbo cam
R&D 110 pump
R&D stage 1 sticks
Total seal rings
New bottom end bearings
Comp 910 springs
Water to air aftercooling
Borg s364 .091

Spoke with Justin about getting that stuff and he helped me choose that turbo if it's too laggy I can drop down on the turbine housing. He said with this setup i should be around 350/700 at the crank. Engine won't ever be lugged the truck has 5.82 gears but with overdrive and 42 inch rubber (11r22.5s) I'll be around 2700rpm at 70mph and I'll beable to keep the rpm up with the 13 speed because I'd imagine lugging with a 5 speed between gears built like that would kill it. Am I crazy? Should I be doing more supporting mods? Maybe I should be taming it down a little? I'm all ears I've been around these engines for over 10 years owned over half a dozen fords with theses engines. I plan on driving this truck from Wisconsin to Alaska at some point then back here to Wisconsin so I want it reliable. It's going to mainly be used for hauling my vintage J.I. Case tractors to shows and such. Thanks!

 

[Isaac Ristow]

Trucks previous life it was owned by a old couple that hauled a horse trailer down to Arizona every fall for the winter. I could not imagine pulling a horse trailer cross the states with a NA 6.9 in this truck. Granted the truck alone only weighs 8900lb I found hard to believe but I had it on our scale. It tops out at 65mph governed, no tach but I'm almost positive it has a pickup injection pump on it instead of the lower rpm international govenor. It's nice that the truck has 4 corner disc brakes with hydroboost too stops on a dime. Really wish I coulda chatted with Russ about this project I bought it shortly after he passed. We would chat about random work and mechanical related stuff quite a bit I still think about it every day

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[IDIBRONCO]

I know it's not a ford idi but I'd rather post here that the medium duty forum because this post is mainly about idi engines.

True, but aside from a few external engine parts, they are exactly the same engines.

Am I crazy?

Aren't we all a little crazy? I mean, look at what we all want to do with outdated, underpowered trucks.
As long as you remember to use all of the International parts, including the water pump, you'll be fine. You may not have the most pleasant experience taking this truck on the Alaska Highway. It's pretty rough, especially farther north, from what I know. On the plus side, you'll already have a place to sleep. I would recommend getting a heater for the sleeper since it gets pretty chilly that far north.

 

[Isaac Ristow]

True, but aside from a few external engine parts, they are exactly the same engines.

Aren't we all a little crazy? I mean, look at what we all want to do with outdated, underpowered trucks.
As long as you remember to use all of the International parts, including the water pump, you'll be fine. You may not have the most pleasant experience taking this truck on the Alaska Highway. It's pretty rough, especially farther north, from what I know. On the plus side, you'll already have a place to sleep. I would recommend getting a heater for the sleeper since it gets pretty chilly that far north.

True that I'm putting a pickup engine in it and i believe but can't confirm it has a pickup 6.9 in it currently. The 6.9 is grey not the international truck engine color and i was told it had a engine at some point that's why I figured it must have a pickup pump because it definitely revs past the 2800 govenor the international trucks have and that's probably how it gets to 65mph. Yes I plan to put a diesel bunk heater in the sleeper and it's actually set up nice the cab is cut out so you can enter the sleeper from the cab I wish it was cut full width so the seat could recline/slide back into the sleeper like a unibilt peterbilt maybe I'll change that some day. I know it's will be good and rough on the roads but my buddy moved out there he tells me there's all kinds of work that pays really good money and I figured I could put my sled and bike on the gooseneck with his aeronose 7.3 f350 project and go out there for a couple years and work. It's nothing confirmed but I'm really thinking about it. I ordered a gates waterpump I've always had luck with them on everything else it's different from a ford waterpump. So far really all I can tell/read is the front motor mount, flywheel housing/flywheel (sae) oil cooler headers, exhaust manifolds, injection pump calibration, fuel filter is mounted like a ford van, then ofcourse all the accessories and crank pulley are the differences between a pickup and international engine all external bolt on stuff. I've read a good bit about people using a international truck engine in a ford but not a ton about doing the opposite. But I definitely live for old obsolete stuff my bike is a 21 and my winter beater is a 13 other than that I have way too much stuff and it's all allot older than me haha. I appreciate the input

 

[IDIBRONCO]

The oil pan and pick up tube are also different. I don't think that the extra RPM on the Ford IP hurts anything at all. From what I've seen, at least some Internationals didn't use a block heater. I don't know what was in place of it. The ones that I remember for sure were all from Louisiana, I want to say Baton Rouge. You can leave the block heater in and you won't have any problems. In fact, it would probably be preferred to have one in Alaska.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I also forgot to mention that the International/van fuel filter uses different hard lines that the truck IDIs do. It makes sense when you remember that the filter's in a different location.

 

[Isaac Ristow]

The oil pan and pick up tube are also different. I don't think that the extra RPM on the Ford IP hurts anything at all. From what I've seen, at least some Internationals didn't use a block heater. I don't know what was in place of it. The ones that I remember for sure were all from Louisiana, I want to say Baton Rouge. You can leave the block heater in and you won't have any problems. In fact, it would probably be preferred to have one in Alaska.

Oh yah i knew I was forgetting something the oil pan is different as well as the pickup tube and the dipstick is mounted in a different location usually. The 7.3 going in has a block heater I'm going to replace it with a new one just because I don't trust a 33 year old unit. I'll definitely want a block heater if I go to AK to stay otherwise I'd probably never use it unless I had to move it 6 out of my 8 trucks don't leave the yard in the winter because the amount of salt the use up here is absolutely insane

 

[Booyah45828]

Sweet rig. I'm jealous actually, as I've been looking for something similar, but in crew cab form. I can't see from the photos, but is it spring rear or air ride? I'd look into swapping air ride for sure if you're going to bob-tail it much.

IDK if I'd be excited about the juice brakes. I've had issues finding parts for juice brake rigs of that era. My bus was air, and I preferred it that way.

Are you going to be using/adapting justin's turbo manifold/kit? His wasn't available to me years ago, so I acquired a rayjay manifold and was going to use a tp38r on the passenger side and then an air-water intercooler over the valve cover into the air intake. Parts were acquired but none of it ever materialized.

My old bus had a 6.9/at545 in it, had 5.57 out back with 10r22.5 tires. I had no issues doing 55, foot to the floor I could eek 70 @3500 rpm, so I'm sure you've got the auto governor in it. I will say that during the summer, oil and coolant would creep up to right around 215-220°F doing 70 mph. It did it without issue, but I'd say that's right on the edge of being safe. FYI mine didn't have a tach either, so I bought and installed a gas tach, and used a dakota digital converter box with a magnetic pickup off the flywheel. Worked great, and the gas tachs were cheap and available new yet, whereas diesel units weren't.

Also, be sure check that you don't have one of the early 6.9's with the block heater cracking issue. My bus had a jasper reman. I never checked to see if it was the original engine or a different one, but the block was cracked near the block heater. I pulled the block heater and drove in a cup freeze plug thinking the heater o-ring was the cause of the leak, only to find it had a hairline crack going up towards the deck. Would only drip a tiny amount when up to temp and pressurized. Nothing significant on the floor, but you could definitely smell coolant. So just be cautious with it.

I never ran that bus when it was that cold, and the few times I needed to move it, good charged batteries and a snort of ether got it going. I installed a diesel apu on the bus to run the rv AC unit, and was going to plumb the apu into the heater loop for pre-heating the engine, but never did. I also still have a webasto diesel coolant heater for it that I never installed too. I just never used the thing in the cold that I needed to install that stuff.

I know yours is an 85, but I've got the 84 IH shop manuals from it yet. Those and some other parts didn't follow the bus to the new seller. Let me know if you have questions or need anything scanned.

 

[Booyah45828]

Ignore the block heater stuff, I see your installing a 7.3, which was well past the block cracking issues.