7.3 IDI Turbo Harmonic Balancer

[IDIBRONCO]

They are everywhere here in the Midwest

True enough. Mine was just on the road a couple of hours ago. It's now resting in my driveway for another few days.

 

[yARIC008]

They are everywhere here in the Midwest

I haven’t seen a single one in years in Florida.

 

[KansasIDI]

I think I see at least three a day here in Eastern Kansas, not counting my own.

 

[ttman4]

I honestly would be surprised if there were more than 1,000 IDIs left on the road.

Well I don't know about that info.......But according to Carol (my wife) I got 999 IDIs around here along with all my other "GONN'A get around to it projects.!!!" And she wants them all hauled away!
I keep telling her "Just think, in another 50-75 yrs we can sell'em for bout
$Million $$$$ each!!!!"

 

[IDIBRONCO]

At the rate that asking prices are going up, it probably won't take that long.

 

[Black dawg]

The amount on the road here has gone down drastically in the last 5 years. Still see them though.

Something that has been interesting is, any used 6.9 7.3 motors that come up on marketplace, if they are advertized as good running, sell pretty quickly. Even in the 1k to 1200 range.

 

[Nero]

Even if its a 'known running engine' that doesn't mean much. Even the one I picked up had some issues, like valves not sealing causing bad compression. Seems like the actual good engines are further and further apart...

 

[Black dawg]

Even if its a 'known running engine' that doesn't mean much. Even the one I picked up had some issues, like valves not sealing causing bad compression. Seems like the actual good engines are further and further apart...

For me, if I cant hear them run, and for a good amount of time, they are not known.
I lucked out on one recently, 500 dollar complete factory turbo motor. Had missing injection lines and other parts stolen already. Cleaned stuff up and put it together. Started and ran great with very little blowby. Ran it probably 30 times for an hour or more. Running it with exhaust manifolds off, have one port that got slightly oily, so have to look into that, but very good running engine.

 

[Overloaded-dadbod]

Sorry for not getting to this sooner. But no need to get a new one. Get a used one complete and send it to the damper doctor in California.
Russ had used him many times with great success and not just with idi stuff. Saved me a lot of heartache and damn cheap to

 

[Old Goat]

Did a Google search, they are still in business.

Google Search

Goat

 

[aggiediesel01]

Different diameters?
My thinking on this is if that if one needs to be heavier or lighter due to engine balancing then every manufacturer would have to make every one a specific weight. So in example, if the turbo flex plate ones were (making up numbers here) 3 lbs and the non turbo was 2 lbs then every single manufactures all weight the exact same?
If you say yes then International would have had to make engines for automatic and stick transmissions. Because how would you take a 3 lb flex plate off and hang a 30 lb flywheel or a 60 lb dual mass flywheel on the same engine. Nobody thinks twice of changing from a auto trans to a stick or dual mass to a single mass flywheel.

The harmonic balancer Nero posted look to me like the new one is solid and the dirty one has rubber between the hub and outside so is that the difference in them? I would like to know the weight of each of them.

International used both ends of the crankshaft to do the harmonic dampening. The harmonic balancer and the flywheel work together as a set. In the real world mismatched components might live a long time but the original engineering showed that to maximize the life of components and minimize vibration and harmonics. They needed the different parts or international/ford wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of creating them for a 1-1/2 year run of engines when they had the powerstroke coming down the pipe. The other difference specific to the 5speed is that the turbo truck had a 12” clutch disk where the n/a had an 11” disk. I don’t remember if that affected how the surface was machined or not but the primary difference for both the auto and the manual was how they were counter balanced for the different rods and pistons. The overall difference in the weight of a flex plate vs a flywheel doesn’t have much to do with how they are balanced. Also remember that a flex plate has a torque converter attached to it so the overall rotating mass might be pretty close to the same but again that really doesn’t correlate with how they are counter-balanced.

LUK balances the single-mass flywheels specific to their application which is why they listed a different number for each.

I think there was a small block ford in the 80s/90s or older that commonly got the wrong flex plate installed by unknowledgeable weekenders doing engine swaps and tore up engine bearings and crankshafts. Maybe the 351 Windsor/Cleveland or maybe just the 302 depending on when/where it was built? I can’t remember the specifics but I remember the issue.
These trucks are getting to the point of anything to keep them on the road a bit longer is good enough but there was a difference and it was there for a real reason.

Might as well add the link to the “coffee table book”, that was referenced earlier, here as well for all those who haven’t see it in a while. It’s an excellent resource for all the differences in these motors, part numbers and helpful diagnostic tips and tricks at the end. It’s perfect reading material for that mid morning “coffee break.”

Coffee Table Books

Best known as the "Coffee Table Books" they were printed to be handed our to Ford Technicians at Ford service training centers.

www.forddoctorsdts.com

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Maybe the 351 Windsor/Cleveland or maybe just the 302

From what I know, the 351Ws and 302s are balanced differently. I did have a 302 that I put in a 78 F100. Apparently I got the wrong flexplate. It had a terrible vibration at (I'm guessing here) 1200-1500 RPM. More or less than that, it would run smoothly. The down side was that it was the right RPM for me to drive through a parking lot. After driving the truck for about 1 1/2 years, I came up to a stop sign one morning and I couldn't pull away. All I got was engine revs and a metal against metal grinding type noise. After managing to pull the transmission in the evenings, after work I found that the entire center of the flexplate where it bolted to the crankshaft was broken out. Not only that, the transmission case was almost broken in two right behind where the bellhousing bolted to the engine. Another flexplate and another transmission fixed the problem.