Found a nice little gift in the driveway after work yesterday!!!!

[eyoung429]

Ok, haven't dealt much with newer diesels (other than learning with my '91 350 (of which I have had down for 2 wks but that's another thread)).

Got home to find my parking spot for my '97 F150 taken up by a flatbed Ford pu. Didn't have anyone coming over nor did I have any repairs being done on the house..... Went inside and asked my wife who's truck that was parked outside....her comment was "Dan brought that over and left it for you" and proceeded to hand me the title and keys.

Dan is a friend that ran into some hardtimes and I have helped him out with wiring and pluming issues at his house but heard that my dually was down.

anyway, this was his brother's truck (Rick passed about 4months ago due to colon cancer) and he gave it to me for the work I have been doing.

specs: 1983 F250 4x4 Flatbed, has a v-8 Diesel motor, auto w/8-lug wheels on it. Hella nice shape other than needing tires. 108K original miles.

Can anyone tell me a bit about these trucks? I haven't delt with Ford diesels before....but the engine looks somewhat like an IH

No turbo...were they a factory option? If so, I would like to put one back on but would need to know if/how the factory setup was.

Will post pics if it's not raining when I get home tonight.

Thanks!
Earl

 

[Cheaper Jeeper]

N-I-C-E-!

What goes around comes around as they say. You did some good by helping someone out when they needed it and now you're getting some payback.

The engine looks like an IH because that is exactly what it is. IH Navstar 6.9 liter In-Direct-Injection (IDI). Great work truck. All mechanical (no electronics). Very reliable. Easy to repair & cheap parts. AND ONLY 108k MILES! That is one heck of a find - not to mention the sweet deal on the price!

Use fuel addative to keep the injectors & pump properly lubricated. I use PowerService Diesel Kleen @ 1 oz/3 gallons of fuel, but Howes, Stanadyne, or any similar product will do the trick. Better yet, if you can get biodiesel blend in your area, B6 or better, that will keep everything lubed up nicely without having to use addative.

At 108k you may need to replace the fuel return lines, caps, and o-rings soon - if they are the originals (if they are they will be painted gray). Easy 1-hour job and the parts are only $30 or so.

Good luck with your "new" truck. If you have any questions or problems, you've found one of the best places to come for answers.

EDIT: I almost forgot, since it is one of the early block castings DON'T use the factory block heater. The blocks have been known to crack in the area around the heater from the expansion/contraction cycles that come from using the heater. If you need an engine heater, get one of the magnetic oil pan heaters or one of the coolant-hose type aftermarket heaters. There's no fix for a cracked block.

 

[yARIC008]

Wow, that's a nice friend.

The engine in this truck is a 7.3 IDI made by international. The predecessor to the powerstroke. If was not factory turboed, the first turboed diesels offered by ford were in 1994. The first thing you should educate yourself on with this engine is the cooling system. Cavitation can destroy engines. Read my cavitation article and that should help out a bit, but the gist of the article is you need to have good low silicate antifreeze mixed 50/50 with distilled water and then add in SCAs, two bottles for these engines. This will stop any cavitation from progressing any further and destroying your engine. Chances are the previous owner of the truck didn't know and/or care SCAs so you probalby have none in the cooling system now. From experience cavitation will be its final stages around 150k miles on an engine if it's never been treated with SCAs. So yeah, just letting you know.

here is the updated version, www.samantha.cc/cavitationartic.html

Edit: sorry, it's a 6.9 read the year wrong i guess. Still this SCA applies but the 6.9 is a bit less suceptible to cavitation damage.

 

[argve]

Well it's got a 6.9L navistar engine (IH) - they were not offered with a turbo from the factory on the Ford's until the 94MY.

If you want to turbo them there are three aftermarket manufactures (ATS, Banks and Hypermax) Both the ATS and the Banks are wastegated (current offerings) the hypermax is a non-wastegated system.

The transmission will be a 3 speed non lock up torque converter C6 that the shifts are controlled by vacuum over throttle position.

They are an In-Direct Injected (IDI) mechanical injection engine. Pretty decent engine - not powerhouses (by todays standards) but will get the job done.

One thing on the early 6.9's (this was actually the first year that FOMOCO offered a diesel in the pickups) is don't use the block heater - they have a nasty habit of cracking the block right around the casting next to the block heater - I do believe the block was updated in late 84ish if I remember correctly (memory is a little foggy).

Cavitation wasn't much of an issue with these as compared to the 7.3's just a few years later. But I would still recommend that you run some DCA (Diesel Coolant Additive) in the cooling system just as a precaution - better safe than sorry. You can pick this up at any local diesel shop - couple of bottles is all you need.

Must be a good friend to just hand over his brothers truck.

 

[argve]

Well as you can see the IDI group is quite active at just about any point in the day... as I was typing my response both of the boys above jumped in...

 

[eyoung429]

Thanks for the replies!!! Yes, Dan is a great friend of the family. Didn't get all that good of a look under the hood as it was pouring last night.

Been reading around in the forum for a bit and find it a little confusing. My other rig is a '91 Dodge w/cummins 6BTA and produces over 25psi of boost with a WH1C and over 30psi w/homemade **** injection system.

Why is it that in almost all of the threads (that I have read so far) that you guys aren't making over 12psi? Is there another inherant threat to these motors other than the cracking due to the block heater and the Cavitation issue?

I am VERY familiar with the C6...matter of fact, I have a spare that I built for my Frankinbronk w/wide ratio, kevlar bands, added clutch packs, modified valve body and a Fairbanks 1800 stall conv. that sounds like it would do great in this rig.

What's the gearing like for these? At glance, it looks like a D50 upfront w/Sterling setup in rear but not sure...not familiar with the 8lug rears in these.

gonna have a lot of questions as most of my diesel background is from the military working on Gamma Goats and duece-n-halfs.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

The I6 design is in general more robust than a V8, and comparing a Cummins ISX to a International V8 is no exception. You will note that the heavy duty Internationals are ISX design.

The PSD in 1994 was a clean sheet engine to allow for more power that the earlier V8 engines just weren't designed to handle.

The rear axle is either a Dana 60 or a Sterling (Ford). I'm not positive what year they changed over.

 

[argve]

ooohhh gamma goats... I seen one of those a couple of years back (didn't know what it was at the time) when we were at a campground that bordered a river and we were sitting out under the awning and heard a large engine coming down the river - little too big for this river and bingo there it was rounding the bend - they were driving down the river Neatest damn thing I ever seen - very cool.

Ok... Compression ratio's are much higher in the 6.9 and 7.3 IDI's - 21:1 for the IDI and 16:1 for our little 6 bangers. So you can shove a lot more air into 16:1 vs 21:1

 

[argve]

The sterling and the dana were both offered in the Ford pickups. My old ford had the sterling which was a decent rear end - I never had any complaints from it.

 

[Freight_Train]

well,we can only shove 12PSI down the throat due to no Intercooler.With an intercooler you could get away with a little more.I wouldn't go over 15-16PSI for prolonged periods and that is with a turbo spec motor.The wrist pins are small in the normal engine(Turbo spec was 93 and 94 turbo engines)Also,you have a 6.9L-A engine.One year use only.Was kinda a tester engine they used and then changed a few things for the next run.If you do drop a turbo on it,I would suggest new headgaskets and ARP head studs.The Early 6.9Ls had weak head gaskets from the factory.They were not designed to have extra air shoved down their throats.

 

[eyoung429]

hmmm...

What about using a WH1C w/16cm housing gated to 12 psi (I still have my original IC from my '91)....will any of the exhaust manifolds from later 6.9 or 7.3's work on this mill? I wonder if anyone has reversed the manifolds to run in front of the motor...if so, I can fab a "Y" to the turbo mount from one of my original dodge exh manifolds to mount the turbo and then dump to the front. I can relocate the batteries to either under the front of the bed or use drop down batt boxes under the cab to give me some working space.

Are the IP's mechanical? If so, is there a thread on mod's for this? Reason I want to do these mods are:
A) I have a lead foot

B) I am constantly moving around 6 to 10k on a semi-daily basis from an elevation of 6320 up to 7k and have a lot of hills to climb.

C) I have a lead foot.

I found that my stock Dodge 6BTA was having to grunt a lot through inclines.

 

[sle2115]

Wow, that's a nice friend.

The engine in this truck is a 7.3 IDI made by international.

An 83 should be a 6.9.

 

[sle2115]

hmmm...

What about using a WH1C w/16cm housing gated to 12 psi (I still have my original IC from my '91)....will any of the exhaust manifolds from later 6.9 or 7.3's work on this mill? I wonder if anyone has reversed the manifolds to run in front of the motor...if so, I can fab a "Y" to the turbo mount from one of my original dodge exh manifolds to mount the turbo and then dump to the front. I can relocate the batteries to either under the front of the bed or use drop down batt boxes under the cab to give me some working space.

Are the IP's mechanical? If so, is there a thread on mod's for this? Reason I want to do these mods are:
A) I have a lead foot

B) I am constantly moving around 6 to 10k on a semi-daily basis from an elevation of 6320 up to 7k and have a lot of hills to climb.

C) I have a lead foot.

I found that my stock Dodge 6BTA was having to grunt a lot through inclines.

Oh damn, he already has the bug...

 

[riotwarrior]

Sweet

Nice to find that sittin the driveway.

 

[FordGuy100]

I'm not sure if that turbo will fit eyoung429. I am pretty sure that the banks and ATS setups use Garrett T3/T4 turbos if that helps any.

Yeah the IP's are mechanical, somebody will come up with a link of how to turn them up. At your elevation though I wouldnt turn up the fuel unless you had a turbo on it.