My new idi project.

[Clayton]

It's a 90 f150, I bought this truck cause the body is completely rust free and has one minor dent in the right front fender and I was looking for a half ton for a idi swap. Not a big fan of the bricknose but it's growing on me a little.. Plan is to find a running parts truck that is either a t19 or zf to put the tranny in my truck and use the c6 in the 150 and the engine out of the parts truck. It has a 3:08 rear which is exactly what I wanted. Has dual tanks and tilt wheel power windows and door locks and has a working ac system.. The paint isn't great but it'll do till I get it running how I want. Should be able to pull close to mid 20's I hope.. Not gonna be doing any heavy hauling or towing with this one, That's what my other one is for. It has a great running 300-6 if anybody needs one. This will be a slow project just going as funds allow, Hope to have it done by spring because I wanna tear mine back down and repaint it again and not have to hurry like last time.

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[fsr7]

It'll be cool to have a diesel short box... and the bricknose standard cabs will definitely grow on ya. You gonna leave f150 suspension under the front or swap that too?

 

[Clayton]

Yeah I will keep the 150 suspension, Of course I will have to swap springs.

 

[fsr7]

Just to a lift or heavy dampened coil spring? That would be cool to have a coil front IDI rig, if you found the right coil for it - I've never seen one in person

 

[89dieselbko]

the 2 wheel drive F250 springs work with the weight of the IDI. Just have to get top and bottom spring mounts as they are larger.

 

[MUDKICKR]

the 2 wheel drive F250 springs work with the weight of the IDI. Just have to get top and bottom spring mounts as they are larger.

are you sure? ive never seen a difference in the spring buckets, and I have had f150 and f350 coil springs together and never noticed one being a bigger diameter, but if anything, you can go with f150 460 coil springs.
one thing i would suggest is if your trying to get that type of fuel mileage the first thing i would do is lower the truck a few inches, like 3/5", something that helps but doesnt make the truck useless. i would also go with some type of frt air dam as well. another thing would be overdrive, the c6 would be a great trans, but your still going to need overdrive to get that type of mileage.

 

[Clayton]

I'll find out if the springs are a direct drop in when the time comes I suppose. My truck weighs 6k with the c6 and 3:55's and I do see 18 mpg on occasion, With the lighter lower truck and 3:08's I should be able to pull of 22 easily.

 

[89dieselbko]

are you sure? ive never seen a difference in the spring buckets, and I have had f150 and f350 coil springs together and never noticed one being a bigger diameter, but if anything, you can go with f150 460 coil springs.
one thing i would suggest is if your trying to get that type of fuel mileage the first thing i would do is lower the truck a few inches, like 3/5", something that helps but doesnt make the truck useless. i would also go with some type of frt air dam as well. another thing would be overdrive, the c6 would be a great trans, but your still going to need overdrive to get that type of mileage.

that F150 has the same front end as my 89 bronco, D44 TTB, i bought 2WD coil springs and they didnt fit lower coil bucket, MUCH to wide. also the 1/2 ton coil buckets are narrow at the top as the coils circle *inward* at top at bottom. Thats what makes them not fit. sorry for that confusion. the springs are near identical except for the ends not coiling inward to fit the 1/2 ton buckets. i had to go to a yard and have them remove the proper buckets for the un-coiled in springs. Also, the 460 springs dont hold the weight of the 7.3 much better then the stock 150/bko springs.

Im sure you could find a good spring shop that could properly reshape the springs to curve inward, but for me the 40 bucks for JY buckets and having my buddy powercoat them *along with the f250 shock mount* was a better use of time.

Going to see if i can find some pics of the difference.

 

[89dieselbko]

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the f250/350 style note the spring ends

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half ton F150/bronco style, note the inward end spirals allowing for narrower coil buckets


The 460 springs *or at least as i was informed i got* were the same style as the F150/bronco and only on 2wd vehicles.
But poking around on advance and napa websites the 460 springs are showing up with the uncurved ends *possible wrong part pics
on behalf of the stores as that happens* but this leads me to believe that the JY sold me normal springs for f150/bko as the ends
were the same. Dont quote me on this, but you may need different buckets for the 460 springs as well. And they may well handle
the diesel weight. I believe i got jipped from the yard now, which is slightly upsetting.

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In that pic you will see the bad front end sag with the *460* springs. hell they still have 3/4 of their powder coat finish so they
couldnt be THAT worn out, so yeah, pretty sure they arent 460 springs as the yard told me.

 

[Clayton]

Not a big deal if that is the case as I plan on buying a parts truck.. Thanks for the heads up though, I had no idea the buckets were different.

 

[opusd2]

It's good to know about the springs. My 79phone Bronco has the 351monkey in it and a Western snow plow on it and with the plow on and swinging so far ahead of the vehicle with all that weight up front, I'm sure that those coil springs could handle a diesel. And that's the plan when I can afford a proper tranny to hook onto. But as healthy as the stance is on that Bronco, I'm thinking that it has a heavier than stock set of F150 coils on it since the prior owner made some interesting mods to it, some of them even helpful.

 

[Devon Harley]

The 460 springs are not enough spring at all. 460 weighs 720 dry an idi weighs 1150 dry to much sag. I can't post pics but I did a pre runner lift on my truck an bent the beams an used PSD 00 2wd coils. They work with a custom bracket to hold them in place. I went that route an now have had/helped make a custom set of buckets built for the PSD springs an will be easy to install the new buckets. The 460 spring is the same on the bronco an our truck an a 460 truck but will sag an wear out faster. You can also use a f-150 coil when lifting building custom or bending the i-beams for offroad.

 

[91F350idi]

Very interested to see this project play out! I was just telling someone the other day that if I was gonna have another project, it would be an IDI in a single cab 2wd F150, or a single cab 2wd F250 IDI then have the frame shortened and put on a short bed, then suspension and everything would already be setup. It seems like it would make an awesome highway truck. Im imagining your truck with a 3.08 gear, overdrive trans and then a Gear Vendors Then..... if you ran waste fuel, you could park with the Prius guys So, thanks for letting me live my imagine through you on this project Cant wait to see it

 

[Clayton]

Very interested to see this project play out! I was just telling someone the other day that if I was gonna have another project, it would be an IDI in a single cab 2wd F150, or a single cab 2wd F250 IDI then have the frame shortened and put on a short bed, then suspension and everything would already be setup. It seems like it would make an awesome highway truck. Im imagining your truck with a 3.08 gear, overdrive trans and then a Gear Vendors Then..... if you ran waste fuel, you could park with the Prius guys So, thanks for letting me live my imagine through you on this project Cant wait to see it

Thank you!! Like I said it's probably gonna take a while but I will keep this thread updated as I progress.. The c6 is going in because I already have it and the most important thing to me is to get my 85 converted to a stick and to be honest I'd soon as have a t19 as it's pretty much bulletproof and I do alot of towing and heavy hauling... And my c6 is in great shape, I will probably order a low stall converter for it and stick it in. Never know It may end up with a zf later down the road. Have you seen my 0-60 vid with my current setup? Everyone seemed pretty impressed. I cant wait to see how it all feels in a lighter lower truck.

 

[91F350idi]

Nope, dont think I have seen it yet. But it has been awhile since I went through one of my YouTube phases, lol. Wifey gets tired of hearing diesels everytime I turn on the computer

I think i might remember a 0-60 video with a truck that had gauges mounted on the dash or something but its been awhile