My options, and your opinions.

Jesus Freak

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"I'll take a pickup and $2000 cash"

Haha who wands a cheap pile for another cheap pile?
But Nero! This is the doomsday prepper bug out machine! You could have a WMO setup in place of the grey water tank, hide guns in the black water tank, tuck survival food in all the crannies, and fill up the bedroom area with toilet paper and extra tarps to keep the roof from leaking! This is a SERIOUS opportunity!
 

Cant Write

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So we should buy hacked89’s dump truck, grab the motor home and resurrect them through the winter....

Sounds fun if I were single!! I also don’t wanna miss ski season!!
 

Jesus Freak

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So we should buy hacked89’s dump truck, grab the motor home and resurrect them through the winter....

Sounds fun if I were single!! I also don’t wanna miss ski season!!
No, I got other stuff to do. Enjoy your ski trip! We'll prep for doomsday later. Right now I got an engine to build.
 

Jesus Freak

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Alright guys, back to the original intent of the thread. I was studying my head's, and the heads off of my "dealers diesel" 6.9 have the same size holes for the head bolts as my 7.3 heads. The actual bolts are smaller, but I can put a 1/2in 7.3 head bolt through the hole. Are these 7.3 heads? Or is the hole the same? I haven't decided what set of heads I'm using yet. All of them are in good shape. I read some where that I need some type of sleeve to use the 7.3 heads on a 6.9. I'm definitely studing it either way.

Edit: my bad, false alarm. I was looking at the wrong holes. LOL
 
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Booyah45828

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I don't think the heads between the 6.9 and 7.3 are the same. I don't think the bolt hole diameters are the same, though I've never put a caliper to them and checked either. I know the dowel pins are different between 6.9 and 7.3, so I don't know how the head bolt holes wouldn't be. Did your 6.9 use a reducer washer beneath the bolt? I don't think 7.3 bolts are the same length as 6.9 bolts either, like the head casting is taller making the 7.3 bolts longer.

If you've got both heads laying there, measure and see, and then post what you find. Maybe dealer diesel installed 7.3 heads on your 6.9 when they rebuilt it.

You can check your casting #'s to page 240/241 here https://www.guiaautomotrizcr.com/images/Aeraid head and block manual.pdf

IMO, I wouldn't try swapping one or the other, especially if you have a set of good 7.3 heads.
 

hacked89

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Alright guys, back to the original intent of the thread. I was studying my head's, and the heads off of my "dealers diesel" 6.9 have the same size holes for the head bolts as my 7.3 heads. The actual bolts are smaller, but I can put a 1/2in 7.3 head bolt through the hole. Are these 7.3 heads? Or is the hole the same? I haven't decided what set of heads I'm using yet. All of them are in good shape. I read some where that I need some type of sleeve to use the 7.3 heads on a 6.9. I'm definitely studing it either way.

Edit: my bad, false alarm. I was looking at the wrong holes. LOL
Before I reached your edit I was like hold up this don’t make sense..

I know 7.3 is 1/2” and I think 6.9 is 7/16”.
 
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hacked89

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Someone, I think Justin, tried to drill and tap a 6.9 block for 1/2” head studs and it didn’t go well. Another person I recall drilled out the 6.9 heads bolt holes by hand to 1/2” and then bolted it to a 7.3 block and that went okay.
 

Jesus Freak

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I'm not trying ANY of that. I'm going to stud the 6.9 just in case I do turbo it one day. I don't want mega HP, but I might decide I need a little more juice up a hill one day.
 

Jesus Freak

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Before I reached your edit I was like hold up this don’t make sense..

I know 7.3 is 1/2” and I think 6.9 is 7/16”.
Consider this the Re-edit:
I was cleaning and studying head 2-4-6-8 and I took a 7.3 bolt and it wouldn't fit and I was like, "dang I'm dumb, I must have stuck this bolt in the oil return hole", so I agreed with @Booyah45828 . But I was cleaning up head 1-3-5-7 and, noticed it's different than the other IT DOES have bigger holes and it doesn't have a solid mating surface under the intake holes..... WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?
 

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IDIBRONCO

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The head in your last pictures should be a 6.9 head. The coolant ports underneath the glow plugs aren't sealed. As far as I know, the 6.9 heads had those open while the 7.3 heads had stainless plugs in those. They are also round in the 7.3 heads, but more oval shaped in the 6.9 heads. Another way to tell is that 7.3 heads have stainless plugs in the deck surface (the part that sits on top of the head gaskets) and they are round. 6.9 heads have those ports open. They are more like a big triangle shape. If you don't understand which ports I'm talking about in the decks, sit a 6.9 head gasket on the deck part of the heads. They will be a big open hole that needs to have inserts installed in them before bolting the heads onto the block. These are the plugs that you remove to do the 6.9 cooling mod to a 7.3.
 

Jesus Freak

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The head in your last pictures should be a 6.9 head. The coolant ports underneath the glow plugs aren't sealed. As far as I know, the 6.9 heads had those open while the 7.3 heads had stainless plugs in those. They are also round in the 7.3 heads, but more oval shaped in the 6.9 heads. Another way to tell is that 7.3 heads have stainless plugs in the deck surface (the part that sits on top of the head gaskets) and they are round. 6.9 heads have those ports open. They are more like a big triangle shape. If you don't understand which ports I'm talking about in the decks, sit a 6.9 head gasket on the deck part of the heads. They will be a big open hole that needs to have inserts installed in them before bolting the heads onto the block. These are the plugs that you remove to do the 6.9 cooling mod to a 7.3.
I should have put this picture too, but this is the other head. It has 7/16 holes and a solid ridge on the intake side. The other head has 1/2 holes and contoured on the intake side. It still bears the items you discribed as a 6.9, but it's different.
 

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