New from Southern California

[mattafact]

I'm building a Toyota based rock crawler and it's getting to the point where it's going to need to be towed. I don't want to deal with expensive repairs on a newer truck's common rail system or deal with DEF or ULSD (we go to Mexico a lot and it's not readily available there) so I'm here looking for an IDI. I'm used to driving around a 90hp truck so lack of speed and simplicity are fine by me. An older cummins would be ideal but unfortunately they threw it in a dodge. Chevy? No way.

What I started with (my best friend's dad bought it brand new):

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Where I'm at now:

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[mohavewolfpup]

so mexico has the real deal diesel? Do go on... i'll meet you behind the tall rock near the border at 2 am... bring 10 55 gallon drums full to the brim... i'll do the rest!

welcome to the site. If you look around, you can find a truck outfitted with some plush addons. I paid $2300 for mine, came with the aftermarket options of a gear vendors o/d unit and a hypermax turbo. Ironically, in it's 29 year dna, it had towing encoded to nascar back east most likely. Found a horribly faded receipt and guide to purchase nascar goodies in the passenger side kick panel when I was running speaker wires one day. The faded receipt could just barely show they paid for a trailer that said "car hauler?" or something hard to read on it. was a $5k purchase. Going by the turbo, o/d unit, brake controller, etc etc it was hauling something back there

Unless you need it yesterday, keep a eye out for a truck that's had some modifications done to it. Don't just jump into a non turboed IDI without researching the market place first!

 

[drinkypoo]

The IDI ford engine is a monstrously heavy beast. For a truck that size I'd be looking for a Mercedes OM617.951A turbo engine. Out here in kommiefornia you can get whole runners for 1500. but then you need an adapter if you don't want a slush box. The OM617 has 120HP and a bunch of torque, and will give much better mileage and probably be more reliable. Certainly has a vastly better injection pump. Will fit with room to spare.

 

[mohavewolfpup]

The IDI ford engine is a monstrously heavy beast. For a truck that size I'd be looking for a Mercedes OM617.951A turbo engine. Out here in kommiefornia you can get whole runners for 1500. but then you need an adapter if you don't want a slush box. The OM617 has 120HP and a bunch of torque, and will give much better mileage and probably be more reliable. Certainly has a vastly better injection pump. Will fit with room to spare.

I could be wrong, I think he is looking for a rig to tow the toyota to places for off road fun. The more you mod a vehicle to be a off road toy, sometimes you can't drive it legally on the street, so it gets trailered everywhere. Or driving it to the fun zone would be horribly uncomfortable for x amount of hours. The mercedes engine sounds neat though, thanks for posting that! I'm collecting different oddball engines for vehicle conversions down the road

 

[drinkypoo]

Hmm, you're right, I read that completely wrong. Maybe I can come up with an on-topic comment The IDI is a great tower, but over grades it's slow. 7.3 liters can't be wrong, though. What I have to say about the IDI is that I'd never ever buy one without a turbo for any purpose, especially if I meant to ever go to altitude. I enjoy mine a lot, though.

 

[mohavewolfpup]

Hmm, you're right, I read that completely wrong. Maybe I can come up with an on-topic comment The IDI is a great tower, but over grades it's slow. 7.3 liters can't be wrong, though. What I have to say about the IDI is that I'd never ever buy one without a turbo for any purpose, especially if I meant to ever go to altitude. I enjoy mine a lot, though.

Do you know how much the mercedes engines weigh? timing chain or belt? Is the turbocharged one good? Are the injection pumps like the ones in our 6.9's and 7.3's? finicky? annoying?

 

[mattafact]

so mexico has the real deal diesel? Do go on... i'll meet you behind the tall rock near the border at 2 am... bring 10 55 gallon drums full to the brim... i'll do the rest!

welcome to the site. If you look around, you can find a truck outfitted with some plush addons. I paid $2300 for mine, came with the aftermarket options of a gear vendors o/d unit and a hypermax turbo. Ironically, in it's 29 year dna, it had towing encoded to nascar back east most likely. Found a horribly faded receipt and guide to purchase nascar goodies in the passenger side kick panel when I was running speaker wires one day. The faded receipt could just barely show they paid for a trailer that said "car hauler?" or something hard to read on it. was a $5k purchase. Going by the turbo, o/d unit, brake controller, etc etc it was hauling something back there

Unless you need it yesterday, keep a eye out for a truck that's had some modifications done to it. Don't just jump into a non turboed IDI without researching the market place first!

It depends where in Mexico. Northern Baja typically has low sulfur diesel but it's hard to tell if it's ULSD. Southern Baja buys most of its gas from the mainland so it's really up to the franchisee to determine which diesel they are selling.

I'm not in a huge rush to purchase so I'm being selective. A crew cab 5 speed 4x4 would be my ideal.

The IDI ford engine is a monstrously heavy beast. For a truck that size I'd be looking for a Mercedes OM617.951A turbo engine. Out here in kommiefornia you can get whole runners for 1500. but then you need an adapter if you don't want a slush box. The OM617 has 120HP and a bunch of torque, and will give much better mileage and probably be more reliable. Certainly has a vastly better injection pump. Will fit with room to spare.

I could be wrong, I think he is looking for a rig to tow the toyota to places for off road fun. The more you mod a vehicle to be a off road toy, sometimes you can't drive it legally on the street, so it gets trailered everywhere. Or driving it to the fun zone would be horribly uncomfortable for x amount of hours. The mercedes engine sounds neat though, thanks for posting that! I'm collecting different oddball engines for vehicle conversions down the road

Hmm, you're right, I read that completely wrong. Maybe I can come up with an on-topic comment The IDI is a great tower, but over grades it's slow. 7.3 liters can't be wrong, though. What I have to say about the IDI is that I'd never ever buy one without a turbo for any purpose, especially if I meant to ever go to altitude. I enjoy mine a lot, though.

Exactly. I'm ok with my 22r. A Toyota 2LT or 1KZT would be my ideal engine.

Do you know how much the mercedes engines weigh? timing chain or belt? Is the turbocharged one good? Are the injection pumps like the ones in our 6.9's and 7.3's? finicky? annoying?

They have a chain that has to be replaced periodically. The turbos are nice but the limiting factor is the pump. Upgraded pumps are available from Europe but are very expensive.

 

[drinkypoo]

You can ****** the stock pump and ancillary parts sufficiently to run the MBZ OM617 turbo engine at about 14-15 psi, stock is 11. Turbo turns right up, kind of a pita but doesn't cost anything. Supposedly you can remove the fuel limiter from the pump without spending any money as well. And you adjust the ALDA (aneroid boost/elevation compensator) all the way in one direction. I have not fiddled with any of that stuff myself because my 300SD runs like a champ.

The engine is supposed to weigh about 650lb, I believe that's with just the turbo on it and none of the accessories. Only the power steering pump is worth mentioning, but it's pretty nice. The compressor is a delco. The alternator is an old lousy bosch with poor output, only around 13 volts while running down the road according to my VDO gauge. I'm getting 11.5 psi peak up hills in overdrive, nice comfortable place to be without a pyro.

There are kits for installing them into Jeeps, and probably other things.

 

[mattafact]

Well I finally picked one up. 95 F-250 that was converted to a manual. No reverse lights or cruise control which I'm hearing is common with that swap. AC doesn't work and the front end needs all new bushings and ball joints and it's just plain ugly but it was cheap. I'm almost done with the fluid changes and will start rebuilding the TTB as I cannot seem to find a reasonably priced D60 anywhere in so cal. Once that's done it will be time to get a car hauler and take the crawler out for a good flogging.

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