New to group

[Diesel Dave]

Just wanted to take a minute and say HI! I've been looking over the site for the last few days and finally got time to sign up. Site is great. Now let me introduce my truck. I bought my 1986 F250 4X4 about 2 years ago. I found it on a local by here/pay here lot in my home town sitting behind the office. Paid $800 for it not running and pulled it to my uncles shop 2 blocks away with every intention of slamming a 514 big block in it. When gas hit $3.40 a gallon locally that idea got scrapped pretty quick. Now that I have found this site (and some others) with all this useful information the diesel seems to be the way to go. I currently have the engine out with the top end off and heads being rebuilt. If you haven't guessed by now, I love my truck. My question is, how many (if any) live nearby? My current residence is just outside Savannah, Georgia and it feels like I'm on an island over here on the East Coast of Georgia. Everything is 2-3 hours from here seems like.

 

[wgargan]

welcome!

 

[rubberfish]

Well I'm over 3000 miles away,
so coffee's out of the question.
And I know squat about idi's,
so I won't be able to help there either.
But welcome to the site.

 

[TLBREWER]

Welcome to the site! I'm also too far away for coffee , but give it a few days for folks to read your post and I'm sure you'll see that you are not alone in your neck of the woods.

Tom

 

[Diesel JD]

I'm in Gainesville Florida, about 3 hrs away. There are a couple other IDI folks in Georgia and SC. You got a good deal on that truck. Do you know what's wrong with it? Does it need a new motor? What? Welcome to the forums!

 

[rubberfish]

Stickers lives near you, same state at least.
He'll be easy to spot. Little Japanese jobby,
all covered in vinyl. Used to answer to John.

 

[69oiler]

my cousin runs the Sherwin-Williams store on HHI, i'm down there once a year or so. but until then welcome to the site from the north coast

 

[tonkadoctor]

Stickers lives near you, same state at least.
He'll be easy to spot. Little Japanese jobby,
all covered in vinyl. Used to answer to John.

Can't miss that 12" stovepipe dual exhaust with Blue led lights in the tips and a big red Type R pastered on the tailgate

Welcome, Prolly about 3 or 4 hrs north of you here

 

[Diesel Dave]

I'm in Gainesville Florida, about 3 hrs away. There are a couple other IDI folks in Georgia and SC. You got a good deal on that truck. Do you know what's wrong with it? Does it need a new motor? What? Welcome to the forums!

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. As far as the engine is concerned I don't think its anything more than in need of a top-end rebuild and most especially the injection system. The truck was driven to the lot I bought it from but the dealer said it was smoking terribly (white smoke). The return lines on the engine appeared to be the original lines since they as well as the pump itself were grey. Lines were very brittle and when I went to remove them while tearing the top-end down they just crumbled. Decided to go ahead and rebuild heads also since I am pulling engine anyway to do some extensive cleaning and painting under the hood. What started out as a toy project has now turned into a total rebuild for my new daily driver. Looking forward to the next couple of years. Want to do the typical add-ons; turbo, gear vendors OD, beef up tranny (C-6), lift (that was coming anyway), 35X12.50X16.5 BFG A/T tires, reliable set of guages. The list gets longer the more I think about it. MAIN OBJECTIVE -- have a F250 diesel that gets 25 MPG. Gonna be fun trying.

 

[sle2115]

Welcome to the site! Even though many of us are hours away, we are still willing to help. Just post away any questions and we will do our best to help you out.

Again, welcome!

 

[92F350CC]

I reckon those tires you listed and probably the lift as well, will be a little detrimental from your 25 mpg goal. Expect probably at most, 18-19 mpg, but then, i could be wrong, as i've never used big wheels/lifts.

 

[Diesel JD]

Well, I have the extended cab, non turbo(for now) 3.55s and C6 and I get 14-15 in town on B100. When I'm at 60-70mph empty its the high teens, if it was ever truly empty and 55 then I bet it would do 19 or 20, never heard of an IDI or a PSD to hit 25 consistently in this application. But on homebrew B100 I'm still doing pretty well on fuel costs Check everything good while you have that motor apart and pay careful attention to getting the heads and oil cooler right. Also you might roll in a new set of bearings if you can afford it especially if peeking at them reveals a lot of wear. White smoke would have been either burning coolant or a tired fuel system. The felpro head gaskets are reasonably priced and good quality. I'd go with them and if you can afford it, head studs would be as nice upgrade.

 

[Diesel Dave]

Felpro gaskets and studs are a definite on the rebuild. As far as the 25 MPG goes, it may never happen but its a great excuse to spend money on my truck and hide under the hood. Beats mowing the grass anyday. Question -- do y'all prefer ARP studs or the ones from DPS Performance? I think they are close to the same price.