Rebuild apprehension with 6.9/7.3idi

[SkylabTech86IDI]

"Real men keep the old iron going."

Interested in hearing your opinions and resources, and not interested in getting flamed for having rebuild apprehension as a new IDI owner. These things cost $$$

That said, as IDI owners, we’re already encountering limited parts availability where the nearest motors are 3+ hours away (at least in my neck of the woods). Things like valley pan gaskets are hard to find, front and rear oil coolers are non-existent, amongst other parts unique to the years. Turbo kits are getting discontinued and have been for some time. Lots of reman/new parts are not available through RockAuto, eBay, Amazon, or eBay the big 3.

With all that said, I am ready to commit to a full motor rebuild and upgrades. I’m wondering how feasible it is to tease the obsolescence monkey with unobtainable parts that risks my entire investment within the next decade. Are the perceived unobtainable parts (like new/reman oil cooler headers, year & model specific parts ) really a show stopper? Sorry, I don’t have any examples at the moment except for the valley pan gasket.

Maybe my idea of risky investment is when I base my chances on what’s available on the marketplace and/or junkyards.

In the end all I want is a turbo’d 7.3IDI flatbed that’s a reliable turn key truck for hauling, pulling and moving. So far I’ve got a $900 4x2 7.3idi with 2 C6 transmission, plus 3 parts injector pumps/spiders, and a rust free extended cab 86 body. So, I’d like to keep it around and use it for the next 10+ years minimum to help me build my house, haul trash away, and hook a trailer up to to pull new projects home as they come.

What are y’all’s thoughts on this topic? Surely I’m making a mountain out of a molehill

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[hacked89]

Valley pans are in production, the oil cooler heads even if you had two sets which isn’t tough to get that is going to last you more than 10 years. You’re fine. Remember it’s an old truck though you’re always going to be tinkering. There’s lots of stuff in the northeast, surprised you’re saying non in the southeast.

 

[SkylabTech86IDI]

Valley pans are in production, the oil cooler heads even if you had two sets which isn’t tough to get that is going to last you more than 10 years. You’re fine. Remember it’s an old truck though you’re always going to be tinkering. There’s lots of stuff in the northeast, surprised you’re saying non in the southeast.

Thanks for the response. The tinkering is part of the ownership of these rigs and that is familiar turf.

Here in the mid Atlantic there isn’t a ton of availability for parts motors. Yards are commonly empty, and nearest parts motor anre often 3+ hours away.

 

[Nero]

Things are definitely getting thinner, but stuff is still available. The good wrecking yard near me hasn't had pickups in 8 months. Been keeping an eye out for a spare idi or get a dud block I have built, just need to decide which way to go.

Either way, I plan to never get rid of my truck. I don't drive it that often. It's my toy hauler for camping, and I can't justify getting something newer. So in my opinion I'd find a good engine or build one and motor on.

 

[hacked89]

Thanks for the response. The tinkering is part of the ownership of these rigs and that is familiar turf.

Here in the mid Atlantic there isn’t a ton of availability for parts motors. Yards are commonly empty, and nearest parts motor anre often 3+ hours away.

I’m in the mid Atlantic, I assume southeast in your profile you are like Florida. I’m running a 7.3 in my turbo truck I got for free. There’s more parts trucks on Facebook and craigslist than I have room for unfortunately. If I had a pole barn I’d just fill it with $2k bricknose parts trucks.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

not interested in getting flamed for having rebuild apprehension as a new IDI owner.

Don't worry about that. We all had to start somewhere.

With all that said, I am ready to commit to a full motor rebuild and upgrades.

Props to you. I like seeing someone who wants to rebuild his/her own engine instead of buying a turn key, ready to install engine.

Are the perceived unobtainable parts (like new/reman oil cooler headers, year & model specific parts ) really a show stopper?

No they're not.

So, I’d like to keep it around and use it for the next 10+ years minimum to help me build my house, haul trash away, and hook a trailer up to to pull new projects home as they come.

10 years? That's all? You do realize that you're talking about a 6.9/7.3 and not a 6.2/6.5, right?

What are y’all’s thoughts on this topic? Surely I’m making a mountain out of a molehill

Yes I believe that you are. These engines really aren't very complicated once you're inside them. Especially compared to more modern engines.

 

[FrozenMerc]

Keep you eyes open and if you see spare parts for sale, pick them up and put them on the shelf. Having a core motor or two around always helps as well.

If it makes you feel any better, the new stuff isn't any better. The company I work for has orders to re-manufacture 120 6.7L Fords a month. We are lucky if we can complete 75% of the orders each month because of the difficulty in getting new parts, and most of the parts are "directed buy" by Ford from the same component makers that Ford uses. For example, we haven't been able to get standard sized crank bearings for months for the 6.7's, so we are cutting every crank to 0.020 under, whether it needs it or not, because apparently there is a whole bunch of 0.020" under bearings out in the wild. We reman diesels for CAT, Bobcat, GM, Navistar, PACCAR, and Komatsu. It is the same story across the board, and we have much more buying power than the individual person.

 

[bulletpruf]

I'm almost done with rebuilding a 7.3 IDI turbo, most is or will shortly be on my YouTube channel (link below).

Some general thoughts/recommendations -

-Get a good heavy duty engine stand. I'm using the $200 one from HF - rated for 2,000 lbs. I would not use anything less substantial than this.

-Not all machine shops will work on diesels; had a local well-known shop turn me down because it's a diesel.

-Source a spare engine if you can find one at a decent price. You won't regret it.

-Good cylinder heads have been difficult to find. My minty low mile heads were perfect - pre-cups, flatness, seats, valve guides - until I found a crack in one. The other set of heads I ended up using needed to be surfaced, needed valve guides honed out (someone had honed oversize but didn't go far enough for .015" thicker stems), needed a valve job (I did this at home with Neway cutters), pre-cup cracks approaching fire ring, etc.

-Cylinder heads are difficult to surface because of the hardness of the pre-cups. Pretty sure my shop took off more than they needed to in order to get a nice flat surface because he had trouble with pre-cups. On that note, don't surface unless you need to; these engines don't have a lot of room before you need to worry about piston to valve contact.

-Don't mix up turbo and non-turbo bottom end bits - the turbo engine uses different pistons, rods, crank (yes, crank) and balancer. The factory turbo engine that I recently disassembled had the wrong crank.

-Pistons can be difficult to find, depending on size. On that note, I wouldn't build an engine if it needs .030" or more overbore. I managed to stay standard with mine, but only after I had a sleeve installed in #8.

-If you're running a turbo, plan on head studs and a pyrometer.

-You can do a whole lot of stuff at home - I polished my crank with a shoestring and three levels of fine sandpaper, I did my own valve job, magnafluxed block/heads/crank in the driveway, checked head and block deck for straightness, etc. Details on all this on my YT channel.

Holler if you have any questions or need parts.

Scott