Red Truck conversion

[IDIBRONCO]

The Ex Wife got put on hold for a while. First because of winter, second because I really need to have another truck to drive besides the Blue Truck. That leaves the Red Truck. I've hesitated working on it for too long. I really haven't been entirely happy with the performance of the gas engines that I had in it. The more I drive a IDI powered truck, the more I don't want a gasoline powered truck. I've finally decided to IDI swap the Red Truck. I'm doing this first because it won't take as much time and money as the Ex Wife will. It won't look much different after I'm done. I'm not going to redo the interior or anything like that. It's just still going to be a driver. It's job will be to move me up and down the highway and get good mileage while doing it. For some reason, I have always wanted an automatic transmission with this truck and I still want one. Here's my thinking: according to an online RPM calculator, by keeping the 2.47:1 9" rear end, using the C6 out of the Ex Wife, and running the 235/75R15 tires that are on it now, I should be seeing just over 2200 RPM at 70 MPH. Not good enough for me. By running 31x10.50R15 tires, it should be turning about 1950 RPM at 70 MPH (better). Now, factoring in the torque convertor slippage of the C6, and the fact that there's a DN2 overdrive on the back of it, I'm estimating that I should be turning 1800-1900 RPM at 70 MPH. Since the torque peak is supposed to be at 1500 RPM, I'll still be fairly close plus the "optimum" RPM for fuel mileage is supposed to be 2000 RPM. So I'm thinking that it should split the difference.
Right now, I'm in the parts buying stage and will be for a while longer. There's a new pair of 31X10.50R15 tires just waiting to be put on the back of the truck. I also have a TCI Maximiser torque convertor to help keep the RPM low. The front tires are 235/75R15's that don't even have 1/4 mile on them. Since they are "P" tires instead of "LT" tires, they may not hold up well to the weight of a IDI. In my defense, I did buy them before I decided to IDI swap the truck so I'll see how they do. I can always buy another pair of 31X10.50R15's if they don't work very well. I also have various front end parts that desperately need to be replaced (no pictures). And, in case anyone doesn't know what it looks like, here's a picture of my Red Truck.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I picked up a complete 6.9 this morning to put in the Red Truck. Before I just dump the thing inside the truck, I'm going to tear it apart and inspect everything. I'm going to port the heads and stud them. Farmer Rock wanted to buy the turbo that came on the Treasure Hunt truck about 1 1/2 years ago, but we couldn't come up with a cost effective way to get it out to him. Between that and the fact that he bought a Factory Turbo set up, he decided to not take it. Well since I have a complete turbo, it can go on top of the 6.9 that's going into the Red Truck just because. Yes it a ATS 088, yes it's non waste gated, yes it won't be making boost at cruising speed. That's why I'm hoping to be able to use the Typ4 cam in it that I couldn't use in my Blue Truck due to lack of valve clearance. If I can use it, that will help to make up for the lack of boost at cruising speed. This is not going to be much of a towing truck, but it never was. Since I'm wanting to keep this truck simple, I'm not going to intercool the turbo. I may not even bother putting A/C back in the truck, but I'll decide on that later.

 

[Farmer Rock]

I'm glad you are going to be able to swap that turbo kit on to this truck.
looks like a neat project. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress on it.



Rock

 

[Austin86250]

nice to see a 6.9 swap it seems to always be the 7.3 idi

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I'm glad you are going to be able to swap that turbo kit on to this truck.
looks like a neat project. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress on it.



Rock

I was originally planning to keep it N/A and take the headers off of the Blue Truck and run them on this. I would have been perfectly happy with that. Since I happen to have the turbo, and it is possible that I may load up an ATV or two and go out to Colorado to go riding, it just seemed like a natural solution that presented itself.

nice to see a 6.9 swap it seems to always be the 7.3 idi

I feel that people tend to underestimate the 6.9s. They ARE good engines and they can perform pretty well. They just don't have the ultimate potential of the 7.3s. I also don't have access to that many 7.3s. The one extra that I bought with this 6.9 is slated to be the built up engine that will eventually go into the Ex Wife. As a daily driver/run around vehicle, I don't see any advantage that the 7.3 has over the 6.9. They are both relatively gutless in their stock form, but will haul a truck up and down the road just fine.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Today was another step accomplished in the parts collection. My plan is to go through the front end while there's no engine or transmission in the truck. I feel that will make it A LOT easier. I'm also going to load the truck onto my trailer and haul it to a car wash somewhere after the engine and transmission are out. Might as well go all out. It did make it a lot nicer while working on the Bronco.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Due to the higher fuel prices and natural gas prices this winter, my parts acquisitioning has been pretty slow lately. This is my latest parts acquisition. It started out with the oil pressure gauge. I was having trouble finding an electrical one for what I considered to be a reasonable price. I finally came across this old one that looks like is was hanging in a parts store in the 80's or early 90's. I immediately loved it and bought it. Digital gauges just wouldn't look right in this truck and I decided to buy these gauges that would be as close to matching as possible. Except for the pointer on the vacuum gauge, they do look pretty similar. They all look pretty old school which is just fine for me. I have a 4 gauge pillar pod that's supposed to be in on Saturday to mount them in.

 

[Danielle]

Off topic but if you're ever close to the side of the red truck with your camera handy, could you post a photo of your door? I'm trying to copy that two tone design and can't find a good door photo to see where they cut the 2 colors

 

[IDIBRONCO]

How about the Blue Truck? Snicklas says that they both have the same Victoria paint scheme.

Off topic but if you're ever close to the side of the red truck with your camera handy, could you post a photo of your door? I'm trying to copy that two tone design and can't find a good door photo to see where they cut the 2 colors

 

[snicklas]

How about the Blue Truck? Snicklas says that they both have the same Victoria paint scheme.

They do.... favorite paint scheme on my favorite body style.... That was a $1500 paint option in 1983...

Also, make sure you get all the way around the window for her. It starts at the top and slowly widens as it comes around the back of the window and then under and toward the hood.... also, the hood color is the same as the rockers, below that body line. The top and back of the cab and all the bed except the rockers is the "other color"... Ours was a Light Desert Tan hood, and a dark metallic brown for the "other color".. Also, from what I have seen, the paint inside the cab is the "other color"... ours was the brown paint, with a tan interior.. (plastics and seat).....

Oh, and the matching 2 tone stripe, that covers the paint "seam"..... it's NLA...... has been for a loooonnnnggggg time..... that was a Victoria only thing too.... they didn't use that stripe on any other paint scheme.....

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Well I can see that I'm going to have to take some more pictures tomorrow.

 

[Danielle]

It's absolutely my favorite, thanks so much for taking the time to take photos and post!

 

[snicklas]

Danielle,

If you duplicate that on one of your OBS’s… it will be 1 off. The Victoria paint was a bullnose only paint scheme.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It's absolutely my favorite, thanks so much for taking the time to take photos and post!

You're welcome. Here's a few more. If you need any more pictures, let me know.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Plus I do have this one of the Red Truck, but it's not very close and probably doesn't show much detail.