Who make good parts for these trucks

Stuka

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Hello i’m rebuilding a 73 IDI from the ground up. I need to know who makes good parts for these trucks stuff like pistons bearings rings and I need to know what head gasket do you use? Of course I’m gonna run ARP studs so what head gasket pair is best with that I’m aware of CDDN their stuff as well as R&D I’m just wondering who else makes things out there and if they are good products would preferably like this to be a bit on the less expensive side this is an IDI after all
 

IDIBRONCO

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First of all, "only an IDI" isn't a good way to look at this. If you're going through the expense and time to rebuild an engine, then it's worth it to spend the money. If you try to go as cheaply as possible, your engine won't last very long before something happens. Unfortunately, there isn't much that's cheap for these trucks these days. I'm not trying to talk down to you and I do understand the expense part. I feel that these trucks and their engines are worth the cost of repair most of the time.
As for internal parts, I prefer Fel-Pro gaskets every time. Their head gaskets are .010" thicker than the Victor Reinz gaskets and that is huge. These are what's called an interference engine and they have extremely tight tolerances on the valve to piston clearances. As for the rest, I recommend sticking to bigger names on the parts such as Clevite, Sealed Power, Perfect Circle, and Melling. I don't know of anything wrong with any of them and they are bigger companies. If you're not going to use a turbo or are going to stay with lower boost, the ARP studs aren't a requirement.
 

Black dawg

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Just to make it easier...lol.....lately doesnt matter what label is on the box, things like rear and front seals, head gaskets and a few others have all been the same stuff regardless of name on the package.
 

Stuka

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First of all, "only an IDI" isn't a good way to look at this. If you're going through the expense and time to rebuild an engine, then it's worth it to spend the money. If you try to go as cheaply as possible, your engine won't last very long before something happens. Unfortunately, there isn't much that's cheap for these trucks these days. I'm not trying to talk down to you and I do understand the expense part. I feel that these trucks and their engines are worth the cost of repair most of the time.
As for internal parts, I prefer Fel-Pro gaskets every time. Their head gaskets are .010" thicker than the Victor Reinz gaskets and that is huge. These are what's called an interference engine and they have extremely tight tolerances on the valve to piston clearances. As for the rest, I recommend sticking to bigger names on the parts such as Clevite, Sealed Power, Perfect Circle, and Melling. I don't know of anything wrong with any of them and they are bigger companies. If you're not going to use a turbo or are going to stay with lower boost, the ARP studs aren't a requirement.
Thank you for the information I do plan on running a high boot set up my plan is to push somewhere between the 250 to 300 hp range I know there are some parts. I definitely shouldn’t cheap out on.
 

catbird7

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If you're new to these engines, my advice is to watch all of the youtube vids titled R&D IDI Performance engine build. You'll quickly realize these engines require specific knowledge to "build correctly", while at the same time the vids provide an opportunity to gain knowledge from a seasoned builder who already learned the expensive lessons and figured out how to overcome them. Guys like Justin (and I'm certain there are others) are invaluable sources of knowledge.
 

IDIBRONCO

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watch all of the youtube vids titled R&D IDI Performance engine build.
Wasn't Justin's channel called Racin and Drummin?
Either way, the OP is also asking the same questions in the Facebook groups so maybe he'll get the right answers, maybe he won't. He even mentioned the "bear" block there too.
 
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