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Pull A Part Diesel

Ridgerunner

Missouri Chapter member
23,457
573
Stillwater Ok
I seen a IDI not sure of the size at Pull A Part my last visit. How can I tell if it is in decent shape? Thinking about getting one for my F150
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Be a hard job switching, and you would need to get the trans too, as well as motor plates, senders, and such. Doable, sure, just a lot of work.
 

d-kuzmen

Master Ford Tech
2,109
79
Connecticut
I seen a IDI not sure of the size at Pull A Part my last visit. How can I tell if it is in decent shape? Thinking about getting one for my F150

I would pull the heads and check the cylinder walls to check for any pitting, or any other imperfections, see if the cross hatch is still visable.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
The 7.3 version could potentially have cavitated walls, if there is any hint of antifreeze in the oil, it is possible to have had that happen. It can be very difficult to know how good a motor is if you can't hear it run. There are plenty of ways it could be bad, and it may be just fine.
 
Dumb question time - will the f150 frame take the weight of an 6.9/7.3 - and also as ivé never eyeballed a gen8 f250 frame how much difference is there in thickness?

A good friend of mine has a c***y k2500 6.5td and its frame looks much heavier than mine - its funny seeing as how he was a diehard ford freak 20 years ago but has now switched to the dark side - still trying to reconvert him.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Frame can likely take it better than the axle bearings and springs will.
 
'nuff said - ill toss that idea in the bin along with the rest of the bad ideas i've had
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
It has been done, but haven't heard anything about the longevity of the install. If you think about it, it isn't much of a different load than running a snow plow blade on the front of it with say a 460 or 400. The IDI weighs in fully dressed in the 1000-1200 range, while a 460 gets to be about 800-900
 
It has been done, but haven't heard anything about the longevity of the install. If you think about it, it isn't much of a different load than running a snow plow blade on the front of it with say a 460 or 400. The IDI weighs in fully dressed in the 1000-1200 range, while a 460 gets to be about 800-900

'That make sense - i'm just thinking of ways to make my old '87 more economical as i do enjoy driving it and do about 2000km/month - i've seen a few 4bt cummins swaps on the net but of course we don't get much of the heavy duty american stuff out here.
Neatest diesel conversion i have seen was on a '82 F100 which had a nissan patrol 4.2L turbo diesel six slotted into it - it did go well but just needed some noise insulation as pretty much impossible to have a conversation inside it.
So far ivé been leaning towards propane but the time taken to pay back the cost of the conversion is pretty excessive.

Don't laugh but at the moment i'm trialling a hho generator and will post results and pics if it works out sucessfully - the only thing i've noticed so far (had it in 4 days) is little bit more bottom end power and runs slightly smoother .... but this could be because thats what i'm hoping for.

Cheers Mark
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
You are putting more oxygen in, as well as hydrogen, and recombining them, so a smoother idle and a little power isn't a big surprise there. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

On the diesel conversions, don't overlook what you have available in your area. Cummins likely isn't real common there, but Isuzu surely is. They build a pretty good diesel as well, just harder and more expensive here. Cummins is easy to find here. The 4BT I hear is also prone to vibration problems. Those aren't the easiest to find here either, and certainly not cheap. Most range well over $2000, I can burn a lot of gasoline for that. That is the other problem, cost of investment vs cost of return.
 
how 'bout that Insight...
 

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