Turning Up a 7.3 in a Ford

[Stroker Smoker]

Dad an I are thinking about buying an 88 ford from my uncle for a work/plow truck. THe price is right and it has been a good truck. My uncle bought it new and ordered it right: F-250 4x4 7. 3 5-speed extended cab, long bed plus it has a new clutch and starter.



I am wanting to turn it up some after making the normal air-flow modifications to it. I helped do a couple of IH engines (6. 9/7. 3) but that was almost 10 years ago and I don't feel too confident in opening up the injection pump and adjusting things without any instructions



Any help is appreciated.



Phill

 

[DBogo]

well if you really want some power out of em go to www.atsdiesel.com and get a turbo if not wanting to do that then turn the pump up a little bit go to www.oilburners.net <(multi-brand diesel site) they have a ton of IDI guys over there that will give you loads of help and its a great site

 

[Stroker Smoker]

I looked around on the, Shh!! dare I say, ford diesel website and found a member's web page with instructions. For anyone who cares instructions can be found at www.members.shaw.ca/k2pilot/





Phill

 

[DBogo]

its a real good site some of you guys should join and its free

 

[dodge cummins]

well at least you know its mechanically controlled. furd did not electronicaly control their powerchokes until 1994.

 

[bmoeller]

How many miles on the truck?



My '86 has the High Altitude engine, and it is bone stock. Only 150hp. :{ The headgaskets took a dump at 129k. Something to keep in mind before messing with the pump, or installing a turbo kit. Hypermax makes a turbo kit for them also. So does Bank$.

 

[Stroker Smoker]

not sure on the miles. about 120-130K. I don't think I'll worry about turboing it. I just want to give it a little more go. back in highschool I helped a friend squeeze some more power from his 6. 9 We put on dual exhaust, used the factory air filter (its 4" tall) with an aftermarket open element filter housing top and bottom, like what is used on a gas engine, turned up the fuel, and a slight timing increase. All of that made quite a noticable difference in power. The truck had 200K on it when we did the modifications and it now has over 500K on it now with no major engine repairs.



Phill

 

[NPloysa]

Phill, was your buddie's 6. 9 turbo-ed? My '86 I had was, had aftermarket Banks Sidewinder kit which is pretty much just filter and turbo. I bought it like that. Still wasn't fast, but did better than a N/A 6. 9. Then I took my current truck out for a spin the day I bought it, wow! But, for it's time, the 6. 9 and 7. 3 were strong engines and a few that are in decent shape still are running strong.



Nick

 

[Stroker Smoker]

No his 6. 9 wasn't doesn't have a turbo. The original air cleaner looks like an air cleaner that sits on a carb on a gas engine. Only on the 6. 9 the air cleaner sits on the intake since it is naturally aspirated. We just used a generic open element air cleaner setup for a gas engine. The openings on the base are the same. We used the stock air filter instead of the aftermarket one. The stock airfilter is twice as tall so we figured that it probably flowed better than the aftermarket one The only problem we had was trying to find an air cleaner set that was only 14" in diameter, to match the stock filter. 15" and 16" are easy to find but a 14" is a little more difficult to find. We found a 14" at Napa or Jegs. The guy at Napa couldn't figure out why we wanted a "small" 14" air cleaner with the stock filter element. He honestly believed that a 15"x2" paper filter would flow better than a 14"x4" paper filter. But he also couldn't figure out how the 14"x4" filter was going to fit under the hood with enough clearance even though it is the stock size. I guess that some people know enough to make them dangerous, but not intelligent.



Phill