Well guys i have a 95' f250 with a 351w 5 speed & it's a 4x4. it runs ok up & down the road & it's has a 8' fisher plow which makes quick work of any snow that dares to land on the property.
however there is 1 problem......... it likes gas
well hold on, maybe it loves gas ..........ya that's it
I own the truck free & clear so trading it in on a new 2011SD will not work for me. I pull a 16' car trailer with this thing when i have junk cars that need to go to the scrap yard which is often.i keep getting calls for more of them so i keep buying them & hauling them off for people. how would you repower this truck ?
7.3 liter, cummins, DT466 ???

thanks
piglett
wolfeboro,nh

 

Start with is it a Light Duty or a Heavy Duty F-250.....I'm assuming its a Light Duty version...Meaning the frame is thinner than the Heavy Duty version...And nearly impractical for a diesel....JMO....

 

Before I got a short block for my FSB, I was considering

a Powerstroke, but no complete donor was available.

I know that there are a few Broncos with PS engines,

so doing one in your truck could be an option.

A new 351 would be easier of course.

 

if it had the frame, a 7.3 or 6bt wouldn't be bad, but a 466 would be too big. i saw a site a while back about a guy that stuck a dt360 in a superduty.

how much do gas does it like? what gears does it have in it? and are you talking about mpg when you are plowing or pulling a trailer, or without? never met any vehicle that didn't lose mileage while doing either.

If ALL that you do with it is plow/pull with it. than just go bigger. stroke the 351 out to a 408 for the extra torque and put a good "torque" cam in it. i would gear it down to 4.10's and consider a gearvendors to keep the rpm where it makes the most torque.

maybe find a rolled diesel and do a cab swap?

 

oops. double post.

 

A diesel swap vs. building up what you have is always a question of how many miles you put on it, in terms of MPG gained vs. cost of the swap.

For example, if it would take you 5 years to recoup the cost of a diesel swap in MPG, it's probably not worth it.

 

Exactly my thoughts. For the money, I'd upgrade the exhaust, do the sixlitre tune-up, and maybe a mild cam if I needed more power.

Simple maintenance will increase performance and mpg. Some swear by synthetic fluids in the engine, trans, and rear ends. I run synthetic engine oil but haven't used it in my trans or diffs yet.

And the obvious like clean air filter and proper tire pressures help more than you might think.

How much gas is it using? I have a F250 5.8/Auto 4x4 Supercab and I get 13-14mpg in town and hauling scrap in the bed. At 65mph with a 1000 pounds in the bed going to NC I averaged 17mpg and that's with an intermittent CEL (erratic PIP).

Also, what size tires are you running and what rear end gear do you have? Mine is 285/75/16 load range D with 3:55 non-ls gearing.

 

Have you considered a stroker set for the 5.8? MPG wont increase, but properly done will stay near the same with a big increase in power

 

the GVW is 8600lbs& it has the HD 4600lb frontend & ttb up front & i'm running LT285/75R16 load range D
the tag on the rear is missing so the gearing in unknown
i guess i could jack it up & mark the rear driveshaft
I get about 12 mpg with just the empty car trailer (the trailer is 2000lbs)
with a load on the trailer i get about 10mpg
the engine only has about 50,000 miles on it even though the truck has 170k on it


if i thought i could go with a 1st gen. cummins & get 15mpg combined i would be all over it.
i have a zf 5speed that was behind a 460 & i could adapt it to go behind the 5.9


thanks
piglett

 

There should be a sticker in the drivers side door jam. Look there for an axle code. It will tell you what gearing and if it's a LS or not.

 

I would do a cummins swap hands down (for what you want to use the truck for). I dont know the area specifically where you live, but I have read thousands of posts and listings on the internet where guys down in the states have found good runnins 5.9 cummins for less then a grand.

I would imagine you could go a cummins swap for 5ish grand (maybe less even), if you took your time, shopped for deals, and did the work yourself.

 

Your transmission is not from behind a 460. If you get anything bigger than a 351 you will also need to change your transmission. The ZFs were offered in 2 cases, one for the I-6/351w, the other for the 460/diesels. The transmissions ARE NOT interchangeable. For the usage you describe, I would just keep the 351

 

Sell it, and buy a roll back with a class 3 hitch in the tow bar. You can change motors, trans, and everything else, but you still will be scrapping with a pick up.

 

biggest problem with the bigger trucks is the cdl and all the commercial stuff that comes with it (overlooking the fact that technically you already need commercial tags)

 

Swapping in a 7.3L would be the easiest swap. Engine stands, harness, PCM, IDM, MAP sensor, radiator, transmission, crossmember, and core support should be all that's needed depending on what the engine comes with. If you found a cheap donor truck, it would be super easy. Probably could be done in 2 weeks or so if you have a good running engine that you don't need to tear it down.

Everyone knows the cummins is a good engine, but it's quite expensive to swap in. For those who haven't done it or at least seen what goes into it, it's a lot of work and swap parts aren't cheap. If you use an auto trans, it's even more expensive. Swapping in a PSD wouldn't be too cheap either, but quite a bit cheaper than a cummins swap.