I'm interested in putting a 7.3 idi diesel in my 79 f-600 4x4. Does anyone know if there is a bellhousing that would bolt to the factory 5 speed manual transmission and to the engine? I don't really need to convert to overdrive as I'm going to be running 52 inch tires on the truck, and it won't really haul anything, putting a pickup bed on it. Any information would be great.

 

I was told that the older bell housing for a 6.9 with the T-19 4spd would work from the 84-86 year !
I never tried it and do not know for sure !
what ever you do get rid of the dual mass flywheel !
ever think about the ZF5 that would be a straight bolt up and easier swap , some one on this forum has done that before if memory serves !

 

I would be interested to know what you find out also. I am doing this swap as well but my truck is a 2wd 79 F-600 and I need to swap in my ZF5 since I am running stock 40"ish tires. The main problem I am faced with is a way to mount the engine and trans. The factory mounts are typical heavy duty truck type with a mount at the front of the engine and two mounts on the bell housing. You might have luck coming up with a bell housing from a 1980's era IH S-1600. From what I can measure and see I am going to try putting the engine cradle/cross member and engine mounts from my donor 1990 f-350 into my 79 F-600. sorry to hijack your thread but I saw this and thought I would add my 2 cents.

 

I will probally just use the zf5 speed, am getting a good deal on the whole setup. It will probally be a while before I do the swap, still doing one on my 75 f250 4x4. I will just make new engine and transmission mounts just like in the pickup and now worry about the bellhousing and front engine mounts. My truck won't be hauling any heavy loads so It will be plenty strong enough.

 

I wonder what the easiest way would be to do a diesel swap on my '63 f600 2wd? I was thinking about a 6BT but I've never seen the engine mounts on one,... Either way, for long-term maintenance sake and parts availability, (not to mention fuel economy and torque) I'd like to go with a diesel. I was almost thinking of trying to find a wrecked med-duty truck tat I could rip the whole driveline out of, but I'm not sure. Either way, this is going to be my wood truck (and everything else, bulky, large, heavy, etc). The bed is 14'x7.5'. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Easiest thing to do is take engine and transmission out of a donor truck. Then take the cab and front clip off the receiving truck. Mount engine and trans with hardware from donor. Make some measurements, find out whats gotta move on the cab, make the changes.. Get the cab back on and hook everything back up.

Takes about a month with regular work..20 hours or so a week, with a helper..

 

I was going to do a swap with a 7.3, but I recently found a 76 f-700 with a 3208 cat diesel that runs good, and a 5 speed. needs a throuwout bearing, probally do a clutch to. I picked it up for 1500 bucks and drove it home, roof is shot on it, but a perfect parts truck. The swap should be pretty direct. Seems to be a decent amount of these old heavy duty trucks going cheap, not many people using them anymore, and too expensive to fix. I sold the bed from mine for 500, by the time I'm done motor might be free.