Hey everyone,

Been a member for a little while now but never much got the chance to post any of my Builds for the past couple of years. But here I have a fresh one for FTE: my 1976 F250 Super Cab...

Here's a little bit of background first on my previous Builds and then I will get into "Project Highway Flyer" or better known as "Red Green" for y'all. This isn't my first IDI swap into a 1970s Ford, I've had the pleasure in helping out with quite a few swaps in everything from a 1974 F100 to a 1979 F-Super Duty and a few F250s in there also. This will be the 2nd project I will have completed on my own. The first of which I moonlighted on was a 1979 F-Super Duty (F350 HD Chassis Cab Frame with the Super Cab and originally a Dana 70 Dually axle, but swapped to a D60 Single later) which I will have a few photos of below:



Another Project I had alot more to do with after was a 1986 6.9L Swap into my good Friend Cory Pratt's 1977.5 F250 4wd. Originally the truck had a 400 and C6 Automatic with a 205 T-case, and I had talked Cory into swapping the NP435 4 speed into the truck and shortly after that he decided to go with an IDI swap after we had completed the above Super Cab truck, we completed the swap while still using the NP435 with little to no issues (Swapped the Bellhousing from a T19 Truck and converted to a Hydraulic Clutch) but later Cory decided to go with a ZF5 for the 5th gear and it had that for quite a while until he tore the truck down and it sat. Eventually the IDI was sold and then the ZF5 and a few other things, my Friend Matt Bought the Truck with the intention of building it and We reassembled the truck and it sat some more, then he had his Daughter and sold the Axles and my Friend Clayton Gregory has what's left of the truck sitting in his yard to this day, Fate to be determined later... There were a few things I wasn't involved with in the swap like Welding the Motor Mounts to the Frame permanently and some things about the Clutch Conversion I thought weren't done as cleanly as they could be but I wont nitpick. I'll post a few photos and a Video of that Truck below:





https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/F8VH7UAf2fk

I have also been involved with Robert Bronco's/Robert Maguire's (Bronco78IDI) 1978 Bronco Ranger XLT IDI Swap as well and that build thread can be seen here:https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...idi-build.html

https://bronco78idi.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/BroncoIDI/videos

So I can say I'm not an IDI expert in any respect, but have been around the block a few times. I'm getting better with these swaps over the years though and would like to get even better so any Feedback or words of encouragement would be great from the Forum and I do have to say thank you for having me here. I will be sure to post more on my 1976 Build here as soon as I get some photos uploaded here tonight. Thank you for the visit and interest in my build.

-Craig

 

Where is all the duct tape?
What did you have to do to make the motor fit between the firewall and radiator?

 

That's no joke... I'm sure there is a roll in there somewhere haha

The firewall area never had to be clearanced on either truck, they both had stock height body mounts (no body lifts or anything), the Grey truck had the motor set back as far as we could, we moved the 4x4 x-member for the Trans back until the Bellhousing just about hit the Firewall and it worked just fine with the factory IDI fan. As for the Chassis Cab truck (Blue) it ran an electric fan and the owner of that truck (my buddy) welded up this ridiculous cradle for the engine to put it between the rails... it was a mess under there. I wish I had more pictures for either project honestly, but with this one I will be going step by step over it all...

 

So here is my current Project and some background on it,

I own a 1979 F150 4x4 of which I got for free from Robert (Bronco78IDI) quite a few years back that I had a really nasty rollover in, so I swapped it to a 1974 body and rebuilt the truck, in that process I decided to build up the Truck and swap the, then, blown up 351M for a built 400 and keep the truck somewhat original. Being who I am I love the 1970s Ford Pickups so when I heard about a 1976 Super Cab Long Bed Truck in the next County over that my Buddy knew about for $500, I jumped at the chance to grab it. I went out and took a look at it, it wasn't too bad but the engine was in rough shape... a perfect IDI candidate! I gave the owner a call, towed the Truck home and just went to town. The interior was pretty clean and all original, the floorboard on the passenger side and under the Bed showed signs of rust but nothing too bad. So I went to tearing the 390 and the C6 Automatic out and the Truck sat...

Just this last week I heard about a 6.9L IDI engine and Transmission for sale ($350) through Robert and decided to call the Kid at the Napa Auto Parts store about it. He told me the Engine came from a truck that recently underwent a Powerstroke Swap and was the original engine for the 1986 F250 Crew Cab. The original Truck had only 120,000 miles and was still running when it was pulled. I was then told what I thought at the time was bad news... the truck was a T19 4 speed, I was hoping at the time to do a C6 trans with an Overdrive unit but decided I may aswell take the T19 and just build another 4 speed (I always prefered a stick anyhow and always loved the Wide-Ratio Trans in a Truck) and call it a sign from God. I went out and bough a 4 speed Trans Plate in the meantime...

...The following day the Kid came out from town to deliver the engine and to my surprise everything was still in one piece, apparently the Shop that did all the work just pulled it all out and stored it all including the wire harness, crossmembers, all of it... and then the best part... An Overdrive unit on the back of the T19... just what I always wanted .

So at the moment I am working on getting some time to go out to the shop and get to disassembling the Engine and Trans, I've been doing alot of work on Robert's other Project (a 94,000 mile 7.3L IDI out of a 1989 Centurion Hauler Van that burned up in the back) so I haven't had much the time to do my own projects more to come...

Until then here are some photos of Red when I first saved him from under the Pine Trees in a Driveway in Jackson CA, to hauling the Truck down to Valley Springs CA and cleaning off the years of neglect, to tearing the old Mirror 390 out...






















More to come tomorrow...

 

Looks good. Keep us posted on updates!

 

Thank you, I'm hoping this will be m best build to date, it's been a bit since I've done anything with an IDI so this will be a re-learning process... I will be sure to try and keep this up to date as much as I can...

 

So on to the Powertrain,

As I mentioned before I managed to get ahold of I was told was just a "6.9L IDI with a T19 4 Speed" for $350 from a Kid that works at my local Napa Auto Parts (Thanks to Bronco78IDI). I was surprised to find that the T19 came with an Overdrive Unit, which is what I wanted with the C6 I originally intended on using for the IDI Swap. So I've confirmed that the OD Unit works without a hitch, I just may have to clean out the Actuator Motor though because after a few switches the motor needs a good rasp in order to cycle again, So I'm thinking the Motor may have some Dust Buildup from the DC Brushes built up in there. So here's the T19 and OD unit:

The Engine is another Story, At first glance I was a little worried I may have purchased a 7.3L that just had 1986 6.9L Valve Cover and some 6.9L Manifolds... Thankfully I was wrong and found the Engine Stamp on the Block next to the Injection pump. So I'm thinking someone grabbed a few 7.3L Parts while at the Scrapyard and just threw on a few upgrades.

So to backtrack a little bit, I have been stuck with my 6.9L stuck on an old tire on the floor (Hey, it works, brings me back to my High School Engine Building lol) sine we are currently tearing Bronco78IDI's 7.3L apart on the Engine Stand (not for the Bronco but the engine for the 79 Chassis Cab Flatbed) in preparation for the Flatbed's IDI swap. So my teardown may take some time to get around to... But for now here's some photos of where I have gotten with the Injection and Pump, also I discovered a 7.3L Rocker Arm Swap was already done.










Also I'm having some trouble identifying this pump, I know it has a DB2 that's outputting 58cc and has to be a Stantadyne Unit that was rebuilt (I'm guessing by SDI/Sierra Diesel Injection) but maybe someone out there knows a bit more about it since the Tag doesn't quite give me much...

 

Nice builds man! I recently finished putting a 6.9/t19 into my 79 F150 (my build thread is in the 73-79 section) and I love it. I'll take that overdrive unit off your hands if you don't want it

Looks good so far, and I believe that the 7.3 style rocker arms came stock on the late 6.9's as mine has them too and it's out of a late 86 truck.

 

Great pictures. That overdrive is sweet. Should be really fun to play with also.

 

A late '86 build date looks like you have an "87" style 6.9 engine... according to some is the best 6.9 out there. Came factory with those 7.3 style rockers and a couple other odds and ends like the 7.3 style glow plugs. Looks good though... certainly a lot more professional than the 6.9 I put into a 78 F150... LOL

 

subb'd to watch

 

I would love to read up on your build, could you link me to your thread? Did you wind up going Turbo or staying N/A?

HAHA IDK about that... I mean everything is for sale, for a price... it just so happens my price is a Million Bucks

Thanks, yeah the Easy part is over, now to figure out what I actually want to do with it... I had alot in mind but now I have to decide and stay the course...

Interesting, I've read alot saying that the 7.3 Rockers didn't come on any 6.9L (Of course most of that was Oil Burners and I don't trust half of that junk) but I've been hearing that the late 86 and 87 motors had alot of 7.3L-type stuff on it more, and now with this motor in front of me I'm starting to believe it... I'm really glad I came across this motor too, I feel lucky getting a late 86.

 

Thank you, yeah I take ALOT of pictures so be prepared for alot more HAHA. That's what I really cannot wait to play with, I finally found some new information on the OD unit too and will be posting about that soon.

 

Oh trust me, I had heard the same thing for a while now, when I saw that tag I got as giddy as a School Girl HAHA. Then the OD unit was icing on the cake... I almost felt bad paying only $350 but the Kid I bought it from got it for only $150.

The engine in the 1977.5 was a Later 86 6.9L, but didn't have 1/2 the things this one has on it, nor did Bronco78IDI's 86 engine.

 

I realize you already have the old engine pulled, but as you place the diesel for mocking up your mounts, would you try to get an idea of where your crank centerline is going to be in relation to where the centerline of the 390 was? The reason I ask is because I found an article in "Custom Classic Trucks" magazine where the author put an E4OD behind a 460 and did not have to cut the floor/tunnel to fit it in

E40D Transmission Swap - Custom Classic Trucks Magazine

1973 Ford F-350 Transmssion Upgrade - Custom Classic Trucks Magazine

If you are having to modify the tunnel for a trans that did come in the dentside model originally, that would be interesting. Also, I have been thinking about doing this or a Cummins to mine, and found a company (now out of business) that had a pattern to cut the crossmember and replate it to allow lowering the engine to a height to not interfere with the firewall/floorpan