^^^^ True, there is no advantage. It's not an "upgrade" as suggested in the opening post. But an SD engine might be all that's available locally, or the best available option.

 

I have a question about why the motor is ready for replacement. These motors can go a LONG time. Mine is just north of 290k and runs strong. If it feels a little weak and is smoking some a little injector work will go a long way towards bringing the truck back to life and would be cheaper than buying a used motor with unknown issues.
I understand if the motor has been dusted or had a catastrophic failure but otherwise it may be easier just to give yours a little attention.

 

^^^ what he said! mine has 230,000 I just did a compression check as I am in need of turbo and tranny rebuild...and the numbers came back phenominally good.

 

Is this on a budget to get down the road ASAP or do you have an extra week and say maybe 500-1000$ to put into the swap??? If on a budget I'd try to find a solid JY low mile motor for a 94-97 and drop it in...risky yes

If you are going to use a fully dressed, SD motor there will be a couple minor things to swap, injectors, harness, PCM, and so on. If you are not going to run the split shot injectors, then swap your singles over and retain your PCM. Either way a little work needs to go into it for either or, but any 94-03 motor will work just fine, minus a couple of minor things to swap while its out of the truck that won't take you an hour or two. Weigh your options on the injectors to make your decision, which are in better shape? Which are desired for the future of your plans with the truck?

Its pretty incredible how easy they are to work on when out of the truck...shoot pulling injectors with the proper tools is all of 15-20 minutes out of the truck :-)

Two thing to note are injector/pcm combination with your harness, and if using a SD motor, you will want to build your own Efuel while you have it out...

Now is a great time to put some bellowed up pipes in there, as it will save you a day or two worth of time down the road and pulling the trans, likely cutting collector bolts. I suggest it to anyone who has not done it... Just like the oil cooler/pan gasket, dip stick adapter/manifolds/plenums and so on...so much easier to service a motor for a couple $$$ bucks in parts and seals while its when its out! Worthwhile to do it right once than struggle over the next 200-300k to fix the little things when its in the truck. Just my .02cents.

Let us know which route you want to go and the fellas on here will let you know exactly what to swap. I personally think a SD turbo is a bit of an upgrade over our tp38s but thats just me.

Here is the engine serial number break down for the forged and powdered connecting rods. Check you engine serial number on the valve cover build sticker or you need to look at the block where the oil cooler is bolted to it .

Start of production thru 1425746 are Forged Rods
1425747 thru 1440712 are Powdered Rods
1446713 thru 1498318 are Forged Rods
1498319 thru final production run are all powdered


Powdered rods are not as strong as forged by any mean but many use the 400hp mark as a stopping point on powdered rods, some have gone over 400hp with powdered rods without issue, many have gone over with windowed blocks... if you are planning on stock injectors/turbo/ and maybe a chip down the road you are absolutely in the clear, big injectors and increased manifold pressures...well a lot more comes with that than just rods.

 

This is what I am doing currently...

Took it out for a tranny rebuild and glow plugs. Compression tested good so I am doing plenums, turbo rebuilt, boots, bellowed up pipes, injectors, oil cooler, water pump.

 

I'm currently trying to convert my 1995 7.3 to all the newer superduty parts ie turbo intercooler oil pump injectors extra just wondering if anyone has done this yet and what I'm going to need to do ro make this happen I'm also putting in a zf6

 

When you get settled in and start reading signatures you'll see that a lot of us have done the SD mods, welcome.