Hello the forum

I have a 1986 F- 350, 6.9 diesel, 4 wheel drive, 4 door, 4 speed, Banks turbo and Gear vendor splitter. Ive had it 6 years and never drove it. My buddy had the truck and it had a perfectly running 6.9 in it. It was one of the blocks that crack near the block heater water jacket area. He was unaware of the drill and pin fix. He found a rebuilt engine from a private party. Paid a mechanic to R&R. Drove it to gas station to put fresh diesel in it. Checked oil when he got there. Chocolate milk. He was very disgsusted and sold truck to me.

I brought it to a mechanic to have him R&R a rebuilt from a engine remaufacture in Canada. He said he could do it for less. I said go ahead. Engine had a cavitated cylinder. Had it sleeved and he rebuilt the engine. Unfortunatly he went out of business before he finished the job. I had paid him for the job complete. ooppppsss. Luckily I got all my stuff back.

While I was looking to have the F-350 rebuilt I ran across a F-250 6.9 diesel, 2 door, extra cab, 4 wheel drive, 4 speed OK shape. The owner was a retired diesel mechanic. He said it had a broke piston or a spun bearing. He bought a new Power Stroke. I bought his F-250. I figured I could get rebuildable and useable parts off of the F-250 Engine and have the original F-350 engine drilled and pinned and put it into the F-250.

I live in a rural place and there are no more 6.9 mechanics around. It has cost me allot of money and time and I am almost ready to give up. I know I could get most of my money back If I parted it all out but I dont want to have to deal with the carcasses after the carnage. Besides the F-350 is too nice of a truck to part out. It is low mileage for its year and these are real trucks.

What should I do Hold of Fold?

Any and all help and opinions welcomed.

Thanks Very Nor Cal Ed

 

hum i would say rebuild the 6.9 u find find parts form hypermax and ebay where in cali are u buy ur post i would guess lake county if u can get online u shouldnt have a problem finding parts

 

Hey Joe F-350, thanks for the reply. Way north 100 miles north of Reno Nevada on the Cali side about 150 miles from Oregon. Like I said in the thread I dont posses the skills or tools or concrete to finish job and the engine is rebuilt.

What do you think its all worth?

Ed

 

all u need to work on these motors a socket set and the proper maunals these motors are simple stupid depend on the shape of athe gear the motors about 500 turbos could be 500 to 1500 gear venders 300 to 1200 the king ping dana 60 1000 to 1200
hard to say the rest with out picks hope i could help

 

Damn if only i was in cali. I would so buy that truck, that is just what I am looking for...LOL DAMN!

 

Joe F-350 And ADTman thanks for the responses. Joe you do encourge me to try. Getting the engine in without concrete or a cheery picker could be challenging. If I could come across an A-frame and roll the truck under it I suppose that could be a way to get it in. The right manuals. I am pretty sure I have. I havent checked because I gave them all to the mechanic that went out of business and they might be in the cab. The Banks turbo Manual is loose leaf and copies of typed text. I remember reading it once years ago and it was greek to me.

ADTman according to Joe F-350 The F-350 is worth on average about $3000 to $3500 just cherry picking a few parts off of it. If you want Two four wheel drives and three engines plus the Banks and Gear Vendor make me a fair legitimate offer over $3500 and find a goose neck trailer that will haul a couple of trucks and in a weekend you will have your dream truck and a truck to sell to recoup your money. If you do it right you might end up with your dream truck for cheep.

Thanks fellas. Keep those Ideas and thought coming.

Ed

 

Well I appreciate the offer, but it really isn't cost effective...LOL I will stumble across what I want closer I am sure. About 6 weeks ago I found a truck for my buddy. 1993 F350 CC Single wheel 4x4 7.3 turbo 5spd. I made the deal for him, he only paid 1500 for a running truck! So I will just keep at it. Something will come along.

As far as fixing that truck do you live in a rural area? I tell ya, getting someone with a tractor, trackho or skidsteer would be GREAT! That is how I swapped my buddies 6.9. It really didn't take us that long. We dicked around and still did it in two days. You will only need the tractor for a couple of hours really. Once you get the new motor stabbed you are pretty much done w/it. Hell you could rent a skidder or trackho really. Just take the complete core support out, engine slides out and in with ease.

Good luck, I would keep it and get it running if it were me. Damn sure is worth it for a truck that nice. Do you have any pics????? Show us these beasts!

 

wish i was closer i help u rebuild the motor

 

Let me tell you the brotherhood of the blue oval oil burner is awesome. Joe F-350 I am totally sure if I was closer you would help. I have seen this with in the 6.9 clan. And ADTman great idea about using a tractor. Got some big ones around here but right now everyone is using them. First cutting of hay is on the ground.

So you guys think it would be worth the work and additional money to get it running? These International Harvesters last along time? You know for me they last forever because they dont run and I have never owned a diesel powered Ford truck plenty of gas but I have no idea what to expect longevity wise or power wise about a 6.9 with a Banks. I have been told though that they are 21 to 1 compression compared to the early Power Stroke which is supposed to be 17 to 1 and when you put the Banks on the 6.9 you could expect Power Stroke performance. I have read some say even better. But is all that going to shorten the life?

Hey Joe F-350 If I do go ahead and finish the build do you know if Banks rebuilds their turbos and compressers? Mainly what I am thinking is since it has sat for a while I wonder how the bearing would be. I would hate to get it all back together and the bearing be bad and suck the blades into the engine. Something I read about if you dont let your engine cool or normalize before shutting it off it cooks off the oil oin the bearing and then you get catastrophic failure. Something to worry about?

Kind of funny I typed this up a couple a days ago or so and I guess I walked away and did not send.

I dont know Joe I think I would get to an impass real quick and without direction on manual lingo or the actual execution I would probably be at a stand still most of the time. But I am thinking about it.

I still think I would let it all go if the right offer came along keep it all if the right mechanic came along.

More input

Ed

 

time to fold Ed.
lets be realistic.
you have had it for 6 years now and haven't used it.
if you needed a truck,you would have one running.
its been a money pit for you,and after sitting for 6 years,i can guarantee you aint seen nothing yet.
there are many more parts to a truck besides just the drive train.
by the time you replace the engine,and get it going,you'll find front end parts with dried up boots,causing ball joint failure etc,suspension,brake parts seized cracked/split/rubber hoses dried out and cracked.perhaps mice found some wires to chew on etc.etc.etc.fuel tank and line issues.
it will likely be a never ending projected at this point.
byt the time your all said and done,you could save thousands by just getting into a daily driven truck.
is the truck worth fixing? sure.to someone who is very handy with a wrench and looking for a pretty much full resto project,because likely that will end up what the truck will require to have a safe and reliable truck again.
if were one of those handy guys with parts trucks,loads of tools,and years of experience wrenching,then you wouldn't be here asking if its worth it or not.you would have had it running 6 years ago.see what im saying?
time to fold.but don't expect to ever get your money back short of parting it out.
all you need to do is look around at used trucks to see what the type of $ you would like to get out of it,could buy you.then things become more clear as to its current value.im afriad no one pays hardly anything for a truck that doesn't run.why? because most know just how much $ they can eat up in a hurry.

its easy for some to say,well look at the price of new trucks now.this makes old trucks worth more.they're WRONG! lol.
or; get some tools and learn.start ordering parts.
well.its not our money.thats easy to say lol.i can tell ya right now,after a trucks been parked for 6 yrs and not running,you better have a deep pocket,be very good with a wrench,and be ready financially for the worse possible scenario at any time.and count on every single piece of the truck to fail and require replacement.if your not prepared for this,then it's gunna bite you.if something holds up for a while,all good just the same.but at least you were ready just the same.


there becomes a point in time where you need to stop and ask yourself,when im i throwing good money after bad? have i already? do i want to continue or cut my loses now before its much worse?
im finding myself at this crossroad now with my '96 t-bird unfortunately.it's not a good time,but what do ya do? so much cheaper to move on to the next one after awhile lol.

 

it not as bad as u play it out in cali u dont really have to worry about things drying out as fast as other parts of the country and ps is 4wd truck is a 86 so its a king pin not a balljoint u newb honstly imho u should rebuild it and run it till she dies repair bills are allways cheaper them payments imho

 

Joe,the truck is worth it........
you are the right person for this truck,or someone like you.
the info provided by ED,shows this is the wrong truck for him.
your very experienced working on trucks and know how the story goes.
if this was your truck,you wouldn't be here asking about the basic overview.you would have it on the road already,or at least be well into the project after 6 years.
the right truck for some,can be a total nightmare to someone else.
right truck,for the right guy.

well,ok king pins.even harder to change.
i meant tie rod ends anyway when i was thinking boots.
but the main point i was getting at,is it could and most likely would lead into one thing after another.
you know this.its been that way with your truck,and been that way with my low mileage truck.
old trucks require a lot of work.
Ed is clearly not prepared for whats in store.is all my point is.better he be well informed and whats likely to happen down the road than be caught off guard because someone says,oh yeah just fix it right up and get it on the road.
its not that easy.
for example,why not share with Ed how many working hours you think you have in your truck and then see what he thinks?

you have to remember not everyone is mechanically inclined,and you can get a good sense for his experience level by reading through some of his comments.its not to be belittling,its just to help him get a feel of both sides of the coin and help him see things you and i feel may be trivial,or just so used to it,we think its just the way it goes.lol.
well,if you lack experience and are unprepared,a feller could get in so deep so fast and really be in over his head before he knew what happened.

 

@ ed there is thread about a idi breking 300rwhp so it can be done and with the new cali smog laws i would keep the truck as any diesel 97 and up u have to smog or what u could do is is get a jasper crate motor sell off all ur old parts so u wont be out any and ed ur up buy reding or trucky

@f250 we dont know all or eds storys yes he has had te truck tor 6 years but he may not have had the money or etc i still vote that he fixes it i mean we both know these motor are about as bullet proff as u can get and being cali rust realy is a big deal so it mainly just drive trian

 

Hell that would scare ANYONE away wouldn't it? Geez F250 you could have at least brought up the fact that Joe uses a hammer.....

 

My opinion on these engines is, the only ones you can trust are the ones you assembled yourself. Don't bother sleeving a 6.9 since they cavitate very rarely unless there was a major lack of attention during their service. Get a used block instead, and build on that. Even 7.3s can go over half a million miles on the same block even with half hearted attention paid to the coolant.

But when it comes to getting a rebuilt drop in engine, you are rolling the dice since they will drill, pin, sleeve and slap together anything to get it out the door. Goodness knows, they will never give you a warranty that compares to what these trucks had from the factory either. Add to that, these engines were never popular, and most shops would rather build chevy small blocks or 6.2/6.5 engines while saying the 6.9 is junk. Honestly, I'm not sure how far back in time you would have to go in order to find an engine builder that would put even a half hearted effort into one of these things.

If you can do the work yourself and the truck isn't rusty or in need of major drivetrain repairs, then its a toss up. If you have to rely on any mechanic to build the engine for you, then I would start taking offers. An 86 F350 4 door 4x4 is a flagship thats getting harder to find every day, but even if they are a nice truck you have to be realistic about it.

As far as power is concerned, a turbocharge IDI will never catch a chipped powerstroke thats at the top if it's game, but it will hold its own against most stockers and beat the earlier ones. For reliability, they do actually hold up fairly well - assuming they were put together right, and set up right. Some might argue that unless you are really beating on them every day, they can last longer with a turbo due to better fuel burn and lower average EGTs over its operating lifespan.