Well guys, i went out and bought my dream truck yesterday, my first truck and my first diesel, 1997 F250 HD long bed ext cab xlt with a 7.3 Powerstroke. Its in immaculate shape and runs fantastic at 213,000 miles, has a lot of goodies, pac brake, d-cecelerator, built tranny with gear vendor system with 2nd od, trailer brake, hideaway gooseneck, some BEEFY helper springs, Garrett Turbo and more to come. Heres some pictures and will post more when i get home but she will be a work in progress, I will have a lot of pictures!!
Give me some ideas and tell me what you think!

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That looks like a really, really nice truck. Where did you buy it? It must have never seen any salt.

As for ideas, start with the simple stuff like Downpipe, exhaust, and a good air filter. You can then build off of that. How you build your truck will depend on what you want to do with it, how much HP you want, and how much money/time you have.
We can help you think through all the options and teach you how to troubleshoot and mod.

Congrats on finding a nice truck!

 

Thank you verg much! I bought right here in my home town in florida, the only rust on thw teuck is a littlw surface rust on the frame which is normal on any vehicle and up under the front bumper there is a slight bit of surface rust but other than that its rust free! Im going to order the 6637 kit feom riffraff, i want to straight pipe my truck with a new downpipe, what do you guys recommend?

 

That's one clean rig man! I like the interior. Congrats on the new truck, looks like you got a nice one!

 

Get a diamond eye system. 3 inch down pipe to either 4 inch or 5 inch exhaust. I like 4 inch personally. Just don't order MBRP. Their kit doesn't fit very well.

 

Wow man, nice find!! Enjoy it and stick around here. You'll learn quite a bit and have fun doing it.

 

Thanks Guys!! Cant wait to wax her!! I got home from school and took the running boards off, looks 100% better. Next up is a 6637, here are some more random pictures, i will get more of around and inside the truck in a little bit. Also you will see a picture of the air intake if anyone could tell me what kind it is, i dont think its stock.
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Congrats on the new truck.

Just an FYI, the stock turbo is a Garrett turbo if you were trying to imply it has an aftermarket turbo on it.

If it does have a gear vendors double overdrive... They are really great units, but you need to make sure you aren't abusing it too much b/c the cone clutches do wear out fairly quickly if your beating on it all the time. For example, you can shift the OD unit at WOT and it will take it, but it will live longer if your barely touching the throttle for the shift or in manual trans apps, push in the clutch for the shift. One thing to keep in mind with the GV unit, you need to use Mopar synthetic manual transmission fluid and IIRC they want the fluid changed about every 5,000 miles in the OD unit.

 

Thank you! And this truck has a new turbo, but it is a Garrett, is there a way to tell if it is an upgrade of the stocker? This truck has some cool stuff, i tryed that gear vendor on the way home from getting her, i hit 55mph, let off the throttle completely, hit the button and when the green light came on i went back on the throttle. She shifted just fine, now when slowing to a stop will the gear vendor automatically downshift out of the double od? Thanks for letting me know about the fluid for the od unit, does the gv unit have its own reservoir completely seperate from the tranny pan?

 

Here is alot more pictures! Thanks for all the comments!
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You did good, nice ride!

 

Thank you!

 

Yep, truck looks great!

 

Thank you very much!

 

Congratulations man! Looks like you found a good one! That's a really sharp looking ride.

Get the cruise control recall done though, because it doesn't look to me like it's been done. You don't want your new truck burning up. The Ford dealer can do it in about 5 minutes time and generally they can just do it in the parking lot. You can put the VIN in here and check for any outstanding recalls.