I think I've probably lost my mind, but I'm going to go look at a 7.3L IDI 5-speed truck to perhaps buy. The body looks beat up, but it might be a good deal. If I were to ever do a engine swap with my '77 F350, this would be my choice of engine/trans. Am I nuts?

David

 

Nope not nuts. If you want mileage and torque, Diesel is the way to go. However... I am nuts, see my build thread for proof!

 

Your build thread is one of my absolute favorites on this entire forum! You are my idol!

David

 

Aw schucks!

 

The 460 is a great tow motor and can be made to be even better with bolt on parts if it currently has good compression .. The fail is in fuel economy .. If the vehicle is something you are going to drive lets say more then 100,000 miles than the fuel economy of the 7.3 IDI will start to pay for the expense and labor of the swap .. The real savings is more in highway MPG running with no towing load and not while towing .. So you have to ask yourself how many miles will I actually be towing with the truck ? Remember you already have a really nice tow vehicle

 

Yeah red, I haven't even driven my truck more than a mile so far, so maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

David

 

I get ahead of myself daily I think an F100 4x4 with a smaller turbo diesel motor would make one hell of a daily driver

 

I will second the not nuts. If you do it, I guarantee you'll love it. Especially with a 5 speed, I would love overdrive on my truck. AND not to mention the fact that you can set up an IDI (relatively cheaply) to burn waste motor and veggie oil once filtered. Free fuel!

 

I bought my 77 without an engine in it. I haven't driven it with anything but the Cummins engine.

I say go for it if you can afford to do the swap. It may take a while to make sense financially but your more likely to drive it if you enjoy it and it gets more than 8 mpg.