My names Wes Looker, and im new-ish to this forum. I own a 97' F350 with 7.3L and i love it. My dream truck for sure. I let my father borrow it and he took out a light pole with it. Front end is done for, frame is good, and the engine and trans are fine (exept for the IDM that was inside the fender) and the battery on the driver side is in 5 pieces.

I am getting a 91' F350 2WD w/ DRW off of someone and i want to do a full overhaul / rebuild on the engine and tranny. It has the 7.3L IDI but everytime i get to a website it says 94-03... Never anything for 7.3 prior to 94.

Ive read many many many posts and threads here before posting this, but i cant seem to find out why there different.

I find kits for 6.9 and for 94-03 7.3, but not 88-94 7.3's. Any findings would be much help. I do want to beef it up and get more power out of it too, Ive heard that the stock pistons dont do well with added power? Dont know if its true or not, but if it is, can i find one that has "heavier duty" pistons?

Totally off topic as well is, the automatic tranny is completely shot, and I love Manual trannys. Is it reasonable to say i want to swap a manual into it, since i have to get a new trans anywayz? or is there way to much of a difference? If i do stick with the auto trans which is a E40D i believe, can i get a rebuild kit and do it myself, or is that more of a shop thing? (Since is has 32 clutches...)

Thank you

 

It's best to tear the block down and have a trusted auto machine shop clean it and take measurements before you start buying parts. They will then tell you what needs to be replaced during the rebuild, if it is even worth rebuilding, and can tell you where to get the best parts. Is there an International garage or dealership by you? You can ask them what shop they go to.

 

I've been trying enginetec parts, you can get them off ebay. A re-ring kit is around 450 bucks and rock auto carries some of there stuff. The 02 7.3 psd I put together with there stuff this summer is still running.

 

Are they decent?? I almost pulled the trigger on a rering kit from them today, but ended up going with another kit $50 more. I don't mind taking a chance on untested stuff, but I was a little weary on that line particularly... That being said, if you have had good luck, it needs to be noted.

 

I did some research on the stuff and nobody I found had bad experiences.

 

FWIW
You oughtta put a post on our vendor sticky sticky about it?

 

I don't know what FWIW means, I'm nit going to say too much about their parts until I run them my self, and I'll see if they handle my abuse.

 

FWIW for what its worth