So I wanted to start a thread and hear about yalls stories, that of which pertain to the first time you drove an IDI, what you thought about it whether or not you liked it and what inspired your love for idi's?
I'll start firdt and say that the first time I drove one was earlier this year I've driven two different idi's and Im still searching for one (wish I had the money or could find one thats not an automatic, that's hard to come by here in my part of tx :/) I honestly loved driving both of the ones I've driven but the first idi I set my eyes on was my favorite to drive (I just drove it 30 minutes ago, this time it was more than down the street and back) but any who what inspired my passion for em is that I wanted to learn more about these motors that are old tech (I prefer old tech over new), sadly they've been rather forgotten by everybody (except for all of us and two of my friends) I also saw that besides R&D (btw your a good man for making a performance market for these ol gals!) There wasn't a performance mkt for em and they just really caught my eye and I think I have idi fever but no money to help it.
Yalls turn
-85F350

 

My grandpa bought the one i now have new in 91/92, i wouldve been starting kindergarden. In 99 he got a new F150 and gave the idi to my dad, and now i have it. Pretty much sums up why i like em, besides being cheap and simple.

 

My interest in these motors was our new 84' van, I think I was 7 years old, and I remember what at the time seemed like a lot of power, and a real truck...lol(I guess times have changed).

Any how, I remember vividly running down the highway with Elvira by the Oakridge Boys playing. I drove it some time within that first year

 

Well I always wanted something american since I was a kid, always admired old US cars, had a catalog from Cadilac 1960 new models. As I grew up I started playing with cars and ended with diesel as they have good fuel economy. Randomly I searched over the net and found an add in Germany, F250 IDI diesel for sale. That was 6 years ago. Since that I searched for that car over the whole Europe for 2 years, then I searched almost two years over the craiglist and ebay in US. It always ended going like this. Well I like your truck, would you ship it to Europe? Screw u fcking retard. So I decided to join FTE here and get a help from the guys here. Nobody replied at first, the only person that answered the PM was Jonathan F384 guy. We became friends and later on few more guys joined. I flew to US last fall with decision of buying IDI Ford. Jonathan even put a deposit on a decent looking truck in Oregon. Well tht car was a disaster, starter burned during atempt to start it. It was a sneak bag, pictures photoshoped. BTW it is still for sale. 3 days later I found an add that was only 50 miles from Astoria, OR the place where I was as an exchange student back in 1995. So I am the happy owner of the IDI truck since September 22, 2:30pm 2014. It was an automatic, the ZF5 was swaped and it is different truck now, so much better.Drove almost 3000 miles with it just traveling through the states. It was parked almost a year in Arizona in front of Jonathan´s house and it was shipped to me this summer. The total cost is 10k but I am happy, even for that money u can not get it in Europe in such a good shape.

 

I remember seeing your thread a couple times romel, thought it was pretty neat to have a fellow IDI head in Europe, love the dedication, she's a beautiful rig, keep her that way! Also straight pipe her if you want her sounding like a pissed off V8 lol, I loved driving my buddies today, laying into it up a hill was great, honestly made my day.

 

Any how, I remember vividly running down the highway with Elvira by the Oakridge Boys playing. I drove it some time within that first year [/QUOTE]

I can dig that ^^^^^^ haha

 

No way am I going to bust her, just frame off restauration during next couple years to bring her to almost like new condition. With the only exception an that is the engine, I got HP hungry

 

Get the automatic, the zf5 is pretty much straight forward job and u will never regret it, mine is 3.55 axles and it can get 22mpg when driving like a human. It is nice to borrow the truck, but nicer when it is parked on your driveway. For some reason the best deals happen to be in Oregon, the condition of the trucks there is amazing, but noticed the prices to raise over past year. And do you a favor and get 4x4, when using it off road, the 2.6 tons need it in terrain.

 

having owned PSD's for a while, my first IDI was purchased because of a financial decision. i bought a super clean 91 F350 CC LB 4WD 7.3 N/A with an auto for 700 bucks not running.

turned out to be the FSV, lift pump and a GPC. 500 bucks later i decided to see what the market was.
drove it around for a month with a 4k price on it.
it was a dog compared to my 7.3 PSD but i wanted to leave the truck alone because it was super clean.

ended up selling it for 3k and a 87 F350 CC LB 4WD w/ a 6.9 and t-19
but the truck was in pieces.

after i purchased a 7.3 with an ATS, i fell in love with the power, the sound, and the brick nose.
not to mention the lack of a CPU.
now i own several IDI's and the simplicity, the ability to run WMO. WVO, the lack of smog laws, makes me love these trucks even more!

my truck will hang with a stock PSD, and IMO pretty impressive!
now its a custom, and i dont ever see myself getting rid of it.

 

Weren't you the guy who had the thread about swapping a PSD into an idi truck?

 

hahaha... that is gold. That sucks, but is funny

 

My first time actually driving an IDI was when I test drove my truck. My wife was next to me in the front and the seller was sitting in the back crew cab seat. I got up to about 35 mph in 4th gear and he told me to pull the red lever on the shifter to engage the GearVendor overdrive. Like an idiot I reached down and pulled it without clutching and gave us all whiplash as it slammed into overdrive. That mule has been kicking me ever since... but I'm getting the upper hand and with the help of R&D payback is going to be a b*tch.

 

First time riding in an IDI was in 2006, helping my mom move, her boyfriend rented a Uhaul 26' International box truck. Good lord that thing was slow!


First time driving an IDI was when I test drove my old F250 in 2007. Having heard about IDI's I was surprised how well it ran, it did not feel as slow as I was expecting.


I would love to own another turbo IDI eventually but living in the rust belt, the old IDI's rust apart and nobody hangs onto them because they trade up to a Powerstroke. I see an IDI once in awhile but it's not often. I wish I could have kept my truck but I had a feeling it wasn't all that far from a rusty death itself.

 

I think I fell in love in 2001 when I went with my dad to buy a wrecked 89 f250 (for parts for his 89 f350) that later became my first and current truck. Loud, smokey, ran like crap, looked like hell, but intrigued me nonetheless. 10 years later (2011) he helped me repair the body damage,replaced a water pump, return lines, filter head, and some other things, and started driving it from then on. It's become something I'm proud of.

 

My first actual time driving an IDI was around 8-10 years ago. It was my uncle's 91 F350 with around 400,000 miles on it. It was hard to start and slow, from a great lack of maintaining her. He also had a 97 stroke F350 that I hauled farm equipment with. Wasn't long that I decided to get a camper so I needed a truck. I wanted a Cummins but the prices of them! I always loved the obs Fords, so after a good time searching, I found my 94 idit. Love it and wouldn't trade it for two powerchokes!