Geez....so many forums here, I didn't know where the heck I should post this...so I guess Admins, move as needed?

So anyways, I currently have a 1990 CCLB/7.3 IDI Banks turbo/5 speed/4x4/dually...solid drivetrain, but I've always disliked the interior of this truck, all bench seats, and it's power nothing inside. I've thought about swapping in power seats, power mirrors, power windows, etc to make it all more comfortable for long drives, then while looking for other vehicles, I've seen a number of 2000+ MY trucks set up the way I'd like, but with bad motors, for dirt cheap.

Which made me wonder about the feasibility of taking my IDI motor/trans/transfer case and dropping it into the newer trucks...I realize that of course, anything is possible given enough time and money, and that I'd likely destroy any resale value, and it would be easier to just buy a new motor for the new truck (never understood those responses...of course it would be easier...it would be easier still for me to just visit a dealership and cut a check for a brand new truck too!)

Knowing virtually nothing about these newer trucks, I'm wondering about things like the IDI motor physically fit in the engine bay? I'm assuming getting functional gauges might be an issue, as I'm guessing they're all driven off the ECU by that point? Are the cabs clearanced properly to fit the ZF trans and transfer case in, or could I just bolt the IDI to whatever trans would already be in the truck? I'd either be looking specifically for another manual trans truck, or swapping in my current trans, and it would be 4x4 either way.

 

I am going to leave this here for now to see if it generates any responses. What year truck are you thinking about doing the swap with?

 

trans will need to be the one you have on the IDI.
and the ZF will fit with no issues if you are talking about a superduty.
the 99 came with a ZF-5 speed, after that they had ZF 6 speed and the 6 speed is larger than the 5 speed.
engine should fit too without any real issues. you may need to modify the turbo mount to clear the cowl, since the 99 and newer trucks cowl sits over the engine.
qauges will be custom, but that should not present too much of an issue to make your own dash with aftermarket gauges.
guys do sorta the same thing when they put cummings and international DT366 engines in the superduties. so i would think the
IDI will probably be a bit easier being a smaller engine.

 

There wasn't one particular year or truck that I was looking at, but I've seen several in the early 2000s, say 2000-2005, that I've seen with bad motors or no motors at all, which I'm assuming were early 6.0 failures? Either way, they were all under two grand, and a buddy mentioned a 2002 truck he knew of that he was sure I could drag home for under $1,000, which is what got me thinking about all this.

At this point, I'm not dead set on the idea, and really just looking at it from the standpoint of it potentially being cheaper than making the modifications to my 1990 to make it more to my liking. All told, it may very well end up being more money and aggravation than it's worth, especially being that I had completely forgotten about the engine sitting under the cowl on the newer trucks....it's already a big enough PITA doing work on my engine now, lol.

 

If you want this moved to the super duty forum, let me know and I will take care of it for you.

 

Like I said before, I wasn't really sure just where to put it, as it's involving both newer and older stuff, and I didn't see anything that was like general truck tech. I figured there probably weren't a whole lot of Superduty guys looking to put an ancient diesel in their trucks either...

 

Probably just easier to jazz up the interior of your current rig...

 

It would be easier to just go buy a brand new truck too.....

 

What do the smog laws in your state require when you want to use a different year engine with a different year truck? Also, since you are willing to take this project on, why not try to find a real decent 1990 - 1996 that has all the goodies that you want and transplant the motor into it?