A quick NASCAR reminder for those who don't remember. NASCAR rules are designed to make the cars run equal, remember? After Dodge destroyed the competition back in the 60s, NASCAR redid the rule book to make the competition more fair. So that drivers beat drivers, not cars. This way a driver's skill is the factor in the victory, not a car beating the competition cause the rest of the cars can't keep up. Of Course, Ford had the biggest power problem of all the manufacuters for some reason, but it was only on the NASCAR circuit. The after-market never had a problem though on the street, but on the oval track they (Ford) struggled to do well. Hence, restrictor plates and spoilers and a million other rules to rob Dodge and Chevy of their powerhouse motors.

 

I had a friend that had a early 90's chevy diesel. I remember trying to upll with that thing, i am surprised it could get the 4 horse bumper pull moving. The truck had no pulling power at all. All cehvy diesels are that way, even on the books they look bad. The duracrap had 540 lb's or torque, the 6.0 PSD has 560, and the cummins had 555 lb's or torque. Chevy had never understood the term low end torque. We had a 97 chevy 2500 with a 350. The thing is worthless. It can not pull our trailer, the trailor jerks the truck from side to side, and it can barly stop it. Then the motor went out of it. The truck had damn near perfect maitnince, wix filters and mobil oil. every 3000 miles. Then we got another motor, now this one is starting to do the same thing as the old one. I do not beat my trucks, but they go through quiet a bit pulling our horse trailer. Loaded its about 10000 pounds. We got our Power Stroke diesel in summer of 2000. Now we have put the diesel through more hell than the chevy, and the diesel is holding up. In a 3/4 ton truck, i expect low end grunt, not i high winding motor that lopes. The chevy had to wind up to about 3 grand before you started to get any power, and after that it seemed like you were beating it, when you are just trying to use it for its purpose. Now you chevy boys can keep your waste of tin, i will stick with my ford, because i will be the one pulling you out of the ditch.

 

78fordman,

"We got our Power Stroke diesel in summer of 2000. Now we have put the diesel through more hell than the chevy, and the diesel is holding up."

Obviously...you have never had the distinct pleasure to tow with a Ford 6.9L Diesel...they were junk.

If you pulled with an early 90's Chevy, you now doubt had a naturally aspirated 6.2L Diesel. Now you are comparing it to a 7.3L Turbocharged Diesel in your Ford???? What planet are you on????

As for the 350...try pulling anything with a mid 90's 5.8L Furd...they ain't no mountain of power themselves. My father-in-law had the "pleasure" of owning one. It was a gutless wonder.

By the way...any truck over 8600 GVWR is detuned to have LESS power in order to meet emissions standards (I'm talking about the mid nineties). GM lowered the compression ratio in the truck you had and Furd typically either lowered compression or retarded the timing. A 5.7L or a 5.8L in a half ton would produce way more power because they didn't have to meet the same "heavy duty truck" emissions standards.

Lastly...I go camping frequently with my nephew. We both have 30' Fifth Wheels. I have a '94 2500 with a puny 350 and he has a '90 Furd 250 with a 7.3L Diesel. There isn't a hill out there big enough for him to get away on. In fact, once his diesel powers down into its low rpm torque, he loses speed and I pass him with my "puny" gasser. Go figure.

 

Ford 7.3L N/A Diesel is 170hp.
Ford 6.9L N/A Diesel is 150hp/305tq., next door neighbor has one of them.
Chubby 6.2L Diesel is 135hp/290tq., which is one of the trucks my Granddaddy has.


Actually after the first year, the 6.9L got better and became pretty reputable around here. Not too many 6.2L Chevys running around anymore cept my granddaddy's, it does ok, definitely not a speed demon, but it pulls alright for what it is, just can't keep an injection pump or a transmission in it (it's on its 3rd now). The 6.9L in my neighbor's F-250 is still plenty strong, runs great, original everything.

I agree the torque on the 6.9L and the 6.2L wasn't that great, but they made it low, which is where your 350 gas has its weakness, but that "gutless 7.3" was probably only turning 1500-2000 rpm, while your 350 is probably up near 3k or more, at least my father's does that when I have to drive it pulling a 8,000lb. trailer, its always around 3000-3500 rpm the whole time and its geared low too (4.10).

 

Before you bash the 6.9, you got to remember that the 6.9 was naturally aspirated. That means no turbo. I had an 1986 F-250 XLT Lariat Supercab Longbed with a 6.9L IH Diesel with the Banks Sidewinder Powerpack w/Banks Exhaust System. The power that this truck pulled was amazing. There was enough torque to twist the truck coming off the line if you stood on the gas and didn't spin the tires. The Turbo kicked in at about 15mph and the truck would lurch forward and accelerate. I beat a mercedes off the line with this truck, and I weighed twice as much. I miss that '86. She was a good truck.

 

Iwas referring to the SuperBird and 351 Cleveland specifically. BTW, I was down in your kneck of the woods today.

 

Heck, I don't know.

 

My friend owns a 1/2 ton 5.3 liter V8 99' 4x4 Sierra Short bed with a shell, it sucks!!! It is a gutless truck it has no torque whatosever!! And the Abs system is worthless.

 

Our Abs system froze up on our truck, the brakes are terrible we are thinking about, trading the chevy for a Ford.

 

Pkupman82, god bless the 300 six, I have one of those little bulletproof 300's and I will tell you once you go six you won't go back.

 

Too bad you can not get them anymore because of emission regs. The 300 was ford strongest motor, i think it out runs most diesels.

 

i have an 8.1 gmc 2500 hd and once u hit the gas ull whip the rear end all over the road n dont tell me it dont have power

 

You know there are those of us here that OWN fords and like ford, but at the same time think Gm makes a decent product.I guess you could say we see the good in different aspects of different makes. The Point is, WE OWN FORDS and have a Right to be here, we get information, GIVE information, get into some lite hearted debates, ETc... By your Sign, you dont have a ford..
You obviously dont like Ford, you think your brands best, and thats fine for you. So may I suggest one Thing, since you obviously cant bring any intelligence to the table.
GET IN YOUR 8.1 AND DRIVE THE HELL OUT OF HERE.

Ron
00 Excursion Limited 4x4 V-10

 

Hey,hey, ya'll be nice now. As a mechanic, I look at everything from the mechanical point of view. Remember that the 5.3L is GM's old 305 smallblock, which was never designed to be a truck engine. Works great in a Camaro (I have a '92 RS Camaro), doesn't work in a truck. About as good as a V-6 in a Chevy Shortbed. The 8.1L 496 Big-block is a different story. GM built that engine for two reasons. To compete with Dodge and Ford V-10s and to beat the Ford 7.5L 460 with the largest Big-block ever produced. The 8.1L is almost twice as big as the 5.3. Like comparing apples and oranges. Or in this case, it would be like putting the Ford 4.9L 300 EFI I-6 against the Ford 4-cylinder in a power contest. If you are going to argue , argue something that makes sense.

And another thing, don't talk about names making sense. GMC2500HD8.1496BigBlock tells exactly what the guy has: A GMC 2500HD 3/4-ton truck with an 8.1L EFI 496cid big block engine. That make sense.
But KTMGuy70 is a little harder to figure. My guess would be that you have a KTM dirt bike and another vehicle that is a 1970 model(probably a Ford truck, since you are in a Ford truck Forum) But a non-motorcross person would have trouble figuring that out.
Now don't think that I am trying to insult anyone here, cause I'm not. I just want to prove a point that you should think about what you say when you are defending something, otherwise you make yourself and everyone else in here look bad.

 

my name is pretty self-explanatory.

"GET IN YOUR 8.1 AND DRIVE THE HELL OUT OF HERE."

well, get goin already!