Was just on Wikepidiea. Said the 6.9 was a Internation Harvestor gas motor converted to diesel. I never heard of this. The only moto i know of that was the GM 5.7L that was a gas and they slaped some heavier heads on it and put injectors in it instead of spark plugs. Does anybody know anything about this. Not saying its bad just wondering.

 

From my experience the IH motor was always a diesel. It has been used in farm equipment, tractors, and combines for years prior to being used by Ford.

When Ford introduced the first diesel trucks they did not want to take a chance with their excellent reputation for F-Series Pick-ups so they went with a very proven and bullet prove engine design and the 6.9l was it. Some folks(like myself who don't just chase hp) would argue the the 6.9l motor is the best diesel Ford has ever put into their trucks. How many times have folks on this web site testified how bullet prove a 6.9l with a C6 or a T19 is. Anybody dis-agree?

There are lots of horror stories on the 5.7l chevy diesel and even the first Duramax was not very good (injection pump problems).

Although I think in the last two to three years GMC has given both Ford and Dodge a real run for their money. GMC finally seems to have a decent overall package including engine, transmission (especially automatic) transfer case, drive shaft, axles and overall truck appeal. The only problem is the darn thing now cost $CDN 60,000 new. Every time I think about that it really cheers me up because I got two very reliable trucks and still have spent only a fraction of that.

What do you think.....


Seb....

 

There are several rumors about the gas engine as well as a couple about it being designed by Caterpillar originally.

After looking at the inside, I would go for the Cat rumor first.

 

I'm not taking the time right now, but there was a big debate over this somewhere, and they actually got the company memos out, and yes, it was based on a gas block, but that's where it ends. They beefed up the block, redesigned everything to be a true diesel. The 5.7 was so close in design that the heads from the gas version will bolt on directly, but the bottom end is beefed up as well. You can't do that with the IH gas and diesel motors, nothing will swap. It wasn't necessarily designed just for the light trucks either, like the 5.7 was (and cars) but more for as mentioned, tractors, medium trucks and the like. Basically, what they did was reworked the casting molds, but built a completely different motor.
I found a reference to the arguiung here on FTE, but I eneded up coming up with one from the diesel stop...Number=2913052
I don't go there all that much, they have earned their nickname of the drama stop... good info, if you can cut through the bs to get to it.