i bought a 7.3 idi f350 chassis truck that had a 460 in it. judging by what i found the engine has ran under its own since the swap and who knows when. if a person pull starts runs great. where to start. was going to try to repair wiring harness and fix bad splices. they kept the original 460 harness and spliced in at least 2 if not 3 posibly 6 different harnesses to make it work. none of which matched the engine or truck. a lot of shorts and dead grounds. i found a 6.9 liter in a salvage yard with a good harness. except 1 plug, so i pulled the engine harness and installed it. the dash should have been the same configuration. it wasn't. so i went back and pulled the dash and all the connectors. installed everything. i still don't have power to ignition switch and fuel pumps are now not working. i noticed on old harness they used the gas pumps and relays. but when i replaced it didn't have the connections for relays. on the 4 wire gas fuel hanress the orange and black wires where cut going into the fuel tanks also. and noticed i have 4 wires going into pump and diesels have 2 but 2 of the wires where cut. so i dont see a problem there.

i cant find a wiring diagram to figure out why ignition isn't working or if there's a connector missing. but being this came out of a matching harness i don't see why it doesn't work. also ignition wire to selinoid didnt work before also? possible in column? should i break down the harness and wire in relays for fuel pumps or is there another problem? i cant find a diagram of this year to go over everything.

i have worked on fords for years and tackled a lot of wiring projects but this makes no sense. got the truck cheap so trying to get it to run,

on a side note any ideas on trans? i hit 5th at 25 and can get up to 50mph. i can dead start on a hill in 4rth no problem, its in 2 wheel drive. 4.10 rear. was debating putting in a class 3 bell housing and a 12 or 18 speed. i like and need the torque but it would be nice to get somewhere in a decent time and take some rpms off of motor. was going to add a banks turbo that was installed from ford on the 6.9 salvage pickup. it is also exact fit to this motor i found out after research. from what i have researched ford didnt install many turbos in there diesels. good/bad? can get for less then $100 but not sure if its worth it. everything i read says don't.

any help on this is greatly appreciated.

 

I did this swap last year. I bought a motor and accessories from a guy but got to take the entire truck home and bring back what I didn't want. It's a fairly involved swap. All the wiring behind the dash and down the frame rail. I changed fuel tanks but could probably just changed sending units. Don't forget to change the filler necks, you'll remember at the fuel station the first time. Motor mount plates, 460 has plates riveted to the crossmember that have to be removed. Core support. If you have the zf5 you can use the diesel adapter plate as a template to drill a few different holes. It's not bad just easier if you have another truck to get all the parts from.

 

the 7.3 in this pickup actually lined up with 460 brackets, as there was no modifications made. still trying to decide on what to do on fuel situation. i will need to tie in relays for current in tank pumps to work, which would act as a lift pump which have there benifits. going to break down 460 harness and see whats involved for relays. fortunatley wiring under the pickup is the same on both so wont have to change that harness, just the engine harness. unfortunately cant find any wiring diagrams. i am not sure on filler necks, but i noticed the diesel tanks on a 88 with a 6.9 where larger and bolt up the same, so might pull my tanks or just add a tank or 2 in. going to go to a 3 tank setup after i stretch the frame by 4 feet.

and fortunately this pickup was all put together when i got it. but wiring was the biggest problem. and why i got it for only $600 because the dozen or so owners before me that bought it gave up. i have a good selection of parts at a salvage yard and in good shape, so far the biggest expense has been rebuilding battery cables.

 

Do you have an idi or a psd. The psd has a heck of a lot more worse involved.

 

its a idi non turbo. i honestly wouldn't near a psd,

update on progress

i did some checks and decided to pull dash and check ignition wire. 3 minutes dash was out, 3 8mill, 2 9/16 on steering, 1 12 mill and 4 t20 screws later. checked wires all good. its somewhere between clutch and engine compartment or faulty sensor. so i will be able to find the short now i know where its heading. and its about 4 degrees outside working on this, ha ha

biggest thing is the fuel pumps and deciding to add turbo or not. any advice, information or opinions is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

In all honesty the guys on the idi forum would probably have a lot more info than us on the powerstroke forum. Jmo of course

On a separate note I would personally pull the in tank pumps out and either use the the factory lift pump or go to a frame mount lift pump. Again the guys on the idi side will be more than helpful with recommendations on pumps and directions to go. I would also start by getting the truck running right and reliable before adding power improvers

 

I will say this-- If you can get the complete turbo kit for a hundred bucks, by all means do it. Adding the turbo and turning up the pump a little can make an IDI run with or a little better than a STOCK stroke. But it won't touch a modded one.

 

Agreed. Its is a much more practical way to go with swapping a gas to diesel. You would be better off swapping the body of the gasser onto the 7.3...

That friend of yours ever get that turboed 7.5 reliable?

 

its a banks turbo on a 6.9 and was installed by ford. so far haven't found another similar setup, and to me it looks like a ford experiment, either way it fits mine and price is right, although the newer banks are much smaller and have a lot less wiring and components. so i will think on all this.

i am diging thru trying to finds forums on this and its a lot of information to dig thru.

if someone added a turbo to a 7.5 i would be interested in what they did and how well it worked. i am at some point going to tackle that on my own but push the limit of this engine to "modernize" in some ways and try to squeeze the mpg's out of it. ha ha

 

I swapped a 1997 powerstoke into my 1989 f250 302 v8. Came out beautifully only major difficulty was dealing with the radiator and wiring. Had a custom 4 core radiator made to fit the gasser clip. I am 19 yrs old and did it in 3 months during my summer between schooling and working full time. I Fabricated motor mounts, Upped the front suspension, had custom driveshafts, and replaced the whole fuel system. Bought a donor truck 1997 7.3 for 2,000 with 150,000 mikes and came with the zf5 and e40d. If engine and tranny is in good working condition the swap is not too bad besides the wiring. Easiest way is to just swap gauge clusters and put in the new wiring harness. I believe is was well worth putting the powerstroke instead of the idi. Powerstroke will last longer anyway if you put a turbo on the idi, it is hard on it. And plus how many 1989-91 trucks have a powerstroke in them , hardly any

 

 

All of that is from post #13 or so. Mark is the guy for transmission questions. If he says it, you can bet the bank on it.

The 460 and the 7.3 are two of the best engines ever put in a pickup truck. Swapping between the two is foolish. At high altitude the 7.3 will run away because of the turbo. Otherwise they are too close to call. Not worth swapping. A swapped truck is a Frankentruck, a monstrosity, too ugly to see.

Buy a 7.3 truck if you want one. I saw one the other day for $2000 with electrical issues. I was drooling over it but I just don't have time to mess with it. You can find a deal, it will just take time. Drive the 460 or sell it.

It takes the same labor to fix a $70K dollar truck as a $2K truck. Don't be stupid with your time.

 

 

How so? Pulling a load across the high plains in Wyoming (6-7000ft+) it seems obvious enough. Low manifold pressure and the 460 struggles. The 7.3 blows and goes, good enough anyway. Tried it?

 

You can swap the valve bodies if you want to because they are identical. You won't gain or lose anything by swapping them. Why do you want to swap valve bodies?

The harder part is how are you going to get a transmission from a 460 to bolt to a 7.3L? The bolt patterns are different. I've been told that you can drill new holes in a 460 trans to get it to bolt up. I don't know if that is true or not.