So a .020" over .010 lowered height coated/anodized piston for a 6.9L would be PN#1411667 right?

 

That's right part #141667 .020 oversized Piston Assembly, With Hard Anodized Crown For Aftermarket Turbo w/-.010 Comp Height
6.9L 420 CID

 

As for the heat being held in from the anodized head and valves, wouldn't it escape through the exhaust gasses and with that close of a tolerance from the compression ration, there shouldn't be much left. Since the exhaust gasses then would be the medium for holding the heat energy since everything else except the cylinder wall is coated to reflect the heat radiation, should't this heat energy escape along with the gasses..? Just a thought. If this is true, It would help reduce the exhaust valve from overheating and flaking apart (or whatever happens to it when it gets really hot) and help reduce head cracks. If it starts to crack the exhast manifold/headers, well hey, At least you don't have to tear the engine down to replace them!!! Im just thinking again, so forgive me.

 

Well, I done some research and called a place or two that is local to me about possibly coating the heads. I was told and read, that is was not reliable to coat steel or cast iron parts, I was told that If I had alluminum heads that it would be a great idea and would more than likely add performance, but they feared the coating would just flake off of a steel or cast iron head (and apparently it could also cause a violent reaction).

I did read some really interesting information though:

Anodizing also has imporved wear resistance, the deeper pores can better retain a lubricating film than a smooth surface would. For example, the cylinders of a modern BMW aluminium V8 engine have no loose liner: instead, the walls are hard anodized.

Looks like it might be very usefull for guys that are running newer engines with aluminum heads and blocks.

I guess we will have to think of some more good ideas. I guess we could get really creative and mill our own heads, that sounds like a lot of money though.

 

pm me info on those pistons i would like to know about them

 

I'll see if I can forward you the the info he sent me on the pistons in a PM.

 

I sent you what I have but I'm sure he gave me a web site to look at that had all of the info on it.
Hopefully he'll reply to this thread and hook you up.

 

I sent him a PM too.

And I thought I would add that I finished this swap and I am very pleased with the 7.3L. I am still waiting on a radiator as I had to order one of the short and wide radiators to fit the gasoline core support, Currently has the stock 5.8l radiator for the short term.

When I put the engine in the truck after doing some upgrades, I redid all the wiring for the glow plug setup, ran one heavy 4 gauge wire straight to the relay instead of through the connector that likes to burn, I put a new starter and new battery cables on the truck. It was 15F outside the other morning and I let the glow plugs run one cycle and the truck started with what sounded like less than 2 rotations of the engine, So I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Now I am just doing some body work and getting it ready for a spring paint job.

It's not dented or anything but I had a few rock chips and I had to weld in a fender wheel arch on the passenger side of the bed, I would rather just put a new bed but I hate to have to drive forever to get one that is in good shape, it seems like all the ones around here and in the same shape as mine, which isnt bad but isn't perfect, because the wheel arches.

 

You might want to start a thread on where you are getting the radiator as the sore spot in the engine swap seems to be the diesel specific core-support.
If a radiator is available that gets the job done it might be good info. for people.

 

Well from the measurements it should fit, but I will wait til it comes in Monday and I get it installed before I say for sure.

The swap was pretty easy, but there are a few little things that would be a pain without another truck right there for parts, specifically driveshafts, and the yolk on the rear end. Even though the truck had a ZF5 before and a now has a ZF5 with the diesel the original drive shafts would still not work, I had to drive back to the parts truck and get both drives shafts, I think the rear diesel drive shaft was 2-3 inches longer and the front drive shaft was 2-3 inches shorter. The rear U-joint and yolk was also much larger in the diesel even though both trucks had 5 Spd trannys and 10.25 rear ends with 4.10 LS.

With the diesel engine, the entire drive train sets 2-3 inches closer to the front.

Oh and the original transmission crossmember works but you have to drill a couple new holes. The same for the diesel motor mounts, the passenger side bolts right down, but only one hole is drilled on the drive side of the crossmember for the diesel motor mount.

 

I was working on the rearend of my '94 this week and I just made an observation about the u-joint.
Although the one in the Ford is probably plenty robust, the one in my '91 Dodge is HUGE by comparison, as is the drive line.
If you ever have the oportunity to look at one in a first generation Dodge you should, you'll be impressed.
Don't look at the front one in the Dodge though, it's PUNY by comparison. It's the same size as the ones in my Dodge half-tons.

 

Got the radiator and put it in today, it fit perfect. The only thing I had to do to make it fit was cut off the tabs where the radiator used to sit for the gas motor, The mounting holes for this radiator are already there and everything. Part # CU1166 at Autozone, it is even a 4 row radiator so it should have no problem cooling the truck in the summer. With this radiator 8 gallons barely filled it up.

 

Paralell twins on a 6.9 is my idea... LOL
I plan on doing it with a pair of gated T4/3 hybrids with a T04E compressor, so that I will be able to do 15 psi or 25 psi, without getting too far from peak compressor efficency, also helps you can pick 'em up really cheap on e-bay... LOL
I plan on doing away with the stock exhaust manifolds all together and building a pair of weld-el turbo manifolds, so no worries about exhaust pipe connections, the turbos will bolt directly to the manifolds. I also thought about doing away with the stock intake manifold, and building something tubular, but, I don't think the extra work over just buying a carb hat is really worth it.
While it sounds like a very complicated project, once the math is done to size the turbos, the rest is actually very straightforward.
I don't plan on intercooling my setup, as it's not going to be a dd or tow rig anymore, strictly going to be an off highway playtoy, and an I/C isn't going to help when it's plugged with mud or do much at sub 5mph speeds.
I plan on putting it all together without modifying the engine any and running it at 15 psi for proof of concept, then I will drop the compression and raise the boost.

As for drivelines, the early IDI's (88 and older) run standard half ton 1330F U-joints for the most part. The 88+ stuff is 1350, which is the same cap size as the First Gen dodge 1410, but with a smaller cross. The later Dodges run even bigger, 1480's, which is the same as a D60 wheel joint.
As for the front driveshaft, GM and Dodge both did the same thing, decent sized CV at the transfer case, and a dinky little 7260 sized joint which is laughably small on the pumpkin of the D60. I think a D30 axle joint is bigger... LOL

 

I ended up mounting my turbo down underneath by the transfer case. It has the same amount of exhaust pipe as say an ATS Kit or a Banks kit but none of the crazy 120 degree turns. I was going to run twins on homemade manifolds but the engine bay is already so cramped and I didn't really want to put more stuff in there to clutter it up and cause more heat. It seems to be working great, I am going to make some more runs and see how much boost it is making. I didn't want to run it hard until I got the right radiator on there. But now that I have that done I can see what it will actually do. I have 4 inch exhaust coming off the turbo and I plan to run it up to stacks as soon as I get the bed finished.

Oh and there was a guy on another forum that made manifolds and mounted a set of t3/t4's on them but I never found out how things went for him because everything on that site was lost.