Non-Turbo Power
 

Hey, so turbo's have been beat to death in this forum, I'm wondering about what there is to do in the way of gaining power without adding one. My uncle (back yard mechanic) and I have been tossing idea's around and his experience with diesel's is limited, and I've learnt everything I know from him, or here.

I'd love to say that I'm going to turbo this truck, but realistically I won't, there are to many maybes on it's history. Yes it's strong, and seems to run great, but it would just be opening a whole can of worms, and likely result in a lengthy rebuild. This is IDIDieselJohn's type of thread. I look at it this way, I can drag and keep up with most trucks my size, if not smoke them N/A if I shift it properly regardless of year. That and eat Jeeps for lunch. This build concept isn't about fuel economy, or setting any land speed records. If I want to go fast I'll borrow my brother's car, and as long as it gets better gas mileage than my uncle's 460, and my mothers F150 4.6L I'm good. Plan on getting a cheap 4.9L bronco soon for shorter runs around town, or into the major cities, the stop and go kills my gas tank.

I do have plans to turbo a IDI, but it'll be a late year 6.9 that I have completely rebuild, and will be part of my Centurion Bronco build I am hoping to start next year, and I will be stealing every idea imaginable from NMB2's build threads. But that is for another day. I've got a shop this summer and some help if needed, and we are curious what this engine can do.

Here is what I've done, and what I plan to do, I want to know what is out there to look into. The plan is to lift it between 3-5" and put 35's on it.

Straight Pipe
K&N Air Filter
Cowl Induction
4.10 swap in progress.

To-do
Upgraded Injectors (Glow plugs as well)
Turning my IP a flat or two (Till before it starts blowing out blue smoke, hate that on diesels when empty)
Going to re-work my exhaust to likely 4" and put a straight through muffler on it, I feel N/A 4" would be deafening, 3.5" can be irritating at times.
Rebuild/upgrade E4OD
Hydro boost

Might do
Upgraded Torque Converter (BD Diesel sells them locally)
Exhaust Brake

I know that you can replace your camshaft, but I don't exactly know what that would do power wise, I remember some talk of it, but I half payed attention.
With gas engines you can replace the headers and get more power, I believe the principles are different on these engines, but I don't know. I haven't heard of anyone selling diesel headers, would there be any benefit on these trucks?

Idea's would be great, thanks if advance.

4.10's and 35's don't make for a good drag racer. Trust me :-X22

I wouldn't be concerned with installing a turbo, even if the history of your truck is unknown. All of the mods you have done, or are planning have to do with getting more air in and out. My truck has over 250K miles on it and I'm in the process of a turbo install. I'm figuring that it should run cooler and not work the engine as hard which will prolong its life. And if it don't, then I'll upgrade to something else.. 6.9? 5.9? 6.7?

Stan's Headers used to sell an IDI header. Not sure if they still do.

Jason

i'll be posting up my custom built Y pipe i had made very soon in the marketplace.:)
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/m...ture-001-1.jpg
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...e-exhaust.html

whoever buys it is going to need to have it welded a little.i frigged with the thing forever trying to get it off for someone but i couldn't take it anymore lol.nothing major.just around the front custom collector i had to torch out two slots and spread it to get it off the pipe.
you'll see in the pics when i post it up.no biggie.
she'll be priced to sell.;) so keep your eyes open.i'll try and post it up tomorrow.
that or go with true duals.ditching the factory T is is a good start.
ditching the fan for electrics isn't a bad idea.
other than that,i think you named about all there is for N/A really.
the headers cost about the same/slightly cheaper than what used turbo's having been going for lately lol.so $ for $ it's not comparable.

Yeah I just fool around with the racing other trucks, mostly guys like me just having fun, nothing reckless or endangering others. I drive like an old lady 90% of the time.

I'll look into Stan's IDI headers.

Mind posting a picture of the Y pipe?

puttin on a turbo not only increases your power and fuel mileage but it does make your motor work less. i have 2 6.9s i have a 86 ext 2 wheel drive i have an aftermarket ats turbo its a 4 speed with a gear vendor over drive i got alot of money wrapped in it. i got some other work done to it like ip turned up and injector work. i also have another 86 ext cab 2 wheel drive but its an automatic and i dont have a turbo on it my turbo truck gets better fuel mileage egt runs 80 degrees cooler on it as well. guy i bought it from kept records of everything when i bought it it had 350,000 on it i put a turbo on it 6 weeks later turned up my ip and bought different injectors for it and i aint dont nothin else to that truck motor wise at all. and i can hook up my goosneck stock trailer load it with 30 sows and out pull my buddies 01 cummins all day long and get better fuel mileage doin it.

The headers seem to be a lot of money for not a lot of increase, so I'll likely pass on them unless a pair surfaces for cheap locally.

With this truck, I'm a fan of the mechanical simplicity, not a mess of electronics or things that can go wrong. I tend to end up in the middle of nowhere a lot, and my truck survives a lot of things my buddies vehicles don't (and I've dragged them out). So the e-fan, and a turbo add more things that can break or go wrong when I least want them to.

I plan on having a second rig which will get a turbo for big towing and stuff, this is more of a truck that I can toss a camper on it, take her into the bush/wild up north and not worry about it.

The turbo is very simple in design and function. If it is in good condition, it should give you miles of trouble free service.

When it comes down to it, most of the mods that can be done to increase the performance of a NA aren't going to amount to much. You're still limited to atmospheric pressure. A turbo is the best bang for the buck. You can find systems as cheap as $400-500.


Jason

I'm not looking to win truck pulls, just want to see what can be done, and what I can learn and do for my next build, as likely anything I do on this one that I like or works well will be repeated.

I don't need to be sold on a turbo, I just don't want to turbo this truck. I'm aware it is the best way to make large amounts of power on an IDI, that is not what I am working towards with this truck. My next one will be a turbo IDI, and everything going well my following truck will be a CC/DRW 1st gen powerstroke.

If you can hit 150-180 hp NA I'd be more than tickled. Good luck with the build.

I thought there was a guy on OBN that had like 180hp on his n/a? Idk maybe check YouTube

Aren't these things rated 185hp/360lb·ft stock?
Or is that just a nice number that sells trucks but isn't realistic?

That's crank power. I'm talkin wheels

Haha, wow brain fart...

You saying I wasted $600 on useless shiny pipes? :'(

I never dyno tested my rig with and without headers to see the difference in numbers but I mean to. I noticed a difference in acceleration but it is probably the same as what would happen with a good open exhaust, but hard to say without doing tests. The price is worth it if you like shiny things or something different, but otherwise I'd say it is a wast of money.

I've heard of people adapting over a K&N cold air intake kit for a powerstroke. That shouldn't be to hard but I never heard what difference it made.

Another piece of advice I can give you is to find a way to get that 10 pound clutch fan off the front of your engine. I'm currently adapting an electric fan now that I have my rig taken apart again. The electric fans for the PSD or the Cummins are plenty for an idi. I like the idea of taking all that weight off my water pump anyway, probably make it last a few more miles.

Haha, when I dynoed mine n/a I hit 140/286 with the soup bowl mod, 2.5-5" exhaust (lol) and my pump up 5 flats. EGTS were in constant check....thing was a dog...

I've heard good things about the e-fans, but it seems like something that could screw up when say your driving through a creek, or small river. As apposed to say.... a mechanical fan. I suppose one could rig a circuit that I can disable it from inside the truck.

I tossed a K&N air filter, it's supposed to have nearly 3 times the airflow over the stock filters according to the box (I'm not so gullible to believe it's exact), but it really feels like it. Nothing scientific just how the truck performs when I put the throttle down.

With the addition of the cowl induction my EGT's are much lower, even when doing stupid things.... Like flooring it up steep hills...