Hi guys, I've benn hanging around here for awhile. This is a good site.
Now I need to ask for your words of wisdom and advice on my truck.
The truck in question is a 1995 F350 crew cab with a 5.8 ZF5 spd 4x4 4.10 gears. Its got 150.000 miles on it and the 5.8 is getting tired, I'm looking to replace it.
Heres what I thinking if doing........

1)I have a 88(?) 351 sitting in the garage that I'm thinking of building a stroker 393 out of it. This would be the cheapest and easyest way to go.

2) Do a diesel conversion. I've located 2 6.9's 1 is in a 85 F250/4spd 4x4 thats in salvage yard, It's been there for awhile and I think it's locked up and would need to be rebuilt. The other one is in a running truck. Thats a '86 F350/4spd/4x2. I havent checked this one out yet, I think he's asking too much for the truck (1750). If I swap in a 36.9/7.3 it would have a turbo, better injectors and IP to get the best out of it.

3) See if I could find a good deal on a 12V cummins and swap that in. This is mabey the best way to go if I do diesel.

I use the truck for eveything from daily driver to tow rig. I don't tow or haul heavy loads every day. I do tow up to 8000# from time to time. What i expect from a diesel conversion is reliability, the same or better MPG than what I'm getting now(12-15 mpg), Able to hold 65-70 mph while towing a load, performance close or better than what my 5.8 is now. I'm even looking in making my own fuel, bio,wmo.

The biggest hurtle I see with diesel conversion, is getting the computer to work with the diesel engine.

One more thing I'm diesel virgin, know very little about them, just what I've read on great sites like this one.

Thanks for you input.

Tom

 

1.) cheapest and easiest. Would still be a good truck with decent power and cheaper gas. towing MPG will be way different compared to either diesel.

2.) If you would like to swap a 7.3 in I would highly suggest a 7.3 powerstroke and not the earlier models.

3.) The best swap candidate IMO, many people have done this and they make mounts etc.. for the conversion. Conversions are never cheap, just ask me . Also whenever you sit down and try to figure out a timeline and price for total cost, Double the $$ and triple the time ahahha.

Hope that helped in the least

 

Thanks for the reply. It gives more to think about.
Its going to be a couple of years before I do this anyway.