7.3L Ford Diesel
I friend of mine has a 2003 F-250 with the 7.3L Diesel for sale that I am going to look at tomorrow. It has 75,000 miles on it, and I know it has had meticulous care (he is a retired heavy diesel mech...
Forum Discussion
Lessmore wrote:BigToe wrote:
...." my first truck prior to that was a 1963 F-100 with a strong 289 and three on the tree."
Sounds like a nice truck. Think back then, didn't Ford have the 'unibody' truck bed ? Maybe that was a couple years earlier.
Your '63 probably.... originally..... had either the 292 Y block V8....or the six. The 289 might of been a replacement engine. But however it was originally equipped, it would be a nice vehicle.
Yes, my 1963 Ford truck was definitely a unibody. That was one of my issues with it... the rust between the bed and the cab. Unlike subsequent Ford pickup bed designs, the unibody bed didn't have enough provision for drainage when parked head down.
Still, there was more metal on just the dashboard on that truck than the entire body of my current crew cab Super Duty that has a plastic dashboard. I think that 1963 could have rusted for a long time and still held together, although the bed to cab junction had perforated through.
The floorboard to my 79 also perforated through with rust. The 79 had the last of the metal dashboards in a Ford pickup, and it was several times thinner metal than the 63 dashboard. But at least the 79 had a dash pad. Obviously newer trucks are much more human friendly when in a collision.
My 63 could very well have had the 292 instead of the 289. Now that you mention it, the 292 also rings a bell of familiarity. Perhaps I was thinking of the 66 Mustang with the 289.
I do know that I did not have a six cylinder. I may not remember an engine displacement than differs by 3 cubic inches, but I can still remember the difference between a straight 6 and a V8. The engine in the 63 was original. I remember there was something unique about the crossover exhaust though. It's been 30 years since I've seen that truck.
