Ford 7.3 Diesel...only 185 HP

ScottG wrote:
I remember. My FIL had a 6.9 that he had turbo'd after he almost couldn't pull his fiver up the hill they lived on (5 mph floored!). Turbo made a small but useful difference.
At the same time I had a 6.2L Chevy (Detroit) diesel with a big 155 HP. Man was that thing gutless. Got my first Cummins after that with 160 HP and 400 lb/ft of torque and even with a TC in the back it would blow the doors off that poor Detroit.
I think the newer diesels are less maint. at least as far as oil changes go.

I had a 1987 GM 6.2L non-turbo GM diesel back in 89 - 94 and it was replaced with a F-250 and 351" engine.

Back in 1989, the 460" V8 at 225 HP was Ford's most powerful pickup engine. The 6.9L never came from the factory with a turbo, and I helped install one on my buddy's dad's truck. It went pretty well, on one Saturday. That made a huge improvement in towing his 25' long Terry fifth wheel.

I saw a F-350 dually (remember the 10,000 GVWR and only 2,000 pound cargo rating of a dually truck?) with a non-turbo 7.3L for sale. It was exceptionally low mileage due to being a reserve fire department truck. I think the mileage of the 20 something year old truck was only 25,000 miles.

The 6.2L diesel that I drove needed new heads at 87,000 miles, as well as new heads in the van in my department at 95,000 miles (a $7,000 repair) and before they needed them we retired the other dually GM 6.2 that had a 4.56:1 rear axle, and only could do about 70 on the freeway before hitting the governor, and slowing down. . .

It is good that the horsepower has increased a lot over the years! And that transmissions have become much stronger, to keep up with the power increases!

That 160 HP Dodge can increase a lot in power, way up to about 210 HP, before changing to the 4 valve heads, and then they can make much more power.

Fred.