Altitude???

[BuilderBob]

You gave no indication that you would driving daily at an altitude of over 10,000', you mentioned that you would crossing Pike's Peak once, Why would anyone make huge upgrades to cross Pikes Peak? There are different routes! makes no sense, other than you want it.

If I were crossing Pikes Peak, I would fill it with fuel, add PowerServe, grab a diet coke and go

Heres a straight answer;
IDIs are cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, cheap on insurance,
everything else is expensive

[jcfb]

Yes, but my main concern was that I will be living near Winter Park, CO in about a year, and a half. I'm not sure how high it is, but it's above Denver, so I'm guessing around 5500'.

[85Hauler]

I live at 5200 feet and my truck even before the turbo had no problems. Thats not to say it doesn't have more power at sea level but it runs just as well as any thing else at altitude. The motor had almost 400k miles on it before I installed the turbo. My truck has pulled trailers all of its life. I bet it has less than 20,000 non trailer pulling miles on it. It has been over Loveland pass (11990 ft) on a few occasions and sure it was slow up there but so was every other truck. My point is 5500 feet daily is not that big of a deal you can turn your pump down a bit or use less of your right foot if your EGTs get too high. Maybe I missed it, I see where your adding up cost of upgrades but where is the cost of a powerstroke truck?

[jcfb]

Well, the cost of a newer PowerStroke would be slightly less. I also have the concern of lifting my truck. I have to do a TON of repair work to test cars at my vo-tech, everything from front bumper to rear bumper. I am allowed to do this to my own vehicle, but my truck absolutely maxes out the lifts, and I don't feel comftorable lifting it to work on it. I'd like something I can pull into the vo-tech bay, lift it, and work on it. I currently cannot do that with my truck.

[Shaffer]

Couple points here:

1. Why do you need to lift your truck to work on it? Isn't there enough room to work on it without lifting? Where I work, we have a lot of trucks of various sizes, and a few lifts. We generally lift Hummvees and other smaller vehicles, but the bigger vehicles have enough clearance underneath that lifting just isn't needed.

2. All NA engines lose power at higher elevations. I live at 4700 feet, and power on my NA (#&%! gasser [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/vomit.gif[/img]) vehicles is noticably lower than when I take trips to lower elevations. You just get used to it. NA diesels will also run hotter EGT's since the fuel input from the pump remains the same. The best plan is to install a pyro and drive by it. Or you could just use less pedal to keep the smoke (and high EGT's) down.

3. Sounds to me like you want a newer truck with PSD power and are looking for a justification. You don't need one. If you want a newer truck, and can afford it, then go ahead and get one [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

[thefermanator]

Watch the auction site. I've seen complete turbo setups go for well under $1000 complete for the 7.3L IDI. And guages are not that expensive.

[jcfb]

Well, I might not sell it right now, but in the next three years I will be moving out of country, and it would be better for me to sell it here, and buy another vehicle there, rather than ship my vehicle over.

[BuilderBob]

[ QUOTE ]
better for me to sell it here, and buy another vehicle there

[/ QUOTE ]
Where is "here"?
Where is "there"?

[jcfb]

Here is America, there is somewhere in Europe. There's several campuses of the same college, I was thinking about going to one of the ones in Colorado, but I have decided to go to one in Europe.

[agnem]

I think your selling yourself short. Take your truck to Colorado and give it a chance before you set your mind on selling it. A young fellow like yourself can self maintain an IDI a whole lot better than a PSD, and if you put a turbo on it, you have the satisfaction of knowing you did it. If it doesn't please you then, go ahead and sell it. It will be worth more with the turbo then without.

[huskyhauler]

[ QUOTE ]
What are the advantages of the IDI?
What are the disadvantages of the IDI?

What are the advantages of a PowerStroke?
What are the disadvantages of a PowerStroke?

[/ QUOTE ]

ok sorry a bid slow on that response...

IDI good: easy to work on, parts are cheap, parts are readily available new and used
IDI bad: 7.3l not properlly serviced with SCA will cause cavatation, low on power
DI good: gobs of power even at alltitude, sometimes better fuel economy than and IDI,newer truck
DI bad: not really a DIT'r motor to work on.., tools are EXPENSIVE, parts can be at time hard to find as well as expensive (waterpumps for example), fuel system can be a REAL nightmare if it was not previously serviced in the past

Both have there goods as well as bads. I guess it would be a personal taste. Most people find that after buying a DI that the cost of ownership is terrible. I think of the amount of times a customer on an IDI drives around with a bad injector or two, and never realizes it. try that with a DI, and you know it, and fast. I carry a spare used pump, a set of good used injectors, fuel filter and tools to do all of the above. All of it will fit in a standard "Husky" portable toolbox. with a DI, you need to carry more than what most rubbermaid totes will handle. with the amount of sensors as well as injector issues the DI has, i have always been sensitive on purchassing one. if i was going to sell my IDI to buy a "newer and more powerful diesel" it would likely be a 12V cummins. hate to say that, but i always thought the PS diesel was an engineers nightmare. i have spent many hours under the hoods of 94.5-97 f series with fuel problems. the worst would have to be the intank filter that came apart, and messed up every fuel delivery passage from the tqank to the filter..

[waggkey]

If you are moving to Colorado, most front range cities require you to get emissions tested even with diesels.


94 e350idi