Reliability of a 7.3L with the banks turbo added 1992 F350

[350zDCalb]

I just typed a good long post and the forum froze and lost all of my text....

so, in a nutshell, I am about to buy a 1992 Ford F350 with the Banks Sidewinder turbo. How reliable is this setup? Any issues I should know about?

The truck is a good deal, around $6k (still negotiating) what do you guys think? It has the following:

1992 Ford F350 dually- 4 door
new transmission
new tires
new glow plugs
Banks Sidewinder turbo
auto tranny banks dealy
new paint job, interior looks perfect, great condition overall

I only need the truck for towing a small trailer with my rock crawler truck on it, or my Nissan 350z to track events. So, i read that the opinion on the Banks turbo is not that high for big power, but that's not my main concern- my concern is reliability of turboing a non-turbo engine.

Do the 7.3L non-turbo and turbo engines have major differences to accomodate forced induction? Anything recommended to up reliabilty, or is it good to go as is for my towing/traveling needs?

Thanks for your imput,


TODD

[Fozz]

I would say that's a pretty good buy, I have the same truck, and really like it. Hopefully, the current owner didn't drive it too hard. I bought my truck with 80k on it and an ATS turbo, and it runs pretty strong. I did develope a small headgasket leak last year. Pulled the head and had small stress cracks on every piston - truck still ran great. I pulled the engine and rebuilt it with turbo-rated parts (pistons/rods). Ford didn't offer a turbo until 93 or 94 which had the beefier pistons/rods.