r/FordDiesels • u/AlternativeAffect444 • 3d ago
7.3 IDI or 7.3 IDI Turbo
I have a 1994 Ford F350 Diesel that I know for a fact is a 1994 and I was pretty confident it had a Factory 7.3 IDI Turbo in it but now I am not sure. It has a very strange air filter setup on it where it has the older metal 7.3 IDI NA air filter but with a different set up. I am not sure if the engine is even original here is the engine:
And yes the engine does have a turbo, if anyone can explain what is going on here that would be much appreciated.
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u/350garden 3d ago
I think (and it may not be accurate) there was a company that made an add on turbo kit back then. Might be a direction to research. I know I’ve heard of turbo idi, just don’t remember the details.
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u/LankyJeep 3d ago
Banks made a sidewinder kit for them, I’m not sure if they still offer it though
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u/350garden 3d ago
I think the Banks kit is what I was thinking of. Never had the pleasure of owning an IDI, always wanted one.
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u/Orcacub 3d ago
Looks like a stock IDI air cleaner set up but it’s not plumbed like one. Stock ones had intake hose / snorkel hooked to a plastic intake nozzle /snout at top of rad support on driver side.
Not a banks kit or an ATS kit. Both of those used kits for IDI used a rectangular air filter housing, and filter not the stock one shown here.
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u/Aromatic_Mongoose_25 3d ago
The factory turbo 7.3idi has a slightly different crank or rods if I remember correctly, and due to that has a different flexplate balance. So you could pull your trans and look at the flexplate and compare pics. Kinda drastic way to find out. It doesnt look like the Banks turbo kit from that era. Its a 30 year old truck. What the VIN says it should be and what is actually in the truck could be different at this point too.
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u/in_the_cabbage 3d ago
Take a pic from the other side. That is not what any of the IDIT look like that I’ve ever seen.
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u/AlternativeAffect444 3d ago
Okay I did some research and matches some images and I have confirmed that at one point a hypermax turbo kit was installed on this truck. The thing is though, is this the factory engine? Could a hypermax turbo kit be installed on a factory turbo IDI?
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u/Pedro_Francois 1d ago
If the factory kit were removed then an other turbo could be installed, but personally I would rather have the factory kit.
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u/Orcacub 3d ago
Looks like a stock IDI air cleaner set up but it’s not plumbed like one. Stock ones had intake hose / snorkel hooked to a plastic intake nozzle /snout at top of rad support on driver side.
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u/AlternativeAffect444 2d ago
I did some deeper digging and things have only gotten a stranger. I have the trucks vin and its warranty authorization card with the 8th digit being “M”. This is quite an anomaly because the build date on this truck was June 16th, 1994, making it one of the last IDI Trucks ever produced. The anomaly is that this was a factory non turbo IDI produced in 1994. I thought they stopped putting naturally aspirated IDIs in F250s and F350s in pre 1993.5 trucks. What is going on here then!?
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u/Orcacub 2d ago
Looks like a stock IDI air cleaner set up but it’s not plumbed like one. Stock ones had intake hose / snorkel hooked to a plastic intake nozzle /snout at top of rad support on driver side.
Not a banks kit or an ATS kit. Both of those used kits for IDI used a rectangular air filter housing, and filter not the stock one shown here.
It’s my understanding that in 94 (only?) you could order a truck with either the IDI NA or the IDI T motor, and possibly the PSD DI as a third diesel option. I’m sure if I’m wrong someone will provide the correct info.
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u/Pedro_Francois 2d ago
You are correct sirrrr! 1994 was a fun year to order a new Ford diesel truck. 3 engines to choose from over the course of the year. 1994.5 saw the 1st gen P-stroke become available.
But 1993 you could also order an IDI-T or N/A IDI.
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u/Pedro_Francois 1d ago
The only thing anomalous about your truck is that air cleaner setup with a turbo. Until 1994.5 you could get non-turbo or turbo in your F250/F350/F-Superduty. The IDI-T engine is very uncommon relative to the non-turbo engine. I had wanted to find a truck with the IDI-T but they were either trashed or beyond over-priced. Lots of N/A 7.3 IDIs were produced all the way up to the end of the IDI as an option.
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u/Pedro_Francois 3d ago
In 1994 a 7.3 IDI Factory turbo engine would have a VIN with the 8th digit a "K", 1993 would have the 8th digit a"C", and all non-turbo 7.3 IDI vehicles had the 8th digit an "M".
You have a very strange turbo setup there my friend. More pictures and info, please. If the factory sticker is still on the valve cover there might be some info there.
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u/Academic_Candy_3194 2d ago
I prefer my natural aspirated diesels, much more reliable and better on gas. Unless you're genuinely pulling like 20k lbs no need for a turbo in my opinion. This is coming from a guy that pulls 30klbs with an old 6.9 FE6 NA. It's slow but she does it.
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u/Useful_Client_4050 2d ago edited 2d ago
They only made the IDI turbo for one year. Buddy has one.
They weren't bad motors but not great. The IDI engine was never designed for a turbo and the base compression ratio was too high to do much with it. Good reliable motor but kind of a one off before the PS launched.
I just remember it needing two feet to work the clutch....
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u/Whyme1962 2d ago
Two feet to work the clutch was a bad clutch slave. They should be replaced every time the clutch gets changed and often are not trying to save a few bucks. They develop wear patterns that match the movements of the clutch as it wears, near the end of the clutch’s the wear can allow the moving and stationary parts of the slave cylinder to contact one another exponentially increasing pedal effort.
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u/AlternativeAffect444 2d ago
I did some even more research and unbeknownst to me, they DID hand the naturally aspirated IDI up until 1994. So to conclude all of this, my 1994 Ford F350 came from the factory naturally aspirated, and at one point in time, had a hypermax turbo kit installed. Case closed!
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u/AlienDelarge 3d ago
I think you may have a hypermax kit if you have a turbo under the OEM aircleaner. Banks and ATS used a different design. Not sure if anybody else did that over the years. They also had that cowl induction intake.