oliver foster

Took Vern's old W250 out for a ride yesterday. Looks like my job of cleaning up the grounds worked. The speedo read spot on and was steady. It has had an issue where the speedo bounces since I bought it.

The working CD player, the replacement OEM armrests from my collection and the improved / better attachment of the door panels where also a nice addition for cabin comfort.

Now to throw in the stiffer AFC spring and do a little tuning, now I can drive it. I am looking to slow the onset of fuel with lower boost #s. Now that is makes 30 PSI I do not want the fuel pin to be at full fuel at 15 PSI.

Rug_Trucker

Will that improve fuel economy? Less smoke going through the gears, and better at cruise?

KRB

Sounds like progress Oliver! Hopefully you're having some nice spring weather to enjoy as well.

I need to keep searching for more grounds to clean up. My speedo still goes bonkers occasionally. I need to pay attention to what is on or off when it happens.

oliver foster

Rug Trucker,
Yes it should improve MPG a bit. I am not looking to cut back on maximum fueling. I am looking to just delay it, so it is more in line with the HX35 turbos 30 PSI boost curve now. The old spring is so soft that you can not tune it well, so it does not compress to give you full fuel at say 20 PSI

Mostly just looking to clear up lower boost smoke as I live in a small town and everybody knows me as the Dodge guy. Puffs of black smoke every gear shift, as the turbo catches up, just gives the hippies something to point at and hate.
I do not have the patience to explain to Prius drivers that my 30 + year old Dodge diesel truck is better for the environment than the electric car they trade in every 5 years....That runs on power made from a coal plant 100's of miles away. Basically they are driving a coal powered car.

It will also keep my engine oil cleaner over time, which keeps my motor happy.
So I will get a bunch of small bonuses, while loosing no performance. At the end of the day, I just like being efficient.

oliver foster

I was working on Vern's old W250 and I figured I would test the intercooler system with my boost leak tool and some shop air. It seemed to be low on boost at light throttle.
Driving down the road at 50MPH with light throttle it would read 0 PSI. Rolling into the throttle and it would build boost to 30 PSI.

Sure enough I found a pretty decent hole in the OEM intercooler. After testing 9 different '92/'93 OEM intercoolers I had stashed on my shop shelves, I found only ONE that did not leak. That included intercoolers from trucks NOT from rusty New England. The intercooler I had brought back from AZ for the Gauntlet build...Leaked. The spare from the donor truck I used on the build for Project Covid which was from Florida...Leaked. I finally found one from a 2wd D250 from NH that did not leak.

I got the intercooler out without draining the A/C system by holding the A/C cooler out from the grille area while I snuck out the I/C out of the core support.

While putting everything back together I noted an intercooler boot that was looking tired, so I swapped it out. I noted one of the turn signals was cracked so I swapped in a better spare.
Before reassembling things behind the grille. I applied Fluid Film to the lower core support welds / metal seams, where I see them rust and rot often.

Today it is raining, so I will take it out to test out my work, and adjust the AFC spring if needed, tomorrow.

I got to hand it to nonrev, he sold me a really nice, solid truck years ago. Just a little fine tuning and it will be even better.

edwinsmith

Are intercooler leaks fixable?

oliver foster

You would need to have some one re-core it to fix it right.
Mark, on here said he had a local shop do it but I have not seen pictures to know much of the details.

Rug_Trucker

The Powerstroke is a good upgrade IC from what I am seeing. However fabrication is in order. Is any of the Mishimoto's a bolt in?

Oliver did you just test the IC's with water laying flat?

oliver foster

Yes I just filled each one with a gallon of water,
The one I ended up using held without making a wet spot on the floor for an hour before I poured it out, cleaned it up and installed it.

FFS [Far From Stock] does sell a Mishimoto IC but it needs some custom work to make it fit IE mounting brackets and boot / tube work. It also costs $$$

Berta

I was lurking and thought I'd chime in with regards to 7.3 Intercooler swaps. I spent way too long looking for a used Power stroke 7.3 Intercooler with aluminum end tanks and finally decided to just go aftermarket, looked into the mishimoto intercooler and didn't like the price so I kept looking. What I found was an aftermarket 7.3 Intercooler part # CSF 6029 Heavy Duty Plate/Bar Design; w/ Aluminum Tank Design on Rockauto for $335 usd / $460 Can . It didn't take much to get it fitted, move the a/c condenser back, remove material on both sides of the rad support for the larger tubes, fab up some mounts and shorten the hood latch about a 1/2", new boots as the I/C has larger tubes. This intercooler performs wonderfully and is extremely well built. Hopefully someone finds this useful!

Small update - I went back and double checked and there's a cheaper version still aluminum end tanks but I believe with a traditional tube and fin style vs the bar and plate of the HD version.

CSF 6017 - $120 USD / $165 CAN
CSF 6029 - $335 USD / $460 CAN

Prices taken from Rockauto as they were the cheapest at the time of writing this.

oliver foster

That is great to know. as I am out of good 1st gen I/Cs
Thanks

Rug_Trucker

Thanks for the info!

oliver foster

Quite a bit cheaper than FFS I/C option at $1200, plus their bracket fit kit for $215 plus some boots for $180.
FFS also sells a budget friendly version of that I/C for $750.

Rug_Trucker

Who is FFS?

oliver foster

Far From Stock.