It's been five years since Ford built a 7.3L Power Stroke, but that doesn't mean it's been retired from service.
We've done a few build-up projects in past issues, including the Re-Powered 12V Cummins story in Volume 2, Issue 1, and of course the big LLY Duramax buildup that spanned three or four issues of Diesel Tech. Well, now it's the Power Stroke's turn. This story starts the build-up of a 1999 Ford F250. We're going to show you Ford guys what aftermarket parts are out there, who to look to for quality performance products, why we chose them and how they work. We're going to turn this beat-up, worn-out, near-the-grave work truck into the ultimate diesel street truck-a mean little diesel burner every Ford Mustang owner will learn to be scared of.
A few months back a search on Craigslist turned up this little beauty-a bone stock, stripped down 2wd 7.3L PSD powered work truck. It was owned by a tire store and spent all 225,000 miles of its life hauling tires around-steel bed rack and powered lift tailgate and all. Yeah, we mean work truck. Manual crank windows, manual door locks, vinyl flooring, and even steel wheels, it didn't come with many amenities. Well, it does have a sweet bumping AM/FM stereo and an A/C unit.
For the bargain basement price of $3,500 this would be the perfect candidate for our 7.3L resurrection.
Before we started the performance buildup of the truck, something needed to be done with the appearance. As cool as it was to pull this beater out onto the Rocky Mountain Raceway drag strip at the DHRA Utah Nationals in August and have every person in the crowd cheering it on, we had to do something with its looks. Yes, you read that right, we actually bracket raced this truck in bone stock form, chains on the lift gate whipping in the wind the whole way down the track. Heck, we made it into the semi-final round in this old junker. There's something to be said about a stock truck's consistency.
Some quick searches on Ebay rounded up some 2005 F250 headlights and a used rear roll pan-the lift gate had to go. A chrome bumper and chrome grille from the junkyard, some tint for the windows, and some factory take-off aluminum wheels and tires from a 2002 F350 Super Duty and it's starting to look like a regular truck. For less than $700 invested in parts, we have a decent looking daily driver now. Future plans include a suspension drop kit, some big fat 20-inch wheels and tires and maybe even a 6-inch single stack, but that will come soon enough.