Im currently looking at purchasing a 1977 F-150 and doing a restoration on it and installing a 7.3L Powerstroke (possibly). What I wanna know is if this is possible to install or if anyone has ever done it. I would like to do it cause ive never seen a 77 with a diesel motor in it and think the truck would look bad a** with a set of stacks and i love that older style truck. Any help, comments, or info would be great.
Thanks Dan

 

Any engine can be put in any vehicle if you have the capability and resources. This one shouldn't be too terribly difficult, there's a lot of room under the hood of any year F150. I do question whether the frame can even begin to handle what the Powerstroke can put out. Perhaps you should consider boxing the frame when you strip it down to do the resto? Just make sure you get everything you're going to need from the Powerstroke donor vehicle; that means engine, tranny, PCM, harness sensor array, fuel tank(s), line(s) and pump(s).

 

it may be easier to find a donor truck and swap the '77 cab and bed over to the ps's frame instead of fully boxing your 1/2ton frame... they'e doing that on a few episodes of "trucks" on spike tv on the weekends... thy're swapping an older 70's f350 body on a 98 ram 2500 frame with a 12v cummins... havent seen the new episodes since my dad screwed up my dvr box

but hey, it can be done with some patience and some coin

 

. . . .

Also see Quint's '78 Bronco 5.4L & the H4rd.

 

i almost swapped a 7.3 powerstroke into a 76 3/4 ton ford pickup. only thing that stopped me was the fuel prices at the time(when it was $4/gal) so i had to save up my money for fuel for my truck. in a half ton truck you may want to consider beefing up the front suspension too(ball joints/king pins, springs, etc). a diesel engine is heavy and can wear the front end out fairly quick.

 

is there a certain year donor i should be looking to use?

 

i'd go for a mid to late 90's...

but like i said in my last post, it would be easier to find a donor truck and swap your body onto its frame than to swap the engine into yours. you'd have to get new motor mounts, radiator, you'd need a D60 axle, the D44 cant handle that much weight, a 10.50 or a D60 in the rear if you plan on towing, along with boxing the entire frame, new fuel system, the list keeps going on. plus if you plan on towing/hauling, if you swap the body onto an 3/4 ot 1-ton frame you know it can handle the weight... if it where me, i'd swap onto a early-mid 90's cummins frame... cummins gets better MPG's and still smokes pretty good! a twin turbo 12V does sound pretty awesome too...