Pretty sure those plugs you are listing are all extended reach, correct? Just asking as I believe those Vortec heads all take extended reach plugs? I have pulled standard length plugs before out of engines that were supposed to have the extended reach plugs in them.

Yes, they are extended reach.

This things a far cry from a modern diesel as far as power goes. But back in the 90s, whether you were towing an offshore boat, a 5th wheel camper, big block gassers were the king. Diesels back then were junk.

This one pulls much better than the 454 TBI did. My tuned 6.0L ford diesel definitely had more power of course. Of course the gassers downshift alot more, doesnt have the help of a turbo to move it along, and diesels arent revving to 4500rpm, so they arent gonna downshift to a place they cant physically go.

Back when i had my 454 TBI truck, a buddy and i raced from a stoplight . I was towing my boat, he had his 38 cig behind his stock 7.3 dually. From 0 to about 45-50mph when we had to let off , the 7.3 had it by maybe half a truck length. Problem for me was keeping up on the highway with him. The turbo 400 not having overdrive made it tough to tow at 65-70mph without revving the chit out of it.

Was eyeballing a procharger kit on ebay last night for it , that be kinda cool . Whipple used to make a kit , but no longer does.

I miss my 7.3 stump puller, the 6.0 is okay now I put a tuner on it, also back in the there was a gasser called the 460, one of fords best.

This is true. My father-in-law had a diesel Suburban in the mid 80's. I'm not all that up on those older diesels like I was on the Duramax (since I owned one) so I don't know if it was the 6.2L or the 6.5L. But it was a dirty, dog of an engine. Vortec used to make supercharges for those 454's if memory serves.

We used to have those 6.5 and 6.2 diesels where I used to work . They were anemic! We have some 7.3 , 6.0, new 6.7L and gas V10 fords where i work now. The 6.0 is always broken or running like crap. The 6.7 is good so far, and lots of power. The 7.3L makes lots of noise, and annoys everyone. The V10s, just keep going , and going, and going. These trucks get beat, and often idle for hours on end.

I love prochargers but these are badazz also!

https://www.ststurbochargers.com

hell I damn near get sick of reading diesel magazines on how 5.7, 6.2, 6.5 chev diesels were such wonder full motors and the fords are all junk, ROLL EYES / course the 5.7 may be called olds or some stupid thing

STS turbo setups? lol. People still buy those?

I had one of the Olds diesels. It was in a car though, don't know how it would've towed.

The Olds was a 350 cu in gas engine converted to diesel. Epic fail!

They did bump up the thickness of the casting. That block was and still is the hot ticket for for a max effort olds gas motor.

Those 6.2 and 6.5 GM diesels, sounded like a box of glass diks

Last summer, i had to drive our old 7.3L truck for the day. It has no air conditioning. Had the windows down the whole time. By the end of the day, i wanted to lock myself in a soundproof room and stare at a black dot just to clear my head. The noise in stop and go traffic all day, good lord. You can have a better conversation at a slayer concert then inside the cab of that F250.

Back in the day I had a buddy that put a diesel in a 1982 Cadi Biarritz Eldoraaaaado, what a turd, sounded like the pistons were swappin holes

Turbos are cool, but i think if anything, id rather stick with something i can bolt on in a weekend.

Or maybe grab the 502 block a buddy has, and build a nice low rpm 565ci with some oval ports

Lmao. How about those 4-6-8 turds ....

I had a 81 coupe deville with that 4100, what a crap engine

My boss at the restaurant I worked at in HS had one. That thing never, ever ran right. 4-6-8, 3-5-7, whatever it takes!l

Finally got around to fooling with the truck again yesterday.

Swapped plugs out. Had NGK TR55GP platinum plugs in it. Shows they come with a .059 gap. I measured roughly .045-.050 gap on them. I must have narrowed the gap on them when I installed them.

Either way, they came out, and the new ac plugs went in, gapped at .045. Installed a new delphi cap and rotor. Old cap looked fairly chitty for only 20k miles on it.

Went for a ride, no change in knock retard. Still pulling 2-3 degrees max.


It was 50 degrees ambient yesterday. Running down the highway at 60-65mph, the IAT temps, were roughly 60 degrees. 10 degrees over ambient, with the stock air filter setup. Got off the highway, pulled off to the side and engine was idling for a while. IAT temps creeeped to around 95 degrees. I removed the lid from the air filter box, pretty much making it an open element setup like you see on alot of aftermarket KN style kits. Jumped back on highway, cruised at 60-65mph, IAT temps were now 75-80 degrees. Increase was about 25-30 above ambient. Got off highway again, let it idle for a bit. IAT creeped up to 125-130 degrees, and kinda stayed there in stop and go traffic.

The stock air box pulls air from the fender wheel, and with the lid off, simply pulls underhood air. I can't imagine what the IAT temps would be, with an open style element, on a hot summer day in traffic. Must be super hot.

Next thing I may try, is a 160 stat I ordered from hypertech. The only time I have got 0 Knock retard to date, is when the coolant was in the 140-160 range. I don't know if thats a fluke, or there's something to it.

I dont have anything hooked to mine so I dont know if it pulls timing or see's a knock output but mine only runs around 160 unless there is something heavy hooked to it. I am on my 4th thermostat and when they are put in it will run 190 but within 6 or 8 months it is back to running 160 so I just leave it that way. I had a leak in a radiator tank and it was down to half full of coolant and still never got over 160 so they cool pretty well if the stat lets it.