Dropping Fords new 7.3L in a Gen 1

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B E N

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The gen 2/3 is going to be a different challenge. With the more sophisticated traction control, electronic suspension, EPAS, and digital controls you almost don't have a choice but to integrate the (a?) BCM somehow. It may also have more stringent emissions requirements (need to verify) which could complicate things with the DMV.

The SVT is more straight forward, as long as the gauges can be made to read the rest of the truck is independent enough to be worked through without becoming a straight up gutted race car. The BCM only needs a hand full of signals to keep the gauge cluster, lighting, ABS and traction control functioning.

With the gen 2/3 I think it would be more straight forward to dump raptor suspension on a 5.0 truck and supercharge that. No worries about ABS, TCS, emissions, climate control, lighting etc. Kind of a win on this since you get the much lighter truck, and your not tied to the Raptor price tag.
 
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Richard Hinsley

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There is no such thing as "liking forced induction" Every engine will make more power with positive atmosphere. Prochargers version is making around 630hp at 7-8 psi, this is a conservative tune on an otherwise stock engine.

The 7.3l seems like a pretty good candidate, the obvious hurdles are:

Its a single cam engine, sensors and logic don't match the 6.2l at all. This means there isn't a lot of hope of controlling it with the stock engine management system. If your truck is caveman bare bones this isn't a huge deal because the integration of the 7.3l control pack (supposedly forthcoming from ford) would be fairly straight forward. However if your truck has all the bells and whistles the integration is going to be difficult. The early trucks that have minimum traction control and lack the multi terrain modes and advanced sync integration will be much easier than the later gen 1.

No one has done it yet, being the first is an expensive proposition.

Pros:
The 7.3l is lighter.
It will essentially bolt in, uses the same engine mounts, same trans pattern. It is slightly longer, but narrower... more room for turbos.
There is already more aftermarket support for this engine than there is for the 6.2l.
6 bolt mains from the factory, heavily reinforced block, forged crank, deep skirted block.
Rods/pistons are not factory forged, of course neither are the LS platform. With the rigidity of the block these will make good power on FI applications without need of tearing into the bottom end.
Basic mods and tuning push this engine over 600hp, that's supercharger territory for a 6.2l.
The cylinder heads are very good, room for plenty of lift, early ported forms are flowing 395 cfm. This means around 800 HP NA is possible. There is already a build at 790hp, and it is destined for a 3 liter whipple, if it was running more compression it would be over 800.

It's already being embraced by numerous tuning shops and swappers, aftermarket support already exists and the engines haven't even started to populate junkyards.

Saying the 6.2l is superior to the 7.3l is a bit like saying the 5.4 is superior to the 6.2l. The 7.3l is more displacement, more head flow, 2 generations newer engine management.

I hope this will be a someday project for me. 2-3 years from now these engines will be available from low-mile totaled trucks for a few grand. Right now with crate engines being the only option, and the aftermarket still being in fledgling state it will be difficult to accomplish. I have no doubt we will see these migrating into newer and newer vehicles, and then its just a matter of someone doing it.

Yes it's rated at 430hp from the factory, only 19 more than the raptor. Its also rated at 475 ft-lbs, 42 more than the raptor, but look at the curves: average torque is way up. Its at that power level with NO power enrichment, and a truck tune for low grade fuel and heavy loads. Tuning produces 60 ft lbs under the curve and 50hp, more if your willing to switch to premium fuel. And remember, this is on a heavy duty truck cam.

Ford intentionally neutered the tuning on these engines. It makes the EPA happy, and more importantly keeps the diesel on top of the heap for horsepower. The 7.3l is a $2,045 option, the diesel is $10,495, they are not going to usurp it.

The sad fact is no one is swapping engines in gen 1's. Its a tough pill to swallow on an inherently special, and valuable vehicle.
I'm going to rebuild my 6.2 when its needed and try to get to the 500hp mark N/A .
 

PorterW1111

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the whole banana will come down to BCM to PCM integration. If dropping the new 7.3 into a truck becomes problematic due to computer integration, not many will be willing to undertake the project.

there is no freaking way that I'm even going to consider dropping $55K to have a shop drop a supercharged coyote into my truck when the crate motor and supercharger together are under $20K at full retail.

While a different animal completely, the only holding me back from ditching my ecoboost has been the pcm to bcm integration.

So much so that I am seriously considering either tearing out all of the ford electronics, rewiring the basics and going LS power, or simply buying a wrecked F-150 or F-250, swapping the drivetrain in, and using the donor truck's wiring harness to run the entire truck, since most ( if not all) of the Body electronics are identical.
Completely agree with this approach. Basically a wrecked 250, a shell of a 150 and the same 30k in long travel and fiberglass regardless of what vehicle and you are set.
 

zombiekiller

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Completely agree with this approach. Basically a wrecked 250, a shell of a 150 and the same 30k in long travel and fiberglass regardless of what vehicle and you are set.

hell, it took me 9 months just to figure out how to get all of the dash lights to go out from swapping my seats.

next time, I'm just gonna take the freaking bulb out of the dash.

to borrow a quote from a friend, " I just need a motor that I can bang off the revlimiter for 2 or 3 hours at a time, is that too much to ask?"
 

PorterW1111

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hell, it took me 9 months just to figure out how to get all of the dash lights to go out from swapping my seats.

next time, I'm just gonna take the freaking bulb out of the dash.

to borrow a quote from a friend, " I just need a motor that I can bang off the revlimiter for 2 or 3 hours at a time, is that too much to ask?"
Hahah what your saying you can’t just use forscan to turn off warning and airbag lights? Lol
 

zombiekiller

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Was pure sarcasm knocking that forscan will fix all of your issues as if you had a “stock” truck bahah

you'd be amazed. Did you know that the computer doodads that generate the shift signal to tell the transfer case to shift also control the blower motor for the hvac?

and if you reset the keep alive memory, they'll both start working again?

I swear Ford makes things overly complex on purpose.
 

PorterW1111

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you'd be amazed. Did you know that the computer doodads that generate the shift signal to tell the transfer case to shift also control the blower motor for the hvac?

and if you reset the keep alive memory, they'll both start working again?

I swear Ford makes things overly complex on purpose.
It’s stories like this that make me want to go carbureted lol
 
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