E99 Ford 7.3 ZF6 Build Log - "Daisy"

[TxFarmTruck]

My name is Dean, I've been a long time lurker on this site and after stealing many ideas from build threads over the years I figured I should contribute my small share to the wealth of inspiration here. This thread will be a chronological log of the progress on my 7.3, partly for my own reference. This truck is my daily driver and all around work truck that sees mostly highway miles and a lot of back roads and "farm" terrain. The plan is to build this truck into a solid platform that I can use to travel around the country when I get to that place in my life.

I bought the truck about three years ago from the original owner. Had about 280,000 miles, exhaustive service records since day one, and every receipt for every part ever. Super clean inside and out and essentially stock. Took me awhile to find but it had everything I wanted: unmolested 7.3 diesel, 6 speed manual trans, manual transfer case, manual hubs, power everything else including key fobs for the locks. 6 seats and 4 doors, straight front axle and an 8 foot bed. Good enough for a start.

How it looked the day after coming home: (still figuring out the picture thing, hopefully this works)

More to come.

 

[TxFarmTruck]

A few days later as I was going through the truck checking things out and changing fluids, I noticed a small crack near a mounting tab on the stock intake box. That was enough of an excuse to install a 6637 filter with a RiffRaff sock, which I highly recommend on an open element filter. I got about 25,000 miles out of that first filter, with occasional cleaning of the sock.

And a picture of the interior of the truck as I got it. Stock aside from the huge janky trailer brake controller in the way and the little walmart switch that was for backup lights under the bumper that were long gone. All I had added were some Weathertech floor mats and you can barely see my old CB leaning against the front of the jumpseat.

This happened too many times on those tiny 235/85 Michelins. Also could barely cruise 75 with 3.73 gears.

So I ditched the mud collecting hub cabs and got a set of Cooper Discover ATP's in 285/75 (Sorry for the blurry pic)

Then I threw together a headache rack and painted a good old RKI coffin tool box for it, and plastidipped over the peely chrome of the back bumper. Also cleaned up and soldered trailer wiring and added some Amazon LED work lights under the bumper that held up shockingly well.

More to come.

 

[TxFarmTruck]

Ditched the huge trailer brake controller:

Craigslisted a ranch hand bumper:

Drove it around:

Washed it occasionally:

Worked with it:

Played with it:

Parted out a few trucks and found some parts for it:

 

[TxFarmTruck]

Then it was time to get a little taller. Scavenged a set of snow plow prep springs out of an F350 and ordered a 2" mini pack for the front. My truck is an early 99 4x4 F250 so it already had "F350" 3 5/8" blocks in the rear.

Before:

During:

After:

Also got brand new Ford replacement headlights out of a parts truck and threw those in. Also hooked up a Blue Sea 12 circuit fuse block with negative bus and added a light bar and a pair of Hellas.

Then I discovered a slight pinhole in my stock exhaust where the original owner had swapped in a 3" piece of pipe to delete the muffler. Oh well, time to upgrade. 4" MBRP turbo back straight pipe:

Downpipe comparison to stock:

Finished product: (Ignore the ugly factory clear bra paint protection sticker thing, it's gone now)

And it still did work:

 

[TxFarmTruck]

Then I managed to take a chunk out of one of the Cooper tires. Wasn't severely damaged but I wanted bigger tires anyway. Had a new Cobra 29LX CB in it at this point with a 4' Firestick. Also upgraded the head unit to a double din touchscreen Kenwood, and swapped to a slightly smaller RKI toolbox.

Temporarily threw some Procomp wheels and 295 Nittos on it, because I had them:

Then got a set of 315 BF Goodriches on the factory Alcoas:

And cruised it around. Highway mileage got up to about 15 average with stock tune, intake, exhaust, wastegate stuck shut, and the 35's. Also found a new Ranch Hand on craigslist for the rear and finally threw some limo tint on the back glass.

That is all the pictures I have in photobucket, bringing this thread up to about last September. Much, much more to come as soon as I get some more pictures loaded up.

 

[toastyjosh]

nice!!

 

[TxFarmTruck]

Thanks!

A little hint of what will be coming in the future:

Axles out of an 06 Super Duty. Coil sprung front D60, rear Sterling 10.5. 3.73

And a complimentary photo of the truck being used for fun purposes:

 

[TxFarmTruck]

A few other upgrades.

08+ Tow mirrors: (Still need to swap someone for amber corners)

Sealed beam LED reverse lights in the bumper rather than underneath:

Rebuilt leaky oil cooler:

(No after pic but I painted the tube red and polished the aluminum ends to more easily spot future leaks)

New third brake light:

Replaced old busted vent visors: (Can also kinda see pillar gauges)

OEM cab lights, painted side molding, and can kinda see the 8' stainless CB whip:

Before pics of interior: (Headliner got real bad recently and what's left of the old tint is turning purple)

And some during:

And a more recent picture of the truck overall:

 

[Nathaniel0712]

 

[TxFarmTruck]

That's a good looking truck. Mine is creeping up on 320,000 miles now, I think I'm at about 318. I may be doing the clutch this summer, as the truck is only on it's second clutch and I'd rather replace it before it leaves me SOL somewhere.

Also digging the 05 front end swap on yours. I have most of the parts laying around and have been toying with the idea of swapping for awhile.

 

[Nathaniel0712]

Yeah my clutch only has about 50K on it along with the rebuilt ZF-6. I believe it still has a dual mass flywheel though as I'm getting creaking noises very intermittently from that area. I haul a lot long distance and I don't want to be stranded either. I just got back from dallas with a CCLB Duramax that I'm quite tempted to replace my ford with although I bought it to sell up here as it is very clean and rust free.

The newer lights are so much better, they put out a lot more light that the earlier units and they look great doing it. I have an OEM bumper and aftermarket grille/lights and support. the whole swap costed me about $275.00 after selling my previous bumper. Totally worth it.

I also installed a red-head steering gearbox about 15K miles ago and it is hands down the best thing I have done to this truck for drivability. That steering has absolutely ZERO play in it now and I enjoy driving the truck so much more.

 

[TxFarmTruck]

I put a Red Head box in one of our other 7.3 tow rigs and is definitely a winner. Only reason I haven't swapped this truck is because I am swapping gear box and all from my axle donor truck, and that 06 was a gas engine with 100k miles on it and steered perfectly before I ripped it apart.

If I don't swap the whole front clip I will probably at least swap my fresnel headlights to the 02-04 clear lenses.

 

[norcal*PWRstroke]

Looking good Nice work!

 

[TxFarmTruck]

Thanks!

Got pictures of a few more mods uploaded. A lot of these are just little things I've been working on to try to update the truck and make it more pleasant to drive.

All new cooling system with coolant filter:

Mag Mount:

Suede headliner:

Painted side molding and fresh tint: (Double limo for 2.5% tint on rear windows)

Amber mirror corners:

Sound deadening:

Threw together a little "truck purse" to clean up the cab:

 

[Nathaniel0712]

Hows the coil swap coming along?