Thanks to their overbuilt nature, diesels afford us the ability to double, and sometimes even triple, their factory horsepower rating without having to dig very far into the engine. The 7.3L Power Stroke is one such power plant. Due to its relatively low horsepower potential right off the showroom floor (a ’94.5-’97 Ford typically dyno’s 160 to 170-rwhp, while a Super Duty usually lays down 190 to 210-rwhp), huge gains can be made with the right injector, turbo, and tuning combination. In fact, versions of the 7.3L graced with forged-steel connecting rods can be pushed to 500-rwhp, 550-rwhp and even 600-rwhp with relative ease.
However, there is no telling how long the stock rotating assembly or valvetrain will tolerate its newfound stress of supporting the added cylinder pressure, boost, and drive pressure that comes along with it. Some original short blocks last 100,000 miles. Others window the block in a matter of days. For those not willing to roll the
Ford’s master rebuild kit was one of the best and most affordable things to ever hit the 7.3L market. This baby comes with everything you’ll need, from new pistons and rings (standard bore, 0.010-inch, 0.020-inch, or 0.030-inch), rod bearings, wrist pins, main bearings and a fresh main bearing seal, to head gaskets, glow plugs, and even an oil cooler. You can find a complete OEM kit for a little over $1,200 (Riff Raff Diesel stocks them for $1,247). Irate Diesel also offers overhaul kits with additional options like de-lipped piston bowls, valve pockets, 3-stage piston coating, and coated main and rod bearings.
It all starts with a good machine shop. The cylinders in our ’00 block had to be bored 0.030-inch over for this particular build, but much more was involved than that. All main bearing surfaces were taken through an align-hone process before the block was decked and bored on the same square fixture. In many high-horsepower builds, the final cylinder hone work is done using a torque plate, secured in place using the same head fasteners you plan to employ in the build.