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DIY T444E Swap

16K views 45 replies 8 participants last post by  Redlineauto 
#1 ·
I've been spending way too much time on these forums trying to figure out how to swap in a T444E to my 99.5 F250. Haven't found someone who posted a complete swap process yet, so I figure I'll be that guy. This is my first diesel truck, bought it a week ago and found out that someone went to a lot of effort to cover up what I suspect is a cracked block.

This is a work in progress, but I want to have it done in the next few days. Might as well start now though.

Picked up this T444E from a local junkyard today. $1500 out the door (well, before Uncle Sam got his cut), 114K miles, came out of a 2001 school bus. First engine I've put in my F150 that actually caused suspension sag.

Also had to drive the truck 5 miles or so from the shop that was diagnosing the coolant -> oil leak. Paid them an obscene amount of money to not only not fix anything, but make several things worse. Also, the truck that I bought a week ago got backed into in their parking lot, so that's a bonus. I'm taking the insurance money and putting it towards what I'll lose when I sell the truck. Had someone tell me it was leaking coolant at a stop light, but I had a mile or so left to go and the engine is coming out anyway so screw it, it's going to make it there whether it wants to or not. Here's where it was leaking, from where the shop charged me $200 to pull the water pump and look at the front cover for cavitation. Not sure I got what I paid for with that shop. But it made it home, so that's what counts. I guess.

After some head scratching about exactly how I was going to get the engine out of the bed of the F150, I got it on the hoist.

I don't have a stand that can hold this thing, so I pulled the oil pan tonight and cleaned it up a little, I'll get it spotless tomorrow. That epoxy is no joke, hopefully I can get things clean enough that it forms a good seal even without flipping the motor. The pan is one of the things that has to get swapped, so that was non optional.

Tomorrow the engine comes out of the 250, and then things start getting swapped. Be back with an update soon.

EDIT: Apparently I can't have pictures inline due to a low post count. That's unfortunate, it would be much more efficient to be able to just link them, but whatever.
 

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#2 ·
I have one in my 02. Block is the same. You move your psd accessories over. What doesn’t look psd, remove and replace.

It’s good you’re doing a write up - we’ll have it on paper this time.


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#3 ·
I wonder if you lucked out and got the “high torque” model T444E. They have larger single shot injectors in them. They make over 100 ft pounds more than a late model PSD stock vs stock. If you have these injectors and plan on keeping them, you’ll need single shot tuning


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#5 ·
Alrighty, nightly update.

Got a late start today, had some business stuff to attend to. But I'd guess I spent about 5 hours on it today.

  • Pulled batteries
  • Pulled bumper
  • Pulled headlights
  • Pulled fan and shroud - I think I rented one of the few good fan clutch removal sets from Advance
  • Pulled radiator, intercooler, and then front core supports
  • Detached AC compressor from the bracket, left it and the condenser connected and tucked as out of the way as possible.
  • Hurt my back
  • Disconnected all lines and harnesses going to the engine
  • Began on disconnecting turbo. Got it down to the clamp on the up pipe, fought with it for two hours, and threw my hammer across the shop at least once. I have this sign up for a reason.
  • Hurt my knees
  • Drenched that damn clamp in PB blaster and called it a night.

If anyone has a tip for that clamp, I'm all ears. I've hit it, I've pried on it, I've asked it nicely, I've called it every expletive I know and a few I made up. It's fairly loose on both sides, but I can't get underneath the turbo to loosen it there.

Also, when I finally get that clamp loose, what direction do I need to pull the turbo to get it out? I've read straight up, I've read straight forward, and I've read twist. I've tried yanking on it as it is, but it doesn't want to budge. Everything else is disconnected, so I'd expect to see a little bit of movement. But it's like it's still bolted down.

Tomorrow that engine comes out, and hopefully I can get everything swapped over to get the new one back in place, and then let the oil pan epoxy sit overnight and be ready to go Sunday morning. Goal is still to have it done by the end of the day Sunday, but if today is any indication I'm going to end up fighting something stupid and get delayed. Fingers crossed.
 

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#8 ·
Oops they are 1/2” and torqued 18 ft/lbs

Held down by two bolts

Two brackets.

And cac tunes.

If it ain’t coming off it’s seized to the rear collector.


—————signature—————
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...:uptight people suck:...
 
#12 ·
Fought that stupid clamp again for I kid you not two hours today. Eventually I hit the point of no return for my temper and beat the snot out of the turbo with a rubber mallet. Whaddya know, it came right off. I suspect that the clamp was free but the turbo was seized to the up pipe, leading me to believe that the clamp was still holding it. This has reinforced my belief that the solution to all life's problems is a bigger hammer.

After that the engine came out. As tips to anyone reading, the upper bellhousing bolts were loose but not out, since they were too long to get past the firewall. I lifted the engine up a little, then jacked the front of the transmission up enough to get those loose. Also, no way could I have pulled this thing without removing the turbo. Had to cut one of the wires to the starter, as the screw holding it in stripped. Also had to cut the wire to the pyro gauge since someone ghetto rigged it into place and it was not coming out. After making two trips to Advance for fuel line tools, and giving up on the fuel line connection at the block and moving to the connection by the firewall, I got it out and on the ground. Meanwhile, I took advantage of some free labor and got my dad to start pulling accessories off the T444E. That air compressor was heavy. Thanks a million Pops.

Took tons of pictures, soaked the exhaust bolts in PB blaster, and called it a night. I'm a day behind schedule at this point, so hopefully tomorrow I can get the accessories swapped over in good time and have it ready to go back in. Looking at everything that needs to be swapped is daunting, but it's just nuts and bolts. I have a feeling that the pictures I took of where everything is on the bad motor are going to be super useful.

Check back in tomorrow to see how it went. No more T444E specific information until I start swapping things around.
 

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#13 ·
Today's update won't have pictures, mostly because there's not a whole lot to take pictures of.

When I started this swap, I was told that there were only a few things to change. Front cover, oil pan, turbo, a few little things here and there... and that remains mostly true.

BUT

In order to change the few things that absolutely have to be swapped, EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE MOTOR HAS TO COME OFF. Here I was thinking I was in for a relatively quick job. Keep in mind that this is my first 7.3 and my first diesel, so when I hear that the timing cover needs to be swapped, I don't anticipate pulling the harmonic balancer, HPOP, fuel bowl, and just about everything else on the front of the engine, along with the oil pan and pickup tube. I'm in over my head but there's only one way to go and that's forward. But to anyone who happens upon this thread after researching this swap and being encouraged by the tales of just a few little things being moved over, don't be fooled. You'll be stripping this to the block.

Anyway, today I got pretty much everything but the HPOP and front cover off down to the block, and I stopped there mostly because the HPOP dumped a quart of oil on my shoes. Should have seen that coming.

Further things that I found out will need to be swapped include: intake plenums (I knew the pedestal had to change, but the size difference of the plenums was substantial), a pretty substantial number of hose brackets, and a few other small things that were obvious but that I'm forgetting now. Back to the point of helping people who are considering the swap, I would say just plan on stripping your PSD down to the block, setting everything aside, strip the T444E, and then start bringing the accessories (that you know are good) over from the PSD.

This is a much bigger pain than I expected.
 
#14 ·
Lol you’re doing a good job at a good pace. As I said anything that isn’t psd must be removed - which is the the whole top - all accessories must be move over that isn’t psd. It’s not a quick swap - it’s a lot of fxkking work! A van 7.3 is already A lot of work and it has psd stuff up top. The t444e is three times the work b/c everything on top + accessories must be removed.

Update us with more pics - we like pics even if we saw it over 100x + :)


—————signature—————
~Don’t overthink something simple~
...:uptight people suck:...
 
#15 ·
Update us with more pics - we like pics even if we saw it over 100x + <img src="http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />


—————signature—————
~Don’t overthink something simple~
...:uptight people suck:...
Thanks for the kind words, just a little frustrated is all. My shop is a mess, there's diesel everywhere, and I just keep thinking about the fact that I don't have any real assurance that this thing is going to fire up when I get it all done. Plus I'm flat broke, since I'm 4 grand deeper in the hole on this than I wanted to be and I haven't been able to sell the other truck yet.

What's the required post count before I can start doing inline images?
 
#17 ·
It may have been easier, I honestly just didn't feel like disconnecting all the brake lines and electrical stuff. I can pull the front end off pretty quick, and pulling the engine out at that point is very straightforward. Only real issue was dealing with the turbo, and that stupid marman clamp.
 
#19 ·
Still haven't hit the post requirement for pictures. Seems kinda restrictive, but I guess it limits spam.

Had to play catchup for business stuff from the weekend, so I didn't get very far today. Got the HPOP off the old motor, spilled some more oil, finished pulling the exhaust manifolds off the T444E (had to take the entire exhaust off the block at once, as I rounded off the bolts at the Y pipe) and swapped one of the plenums over just to feel like I accomplished something. Also used some steel wool and a liberal amount of elbow grease to clean the oil pan up to get ready to reseal. That TA31 does not mess around. Had to hose the pan out with brake cleaner to get rid of the steel wool shedding and scraps of old gasket, then hit it with the hose to make sure I got everything.

The real sticking point was the harmonic balancer. That's all that's keeping the front cover(s) on at this point, and then I can start putting the good block back together. I've got a pile of parts and only a general idea of where things go, so that should be fun. I rented a harmonic balancer kit from Advance, as the gear puller I had wasn't going to cut it. For some reason, the kit had three of every other kind of bolt that could be used for attaching the puller to the balancer, but only two of the ones that I need. I'll have to look at what size the bolts are, but if you ever need to pull the balancer, the kits you can rent don't have enough bolts. Kinda stupid.

Here are some pics of where the blocks are right now, the pile of parts I have off the PSD to put on the T444E block, and also the gunk in the CCV from water mixing with oil. If I ever buy another one of these trucks, I'll be pulling that off to look. Harder to hide that crap then it is to change the oil to hide the leak. Actually, I've learned a lot about things to look for when looking at one of these trucks. I still hate the fact that I have to do an engine swap right after buying the truck because someone was dishonest, but at least I'm learning something from the experience.

At this point, I'm looking forward to being able to clean my shop more than having the truck back together. It pains me to walk into work and see diesel and oil all over the floor, with so much crap laying around that it's hard to walk. Once I can finally start putting this all back together, I hope it will go pretty quickly. I'm now two days behind schedule, with at least two more days of work ahead of me.

I said when I started this thread that I'd make it clear what parts had to be swapped, but at this point I'm just bringing everything but the block and injectors over from the PSD since it all has to come off anyway. The T444E has AD injectors, and I'm guessing that since the truck is a 99.5 that it had the same thing, though I haven't pulled the valve cover to look. If I have to swap them I will, but I'm going to put it in the truck as is and see what happens.
 

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#22 ·
Alrighty, hopefully the end is in sight.

Today I finished breaking the PSD and T444E down and started to put things back together. Had to go to Lowes and get bolts for the harmonic balancer puller. Bolt size for the points on the balancer is 3/8 x 16.

Pulled the front cover off and spent a good bit of time with a can of brake cleaner, a can of gas for solvent, a wire brush, and steel wool cleaning up the pan, bottom of the block, and front cover surfaces. Pops helped out again today, and his standards for cleanliness are fortunately much higher than mine. Having a second set of hands was very helpful for mounting the oil pan and front cover back up. Don't forget the alignment pins on the front cover! Also swapped the pickup tube from the old block to new. Had to pull two head bolts to swap the tube bracket around. I hate messing with internals, but torqued them back down to 95 ft/lbs, so it should be ok.

Used the TA31 for the plenums, front cover, and oil pan. Didn't have the ability to flip the motor, so lots of brake cleaner, a good microfiber, and a set of crossed fingers will hopefully be enough to keep it from leaking too much. The dipstick port is going to leak like crazy anyway, due to what looks like repeated attempts at a bad repair by the previous owner. Not terribly enthusiastic about the way they took care of the truck. Stopped once everything was snugged down to let the epoxy cure overnight.

Tomorrow, I'll be installing things in this order: HPOP and gear, fuel pump, bowl, and lines, oil cooler, turbo pedestal, exhaust manifolds, water pump, wiring harness, HPOP reservoir... and that should leave it ready to go back in the truck. I'm sure I'll spend a pretty significant amount of time trying to figure out where various lines go, testing bolts to see if they're the right ones (I started out with ziploc bags and a sharpie, labeling everything, and finished by throwing the bolts on the ground as they came out), and looking for that damn 10mm socket.

Stay tuned. Pics of the block with pan, valve cover with sludge, and bolts from Lowes attached.
 

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#24 ·
At least you have garage to do this in makes life soooo much easier. Trying to do my engine swap in backyard between two trucks with people speeding down the alley dust going everywhere, plus worrying about people freely walking up taking what they want, thankfully I have (4) 5k lumen lights up 6 cameras and watching all time from separate TV just for security system.

Any who, looks like when one shoves bananas in engine to get home in pinch on your pictures.
 
#27 ·
ALL OF US WITHOUT GARAGES SUFFER WHEN IT COMES TO DOING AUTOMOTIVE WORK.....I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO HAVE A BIG GARAGE WITH A LOFT TO LIVE IN.....INSTEAD OF A HOUSE WITHOUT A GARAGE.....BUT THAT IS NOT MY SITUATION RIGHT NOW.....
 
#28 ·
Unfortunately, the downside of having a shop like mine is that you work on cars all day, every day, or the bills don't get paid.

Didn't post last night, mostly because I was trying to figure out how to burn the truck to the ground without it looking like obvious insurance fraud. But yesterday was the day of reattaching accessories, minus water pump Bolt, 1 accessory bracket Bolt, and one idler pulley bolt that is definitely wrong but seems like it has at least a 50 percent chance of working. Also, I am 100% confident that the fuel line to the driver side head is wrong, because I had to been the snot out of it to get it into place. Hopefully that works. At this point apathy is setting in.

Had to rent a tap and die set for the motor mount holes on the block, they were so rusted the bolts wouldn't make it more than two or three threads in. Other than that it went pretty smoothly, and Paine will get her heart transplant tomorrow. was hoping to get it mounted to the frame and get the bellhousing lined up tonight, but the passenger side motor mount is half an inch off and doesn't seem to want to go home. I'll fight with that more tomorrow when I have some energy again. I have a couple pictures of the engine ready to go in the truck, but I'm on my phone and it won't let me post. I'll get those up tomorrow.
 
#29 ·
Well you're over 30 posts now so you should be able to link pics. Imgur,com works good for a pic hosting site.
 
#30 ·
I hate this truck. I hate cars, I hate working on cars, and I hate tools, and I hate the color orange.

Maybe a little dramatic, but I sure am over this. Spent a significant chunk of time last night fighting motor mounts, and literally all day today. Three of the bolts are in place, one is almost in. Called it quits so we could get two floor jacks. Problem is, there's no front lift point on the passenger's side front of the block, so the motor wants to go in heavily canted to the passenger's side. Took lifting the pan and transmission, along with the engine hoist, to get it as far as we did. There's no way this is a one person job, and if you did it yourself, you are a god among men. Or you have way more time and patience than I do, one or the other.

One of the braided fuel lines from the hard line from the fuel pump to the hard line on the fuel bowl disintegrated. I probably am going to start another thread for more targeted answers, but can I just use a high pressure rubber injection line and hose clamps instead of paying Ford triple digits for a 16 inch piece of hose?

It's so close, and yet so far. Once that's in place it's a matter of puzzling through which connectors and lines go where, which is going to confuse me to no end. But I'm not even excited to have the truck running anymore. I'm just over this whole thing.
 

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#31 ·
Got the mounts in place. Definitely a two person job. Turns out the flywheel was binding on the torque converter studs. Took the perfect amount of floor jack on the passenger's side manifold, oil pan, transmission pan, and engine hoist, but it finally slid into place. After a moment of panic when I realized the bellhousing adapter plate had misaligned on one side, we managed to use a prybar to get a little space between the bellhousing and engine, then a hammer to smack the adapter plate back into its slot. Wasn't looking forward to pulling the engine back off the mounts to get that right, so I'm glad that the hammer once again solved my problems.

Everything else under the truck went fairly smoothly. Add a bellhousing bolt to the missing bolts list. Hopefully be able to find one in the junkyard tomorrow. Had to silicone one of the recessed terminals on the starter back into place after using a punch to break a rusted screw loose, since it was ghetto rigged by the previous owner (much like everything else on this truck) and had to be cut, so fingers crossed that doesn't catch on fire.

Spent another couple hours tonight fighting the V band clamps on the turbo. The downpipe was fine, but the up pipe clamp got pretty tweaked on removal, so it was a fight to get back into place. I'm pretty sure it's in place, and that's going to have to be good enough until I can start the truck to see what explodes.

I swear this thing has fought me tooth and nail every step of the way, and I know I've said this before, but I genuinely believe that it's all downhill from here. There's nothing else to get into place except hoses and electrical stuff. I'm sure there will be setbacks there, but the biggest issues so far have been getting the big heavy stuff into place and that should all be done. Not sure how much I'll get to work on it tomorrow. I was really hoping to have it wrapped up by Monday so I could say I was only a week behind schedule, but not sure if that's realistic or not. Based on how this has gone so far, I'll spend four hours trying to get some stupid little thing to work.

Picked up a foot or so of 3/8 injector line and heavy duty hose clamps to replace the busted fuel hose. Would still appreciate some input on whether or not that will fly. And just to be sure, the line that runs to the top of the fuel bowl will be the delivery line, and from the bottom is the return line, correct? Anyone know which of those lines is the blue one that fell apart on me, so I don't end up with things backwards?

Wish me luck finishing this crap off.
 

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#32 ·
THIS MAY BE A STUPID QUESTION.....

BUT.....WHY DID YOU PICK THE T444E INSTEAD OF ANOTHER FORD 7.3?....

WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING THE T444E?....

THANKS.....

B-T-W.....KEEP IT GOING.....YOU ARE ALMOST FINISHED WITH THE SWAP.....JUST A FEW BOLTS TO GO.....
 
#33 ·
Cost and availability. The t444e was available at a junkyard 10 miles away, with 114k for $1,500. a comprable powerstroke would have been significantly more expensive, and I would have had to go further to get it. I think you could also make an argument that the bus motor was more well-maintained, and International didn't tune them hard from the factory anyway. However, with how this swap has been going, it may have been worth the extra money and time. It's a straightforward swap, but it's labor-intensive and everything that can fight has fought. If I had to do it over again, I'm honestly not sure what I would do.

Just need to put the front end together and it's done.
 
#36 ·
They're the exact same block and internals. Horsepower and torque differences were a matter of tuning, International ran them at less horsepower but more torque. Injectors in the 444E are ADs, whereas the truck originally had ABs. Should run fine, might be able to get more out of them with a tune but I doubt that will be in the budget on this truck since I still don't plan to own it for very long. It's a shame, since the motor will probably be solid for years to come, but the rust and the transmission scare me. Hopefully I should be able to sell this for what I have in it and move on to something else when the time comes.
 
#37 ·
Aight. Intercooler and piping, intake, radiator, batteries, and AC condenser went back into place today. Filled it up with oil. It immediately began dripping out of the flywheel inspection cover. Didn't even think about the rear main seal when doing this, so add that to the list of things you should definitely do when you have the engine out. Seemed to stop dripping almost immediately after I stopped pouring, so hopefully it's something I can ignore and get away with.

Went to start the truck. Turned the key. Power came on, fuel pump ran. For about three seconds, then everything died. No lights on dash, no interior lights or turn signals, nothing. Like the batteries are disconnected. Batteries in my multimeter were dead as well, so I couldn't test the batteries, but I'm fairly confident they're good. No fuses blown. Has to be something I either connected wrong or didn't connect at all. There's two smaller ground wires that branch off the main battery to block ground on the passenger's side. Didn't know where they went, so I left them disconnected thinking I'd see what didn't work, and that I really just wanted to see if this thing is going to run at all. Since that's an obvious point to start, even though I don't think that's it, could someone tell me where the leads on that passenger's side cable are supposed to go?

It's so close, and yet so far.
 
#38 ·
Aight. Intercooler and piping, intake, radiator, batteries, and AC condenser went back into place today. Filled it up with oil. It immediately began dripping out of the flywheel inspection cover. Didn't even think about the rear main seal when doing this, so add that to the list of things you should definitely do when you have the engine out. Seemed to stop dripping almost immediately after I stopped pouring, so hopefully it's something I can ignore and get away with.



Went to start the truck. Turned the key. Power came on, fuel pump ran. For about three seconds, then everything died. No lights on dash, no interior lights or turn signals, nothing. Like the batteries are disconnected. Batteries in my multimeter were dead as well, so I couldn't test the batteries, but I'm fairly confident they're good. No fuses blown. Has to be something I either connected wrong or didn't connect at all. There's two smaller ground wires that branch off the main battery to block ground on the passenger's side. Didn't know where they went, so I left them disconnected thinking I'd see what didn't work, and that I really just wanted to see if this thing is going to run at all. Since that's an obvious point to start, even though I don't think that's it, could someone tell me where the leads on that passenger's side cable are supposed to go?



It's so close, and yet so far.


***Crossing fingers


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~Don’t overthink something simple~
...:uptight people suck:...
 
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