[alabamafrog]

Only bad flaw with the early 99 is the same flaw most PSDs have, but it’s worse on the early 99 so look carefully before buying, the factory air box and intake can leak dust into the turbo and engine. Mine was this way when I bought it with 130k on it. I wasn’t as smart as you and I didn’t research before buying so I didn’t know to look. I wound up having to replace the turbo and rebuild the engine.

On a good note the early 99 has the good rods in it if you want to build for power.

The main thing is to be aware of what you have when you do mods or buy parts, they also made a F-250 light duty in 99 which is basically a 99 F-150 body.

Oh, and it has a 15* HPOP which is not as good as the later 17* HPOP but you wont notice unless you get performance injectors.

Also I noticed on mine that the rear end sits about 2” higher than all the 99.5-03 trucks I have seen, which can be good or bad depending on what you tow and do with the truck.

 

[alabamafrog]

Only reason I mentioned the light duty F-250 is because if you get any parts some parts places will get them confused if you don't stress it is a superduty.

The air filter I use does NOT require cleaning or oiling, after a few years (depending on driving conditions) you just replace it with another one. I’ll include a pic at the bottom so you can see what I got on mine. Cost $40 and it will filter and flow way better than stock.

If it were me and I bought the early 99 for towing and didn’t plan to really go wild with mods here is what I would do in this order;
1. DIY intake $40
2. Gauges $300
3. Straight pipe the exhaust $75
4. Trucool 40K tranny cooler $120
5. BTS tranny valve body $250
6. Fuel tank, prepump filter and FPR mods $35
7. Good flip chip from DP or TW $400

So for about $1300 I’d have it like Ford should have built it.
Of course I’d do all the maintenance and change ALL the fluids right after I bought it.

 

[alabamafrog]

Wow ,what happened that you needed a rebuild?

Dust getting by the factory air intake ruined the turbo and the engine compression. Compression was down to 200-300 psi. Also the vales were worn out and sharp on the edges. Dust kills a PSD, cost me $4000 in parts and machine work to rebuild mine doing it myself. Got quotes from $7000 to $12,000 for a new engine. When buying a PSD definitely check the air intake for signs of dust and put a good filtration system on it like the DIY setup.

 

[alabamafrog]

I had to remove the glow plugs and rent a gauge and adapter from a local diesel shop then I did it just like on a gasser. Do not put any oil or anything in the chamber to do a “wet” test, there aint enough clearance and bad things can happen. Should be around 400 psi, some say 350 is okay, if mine had of stayed above 300 I would have been happy. You’ll also need a good battery charger on it for all the cranking required and let the starter cool good between cylinders. My starter died a week after I got the engine back together, may have been coincidence.

 

[alabamafrog]

Ask and ye shall receive

 

[alabamafrog]

E99s have a smaller HPOP, same as the 94-97, but chipping will not hurt a thing, its only when you go to the really big injectors that there is a problem.

 

[alabamafrog]

Yeah, like someone posted earlier the worst thing about the early Powerstrokes is the cup holder! Gotta get one of the later model cup-holders!

Mine had the plastic finger type when I bought it and it works great. Been 4 or 5 years now and a cup has never fallen out, even with the way I drive.

 

[alabamafrog]

BUT ISNT THERE A BETTER ONE FOR US?

Yep, its called the Dominator D-66 and it will set you back around $1,500.
The stock turbo wheel on the early 99 IS what the 99.5-03 boys call the wicked wheel.