Now im looking for a powerstroke, I hear 97-03? Are the good years for older ones. Would also prefer a stick shift.
7.3 PSDs (Powerstroke Diesel) were introduced in 1994 in the boxy OBS (Old Body Style Powerstroke) chassis, and were used as Ford's diesel powerplant until 2002 (03 was the crossover year but I've only seen two 03 7.3s ever... and I've seen a lot).
Terms you're gonna find online when searching around are PSD, OBS, SD (Super Duty), and 444E. The 7.3 is made by International (the tractor company) and they call their original version the 444E. Used em in school busses and a few other large trucks.... biggest differences in the 7.3 and 444E are electronics and computer crap.
Also, you're gonna be hard pressed to find a manual. Most came with the E40D automatic, all the way from 94-03. The OBS trucks had a ZF5 5 speed manual option, IMO its a great trans. The SDs replaced that with a ZF6, same thing but it was a "6 speed" (5 speed with slightly different gear ratios and a granny gear added to the low end)... manual OBS trucks can be found with a little digging, but manual SDs are very few and far between, I've only ever seen 1 and I bought it lol.
Honestly though, after having a few trucks with the ZF trannies in em, my next PSD is gonna be an auto. I hate driving auto, but an auto trans will carry boost all the way up through the gears while a manual will drop the boost every time you shift, and my next one is gonna be a go-fast truck, so it only makes sense. The E40Ds are pretty rugged transmissions and I wouldn't hesitate to tow with one, so if you find a great truck with an auto in it go for it.
Yea i would love the 99+ styles, but a older boxy ones are cool to. BTW Im looking to spend around 10K$ Thinking of a upgraded turbo kit as well.
1994-1997 are OBS
1998 (99 model year)-mid 03 are Super Duty
Early 99s will have a "V8" emblem on the front of the fenders and are less desirable than late-99s. There's some overlap of 7.3s and 6.0s, don't remember if they started the 6.0s in 02 or 03 but I think it was 02... either way you don't want one. Easy way to tell the difference between a 7.3 and a 6.0 of the same year is the 6.sl0ws have marker lights on the mirrors.
If you want to spend $10k, your best bet is to go with an OBS. If you want to spend $10k AND upgrade anything on it, you're gonna need to go with an OBS. At least around here, $10k is the very bottom end on the SDs.
A decent OBS can be had from $5-8k (at least around here), and that'll leave you a little to upgrade with. Most OBSs you'll find are gonna be 3/4 not 1 ton, which means they'll come with a D50TTB front end... basically a D60 cut in half. Those things suck.... can't lift em well, and they eat through joints and bushings like crazy. So unless you happen to find an F350, you'll want to leave room in your budget to pick up/set up/install a 60 in front. Good news is you can pull one out of another Ford and it'll be an almost completely bolt in ordeal. I used an 89 F350 HP60 in my 95OBS (pictured below) and it was pretty easy.
As for upgraded turbo kits, don't get too far ahead of yourself just yet. DO NOT, for any reason, do ANY mods to your engine, until you can see what's going on with it first. A pillar gauge set (gauge pod, pyro gauge, and boost gauge) will run you $180-$300 depending on where you get it and if you can install it yourself. If you get an automatic, you'll want a triple gauge set with a trans temp gauge in it. I dunno how much you know about diesels/turbos, so... a boost gauge tells you how much pressure your turbo is creating. This is important because you need to be sure you're not building too much, too little, or getting any turbo surge. Keep in mind that high-ish numbers like 15PSI boost you see in gas-world, is nothing in diesel-world... I ran 40PSI in my OBS on the street. A pyro gauge tells you how hot your exhaust is getting, and this is something you'll want to keep an eye on... too hot, and you're eating your turbo and toasting your exhaust.
After gauges, the next thing you want is a tuner. Tony Wildman over at Total Diesel Performance is the best for the 7.3s, IMO... he can do some incredible stuff.
If you have anything left over, you'll want to do your exhaust. If you can't do a whole exhaust system at the moment, get yourself a good downpipe, around 4" is good. Between the chip and a 4" DP you'll probably have more than enough truck to be happy with. The tuner should be around $600, and a MBRP 4" downpipe will be around $100
If you want more, be prepared to spend some big bucks. Shit in diesel world gets expensive, fast. An upgraded turbo is great, but its kinda pointless if you can't get enough fuel in there to match the increased amount of air you're dumping into your engine, so pick up some Stage 2 injectors (stage 1 is good but if you're upgrading the turbo enough to be worth while you'll want/need stage 2). But those high-volume sticks won't do you any good if you can't power them, so you'll need to do something with your HPOP to make sure they're operating at their full potential. I've heard of people running dual HPOPs, but if you're only at Stage 2 an Adrenaline HPOP probably be more what you need. So now you've got the air, the fuel, and the oil to make it work... now you need exhaust if you didn't do that already. Figure around $2k for an upgraded turbo, $3k for injectors, $600 for an Adrenaline HPOP...
For reference, here's what an OBS looks like, and a SD right under it. Both were mine...
Feel free to PM me with any questions or anything.
And sorry for the long post lol.