Oh man, I'm beggin' you to start a new thread! I especially like the photo with all the concrete pilings in the box; from the thumbnail pic, I though those were wine corks!
I had NO IDEA that ZF made transmissions for applications like that. I thought they were all about sports cars. It makes sense though, since the Germans are big into diesel stuff, so ZF has probably been making truck transmissions for a long time.
I'm not as familiar with diesel speak as I am gas, so here goes: instead of custom pistons, could you have 0.030" flycut from the stock-style piston? Would that weaken the piston significantly or perhaps get the ring lands too close to the top?
My Dad has a 2003 Powerstroke, and it continues to live. He's a complete hillbilly (which really begins to explain me), and he punishes his truck in Alberta. I'm gonna guess that he has in excess of 400000km on it, and it still makes impressive power. I've read several horror stories about the 6.0, yet his still makes smoke. I agree that they're hard-starting, but his always does. I guess there are always exceptions to the rule, but I'd still take the IH. 8)