hi. im new to the diesel area. i have an 01 f350 7.3 diesel. what are the cheapest mods to do to gain some more power, like filter, exhaust, programmer? im looking on superchips web site and looks like same part numbers for 99-08 diesels. is that true?

also what is the biggest tire i can fit on my truck with out lifting it? its stock height fo now. i have a new set of tires and wheels that came off my womans excursion, tires are 315/75/16
thanks

 

Cold air box/kit is always good.
I'd highly recommend a large exhaust system with straight-thru muffler. I run the 5" Jegs kit & love it.

For programers..... I had an Edge Juice w/attitude monitor that was great. Better fuel economy & a true (dyno proven) 80RWHP gain on the 75hp setting. You will get a check engine light with these piggyback programmers. I removed the Edge & am selling it since I'm an SCT tuner & have an equivilant (power & fuel economy wise) program in the truck now. No need to stack them both.

You can hook up a boost guage (once the programmer, intake, & exhaust are installed) & check how much boost you're getting. The stock wastegate actuator rod is dowled (so you can't adjust it), but you can drill out the dowl & manually tighten the actuator rod to increase boost a little bit. (I wouldn't go more than 24-25psi MAX in stock trim)

In stock form (+cold air box) my 01 PSD made 186RWHP (Tq could not be measured) & got ~16-17mpg on the Highway. 15 in town.

With the following mods it just put down 303HP/600TQ & gets 20-21mpg on the Highway & 17-18 in town.
SCT custom tune
Flex-a-lite electric fan
5" Jegs exhaust
Adjusted Wastegate actuator rod
3.08 Gears (biggest MPG increase)

Watch the trany.....the stock transmission programing sucks. I thought my trany was toast, so I started tightening up the shifting/converter controls in the SCT tune & now the damn thing feels like it'll run forever. (Although I have a rebuild kit w/upgrades & Custom Converter waiting just in case)

 

Agreed. The cold air idea is great but you'll gasp at the price of the kits out there for them. I just have a cone filter clamped onto the end of the intake hose and it made a world of difference itself. I plan to make a box out of some sheet metal for it though since it's easy and available to me.

I have a 4" straight pipe and it sounds great other when the EVBP valve is closed. Thein it sounds like a B52 spooling up on the runway. 93PONY got the Jegs 5" for the same price of all the 4" kits so you should jump on that one.

If you don't have gauges, you might consider his Edge with Attitude display. Watching your EGT's is important once you start doing things to the truck. The Edge has an EGT probe and it does that. It also watches your boost. If you have gauges, then any chip or tuner would do. I had it and it made the truck respond much better and instantly. I didn't have to push the pedal half as much to get it moving.

Those will make your truck respond much better alone. Then you will start getting into the oil, fuel and turbo upgrades. There are other things to do like fuel improvements that can be cheap or expensive based on your DIY skills. Search things like Hutch Mod and PSD mods and you'll find a few good ones out there.

A simple 30hp makes a world of difference with these things. You'd be surprized with the difference.

Dave

 

thanks for the info so far. i have alot of diy skills. i have an 00 ram v-8 that i turboed and went from low 17's to low 13's. so i can do alot. the diesels are little new to me,i grew up around them my dad was a heavy diesel mechanic.

 

well yesterday i cut out the stock muffler and straight piped it. sounds ok,cant tell if any power increase was gained. but i did order the banks tuner,it almost looks like a 2" gauge,can make changes on the fly,etc. hope to get full exhaust soon. any brands suggested? anyone run summit brand or magnaflow?

 

Stock turbo outlet is ~3.25", stock exhaust is 3" & it necks down right at the turbo....so that's the biggest restriction that needs to be removed. Most kits are 3.5" right off the turbo, then expand to 4" which is fine. 5" can't hurt anything & will tyically drop EGT's a bit more than 4". The least amount of back pressure, the better....exponentially actually.

 

i know banks sells an exhaust housing,big head actuator and compressor wheel for the 7.3, also an diffrent exhaust elbow with the down pipe thats a true 4" but alot of their stuff is alot of money. but again you pay for power and quality too. 5" exhaust would be cool,bit the down pipes can only be so big,the outlet of turbo is only so big and im afraid that 5" will loose alot of low end torque and power,and thats what these diesels are at all the time. never at 3,000rpm or higher very long

 

You can't lose power down low...the less exhaust restrictions, the faster the turbo spools, which means more low end.

 

93PONY
you talked about drilling out a dowl on the wastegate actuator to adjust it. how do i do that? any help would be great. pictures also would be cool. i installed the banks 6 gun today, seems to pick up more, sounds diffrent also, i did put an cone filter on stock air tube, and deleated the muffler. soon to get an full exhaust.

 

I haven't done the rod adjustment thing yet but heard of it. I just plan on getting a 38R with new valve.

Now that you deleted your muffler, start the truck up cold and listen to the change in exhaust note when the EVPB (or whatever) valve closes for quick warmup. Soulds like a B52 on the runway spinning up for take off. Mine is loud with the full 4" back and the 6" tip.

You really should have felt a good difference in the throttle response and power with the tuner. I've tried 2 different ones and even on their lowest settings, they are both dramatically different from stock.

 

i did feel a diffrence,just not as much as i would like to have. truck seems to be holding at 14-15 psi would like to bring it up some. banks has that big head actuator and guy said its like about 30psi or so. but im thinking about replacing the compressor wheel to get rid of the surge people are complaining about,i saw something long time ago about that and i saw banks sells a kit with actuator,wheel and exhaust housing,but that has to be a ton of money. i found a wheel from an garrett dealer for like $150

 

Pull off the wastegate actuator.....it becomes clear once you see it.
2-10mm bolts hold the Actuator to it's mount & a wire clip holds it to the wastegate arm. (this one can be a PITA. I'd advise holding a strong magnet on the clip while removing so you don't lose it.)

One the rod is shortened, a Mightyvac with pressure port is the easiest way to re-install the actuator.

 

Also check out powerstroke nation or the diesel garage to find out what other Ford guys are doing to make power.

 

tryed to modify the actuator lastnight. the damb little c-clip was pissing me off bad. do didnt do it. so instead i modified a long spring and attached it to the arm of the wastegate. went from 15psi to 18psi. might try a little tighter spring to get a little more. cant wait to get a true full exhaust and then might need to think of something else to get more power. might try that diffrent compressor wheel to get rid of the surge. found it locally for like $95.

 

The Wicked wheel works like it's advertised.. My truck had surge so bad that I got to the point I wouldnt tow with it anymore... Put the wheel on, and holy crap, pulling a hill with a trailer, that damn turbo sounds like a turbine engine... Sounds cool, and it does get rid of most of the surge, I said most.. Under a huge load, it will surge a bit.. If I was concerned with it I'd probably just upgrade to a different turbo instead of buying a new compressor housing.. The Wicked wheel is actually a OEM wheel for a Pre 99 Garret turbo for the 7.3's.. I have one of those turbo's laying around, but for 95 bucks it was worth getting a new wheel..

Forget messing with the waste gate controller... Just buy a new one... Look around a bit, there are a few out there that are just a rod, and a spring basicly.. Want more boost, tighten the spring up.. My truck was only making 13 PSI on a good day, even then it was surging while doing it.. I've got it up to 25 PSI now, and the truck loves it...

My fuel mileage while towing increased a ton after those 2 mods.. Every time I'd tow, and I'd start to pull a hill the truck just blew a shit load of smoke. Not enough air for the amount of fuel it had.. Now that the boost levels are where they should be, my towing mileage increased..

Do yourself a favor and get both the wheel and manual controller at the same time and just pull the turbo.. I didnt pull mine when I did it, but if your having trouble with the C clip already, you will flat cuss the rest of it..

I run a Edge Evolution on mine, I like it.. There are so many to choose from, you really cant go wrong.. But whatever you get, make sure you put gauges on it, thats a must..

I'm running stock exhaust with a Pro-Flo straight through muffler.. I'm a dealer for diesel go fast goodies, I called up my supplier one day, I was going to order a 4 inch kit for it.. He said they just got these mufflers in, and that he'd send me one for free if I'd give him some real world reviews on it... So I did, and I haven't gone to a bigger exhaust yet.. Although I really need to, my EGT's are getting a bit high while towing.

Another mod I did was the fuel return spring in the filter housing.. Bumps fuel pressure up to 95PSI... Boosted low end power, it was noticeable.. Helped throttle response.. The truck is actually scary in stop and go traffic, you just barely hit the throttle and it tries to mount the car in front of it.. The problem with the increase in fuel pressure, you start to find all kinds of fuel leaks.. The filter housing cap will start to leak if you look at it wrong, the bowl drain will start to leak, blah blah.. Minor stuff, but you need to watch out for it..


I've done a bunch of other stuff, many of which I cant remember, too many toys to remember what I've done to all of them. I've got 2 really good running 6.0's too, my 07 F-450 has a service bed on it ( 2 ft extended frame as well ), it's a big heavy truck, this truck will boil the dual's, come around a corner and jump on it and the ass end swings around tires just smoking. 19.5 inch wheels, looks crazy.. You think a big 1 ton shouldnt run they way they do, wait till ya see a 4 door F-450 boil the tires while going down the road... I really need to put a FASS pump on the 7.3 though. When your really romping on it, it starts to run out of fuel.. The stock pump just cant keep up..

The truck has 215K miles on it now, it's got so much power you get to the point your scared to play with it at all.. The transmission slips, the converter slips, but only when your all over it.. Granted the transmission is getting weak, but you drive it normally it's as strong as it ever was. It's just flat over powering the transmission, one of these days I'll replace it with something stronger...

You asked about tire sizes.. My truck is a 4X4, I'm running stock wheels ( 16's ), as of right now I'm running 295 75's.. At full lock they do rub the leaf springs.. To prevent that, when I rebuilt the frontend I drilled the knuckles and installed a bolt to act as limiters.. Works ok... I've since lifted it 3 inchs, didnt do anything for the tire rub naturally, but looks bad ass.. The only thing to stop the tire rub are different wheels...

 

I wouldn't recommend the FASS fuel system.

Had one on my truck for 10 days before it failed while on a trip out of state. (pump motor took a shit)
FASS carries a warrantee right....WRONG! They advertise a warrantee, but told me it'd cost $250 to fix the pump. I told them I didn't want a pump that would fail so easily & wanted a full refund. They told me to sell the kit used! Of course, this was not FASS directly, since a non-dealer can NOT contact them. This was through Thuroughbred diesel.
I had to go through my CC company & fight for 4 months before settling this issue. At a total cost of over $900 with new parts to return the truck back to stock, a night in a motel out of town when the pump failed, diagnosis of the pump at an electrical shop & shipping the system back.

A better solution:
Kenne Bell Boost-a-pump on the stock pump. Or even a 6.0 or 6.4L fuel pump.

BTW, these trucks will run with a dead fuel pump. I know....I drove it for 4 hours with a dead FASS pump. Didn't drive very good, but she did get me home.

*edit* & the power gain claim & fuel economy is BS. Didn't gain a lick of fuel economy and I own a chassis dyno....no change in power....at all.

 

COLT
you mentioned the fuel return spring. what did you do,any pics. any info would be great.

i since have lifted my truck 6" and running 315x75x16 tires. looks bad ass.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the FASS setup.. I know several guys with Dodge's running them, but no Ford guys... I'd give it a shot, but I dont deal with compaines with bad customer support... So I'll just keep my eye's open for something else A boost a pump sounds like a good solution.. I haven't researched it much at all, I normally try not to look into go fast goodies for the trucks, once I get started on something I tend to take it over board Hard enough to let go of the cash I put into the Mustang, let alone trying to modify all the trucks too hahaha

Fastforward... I'll look and see if I can find the place I got it from.. It's been several yrs, but I'm sure they are still out there... I know in the write up the company had, the stock spring after a few hundred thousand cycles ( sounds like a lot, but it's not for a return spring thats maintaining fuel pressure ) it will start to weaken, which in turn you get lower fuel pressures... If your spring isnt weak already you may not notice a difference, otherwise it will help with throttle responce and low end power..

Here's a link I found for a upgraded spring.. Same price I paid, and I'm betting it's the same one.. http://www.gillettdiesel.com/gdsfuelspring.aspx If you do it, be very careful with the alum line nut.. The nut is strong, but the fitting on the filter housing is quite weak... I broke mine with next to no effort... Also, you might want to pick up a square cut O-ring for the hard line that hooks to the return setup, or at least call a dealership and see if they keep one in stock.. Mine was tore up, dealership didnt have one, I lucked out and found 1 laying around in my junk drawer that fit, otherwise the truck would have been down for 4 days.. Check out the instructions on that website, gives some good pictures of the install to give you a idea of whats going on, it's a really easy mod.. And as I mentioned before, keep an eye out for fuel leaks afterwards, if you have a weak spot in the system this will find it..

 

thanks for the link. wow $20 for a spring. seems alot for little spring. but if it works whatever. maybe order it next week. need to change my fuel filter also,hasnt been done since ive had it and who know before that. ive only had it not even 2 months now.but i am running an fuel additive,seems to help with milage and some performance too.

 

Yeah it does sound expensive for a spring

I typically change my filters every 5K miles, and 10K on the 6.0's ( they have 2 filters )... During the summer I dont typically run any additives, in the winter I run additives every tank.. I like to run with cetane booster, it does make a noticeable difference idling, as for just driving I've never really noticed anything...