Howdy yall Ive got a 97 F350 4x4 7.3l powerstroke 5spd with an intercooler, home made cold air intake, turbo downpipe & 4" straight exhaust, Im wanting to do somw more performance mods & want to hear ahat yall have done Ive been contimplating getting a TS 6position chip along with pillar gauges 1st, i also thought of doing a compound turbo setup maybe.

Thanks Kyle73.

 

Got a budget? Throw it out!! Just FYI the stock injectors are only good for about 60hp over stock. Depending on your goals, those will have to be upgraded.
You may be surprised on how much a good chip will wake the old girl up. I wouldn't worry about compound turbos. The are plenty of singles that will do anything you would want

 

What Ben said! Read people's signatures and you will find a wealth of information. Sounds like you got a great start already. Welcome to the forum.

 

The MOD bug has struck hell yeah welcome to the club buddy.

Tell us your goals, Depending on your budget, and how your going to use your truck will determine what you want to get.

 

Well if he's thinking compounds then his budget must be pretty high. Lol

 

Well bidget is, as i go. Lol! Its a work truck but also play i haul heavy loads (ie) goosenck trailer with tractor materials for jobs etc. travel trailer or whatever else i may need to haul plus Ive got a 4" lift with 37" tires but may end up going a little higher with bigger tires but sure on that. Where I live its very hilly & I want my rig to be able to haul loads & empty up & down these hills without any problems or slowing way down & id like to have great acceleration. Btw thank yall for the info on what yall have done. I was only thinking about compound turbos since i have 4 turbos of obs 7.3 powerstrokes & thought maybe i cpuld trade for what id need.

 

My mods in the signature have worked great never have had problems with egts, if you tow heavy like Glenn, you might want to go with a T/4 turbo set up like an S369sxe turbo to keep her cool.

 

I'd say (after gauges) your next mods you'll want are injectors and a chip!

Bigger injectors will give you the most noticeable HP increase (from all the research and experience I have), but depending on what you go with, will require other mods to go along with. No matter what you do, if you get bigger injectors, you will NEED a chip to adjust the computer to them.

For Stage 1 injectors, the require mods would be:

- Chip/tune

That's it! There are other mods that would help the injectors out, but wouldn't be needed. According to Rosewood's specs, with these injectors and a proper tune, you're looking around 345 hp. That's about 120 hp over stock! These numbers may be rear wheel hp as well (not sure but from what I read I believe it's rear wheel) so you're actually going to have more than 120 hp over stock with this setup (if it is actually rwhp). Lot's of people say Stage 1s are a great daily driver/tow friendly/fun upgrade. This is a pretty easy step, relatively cheap in the diesel world, quite simple, and very noticeable upgrade. I'd recommend Rosewood if you go the injector route!


For Stage 2s, the needed additional mods are:

- Chip/tune

but the highly recommend semi listed in order by importance (and sometimes required based the condition of what's in your truck) mods are:

- Intercooler
- Better HPOP (T500 or adrenaline etc.)
- E-Fuel
- Bigger turbo

You can see, going bigger than stage 1 injectors is a big jump in what you'll want to do for you truck. You already have an intercooler, so that will be a huge help. I've read many people people get away with Stage 2s and a stock turbo, but it will significantly take the turbo life down if you drive it hard often. I also don't believe you'll be able to fully utilize Stage 2s without a better HPOP and E-fuel unless your current fuel system is operating perfectly. E-fuel will help out Stage 2s though even if your fuel system is working well. I've read where people have been able to make over 400 rear wheel horsepower with Stage 2 injectors though. That is all with great tuning and supporting mods, but that's a pretty nice jump there. If it is rwhp here, you doubling the current power of a stock powerstroke!


If you want to go bigger than Stage 2 injectors, you will need:

- Custom LIVE tune (more expensive and harder to come by)
- Head studs
- Better turbo (t4 style setup is what people recommend, get's a little pricey here!)
- Better HPOP
- E-fuel
- Intercooler
- Transmission/clutch upgrades


So basically bigger than Stage 2s get's into very expensive territory. There are other options like hybrid injectors, but I don't know quite as much about those and who is good with the tuning on them. They seem to be recommended quite a bit though.




What I'm getting at is, with what you have, injectors would be my next step in mods for a big difference. Once thing you must realize is that the Chip/tune has to be specific to your injectors (and also nice to be tuned for specific mods like HPOP tubro etc.) so you want to get the tune AND injectors at the same time.

I wouldn't go and get a chip now, then go get injectors shortly after because you'd need to pay for new tunes and wait for the chip to be shipped etc (unless you get a nice tuner that can have tunes emailed, but then you'd still need to buy new tunes.)


As a side not, compound turbos would be awesome, but I believe the plumbing/tuning may be a bit more expensive than you may like, and a good single turbo would be cheaper and easier. I haven't looked much into it, but from what I have read people say to not "waste your time" with a compound turbo setup and go with a good single setup. I like the thought of compounds and since I have a spare turbo, would want to look into this, but this would be a moderately difficult task from what I understand.

 

Great update. I know the OP has a 5 speed so it does not apply to him. But for anyone else who reads this down the road, I'd add the transmission into stage 1. Even though it will work, you're signing its death warrant when you add the extra horses. So for any hope of it lasting you want to keep it cool, and add in some valve body upgrades. results vary, some I'm sure have had great success with a stock trans, but I think that is the exception rather the the rule. I've owned 3 of these trucks, two of them the trans went a few months after injector upgrades. I just did injectors in my newest one, and I can feel it getting sloppy. I'm driving easy until I have the cash to replace it.

 

Kyle, If you have 3.55s your not going to want to go much bigger than 35" rubber if you plan on towing anything and you will not want to go bigger than 37" with 4.10s. I have a lot of experience with both ratios and tires. The truck just doesnt make the power to roll the rubber without at the very least a good set of custom tunes/intercooler plus supporting mods. If, if you end up making some decent power you will have to start looking very hard at the clutch...