New here but been doing lots of research lately during the Covid lockdown.

I own a 2001 F350 with the 7.3. I bought the truck in 2004 with 132,000 on it. Done the regular maintenance but that has been it.

I’m in Canada so will talk in Kilometers. 1.6 km = 1 mile.

truck currently has 192,000 on it and I’m looking at doing some longevity/reliability improvements.

All the gauges by Westach, combo gauges on the pillar, boost,/egt, trans temp/ diff temp, oil pressure/water temp. Stock tune, stock exhaust, stock air box.

Recently had some work done on it. EBPV delete, re-decked the manifolds, bellowed up pipes,exhaust leaks are gone and egt is under control, plus the WW2. Boost on the gauge is at 14.

Tried the redline disconnect and plugged, saw 18 with a slow climb to 22 at WOT unloaded, so I tightened up the arm and now am seeing a consistent 18 connected with a noticeable seat of the pants dyno improvement.

Boost leak test= leaks at both sides of the MAP line, red line at wastegate, spyder to plenum boot and low and behold, plenum to head on the passenger side.


All leaks are fixed now besides the plenum. Big Job that will obviously take some time to complete. Not going with the billet since I don’t see the bang for buck benefit. So inserts and new boots with t-clamps.

Hutch and Harpoon are next on the list of must do improvements.

So now for the questions ... While under the hood I was looking at doing the RR FPx, fuel lines, and the HPx.

Again... reliability, and longevity are the goal here.

Don’t want to be foolish with my money, sound investments/ improvements??? Are these designed to fix engineering flaws, or a foundation for future upgrades.

I only use the truck to tow my 8500lb travel trailer and see around 5000km per year. Not looking to be the kid belching black smoke, nor roasting tires for the white smoke.

 

Hutch/harpoon a must. Plenum inserts also a good move. Skip the Hpx. I don't have it, but from what I understand, Doesn't help and It's just another leak point. Better to replace hpop lines and get rid of the check instead. Frx was an improvement. Allows air to returnn to tank instead of going thru injectors. Also quieter.

 

Dang, everything Hootr said X2.

Reseal the plenums and use the plenum reinforcers with T bolt clamps.

Get tunes. Hydra is the current best platform but tunes you have many choices.

Check out the Failure Prevention Thread for a ton of longevity issues. Great read.

 

Better to replace hpop lines and get rid of the check instead.

Done some looking. HPOP lines maybe, Check valves only instead of replacing the fuel lines??? Or is there a check in the HPOP line?

What about AIH delete. Seems like some mixed reviews on the merits of removal. Seems to me if you remove a 3/4” restriction from a 3” air passage doesn’t that = a 25% improvement in airflow at that location with the added gain of no turbulence.

thanks for the failure prevention thread link. Lots of great stuff in there.

 

Look at the location of the AIH, then follow the path of the pressurized air....are you thinking it wouldn't be turbulent if you removed the AIH? That said, it's a great place to plumb a boost gauge to.

 

That is a great point. For sure the spyder doesn’t have a great design for airflow. So are you saying it’s not worth the money for what you may get out of it?

I took a look at the sinister but $600.00 CAD plus shipping for +/- 15% better efficiency. I’d rather spend that on exhaust , Hydra, or CAI.

As for the boost gauge mine is plumbed in on the top of the spyder prior to the intercooler.

 

Consider changing out your stock air box for one of the options suggested on this forum. I understand the stock box can crack/leak or otherwise not seal well over time.

6637 filter link

 

Delete AIH and use the port for boost gauge.

 

Would there be a reason to change my boost location from the pre-intercooler side to the AIH?

So are you referring to the fuel line check at the head. The RR fuel line kit takes care of them if that's the case, or just remove the fuel check and retain the steel lines. Not sure if I am misunderstanding you cause it is in the same sentence as HPOP lines? Is there a check on the HPOP as well? Clarity is everything. Right now I'm looking through an old pair of scratched up glasses when it comes to diesel systems, but I'm learning.

HPX is off the table. Thanks for that. The truck has never left me stranded, and I don't want to go there. It's hard to get a tow truck when your attached to a 30' travel trailer @8500lbs.

 

Nope, my bad for poor reading comprehension. Got boost plumbed in on spider is fine, will show a # or 3 higher than folks reading off the MAP or AIH delete plug but otherwise no issue.



Go with the RR fuel line kit. No experience with it but it looks like a legit answer to hard fuel line rub through issue.

No check valves in the fuel lines. HPOP does have check valves in the fittings mounted to the HPOP. You can get fittings w/o check valves which accomplishes the same thing as the HPX. Frankly I would not bother unless you're messing with the HPOP anyway. Little to no benefit from equalizing HPOP pressures.

 

That is now a top priority on the list. Popped the top off my airbox and sure enough there was some signs of fine particles making it past the filter. No visible cracks and all the clips are there but the left rear seemed to unclip pretty easy which is where the dusting was.

Seems the more time I spend on this site the longer the list gets and the $$$ goes up.

Now I'm also looking at the Hydra. Will EGT be manageable with a tow tune on the stock exhaust or should the exhaust be addressed prior to pulling the trigger on a tuner

 

Anybody know if Riff Raff has a Canadian distributor.

I don’t mind the Canadian to US dollar exchange rate, 35% ish but don’t want to pay the duty and taxes on top of that.

 

I'm hearing the stock exhaust diameter is adequate, along with a good high flow intake filter option, to keep EGT in check with stock injectors and a tow tune that adds maybe 60HP (300HP total). The stock muffler is a bit restrictive, and so some folks opt for a Walker Big Truck Muffler or equivalent low restriction version, or go with a straight pipe. Straight pipe, or muffler delete, can be a bit loud, and have a drone at highway speeds.

So you don't have to go to 4". If you want to, the MBRP 4" system is well liked here, and there are other good options.

Here is an interesting thread on the subject:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-system-2.html

 

Got this dropped in my lap yesterday, FREE.
A buddy bought an automotive shop and found it sitting on a shelf. Plugged it in last night and it wasn’t vin locked so put the tune onto my truck.
Chose not to mess with shift points for now and see how it works.

About to take it out for a test drive.

 

Definite improvement on the throttle response all the way through.

Watching the egt and flirting with 1200 on-ramp to freeway. Boost hits about 24 then falls off to 20ish then starts bouncing so I’m guessing that is what is referred to here as degassing.

Re-programmed to firm up the shifting and it feels better so I think I will leave that on for now. Trans temp appears to have dropped a bit, but won’t really know until I hook up the trailer. What is a safe temp to run at?