Looks like ill be reading when I get off work tonight then. The red line is not hooked up as advised by Charlie. The turbo I’m running has 238/80s as the maximum, sized 63/73 with i thought a 1.0 housing but could be remembering wrong.
no exhaust leaks that I saw when I was under the truck last and couldn’t find any boost leaks when I checked but it’s been a while. It built about 36 psi over the summer when going through Missouri and downshifting in the hills.
I’ll be calling those shops recommended next week to pick their brains for a bit and will email Charlie before I leave today. My trucks my do it all so it’s got to perform as good as possible in all scenarios, probably asking a bit much but the only things it’s not doing so far is getting great fuel mileage.

 

​​​​​​If you have the kc38r it is a 66/73. Towing and working you def dont want a 1.0 on the 66/73 or the 63/73.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I am happy to help. I agree that maybe you have too large of a turbo. Also not sure which generation KC38r you have but we keep making our new stuff work better and better.

Big tires, stock gears, larger injectors and bigger turbo... especially at higher elevation... tend to make these trucks a Smokey laggy pig. Fixing 1-2 of those will usually help things out... like going back to stock size tires, or going with a smaller turbo.

T4 is going to be great and you won't regret it. It is a big investment up front but everyone ends up loving.

If you do want to stick with the drop in turbo I would recommend dropping down to our 63/73/84... I can even get you an early release gen II unit and take your old KC38r in on trade and re-use any similar parts to get the price down. I would ask that you work with us to triple check for boost/exhaust leaks after getting the new turbo installed. It should make a world of difference for your driving style. Send me a PM or email if you are interested. I am happy to help in any way. sales@kcturbos.com

 

The T4 no doubt gives you many of options to choose from that the OEM pedestal and up-pipes do not. Not only from the Borg Warner SXE line up, but from other turbo manufacturers as well. That being said, you should go with what gives you the most peace when you think about it. Make a pros and cons list for going to T4 or going KC and sleep on it. Don't make a move until you are sure.

You mention you don't like running your RPM's up high and I am the same way. With my MST I had to be in 3rd or 4th gear (ZF6) on grades and long hills in order to keep the forward momentum I was looking for while having a GCVW of 18,000 - 20,000 lbs. I know my situation is not like yours due to accessories and injectors being different, but a direct swap of the MST to the T4/SXE enabled me to tow the same weight on the same grades and long hills at 2000 RPM, in 5th gear (ZF6) at 1900 - 2100 RPM.

The ONLY other thing I changed was the tuning. When using the MST I used Gear Head and 1023 tunes in a tow tune variety. I now use a PHP 65 HP (performance, but that doesn't matter due to the ZF6) and have great results. I have an install video and a "results" video in the link I posted above. I tow cross country and needed something to work going from GA to WA, AZ and back. We have plans to get up to AK where I lived north of the arctic circle years ago, but have not made the journey yet. I needed something that was going to work and it was a tough pill to pay for and swallow, but I was lucky in the way that the takeoff parts allowed me to recoup a big portion of the cost.

Without looking again, I was in the neighborhood of $1700 after everything was said and done. This in my mind was a huge cost vs benefit value.

All of that said, if the KC turbine had been out when I was upgrading, perhaps I would have tried that. If the lineup of KC S300 turbos was out when I was upgrading, perhaps I would have tried that. I don't know because they were not out and I made the best decision I could at the time and the one that gave me the most peace. It worked out brilliantly for me, but others like Jason and Eric above needed to swap out there 364.5 for a 363 SXE. No big deal as they were able to sell their "old" turbo and recoup a big portion of the cost of the 363. The install process of a T4 turbo is cake compared to an OEM style turbo, but that should not really be a consideration when selecting a turbo.

Give it some thought, check out Jason's Turbo Matrix, give it more thought and the right choice for you will come to you.

EDIT: I see Charlie from KC Turbos was posting while I was writing. Great support from him and he is a site sponsor. KC being interested in helping you out with your decision should aid you in which choice gives you more peace to think about running in your truck.

 

Just checked my records, kc38r 63/73 with .84 exhaust installed in July of 2018.

I should have included the truck and my info in the first post but didnt think of it. Tires are 295/70r18(34x11.50) with 4.10 gears , the above turbo with Full force 205/80s. Where i live the elevation is 400 or so, Missouri cant be a huge difference even with the hills. Running a BTS trans. I’d consider going with 4.30s but i think if i did that id be more tempted to make 37s fit the truck. Damn PMS

It’s definitely laggy feeling, once i hook up to my camper and try to merge on the interstate its a slow process. Even in town it doesn’t seem to want to get moving fast with a loaded trailer on the hook.

If i can get a good turbo that pairs with my setup ill be plenty happy, T4 just seemed to be the easier to accomplish, atleast with what ive read lately. Obviously dont want to spend a ton but spending the 2500ish for a T4 setup is fine. Would love to try the setup like FTN but i dont have that kind of coin.

Peixinho, i just sent an email from the website so there’s one on the way. Gotta love the knowledge of FTE. SOUS, I’ll definitely be thinking on the pros and cons. I figure on not doing any swap work till April, too cold outside and not doing any big trailer work for the time being, so ive got plenty of time to think and plan things out. Luckily my job gives me plenty of time to think about my stuff

 

Sounds like a good offer from Charlie.

Charlie, now that the cat is out of the bag on the Gen II's is there a way to tell visually on the difference between Gen I and Gen II? I didn't see anything specifically noting in the packaging that it was the 2nd generation 300X I received.

Are you able to elaborate the differences yet between Gen I and Gen II?

 

If you have the 63/73 .84 it should match the 205/80 perfectly. You have to be having a pre turbo exhaust leak, or boost leak. Or you need tuning adjustments.
What tune are you running?
Holding icp under demand? good fuel pressure?

 

I’ll check for leaks Sunday morning hopefully. The tunes are about a year old from 1023, is there a preferred brand for tunes or is it all personal preference? Ive run it in my medium tow tune, street shredder and Cummins killer and all seemed to handle the turbo about the same. As far as I’ve seen on my HPOP gauge it holds pressure great, I’ll have to double check the fuel pressure, I’d been having issues with my sending unit and just got it handled.

 

In reality, tuning is all personal preference, and how the individual truck responds to the tuning. I have had good results with 1023, and Andrew Arthur.
What kind of rpms do you feel you are having to run to get the turbo to be in its happy place while towing? What would you say your desired rpm would be? What kind of weight are you pulling?

 

Im not sure what RPMs for it to run/ pull best. Merging on the interstate I’m looking more at the people around me since they don’t handle people merging well for some reason. When going on flat ground it does decent enough, not a lot of get up and go though, when I get into the hills it’s ok on smaller hills but anything of real size for a longer length it kicks down to 3rd and over 30 psi at 65. Those hills are on I44 in eastern Missouri. The truck weighs in around 9300 now I think and my camper is maybe 10k, I need to scale both now that I’ve got the bed on the truck. I like cruising at 65, engine RPMs are 1900-1950 probably.

 

With your tires and gears to drop to 3rd at 65 up grades should put you at 2600-2650 which isnt bad for a steep grade with a big heavy wind catcher in tow.
At 1900 rpm on the flats you are just on the threshold of the sweet spot.
With your setup the most ideal towing rpm range in my kind would be 2100-2600 rpm


What intake setup do you have, what brand filter?

 

You have the perfect turbo size for 205/80.

I have 61.5/99 compressor 86/72 turbine Holset HX50 with 16cm housing.And "crap shoot" DIY 205/80 injectors.

No elevation,265/75r16 tires,3.55 rear

It spools instantly.

Try another tuner,1023 is my least favorite..

 

I think with the 364.5/73/91 you would be a happy camper. Pun intended. I have 35" tires and feel that I am a little under the turbo but think 4.10's would fix it. Either that or run the small turbine 364.5. However with your smaller tires, 4.10 and injectors a little bigger than mine, I think you would like the 364.5/73/91. Your truck should stay in cruise most of the time, but will drop out of OD on occasion. This has been my experience anyway. I recall a trip from OKC to Albuquerque. I think I can only remember my truck dropping out of OD less than 10 times on the way out there on I-40. With 4.10's it would have been less. Everybody's set up is different so its hard to compare apples to apples. Just keep reading and comparing everyone's opinion. Be sure to look at the Turbo Matrix. I just added my comments. I would expect it to be updated within a few days. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post19557014

 

Check for leaks like others have said using some of the tips that KC has posted on their website or youtube. As far as tunes, I know of another FTE member running KC turbo (KC300X not 38R) that says his truck runs best on Andrew Arthur tunes. So may be worth talking to AA.

 

I’ll shop around to see about the tunes then, especially AA. Definitely gonna check for leaks, on the drive to work I realized it’s been more than 2 years, going on 3, since I had the new tunes and injectors installed and checked for leaks at that time. Probably wouldn’t hurt to throw on a new set of boots everywhere too, pretty sure like everything else Ive messed with on it the parts are all stock unless I’ve changed them. The one part driving empty I did remember I don’t care for how it handles is one merge for the interstate close to home where it shifts into OD but I can’t get the speed up with the S curve so it seems bogged down. As a side question, is it possible the tune for my trans isn’t allowing enough pressure for the clutches to hold well enough so while I have the boost and power it doesn’t transfer to the wheels properly? And adds more heat to the trans? For all I know everything could be performing just fine but I’m expecting it to handle differently. Used to other, larger vehicles both riding and driving and no one that I’m close with has a 7.3, yet alone one modified.

A part of why I do limit cruising speed to about 65 is an attempt to keep decent mileage but after some reading maybe I should speed up a bit. The other part is it’s just gets loud above 2k, especially lately for some reason. I no longer have factory battery trays, or even stock sized batteries anymore so it would take more work to make one of the”quieter intakes” work it seems. and since I missed it, I’m running a 6637 filter and 4” I take the whole way. I think I’ve got the normal filter right now but have the blue one sitting waiting for the next time I service the truck, so within a couple hundred miles at most right now.