In what order should I consider the upgrades for towing power? I recently bought a '01 350 7.3L powerstroke and tow an 8500# trailer. I am looking into getting a little better performance out of the truck. It is bone stock now, I have looked at diferent upgrades but am unsure which are necessary and which are just for show or not worth the time.
Any help would be aprreciated.

 

the consensus will be first a new intake, second new 4 inch exhaust from the turbo back but there will be some dispute on what size down pipe. from discussion i have heard 3 or 3.5 inch is big enough and you can fit it without major headaches. then you will need atleast a trans temp and pyrometer to measure exhaust gas temps. then since your adding gauges put in a boost guage for fun. now after all that you can safely add a chip or tuner. all the prior add ons are for the safety of your engine.

a good intake to choose is a tymar. that is th style i went with. i didn't buy it from tymar but i copied it exactly. got all the parts for cost from napa and really didn't save myself more than 50 bucks. check my gallery if you want to see some pics. also in there is my 4 inch exhaust that i did for less than a 100 bucks so it may be a good option if your money is in short supply.

hope that helps

other might be able to give more specifics on other intakes and exhaust systems.

have fun
tim

 

I love my exhaust that I can buy all day long on ebay 250 range with 40 delivery, love it love it love it.

 

Guages first. They are a good investment even for a stock truck. Pyrometer for EGT's and a tranny temp guage are a must if you are towing, boost guage if you want to keep an eye on what thats doing.
The stock downpipe is 3 inch into 3 1/2 inch all the way back, going to a 3 1/2" DP would lower EGT's but keep the power range down low, 4 inch dp will lower the EGT's a little more but move the power band up the RPM range. A cheap option that works good is to replace the restrictive stock muffler with a Walker BTM big truck muffler.
Intake wise there are a few aftermarket setups out there, AFE Stage II being one the best but costly, there is the Ford AIS system that is very good, or the Tymar Performance open intake, or the homemade version of the Tymar with the 6637 filter.
I would go with a Sonnax/Tricumulator kit for the tranny. This increases the line preasure and firms up the shifting so there is less slippage in the tranny and that keeps the heat down. Its worth way more than the $50 it costs. Or you can buy the FFTB valve body that does that and a little more, its in the $250 range.
After that its a matter of power addons like a programmer or a custom chip wich is what I would recomend.
Be warned though you will catch the dreaded PMS though, (powerstroke modification syndrom) then you will be terminally broke all the time, but smiling broke though.

 

I'd rather die broke and happy, than rich and stock!

Max

 

AMEN Brother

 

be warned... you WILL catch PMS.. it's not a question of it but when... also.. to BigDaddyTank you must listen... GAUGES FIRST..! i know you're like me... you want to get a tuner or a chip and play..! DON'T DO IT...! you NEED those guages..! you would not believe how fast you can get your egts to 1100 degrees on a stock psd if you are towing..! plus... you should have those gauges while you're still stock.. it will give you a base line to work from.. you will learn how your mule responds to different conditions and when you upgrade you will know what you have gained from your upgrades... and you will have a good idea what is the "normal operation" of your truck so if you see something "not normal"... it will jump right out at you..!

 

good tip, i installed all my stinger plus stuff but the chip, and ran it for a week. then i installed the chip. the egt's were similar. but on a long hard run to 100mph they were a bit higher 800* post!! stock was like 725 or so.