I have a 1989 Ford f250 with a new ATS turbo on it, less then 2k miles. I would like to know what else i can do to make it run better. I am saying this because a friend of mine with a 1997 dodge diesel can smoke me like i am standing still. What kind of cheap add ons can i do to this truck that might make me be the standout.

Its a 1989 with the C6 tranny, i would also like to see what gear ratio i am running, at 71 my tach is about 2750-2800 RPM. Does this seem like 4.11 gearing. If so and i go to a 3.73 or 3.55 will i loose a lot of my off the line pulling power. Thank you for your help.


Thank you Mike Howard.

 

If he has the 1997 cummins moded at all their is'nt much you can do to beat him. Too much potential in the cummins. It does sound like you got 4:10's.

 

Propane!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Propane will make lots of power, but generally isn't all that cheap. Since you are not electronically controlled you can turn the fuel pump up and make more power for free. If your turbo is wastegated you can disable it for a little more giddyup too.

If you haven't already done so I think you should add gauges to monitor boost, exhaust gas temp, and tranny temp. More power means more heat.....don't wanna burn anything up while you're running down that Cummins.

 

What have you done so far?

3" exhaust?
Muffler?
Gauges?
Intake?
Timing?
Fuel?
Wastegate?
Propane?

If you are running 31" tires (235/85-16) with a C6 at 2750 you should be going 71 MPH with 3.55 gears.

I am running 285/75-16 (33") tires on my 86 4 speed with 3.55's.
3300 RPM is 91 MPH.....that is all she has.

 

I had the turbo put in, its the standard issue ATS with the 3 inch downpipe, and a 4'' straight pipe. This thing runs really good, but im just looking for a little extra, arent we all . I had a shop put it all in for me, so i dont really know about the pump and all, but what i do know is that this thing puts out not a drop of black smoke at all. So i dont know if i need to turn it up more or what. Help me out guys i will really appreciate it.


Mike

im running 285/75R16 on this truck by the way. It is exactly at 61-62 at 2500RPMS so im not too sure on the gear ratio, i think its 4.11

 

Just think of it this way when his 97 Dodge falls apart in another 100,000 miles your truck will still running be strong. I wouldn't worry about racing there are so many variables.

 

With 285/75-16 tires at 2500 RPM ...4.10 works out to 59.8 MPH

Do you have your pyrometer in yet?
Also you need a boost gauge.
We can get you more power.

 

I've had several 1991 7.3L with Banks turbo systems come into my shop lately for timing. They all seem to want more power as well. The turbo on the Banks sytem is slightly larger than the ATS turbo. Plain and simple, a large turbo=lower exhaust temperature. Even with the larger turbo running at 10psi boost they are hitting 1100 F. The stock turbo in the 1994 IDI 7.3L was made by ATS for Ford. They run around 6 or 7psi boost. If you want any more power you are going to have to get guages installed. Push this engine too far and it will break! Propane is a bad idea in this truck. An adjustment to the pump will give you the power you want, as long as every thing else is in top running condition. I have two customers with 7.3L IDI turbo trucks in Alberta. I rebuilt both of there injection pumps and boosted the max fuelling 7%. They claim to out pull any stock non-intercooled PowerStroke on the road. I must warn you though, at these levels trying to tow anything will result in massive engine failure.

 

Thanks, what do you reccomend, turning up the pump or just putting in a higher performance one?

motor only has about 30K on a rebuild by the way.
Where is a good place to get the gauges and a pod for them, cheaply. thanks again

 

I would recommend just turning up the pump. There really is no such thing as a high performance pump for 7.3L IDI's. All 7.3L pumps have 31mm plungers and have the potential to deliver the same amount of fuel. The 6.9L pumps had 29mm plungers limiting the fuel output to a certain degree. Small timing changes have been made to 1992 1/2 and up pumps and different injectors are used but this shouldn't be a concern. When turning up the pump make small adjustment ( 1/16th of a turn) and test the results. 1/16th=6% more fuel. The shop that installed the turbo system would have already turned the pump up the amount discribed in the installation instructions. This will put you around 70cc/1000str. I do not recommend going passed 80cc/1000str.

As far as guages go I can't really help you there are so may choices out there now.

 

that is what we did with my 7.3.we turned the pump up another 10% more then hypermax recomended. it made a big difference.

 

Thanks, can anyone give me pics and tips on how to turn it up, this is a C6 Tranny, so it has that vaccum deal on the side of the pump. THank you

 

mine is a zf5 speed. not sure how yours would be.

 

The vacuum deal on the side of the pump is to control the transmission.

You do not want to touch the fuel screw till you have a pyrometer installed.

I have an Isspro color coded pyrometer that I really like.
It is in a pillar mount and all I have to do is keep it out of the red, no need to read numbers. Eyes are getting a little worse with age, but I can still tell colors even if I can't see the numbers without my reading glasses.

Get a pre turbo one and install the thermocouple in the exhaust manifold.
The pistons are what you want to protect. They start to melt at 1250 degrees.

After you have gauges you can turn the fuel up and adjust the wastegate for more boost and more power. You need to install a boost gauge before you can adjust the wastegate for more boost.

And yes you can tow or work the truck after you turn the fuel up, you just need gauges so you know you are not hurting the engine.
Keep the exhaust gas temps under 1200 degrees, let the exhaust cool to under 300 degrees before you shut it down and it will be fine.

If you turn it up you may also want to install a tranny temp gauge, the extra power will put more heat into the tranny. The C6 is a very good transmission, no need to cook it.