I have a pretty much stock 97 F250 PSD 5spd 97,000 miles besides the lift and tires and exterior "pretty" stuff and am looking for some relatively easy and inexpensive ways to get a little more horsepower and mileage. The only thing I've done is to change out to a K&N filter about 2 years ago and unfortunately cleaned out today and had dime sized dirt clumps in it, bad on me.(and no, it hasn't been 2 years since I've cleaned it). Which would probably explain why my mileage has been bad for about 6 months! Mud hole I'm guessing. Anyway, I've heard of the stage 1 mod, too pricey for me right now, all sorts of chips, still too pricey right now. I heard a little about a 203 thermostat, where is that located and how much am I looking at spending and what will it do for performance? I've owned the truck for over about 2 and a half years and haven't done much in modifications, pretty much changed the oil every 3,000 miles and made sure levels were good. Anybody with suggestions chime in, I need to treat it like it should be treated while having a little fun doing it. Thanks!

 

Well I havent been on the site for over a year now so im not up to date with the 203 thermostat mod but i can tell ya about a few cheap mods you can do to improve the performance on your truck. one being going to a straight pipe set-up for exhaust. Removing the cat and muffler will definetly improve performance from your turbo, as well as help lower EGT's and no to mention let your neighbors know your a proud diesel owner. Second being a 10k mod which is an injection control pressure sensor mod. Basically you jump two wires on the sensor with a 10k ohm resistor. here's a site that tells ya a little more about it.

http://www.forgotton.net/mods/index.html

third thing being shimming your fuel pressure regulator. it will raise fuel pressure which will help with power and performance. do a search on the site on shimming the FPR and you should get some good instructions on how to do it. all these things can be done for under 100 bucks very easily. i have done them and noticed a great diffrence. I run a 3" downpipe coupled to a 5" straight exhaust with a 80hp superchip, shimmed fpr, the 10k mod, K&N drop in filter and a set of gauges from Hewitt industries, EGT, Trans temp, turbo boost. i did have to rebuild the junk pile e40d tranny after towing my 42' Sundowner horse trailer as it chewed that tranny to pieces but other then that i havent had one problem with the truck and i loved it more ever since i started to mod it up. good luck and i hope this helps ya out. Let me know if ya need anything else.

 

Exhaust system mods (3' DP to 4" or bigger exhaust gut the cat) and air intake system will help your truck breathe better and have a quicker response, the FPR shim and 10K mod may or may not give much improvement. Dont add a chip with more than 40 HP increase without EGT gauge

 

I also have a close to stock 97. I did the intake and exhaust first (was recommended to stay away from K&N due to poor filtration). I have now added gauges so I can monitor other change impacts. A few minor things you can do is, like said, shim the FPR but I would strongly suggest getting at least a non-mounted fuel pressure gauge so you know where you are now and how high you go. I am about to add a HPX line from Tymar that is only $33 to level out oil pressure and quiet the motor a little.

As a side note about the removing the catalytic converter - I express no opinion on it really but for full information - it is a federal crime to remove one and fines are in excess of $20,000. Realistically it is unlikely anyone would know/care but I believe in full information before jumping into a change.

The 203 thermostat can be bought from DieselSite.com and, along with the new housing, will cost about $60. It is right up front and very easy to change - they have pictures on their site. It will raise operating temperatures a little to a better level for our kind of combustion. I plan on that one too when I have the funds. You wont notice a performance change but it is an improvement on overall conditions.