If the intercooler is any good, you will see a drop in boost. Anyone that tells you the stock 6.0 is as good as a Spearco shouldn't be giving advice.

Having spent hours testing the differences, and here are some results:

*easily drop 150 degrees peak with the 7.3 Spearco, more with the retro 6.0 unit
*reduce drive pressure by up to 8 PSI-usually 5.5 on average versus stock 7.3 which helps take pressure off the turbo, and engine
*scrub almost 400 degrees from inlet to outlet IATs which directly effects EGTs
*move more air through the radiator-engine runs cooler
*both Banks and the stocker use the same core technology-Spearco is bar and plate
*cooler, dense air improves MPG-ask Banks

and some data to back up the blah blah:

7.3 Spearco

6.0 Spearco

 

I like I like great info so buy the Spearco 6.0 for the 03 7.3 do they have the right fittings or will stock tubes fit?

 

The cooler charge air to the intake manifold will provide increased performance and feel kind of like it had increased the boost because the air is now denser and the MAF is increased for the same CFM you had before. An 18 psi boost, for example, with the better IC might feel more like a 20 psi level did before with the stock IC. Also, the better IC should have a little less pressure drop and therefore increase the actual boost a little as well.

 

Thanks Eugene

I should have said that an increase in boost without a pressure drop across the core. The turbo will respond quicker, and not work as hard to make the same pressures.

 

so, i understand that the spearco and others like it are going to improve to an extent, but, is the improvement worth the thousand bucks more than purchasing new stock 6.0 IC for less than 300 bucks, with about the same drop in egts, or so i have read.

 

The drop in EGTs are not the same. From what i have seen, people really only notice a difference with the stock 6L intercooler while towing, when just driving it around unloaded, it was the same. The spearco will drop the EGTS all the time, loaded or unloaded.

 

You just have to love this forum thank's everybody for the input

 

i guess for me, its all about towing, im not too conserned about empty egts, but i only see 75 deg. ambient just a week or so at a time during the summer, so temps stay average 400 to 600 deg. between city and highway driving. while winter temps are 300 to 400 while outside ambient is -20 to 20 above.
up here towing ive seen max 950 deg and average of 650 deg. with my 40 tow tune, but would like to go with the 80 tow and a new IC.
as ive read folks see a 150 deg. drop in egts while towing.
i just cant see spending the extra thousand for lower egts while empty, unless i was racing it weekly.

 

hhmmm.... I wonder if the 6.0 I/C would help around here these days. Today, I noticed the EGTs were way up there (kinda hot today). Running around 900-1000 unloaded at ~75mph. When I got on it to blow away a gasser chebby pickup, I looked up and the pyro was almost pegged at 1600. I was watching it and got off the throttle, so no harm done. I was turning into my neighborhood when he did the "loser drive-by". They can take bursts of high EGTs, it's the sustained 1300+ that kills them.

It's so strange to me how much EGTs fluctuate -- my whole drive from Panama City to DFW, the EGTs ran around 600 at roughly the same speeds.

 

My pyro is so unpredictable, I got on it yesterday, and i look down and seen 900(post turbo FTL), and im just saying to myself WTF thats on the econo tune, and I have never seen it. Today drive home same burst, never went over 800..

 

For me it's also all about TOWING, and I do a lot of mine in BLISTERING HOT summertime weather, and my under hood temp measurements have convinced me that an improved IC would often times not help, and could even hurt! Now your unlikely to have this problem in Alaska, but I think I read you're planning a tow down to the SW part of the country and you'd likely run in to it there. After I tow in 95-100 F heat for several hours, the engine heat soak and the waste heat from the AC condenser gets the IC so hot that it starts HEATING the air flow from the turbo to the engine instead of cooling it! The equations below are from the IC part of my model, and as you can see if the ICAT>TOATA, the IC is heating the input air instead of cooling it, and a more efficient IC would just mean it would heat it better.

I'm headed west next Tue from MD, just in time to meet another Midwest heat wave head on. This time I'm better prepared with my AC mod which shuts off the residual hot water, and I'm hoping that reduces the waste heat from the AC condenser so that my IC can actually do some cooling for a change.

IMAT=TOATA-(TOATA-ICAT)(ICE) For TOATA>ICAT, IC Cooling
IMAT=TOATA+(ICAT-TOATA)(ICE) For ICAT>TOATA, IC Heating
Where:
IMAT=Intake Manifold Air Temperature, K
TOATA=Turbo Outlet Air Temperature Actual, K
ICAT=Intercooler Air Temperature, K
ICE=Intercooler Efficiency

 

I run around unloaded most of the time. Is it worth the price for me to buy a 6.0 spearco, if my boost is not much more than 5-10psi just cruising around? the problem i have most times is that i'm lugging the engine (because i want to), boost isnt much over 5psi, however the egt climbs up past 1100 sometimes, esp. in a hot tune. I know the spearco makes the best difference when the boost and airflow is higher. But, does the turbo really heat the air at 5-10psi that the spearco would make a difference? If i add aftermarket elec fans on a "dimmer" switch to control them, i could turn them up when i needed it, and gain airflow across the IC for instances such as my signature when EGT climbs past 1400. Is this a better modification for me than water injection?

As a side note, i could buy a used stock 6.0 cooler from my buddy who has an 06 with a techni-cooler.

 

Let me chime in about the Spearco 7.3 replacement CAC since I've had mine in for a while. For dropping EGTs while towing, its worth every penny! I can pull my 9K TT with my 80 tow setting and never worry about EGTs and thats on back roads in OD. Before, I would drive by watching my EGTs. My van turbo spools every bit as fast as the stock turbo once the Spearco was installed. You will see some EGT reduction during normal driving when the truck is empty. However, it really shines when the turbo is spooled, you can definately stay in the throttle ALOT longer before hitting 1200 (which is my piece-of-mind limit). If you tow regularly, ITS A MUST! My only regret is not getting the 6.0 retro CAC for an even lower reduction in EGTs.

 

Having done both, here's what I've got to say. First off, if funds allow I would get the Spearco, hands down.

With the stock 6.0 IC, the only difference I saw at all in any aspect was when towing a trailer. I saw maybe a 150 degree drop in peak EGTs. When running lower boost and less EGT's, I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Unloaded, I saw no noticeable difference in EGT's, even running at WOT. Also, turbo spool is the same as stock, as are peak boost numbers.

Once the Spearco went in, the difference was amazing. I saw EGT's drop across the board, loaded or not and at both just cruising and WOT runs. The turbo also spools up quicker with the Spearco. As Bunting mentioned, peak boost dropped 1-2 psi, reading after the IC, because the air is more dense and cooler now.

Also, I've done some Manifold Air Temp readings with the AE software of the temp of the air after the IC. No matter how high the boost level, or what the ambient air temp is, the air temps going into the motor never seem to get much higher than 100 degrees F. This IC is doing a darn good job of cooling the air.

I used to worry about my EGT's, but I really don't anymore. I've almost stopped watching the gauge. I have tried to get EGT's up before to test the IC, and they just don't go much above 1200 degrees...ever! I've seen 1250 or 1300 a few times, but the funny thing is once they get up that high, they begin to fall. One of my tests was starting from a dead stop on the shoulder of the highway, going uphill, while towing a trailer loaded with a car. I put it to the floor, watching EGT's carefully. They climed up to about 1250 degrees at the end of 3rd gear, then when it shifted to OD the temps dropped to 1200 degrees where it just stayed steady until I let out of the throttle going about 90 MPH.

Oh, one more thing. I watched my EGT gauge quite closely a few weekends ago when I was drag racing the truck. The outside temps were around 90 degrees. EGT's also come up quickly while drag racing as I was spooling the turbo for the launch. So you leave the line with EGT's already quite high (1000 degrees) and run through the gears at WOT. During my 8-10 rounds of racing, the EGT's hardly ever got above 1200 degrees, and they would actually start to drop once I got past the 1/8 mile mark. Also, the Spearco was the only hard part that I changed from running the 15.4 last summer to running a 15.0 this summer. Was it soley responsible for the 0.4 second ET drop? I don't know, but I'm not sure what else it may have caused it. One thing's for sure, it didn't slow me down any!

Sorry for the long post. I'm 100% happy with my Spearco, as you can see. Bottom line - if you want to marginally improve peak EGT's while towing or hauling, the stock 6.0 is your ticket. If you want better EGT's across the board, at all throttle positions, and want to see an improvement in turbo performance - you can't beat the Spearco.

 

Gene, I'm disappointed. If I read you correctly, you are talking about the heater core shut-off valve. If you have done that wouldn't you actually be decreasing a potential cooling effect in the coolant as even though it hurts AC cooling air temps, coolant cooling takes place across the heater core via the AC as it does cool the coolant blowing across that? So the net benefit of the really cool AC is at the expense of a cooling effect in the engine coolant?

Are you thinking there's a thermostat in the cabin that will cycle the AC off and thus run cooler up front or do you think you can manually control this reaping benefits? Maybe I'm talking out the side of my head but there is speculation as to why it is the way it is, and not by engineering accident. I recall many a time at the strip in the 80s turning my heater on and blower on high in order to cool my engine while sweating my cajones off. All this to cool the engine.

So again, I am sure you will educate me on what you have going on.