I had this post over in General, but it looks more interesting over here.

I have a 2001 Excursion I bought last November. It has 192,000 on the original 7.3 and Auto. The guy I bought the truck from used it as a family bus. I however plan to use it as a race rig, 10,000lbs 26ft Box.

The first thing I had to do is put airbags on it to hold the load. It appears to use most of its 3/4 ton rating to hold itself up.

It is BONE Stock. A sales guy from a local diesel performance shop says I should put on a Tuner, Exhaust with down pipe and an air cleaner kit. He says with 75HP tuner the driveline will be fine. He also thinks it will gain 3-5 MPG.

What have you guys done that was worth doing?

I do plan to tow and use it as a bus. What should I do, don't do and expect?

 

A little help from those of you in the know?

 

When you mod you truck with a chip you asking for trouble. I have an 00 Excursion 7.3 and put an after market intake on and it ruined the engine. As every one says you PAY TO PLAY,
And welcome to FTE
NIck

 

Nick ... how did the intake modification ruin the engine?

 

I can tell you that alot of aftermarket intakes are very cheaply made. The filters flow more air but have much less filtration. You need to do your homework and look for a good filter with better flow and most important, equal to better filtration. I use AFE cold air intake with a prefilter. A sure sign of a bad filter/intake is if you look inside the intake tube aft of the filter and see a very fine dust, you have problems!

As for the tuner, at 192K miles, you won't have to worry about voiding any warranties. I was reading somewhere that the 6.0 PSD don't do well with tuners. I would be careful there.

Exhaust system is a good thing. better flow will reduce EGT's. I have a 4" stainless steel Magnaflow turbo back system on my 01 X.

 

Hello TexasEXC,
First off I don't claim to know. But I will tell you what I have done.

I got my X with intentions very similar to yours. Essentially I figured that if I am rolling I am towing. Mine is an '01, PSD, Limited 4X4. I knew I would be ending up in the snow so I wanted 4WD. I picked mine up this past December.

It came with a 3/4 ton springs and airbags.

The first thing that I did was change to differential and transmission pan covers. I wanted the extra cooling and volume capability. I bought mine with 183K on the odometer. The previous owner was up on his maintenance including changing the trans fluid.

Next I got load range "E" tires.

Added car alarm (Hey, this is Los Angeles).

Then I changed the exhaust and intake. 4" turbo back and AFE Stage 2 (I agree with Savaged1 here). At the same time I had "A" post gauges added and a new compressor wheel as well as an engine brake added. As far as gauges go I have a trans temp, turbo boost and EGT. The gauges were the most important to me. I want to know the pulse of my rig. The '01 Ford didn't have a trans temp gauge. Then I wanted to let it Breathe. Many people will chip it first. Well, my thinking is that when you make more power that comes from somewhere... Using more fuel. When you use more fuel that is creating more heat. Gotta get rid of the heat. Let it Breathe!

Changed the car radio to one that I can play my MP3 on or the kids can hear the sound from their DVD's over the stereo system. Also, Bluetooth compatible (In California, you can't talk into your cellphone and drive at the same time. Though you wouldn't know it looking around. But I follow the rules).

Now (today) I am having the transmission rebuilt. From the day that I purchased it, I thought that there was an issue here. You might conclude that the 4R100 transmission is just barely enough. I have many friends and some have Fords. Those that do have concluded that too. My rebuild also includes the torque converter. I am not really sure here so I may be mispeaking here. The stock torque converter has two of something (vanes I think). My research is, that is an acceptable TC for a gas motor but ours are diesel and don't turn as fast. Triple vane helps with the lower engine rpm's and will do a better job. Especially for towing. I am also having a trans cooler from an '04 6 liter added for transmission cooling (it is huge, it looks like it is more cooling than most cars). I am also having a (I may be mispeaking here too) program selector added. Now, I will be able to choose the amount of power and fuel consumption. Also, my mechanic wants to add a throttle kill switch. What that means is that it will idle but the throttle won't work. So, if they get past the alarm they will make their get away very slowly. Apparently, these rigs are fly by wire, no linkage from the throttle to the IP.

I will probably be adding a sway bar in the fairly near future. Hasn't been much of an issue for me, but some others on this forum have had their problems. Stock Excursions didn't come with one. I think that I may do the brakes & rotors (cryo). So far the engine brake has done well enough for me though. If all of this isn't enough then I may end up with higher performance injectors as well. But that is about it.

I don't know what kind of driving you are going to be doing. I flew my plane from L.A. into McAllen so I have seen central and western Texas and it looked pretty flat to me. Here in California though we have, and I very regularly end up on the Grapevine, Cajon Pass and Baker Grade. My biggest fear is that I end up on the side of the road. I have done and am doing reasonable things to the X for my type of driving. If you are staying local, you might not need as much. Beware of Salesmen, they have to sell to keep food on the table. I think that is obvious though. If you want to know the names of the products I can give them to you, but I just wanted to share the story. As you can see, I have done my work incrementally. Although I am almost at the end of the road (sorry, I couldn't resist) so to speak.

Happy Trails to you,

G.

P.S. If you read through enough posts you will probably find the answer before you ask it. I really respect the opinion of "Monsta". Food for thought.

 

THANKS! for the sharing your personal experience. What kinda Mileage increase did you get if any?

6.0 PSD? Mine is an 01' X also 2WD. 7.3.

So would recomend a tuner and exhaust and air cleaner? I would like to say I could get better mileage, but really increase the towing capabilities.

MPG makes me feel like I am getting some finacial return aswell as the POWER increase. Mmmm Power feels good!

 

G. Thanks for your response. I am very interested in others experiences and what products they feel work the best.

I know I pissed away a lot of money on an 01 7.3 Dually I had on hot rod stuff. I want to only buy stuff that works and is reputable.

Did your Trans have 183K original miles before you rebuilt it? I was told mine was, but most are skeptical that it could go 192K without a rebuild.

Where did you get your sway bar?

Thanks again!

 

Texas,
I have only put 11K on the X since I got it and it was sitting for most of Dec, Jan and a good part of Feb. I don't know about the trans but my mechanic told me that it looks as though Ford had it out before. The clue being lots of silicone between the engine and trans. The factory doesn't do that, but dealerships seem to.

As far as the sway bar. I don't have one yet. It seems that most on this forum get theirs from JC Whitney though.

G.

P.S. As far as mileage goes. I am usually right at the published max when I pull and I got 13.8 on my last trip. But I am probably going a little too fast for economy. Unladen I am just shy of 20. But again I am probably driving a little too fast. The most important factor in fuel economy sits right behind the steering wheel.

 

G,

I average about 15-16 mixed un loaded. Averaging 10mph over any posted speedlimit.

9-11 towing with a 10,000 26' car box. 70-75mph. Your mileage would be very acceptable!