They are good. That is why I use them in my race engines. Unfortunately they have the market for performance studs and bolts pretty much capped, so they can charge whatever they like for bolts. I know I am gonna start a huge war here, but I personally do not go by what NASCAR endorses. They will put their logo on anything that hands them a $20 bill. At one point in time, Scotch tape was the official NASCAR tape and Ralleys was the official burger of NASCAR. I have worked with NASCAR and have seen how it operates... not really racing as much as a business. NHRA, that is more about racing. Same with SCCA, NMRA, etc.

 

Very well put! I hear this debate so much it makes my head spin. Did the 6.0L have some flaws? Yes it did. Did the 7.3L have flaws, definitely. The 6.0L is more powerful, quieter, etc., than the 7.3L, and the 7.3L has longevity on it's side. If you take the early 6.0L and remove the problematic things you will have an outstanding engine! Could injectors still be an issue, yes. But again, there are problems with all engines out there, and to dog on the 6.0L based mostly off the first two years of production (ALL engines have flaws and bugs the first two years of production) is not looking at it from an unbiased viewpoint. Plus, a lot of guys have complained about their trucks crapping out on them and cannot figure out why, yet when you look at their signatures or ask what they have done to the truck they are showing 60# boost gauges, tuners, etc. When you take a stock truck and push it beyond what it was meant to do, something is gonna give. The long and the short of it is this. What is the best truck for your needs and budget. It would be like buying a Lamborghini and complaining about it's lack of towing abilities, or buying a Duramax and complaining that it won't corner like a sports car... you have got to buy what your needs require.
BTW, most people think that Lamborghini V12s are a fantastic engine, however they produce less horsepower than the 5.4L Ford GT and have to be rebuilt every 25,000 miles, yet nobody complains about them.

 

Thanks for posting that! I will most likely do most of the work myself, but will take the head studs to be done as I honestly don't want to fool with what all is involved. Great work on the rig!

 

That doesn't mean anything. I chose 60# of boost gauges due to the range of display when I was still stock. In other words, one tick mark was one psi, not having to guess where the boost number was. In of itself, having gauges doesn't mean that they were stretching the performance of the engine. That's the same argument that dealerships used for denying claims, because they saw gauges on there, so the owner must have been running a tuner due to the gauge being there. Not exactly true.

I will also say again, you don't have to get rid of the EGR system to be reliable. I think the EGR also gets a bad rap due to how people are treating it with their driving methods.

I would like to see if the 7.3 had an EGR system and a VGT turbo and see how well it handles with people driving the 7.3 the same way that they do. That would really be the true comparision as to rather or not the 7.3 could handle better then the 6.0. As most people are really eager to point out, they are totally different engines. Now you can still keep both of those in stock form and be reliable, all depending on how you drive it. Some don't like to do that, it's like digging a ditch to China or something.

 

You make a very good point. There are thousands and thousands of 6.0s, no mods, tuners, etc, driving around that are perfectly great, reliable, never had a problem.

Not blaming tuners, I have one, love it. But the very act of increasing power, which in turn creates significantly increased exhaust heat temps, can be too much for the EGR system, specifically in cooling the exhaust gas. It can cause your coolant temps to rise, which can cause other problems, etc, etc.

I think the general consensus is that if you run a tuner, and you are using it to create power well beyond stock, or what the engine systems were intended to handle, then it's probably just a matter of time before some issue arises, either small or extreme.

 

what shop in houston did your work?

 

Let's face it, the 6.0 is three generations back and the 7.3 is four back from current engines. Nobody's coming out with much of anything for either any more mostly due to working on the newer stuff. I had a 300 inch I-6 in my last truck('87 F-150) that started out as a tractor engine back in what? the 1940's? and it lasted me 20 years and just short of 200K miles. Now there have been four substantially different engines in the last eight years. There were the 7.3, 6.0, 6.4, 6.7 and if you go back a bit there was the 6.9, all diesels in the 3/4 ton and up trucks.

You can do a lot of mods that improve longevity but not necessarily performance. I have several of them on my truck like a FluiDampr, coolant filter, tranny filter, bypass oil filter, pre/post luber to name a few. I also have a few "power adders" like a SCT XCal-2 from Spartan and a Accufab power elbow(though to be honest I got the elbow mostly as an easy place to hook up the boost gage). The biggest factor with any piece of equipment is how the operator treats it and if proper maintenance is done or not.

If I ever need to get into the engine deep enough that I'm close enough to it, doing head studs while it's torn down is a no brainer. I'd probably have the oil and EGR coolers at least checked out if not replaced/deleted then too. And since the heads would be off at that point, a little bit of porting and polishing might just make it into the budget. Even if I ever got all those mods done I highly doubt I'd ever take it down the drag strip or hook up to a sled. I'd be more likely to spend for a set of TrueTracs on both ends first...

 

Greater Gulf Diesel Services‎

Hockley, TX which is about 7-8 miles west of Tomball on FM2920.

 

Oh I agree totally, matter of fact I was looking at a 60#er too, because I had trouble finding the 35# one I wanted. Just stating that many of the ones with issues have pushed their trucks to the limit with turbo upgrades, tuners, etc. Just as with any vehicle, the more it is modified the more things will break.