After Market add ons '02 F350 Diesel CC 4x4

campigloo wrote:
I had a 2000 7.3. I did a fair amount of study on chips and stuff and IMO Banks had the best set up. I installed the brake and trans command first. BIg improvement. Then I followed their advice a did the exhaust/intake next. I also added the bigger waste gate actuator and high performance turbo wheel. Last was gauges and chip. It made a huge difference in performance and MPG. If you put a chip, remember you NEED extra air intake to go with the extra fuel. At 110,000 miles I had to rebuild the tranny, not unusual, and went with the Banks 7 clutch billet torque converter. Worked well. I did 90% of the changes in my driveway, and the only really difficult part was the work on the turbo because it is so hard to get to. The instructions for the installations were good and their tech support superb. I was really happy with the whole package.

The high preformance turbo wheel is nothing more the a turbo wheel from a 1999 turbo. Wicked Wheel was one of the big name ones. It does nothing except give off a little more whistle. If you were to install gauges first witch should be the first mod you would see no difference in boost or lag. I look at my high preformance wicked wheel as a waste for preformance but do like the whistle.

I had a 2000 7.3. I did a fair amount of study on chips and stuff and IMO Banks had the best set up. I installed the brake and trans command first. BIg improvement. Then I followed their advice a did the exhaust/intake next. I also added the bigger waste gate actuator and high performance turbo wheel. Last was gauges and chip. It made a huge difference in performance and MPG. If you put a chip, remember you NEED extra air intake to go with the extra fuel. At 110,000 miles I had to rebuild the tranny, not unusual, and went with the Banks 7 clutch billet torque converter. Worked well. I did 90% of the changes in my driveway, and the only really difficult part was the work on the turbo because it is so hard to get to. The instructions for the installations were good and their tech support superb. I was really happy with the whole package.

Look at the diesel mag web sites. There have been a few articles on how to wake up the 7.3 which 1st requires a good air intake system as they say the oem is quite restrictive. Diesel world and diesel power are the 2 magazines with the articles, there may be more. The next thing is a good exhaust, I use Gibson on my truck and seems to have helped but any free flow system will. If you want to get into the $$ turbos and injectors and.... there are just so many things out there. Tuners are also an option, but they also require the 1st 2 items I listed so I would go to a tuner last. I run a hypertec economiser on my truck but mine is not the 7.3. Really it will all depend on what you want, intake and exhaust will help a lot on their own so you can work at it gradually to see what happens as you go.

First thing I would do is gauges boost,egt and tranny temp. This will also see what each mod is doing for you. Next would the exhaust and a AIS intake. I'm running a straight piped 3.5inch. You can now add a chip/programer. I would stick with a TS or DP chip. Save some cash and get a tranny from BTS. If you want to get crazy a HPOP,injectors,head studs and a turbo.

K&N is a very poor choice if you want to keep the air your engine sucks in clean. Especially bad for any vehicle that is used off road or is subject to use around dirt, dust, sand, etc. Might be good for a race car only used on paved tracks.

I would not run a k&N on a 50$ engine much less a 10,000$ one!
Seen them fail to many time. If you live where you get a lot of rain and do not have a lot of dust? I don't think you will see to many Farmer's or ranchers use them in dusty areas!

Highbeam wrote:
Only a fool would install a K&N on a diesel, especially when ford makes an extremely affordable and superior upgraded air intake system called the AIS.

I have been towing with my 2000 7.3 powerstroke for a few years now and have been most impressed with the chip, not some generic junk chip, but a real 6 position TS chip also known as "custom" tunes. Improvements to transmission shifting alone make the chip worth buying. Mine is from a company called "Power Hundry Performance".

You need a much better trans cooler than what ford installed. Otherwise you will quickly overheat. I went with the tru-cool max but a more expensive OEM option is the ford 6.0 liter cooler.

Did you just call two members in this thread a fool for recommending a K&N air filter?

We have 2003 F250 Lariat with the 7.3L diesel. Have been puling a 38' Keystone Montana 3400RL for 7 years. Have only added rear air bags and an additional aftermarket transmission cooler. Have pulled many 6% or better grades over the years. 145,000 miles and might be just broken in by now. Still on second set of tires. Running Michelin M&S with more than 25% tread left.

It's all been said before, but I'll say it again.
First, ditch the Bully programer and get a TS 6 position chip with custom tunes, much better on the trans.
Then, EGT, and Trans temp gauges.
4" turbo back exhaust (really cools the EGTs)
Trans cooler (6.0 or trucool)
AIS or open air intake

Then run it and see if anything else is needed (ie airbags)

A chip/programmer to control the tranny would be great. Also a heavy duty torque converter and a better tranny cooler. The auto tranny is the worst part about these older Ford trucks, though the 4R100 is a step better than the earlier E4OD that I have in mine. I'd much rather have the ZF 5-speed manual in my truck. 'Grade braking' is almost nonexistant in these Ford 4-speed autos. That's one thing that was great about the later 6.0 trucks, the 5R110 tranny is a much much much better tranny, with much better gearing and engine braking ability.