Engine repair / upgrade after road trip
Somewhere between the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, approximately 1000 miles into our 3400 mile road trip with the camper, the Ford 7.3 decided to run on 7 cylinders. I had gambled a bad fuel injector...
Forum Discussion
My first post was typed on my phone so now that I'm on a keyboard, I will add in some more details...
Ranholago to answer your question... You want to talk to Peter, the owner of Paul Faro Automotive in Salinas CA. I got his contact through RiffRaff Diesel I think when I was buying some parts from them. As soon as Peter opened the hood on the truck, it was clear he knew what he was doing. In just 30 seconds, he could tell me all sorts of things about the truck that I hadn't figured out yet. He's super smart on Diesels and a heck of a nice guy plus runs a clean shop and doesn't delay on getting the work done.
My truck I purchased used from a guy in the Bay Area who used it to haul a 32ft goose neck trailer with a drag race car inside. As I recall, he had a partnership with another guy and did the engine building for the team. He also liked to work on his truck as well. It started as a dealer show truck in Texas before he bought it. When I went to look at it, I asked him what he had done and he named off a dozen different things that I wish I had written down. So far this is what I figured out he did do:
1. Banks 3" exhaust (big stuff back then I guess).
2. I will neither confirm nor deny the presence of a catalytic converter
3. Banks Exhaust Brake
4. Banks Turbo Housing
5. Wicked Wheel 2
6. AMSOIL High By Pass Oil Filters for both Tranny and Engine
7. 6.0 Tranny Cooler
8. Gauges: EGT, Boost, Tranny Temp, Diff Temp
9. Early Chip Mod (Can't recall who made it, since replaced with 6 position Chip)
10. Upgraded Altenator
11. Goose Neck Hitch
12. Super Truss Hitch and Camper Tie Downs
13. Air Bags with onboard compressor
14. Banks Tranny Controller
15. Other stuff I'm still finding...
The truck as is was already a lot of fun to drive and towed our Bigfoot Camper and Cargo Trailer with ease. I did have to keep an eye on the EGT gauge when pulling loads on steep inclines but lack of power was never an issue. With the work Peter will be doing now, a lot of it is future proofing for a larger trailer. With the twin girls and two teenagers, the camper although sufficient, was tight for us on our 3400 mile road trip. The wife insists something bigger is in the cards if I intend to do more such traveling so so we will be looking at a 5th wheel in year or two. I have my eye on a midbunk unit that is ~12k lbs but I also like the Upper Living Room Units that are ~16k+ lbs.
I will still keep my Bigfoot for traveling to the Dunes and hauling the ATVs so I won't be leaving these forums any time soon.
Ranholago to answer your question... You want to talk to Peter, the owner of Paul Faro Automotive in Salinas CA. I got his contact through RiffRaff Diesel I think when I was buying some parts from them. As soon as Peter opened the hood on the truck, it was clear he knew what he was doing. In just 30 seconds, he could tell me all sorts of things about the truck that I hadn't figured out yet. He's super smart on Diesels and a heck of a nice guy plus runs a clean shop and doesn't delay on getting the work done.
My truck I purchased used from a guy in the Bay Area who used it to haul a 32ft goose neck trailer with a drag race car inside. As I recall, he had a partnership with another guy and did the engine building for the team. He also liked to work on his truck as well. It started as a dealer show truck in Texas before he bought it. When I went to look at it, I asked him what he had done and he named off a dozen different things that I wish I had written down. So far this is what I figured out he did do:
1. Banks 3" exhaust (big stuff back then I guess).
2. I will neither confirm nor deny the presence of a catalytic converter
3. Banks Exhaust Brake
4. Banks Turbo Housing
5. Wicked Wheel 2
6. AMSOIL High By Pass Oil Filters for both Tranny and Engine
7. 6.0 Tranny Cooler
8. Gauges: EGT, Boost, Tranny Temp, Diff Temp
9. Early Chip Mod (Can't recall who made it, since replaced with 6 position Chip)
10. Upgraded Altenator
11. Goose Neck Hitch
12. Super Truss Hitch and Camper Tie Downs
13. Air Bags with onboard compressor
14. Banks Tranny Controller
15. Other stuff I'm still finding...
The truck as is was already a lot of fun to drive and towed our Bigfoot Camper and Cargo Trailer with ease. I did have to keep an eye on the EGT gauge when pulling loads on steep inclines but lack of power was never an issue. With the work Peter will be doing now, a lot of it is future proofing for a larger trailer. With the twin girls and two teenagers, the camper although sufficient, was tight for us on our 3400 mile road trip. The wife insists something bigger is in the cards if I intend to do more such traveling so so we will be looking at a 5th wheel in year or two. I have my eye on a midbunk unit that is ~12k lbs but I also like the Upper Living Room Units that are ~16k+ lbs.
I will still keep my Bigfoot for traveling to the Dunes and hauling the ATVs so I won't be leaving these forums any time soon.
