First post in a while. So in under 8 months I have put 20,000 miles on my truck, most of which have been spent towing. At this point the truck's at just a hair under 162,000 miles (should pass the 162k mark today). My problem is that the truck really doesn't have the kind of acceleration or highway speed that I'd like. I've towed loads much heavier than anything I use my truck for with my school's '00 F-350 Powerstroke, and that thing will push me back into my seat even with a big load on the trailer when I put my foot to the floor. It's annoying having my acceleration to get up to highway speeds take minutes (literally) and on the uphills be forced into the slow lane where maintaing 65 simply doesn't happen (my normal load is a 20' tandem axle with a 4000 lb car on it). This will only get worse as I plan on upgrading to a 38' gooseneck 2-car trailer in the coming months, and I fear I'll probably have to upgrade my truck before I can upgrade to that trailer. What it comes down to is I want more power, but I need the truck to be reliable. I've been looking into getting a newer truck, but my question is what can I do to modify this one that will give me the horsepower I'm looking for, and (more importantly), what kind of reliability sacrifices will I have to make for that? As I said, the truck has 162k miles on the clock now and if I keep it, it's probably going to hit at least 200k before I get rid of it. I drive it long distances through the middle of nowhere, so breaking down is not an option for me. What experiences have you all had and what would you recommend I do? Thanks!

How deep are your pockets and how much work do you want to do?

Read TurbineDoc's post on upgrading to more, and reliable, power.


Good reading......

Call Bill Heath. He can sell you everything you need (including a computer reflash)


Actually most of the power upgrades also make it more reliable.


http://www.heathdiesel.com

Thanks for the responses. Basically I don't want to spend more than $1500 or so in mods for the truck, because for about $5000-$6000 net cost to me I can upgrade to the truck I really want. So there's really not much point in upgrading this one much beyond that investment.

I currently have an intercooler from a Volvo 740 (for those who aren't familiar, this is a HUGE intercooler with I think 2.5 or 3" inlet/outlet) that I could adapt for intercooling. I don't want to upgrade the turbo as I know that would cost more than I want to spend (unless there's a cheap way to adapt, say, a PowerStroke turbo). My goal is 250 hp and 525 lb-ft, which I believe are the numbers that the '99 PowerStroke made, and I want it to maintain the same reliability that it has now. This would make me happy. Is this feasible or am I dreaming?

With an intercooler, a better flowing exhaust and a performance chip you should meet your powergoals. The most advantageous change you can make is to remove as many of the factory installed restrictions (intake/exhaust) as possable. Getting beyond the factory downpipe/exhaust is essential to making power and should be your first step.

The better flowing exhaust and performance chip I can do, and it seems that those would give me 230-240 hp and a bit under 500 lb-ft. What I'm not liking is the intercooler. All the intercooler kits I see are major $$. Has anyone adapted the intercooler from a PowerStroke or perhaps the Volvo 740 like I mentioned? Like I said, to have the motivation to keep this truck I need to be able to do these modifications for a total of under $1500. These intercooler kits seem to be costing $1500 by themselves.

Give Bill Heath a call about WMI looks to be a less expensive way to lower IAT, & significantly easier to install.

The volvo intercooler requires you to move alot of under hood equipment to fit it in( batteries,fan clutch removal, radiator relocation) but if you do it yourself it might be cost advantageous.


The WMI is more than $400. I think that the water to air I've been proposing will work better and if you make it yourself shouldn't cost more than $100 in parts.


Do you have access to fabricating equipment? Edited by: quantum mechanic

I'm a mechanical engineering student. So yes, I do have access to fabricating equipment. I have access to an entire machine shop, and a good one at that! :)

If you give me the specs, I can build a prototype. Can't say for sure when, though. If you want to talk about this further off-list send me a private message and I'll give you my eMail.

Quantum Mechanic replying to your private message wouldn't work (something wrong in the system... wouldn't let your entire name be entered so it was invalid). My eMail is ted@lijag.com and my AIM is FordCrusherGT

I'm assuming the WMI is the Water Injection? At $250, that's not a bad price. Looks like exhaust will be around $350 or so, or I could just have the local exhaust shop make something up (what I'd probably do). Then come gauges and ECM, so this may be possible.

I made an intercooler for my '93 by adding a second evaporative core to the stock a/c system and then running my intake through the second core inside a minifold. Water mist injection was an unexpected side effect but it makes since that the evaporative core would condensate watervapor. That one cost a little more at just under $200 for all the parts and I had to find an a/c shop that was willing to make a custom line to make it work.

my donated powerstroke intercooler fits in my old sheetmetal truckhttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif