Greetings all,

I pick up my 2007 F-250 King Ranch tomorrow It is bone stock, no mods what-so-ever (I like to screw with thing myself, not buy thing pre-screwed). Within the first month I hope to replace the EGR with something better, replace the exhaust system with 4", add a coolant filter. Gauges will come within the next few months as I can afford them.

Now if I use a Delete kit I understand I need to use a programmer. Sorry for being a retard but does this stay attached to the truck it do you flash and remove it? If its a flash and remove could one be "rented" or borrowed, used, and returned? I am trying to justify why I would spend $350 or so for something I will use little.

I am looking for moderate performance, hope for a bit better fuel economy, and the truck to be as reliable as it can be. Head studs may or may not come later as I am debating on how much I want to put into the stock mill vs slowly building a new complete engine for down the road. I am no kid and this may be the last newish truck I buy. I figure by the time I wear this out either fuel will not be available or I will not want to haul anything around.

This truck will be 80% road use, 20% hauling a 10,000lb dry weight (12,000lb loaded?) 5th wheel.

My last truck is/was a 1995 F-350 crew cab, I still own it, I don't change horses very often.

What say ye all to what modifications would be good to my intended goals? And also, what about the programmer, worth it for what I need?

 

I would say your on the right track with the EGR delete . That's always a good move with 6.0. Also the coolant filter is a must. For a programmer lots of guys like the SCT it is the only one that will take care of your EGR valve code once you delete it. I have found they glitch out to much but that's just me.

I wouldn't spend mony on a gage package because if you save the couple hundred bucks on them and put it into a programmer that will give you pretty much everything you need to keep an eye on anyway . As for head studs it is a good idea don't really matter if you want to go crazy or just keep a few mods on the truck. Cause the factory ones will stretch on you at some point.

 

Get an sct. Can't be rented or anything along those lines. Can only use it on 1 vehicle at a time and 5 vehicle unlocks. As for gauges check out edge insight cts. Or if you want to kill 2 birds with one stone check out the SCT Live TS. Few people say to wait until you have a hg failure but its up to you. Id do a 4" turbo back exhaust with some custom tunes for starters.

 

As far as EGR deletes go, thats up to you. If you're going to delete the EGR I like the idea of the welded up EGR look-a-like personally. The SCT Tuner is the only way to go if you want to program around the EGR logic. Some guys just live the removed EGR valve in the engine bay but, this will throw soft codes. I have 169,000mi on my 6.0 with original head bolts. I'm running SCT pre-writen programs and enjoy the 3 stages it came with (economy,heavy tow, and street). I know guys RAVE about the custom tunes but, I don't need all that on the family truckster... The guys here have writen some great threads on programmers and programing if you can commit an hour or two for reading. I know that $400 is a good chunk of change but, the SCT can read codes and a couple of other cool things too. I've seen used ones for $250 or so. Just need to make sure it has unlocks left in it.

 

Go with an SCT for sure, it's the only one that I will even recommend for a 6.0 at this point, and GET CUSTOM TUNES. Don't buy one on ebay, because you're going to have to pay for tunes later anyways. If you buy it direct from the tuner, they usually give you free tunes. Innovative diesel is a popular one, as is Gearhead Automotive.

A coolant filter is a good idea. You'll want to monitor engine oil temp and engine coolant temp ASAP, and ensure they're within 15* or less of each other at full operating temp, or you need an oil cooler rebuild (less than $300 new).

Stick around and keep reading as much as possible, it's going to be a sharp learning curve.


Building a complete engine down the road? Price some things out first haha. You'll need to be honest with yourself, what are your power goals and you need to look at how much you can afford. Your truck with just a custom tuned SCT will be in the 425rwhp area and around 760-790 ft/lbs at the wheels. It should run high 13's/low 14's in the 1/4 in this trim. Not bad for a $500 programmer with some custom tunes.

If you want gauges anyways, check out the new livewire TS, it's a really sweet unit.

Welcome to DB! Stick around and keep reading!

 

Skip getting the EGR delete and exhaust this month, GET GAUGES/MONITOR FIRST!!!

Why dig into the motor twice! Gauges/monitor will tell you if you need to replace the oil cooler, so while you have the motor apart for doing a EGR delete, then install a new oil cooler.

Another thing with gauges/monitor first is to tell you if your FICM is on its way out, sure would suck to be running a weak FICM and destroy your expensive injectors. Same goes for Fuel psi, low psi can wipe out injectors.

Monitor your motor first before more expensive issues arise, then once you find any issues, take care of them prior to adding the fun stuff like exhaust and tuner.

If everything checks out "ok", then go with a coolant filter, EGR delete, exhaust, and tuner.

 

That's some pretty sound advice.

 

Any suggestions on the best place to get a coolant filter? I don't think the local AutoZone will carry much of what I need and I don't live in a large town so the internet will be my friend.

I can do the wrenching myself if I choose to do so and have the time. I have built circle track cars, Harley's, street machines, etc. Building a diesel is nothing different, just much more expensive and if I keep this as long as the last one then its worth the investment for 20 years of reliability.

Looks like a coolant filter and the SCT Live TS will be my first purchases. This should give me a good baseline of what the truck is right now and allows for programs now and later (the two birds with one stone as suggested). Once I know everything is kosher then move forward with the rest of the mods.

I am very surprised there is not a laptop based soultion for programming. Something with a USB interface to program/monitor whatever truck or car you want with whatever program you desire. Download a program and BAM!, its a done deal. I know it should be available, I am just not sure whay its not.

I did some homework before buying through this and other boards and expected to spend between 1 and 2K right off the bat to get the truck right and reliable. I am in this for the long haul.

 

IMO, the best coolant filter on the market is from IPR, and when ran with there oil cooled relocation kit, will filter 100% of the coolant before getting to the oil cooler.

http://www.iprresearch.com/home.php?cat=59

 

Coolant filters you can also get a dieselsite.com one or a sinister. Most of the sponsors here carry the sinister, it's definitely more "flashy."

The SCT is a labtop based tuning device. Your tuner will email you tunes, you USB plug into a computer, download the free software from SCT's site, then load your emailed tunes to your handheld tuner, then go upload them to the truck. This is how we get custom tuning. It's not anything like EFIlive really, as the end user doesn't get to tweak too much, but it's similar in it's adjustability (nothing is really as good as EFIlive to my knowledge though).