As a newbie i am going to give as much info. about the truck and our location as i can.
I live in Katy Texas, its a suburb west of Houston.
I just this past Saturday bought a 2007 F350 CC SRW 4x4 Harley Davidson edition with 624**mls.
Their was only 1 previous owner from Florida and he bought the truck new with 52 miles on it and it had been in Florida until August of 2011 and he installed the following.
ARP head studs ( i got lucky with that )
Airaid intake
Magnaflow turbo back exhaust 3.5 to 4 no cats ( or what ever they are called on a diesel) Magnaflow muffler and a 5 tip
6inch Fabtech lift
Dual steering stabalizers
22 inch XD wheels
325/50/22 nitto terra grapplers
electric sliding bed cover
HID light conversion
clifford alarm/remote start/pager system/GPS locater and lojack
Kenwood In dash DVD and navigation
8 various types of tweeters and mids from Boston Accustic
2 Boston amps
Sirius Sat radio etc.etc.
Im not trying to talk the truck up it is what it is in my opinion it is a 9.7 out of 10

The previous owner invested alot of money in this truck above the initial cost of the truck. but what i cant understand is if you are going to do arp studs,intake,exhaust (not sure about a tune ) etc. etc. why wouldn't he get rid of the egr cooler ? i dont understand that one..

Question # 1
Im looking at getting a tuner. I think the platform I am starting with is pretty good..I am new to diesels does anyone have any suggestions as to which way to go. I would like a little more power but nothing extreme as I am planning on keeping this truck for a long time.
Question # 2
Why wouldn't he delete the EGR and cooler
Question # 3
Are their any good shops around here

Thanks for all the help.. Rowdy

 

Thanks for the info! It's refreshing to have someone give a fair amount of info when asking questions!

Well, technically speaking, deleting any emissions system or tampering with it in any way is against federal law. Perhaps the previous owner didn't feel like being a criminal? More than likely, the area he was getting his truck inspected did emissions testing too!? Not sure, but it's a possibility. You can always delete it now though. Decent delete kits are under $200 shipped on ebay now.

The only tuner you should even be considering is an SCT (whatever model you want) with custom tunes.

I'd get a coolant filter too, they're about $130 or so. Cheap insurance.

I always can't help but wonder how the studs were put in. I had a Ford dealer put my ARP's in once. I think my headgaskets lasted less than 10k miles. I will be doing it myself now in the next month or so. There are a lot of WRONG ways to do the studs. As you read around the forums you'll see a lot of posts like "I did ARP's, an egr delete, and I'm still pushing coolant..." Things like block prep, how the heads were machined or who machined them, gaskets used... lots of things to go wrong here. I guess all I'm saying is, just because it has studs, doesn't mean it will last forever, but it could.

Did you run an Oasis on the truck to see the warranty work performed?

Are you planning on getting gauges at all?

What are you going to be using the truck for?

Why didn't you put pictures up!

 

I back up everything that MDub just told u. SCT programmer with custom tunes, coolant bypass filter etc. The differance in power and trans shift quality is priceless compared to the canned tunes. Check innovativediesel.com If your trucks a 9.7 out of 10 right now, it will be a 13 out of ten when u get tunned!!!!

 

i appreciate everything

No i did not do an Oasis report. Im not familiar with it.
as far as guages go i am looking into it now. which ones would be best ?
Coolant filtration kit is on order, along with a s*n*s*er oil bypass filtration kit but i was going to modify my stock oil filter fill and filter caps, I have read a couple of threads saying theirs do not always seal well.
Use will mainly be running around town when im in town which isnt very often and every once in a while pull a 6-7000# RV
As far as pics I havent taken any yet. My work schedule is hectic and i travel alot. I bought the truck took it home and jumped in my company truck and now im in Brownsville. any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

Oasis is just a report from Ford about all of the warranty work done on the vehicle. You should be able to get one by going to the Ford dealer with your VIN, or post on one of the Ford forums. I think powerstroketech87 on here can get you one more than likely as well.

What gauges are best? Tough call, lots of good options out there. Most commonly used are autometer and Isspro. I use the Isspro EV2's now. Great gauges. Brand/color are up to you. I'd stay away from glowshift myself.

As for what type of gauges you need...

Fuel pressure is #1 most important on a 6.0
Engine coolant temp
Engine oil temp (ECT and EOT need to be monitored TOGETHER. You need to watch the difference between the two, it will tell you if your oil cooler is doing it's job, or when it's becoming clogged. When it clogs it leads to blown egr coolers and eventually blown headgaskets, thus it's importance)
Pyro for when you get the tuner.
You don't really tow heavy enough to justify a trans temp gauge, the 5R110 is a great trans and runs really cool.

I'd start there.