I just bought my first diesel (96' 250 psd), what some good mods for this truck?
Of course I don't want to sacrifice mpg (I want to have my cake and eat it too).
Also what is this "bully dog chip" I hear people talking about? Thanks in advance!

 

As I stated in my last post you cannot add any fuel to the truck until you get gauges. Even stock you really should have gauges if you are towing. Any good performance shop will not sell you a chip until you buy gauges. The reason being you can reduce your motor to a smoldering blob if you're not careful. You need the pyro to read EGTs preturbo and keep them at or below 1250*. Higher than that and you are beyond redline and can start to damage components. The more fuel you add the more heat you get. The trans temp is kind of a no brainer. Modified or not, if you have an auto you need to have this.

Beyond gauges you should look at a 3" downpipe to 4" exhaust. Its up to you if you want the muffler or not. I like mine with the muffler as its a little quieter. Next would be to add a DIY intake which isn't that expensive, but will help out quite a bit. Now you're finally ready for the chip. First two things to remember, forget Bully Dog and forget Banks. Neither is all that great and overcharges for their products. Your best option for power and mileage is to call Jody and DP-Tuner and get one of his chips. Mine will roast the rear tires even from a rolling start just by mashing the throttle even in the 80hp setting.

 

I just realized I didn't include any places to find the stuff in mine. Oops.

For gauges the best place to get them is www.dieselmanor.com Daivd has by far the best customer service I've come across. He stands behind his stuff 110% whenever I've had even the smallest problem. His prices were also the cheapest I could find on the Isspro gauges (factory match) as well.

For the chip contact Jody at www.DP-Tuner.com. Just tell him what you have for a truck, what mods you have now, what you're planning to do in the very near future, and what you want the truck to do. He can write the chip to do about anything. His new chip has 16 positions and has a digital readout of what position you're in. Its the only one on the market to have this. All other chips only go to 6 positions. Though to get all 16 positions it would be about a $1000 chip Jody is very good about just calling him up (or his wife Diane, who is very nice I might add) and just asking questions about what to do with the truck.

The intake I'd do it yourself and I can get instructions for you if you need. I see no reason to buy a $400 intake when you can build a good quality one for less than $100.

Exhaust, I have no idea on the pre 99 stuff there.

 

On my '96 PSD:

My "tymar" knockoff intake cost me one plumbing fitting, and a large open air filter. Total cost was under $40

Ive also got a downpipe in the mail (as well as 3 gauges on a pillar pod), and will run straightpiped on the stock catback tubing.

Tons of go for little cash

Beyond that, you are looking at a chip, and injectors. The injectors on the older powerstrokes dont flow for squat.

 

Thanks for the info guys,
Hey HumboldtF150 can you give me a little more info on your "tymar" knockoff (maybe pics ), powerstroke73 If it's not to much trouble can you get those instructions you wrote about. Thanks again

 

Get rid of the worst thing about your truck. http://www.fordcummins.com/

 

here you go:




Simple open air filter setup, to completely replace the stock airbox and filter.
Allows for much better flow and filtration.

There are a few filters you can use. I used a WIX 46637

 

More or less follow the above pictures. Now Humboldt was that black ribbed pipe on the truck already or did you grab one off an early 99? I don't recall 100% on the OBS trucks. Basically if you already hae that line installed on your truck you need a 4" long piece of 4" OD exhaust pipe. Put it half in the black line and half in the filter. If you use the Wix/Baldwin 6637 filter shown above you will need to get a constant torque hose clamp as a regular worm gear clamp doesn't have the clamping force to seal the stiff lip on that particular filter. I chose to go with the Green #2169 filter as it flows significantly more and filters well. It also as a softer sealing flange and doesn't require the constant torque clamp. That filter costs $60, but is reuseable. I'll see about getting some pictures of my setup tomorrow.

 

Yes, the black ribbed intake tube is stock. All I did was loosen it, rotate it a bit, and clamp it back down.

Here is a photo showing a bit of the stock setup



I didnt have a 4" peice of exhaust laying around, so I used a 3" ABS coupler for time being. 4" OD, and 3.75" ID.

I did use worm drive hose clamps, and it did the trick just fine. But they are 100% stainless ones. You can torque them down a good deal more than the mild steel/galvanized ones.

Ive got a 4" 45 degree aluminum mandrel bend in the mail as well, to take the place of the coupler I have now. It works as-is, but it somewhat wedged between the brake master cylinder and the battery since the filter is sitting crooked.

 

I kind of figured the early 99 line was a carry over from the OBS but wasn't 100%.

My setup eliminates the closed circut CCV and goes direct to the turbo adapter boot. I also built in an adapter for the air filter restriction gauge. If I was to do it again I would not have done that. It never moves and its just another opportunity for dirt ingress. The line I made from a straight and 45* angle piece of 4" exhaust pipe I welded together and smoothed. I need to strip it down and repaint it. I was kicking around the idea of polishing it this time around.

 

Nice looking setup.

Yes, the restriction gauges are pretty much useless.

So what did you do with the CCV? Open to atmosphere with a filter?

 

Wow thanks guys!!! I love pictures, they are great for a simpleton like me. I'm gonna get cracking on this tomorrow. Is it true that most upgades that increase power also increase fuel efficiency, contrary to what happens to a gasser.

 

Turn the CCV around 180* and put a 90* fitting on the line and route it in a sweeping arc up and over the brake master cylinder and then down the frame. I went back to a bottle zip tied to the frame to simply catch the drippings from the hose. No filter on the line.


This mod will not increase your hp or your mileage. It will help decrease your spool up time though, making the truck much more responsive. You won't see any mileage gains until its paired with an exhaust.

 

HumboldtF150, Where did you end up ordering your downpipe And 3 gauges on a pillar pod also how much did it all cost? My buddy got the K&N Kit (1200$ ) His kit runs from turbo to tip, and came with a similar setup to the tymar knockoff you have except for the half open housing around the air filter. I noticed on your tymar setup you removed all of the old air intake, my friend said if I get the same setup you have that I should leave the first part of the intake (inductor) as it will deliver more air than leaving it "to atmosphere", what do you think?

 

If left stock then no the supposed "ram air" setup doesn't do much of anything. Reason being there is a rubber flap behind the grill that almost completely blocks all air going to it. If you cut a hole in the flap (called the Zoodad mod) it will help quite a bit and you will probably get some gain, though it would be hard to tell any kind of performance difference.


You might also warn your friend against any K&N filters on a turbo application. They are made from a gauze which can align in a way that allows dirt to bypass the filter. Take a flashlight and stick in the end of a cone filter and you'll see what I mean. On a naturally aspirated engine its no big deal because they're not pulling the kind of velocities that a turbo will. I'd either run a paper filter like the Napa 6637 one shown above, the Green filter like I have (it uses a cotton cloth instead of gauze), or an AFE PG7 media.