So I have the choice of a buying a friends Predator tuner or Edge Juice for my 2006 F-350. I know the Edges have a tendancy to fry the transmissions in our trucks, though I already had mine rebuilt and upgraded at 100K. I dont know much about the predator? Or I could just get an SCT. I dont want an extreme tune, I am doing the exhaust this weekend and have a FIPK. Truck has been decent to me to this point so Im not looking to kill it, but a chip with maybe a 50-75 hp safe tune would be fun. Any thoughts on the above options? Thanks

 

Neither, go with a Xcal 3 and custom tunes from IDP, Gogo Diesel, or PHP. I would leave the FIPK off the truck because they have been known to take out turbo's on diesel's and the Ford intake is good until you break the 500hp mark.

 

Don't run any of the "canned" tunes that come on any of the programmers unless you've bulletproofed your 6.0L. If you do it then be prepared for some large repair bills. I would also stay as far away from the Edge as you can as it doesn't have any trans controls at all, which is what wipes out the transmission. The key to making the 5R110 live at higher hp is the trans tuning.

I would highly recommend you get a set of gauges first and monitor your engine first to make sure its in good condition. If its not and you put a chip on it you'll be replacing parts. I would suggest the Edge Insight or a Scan Gauge II. Make sure you pay special attention to your fuel pressure at WOT, engine oil temp (EOT) and engine coolant temp (ECT) delta. You should see both temps within a few degrees of each other. If there is much difference your oil cooler is shot. Also watch your FICM voltage. If its below 48V then its shot.

Finally if you do get a programmer definetly get an SCT SF3 programmer as it has slots for custom programs. If you daily drive the truck Matt @ Gearhead's SRL tune has one of the best trans shifting strategies out there. The power is pretty strong as well. If you ever get head studs then I'd look into his SRL+ program. If you go with Innovative you'd be looking at the Xtreme Street. Both of these guys are some of the premier 6.0L tuners out there. I live only an hour from Eric @ Innovative so I'll probably go with his Xtreme Street and Matt's SRL. If you are close to any of these guys they will also live tune your truck to get the power and trans shifting exactly where you want it.

I also would not change the intake. The factory intake setup has one of the best filtering rates out there and still flows enough to support 500hp.

On a side note make plans to put a coolant filter, flush out the cooling system to CAT ELC coolant, 6.4L banjo bolts (fuel system), and either an EGR delete or Bulletproof Diesel EGR cooler. Head studs would also be good insurance, but is more $$$. The 6.0L is VERY finicky when it comes to its oil and coolant and how clean each of them are.

 

Thanks for the healthy reply Powerstroke73. I have ordered the coolant filter, I will get the ELC (not the gold) and flush coolant this weekend. I will also be doing the fuel filters too anyways as its time. I looked into the banjo bolts, I will do those later on when I do more mods to the truck. The FIPK has been on the truck for a little over 100K. It was on there when I bough the truck. I just clean it yearly and reoil. I dont have the stock parts to bring it back to stock. On a side note I have looked into the EGR delete and cooler bypass kit, are those tough for a back yard mechanic to install? It seemd a bit difficult but I def would like to do that mod around the coolant so everything is nice and fresh.

 

Its good that you know to stay away from the gold coolant (Zerex/Ford). Make sure that when you do the flush use both Restore and Restore+ to get everything out.

I would plan to do the banjo bolts sooner than later. Its not to help with hp, its more to help your injectors stay healthy. It'll keep from starving the injectors causing a reduction in lubrication. It eliminates the check valves as well as provides larger holes for fluid flow. I'd also do the blue spring update for the fuel pressure regulator.

An EGR delete isn't overly involved. You will have to remove the turbo and most of the top side of the engine depending on what delete you go with. My personal preference would be Go-Go Diesel system since it completely eliminates the coolant flow through the intake manifold. The down side is that you change out the whole intake manifold. A close 2nd would be First Coast Diesel's full egr delete. If you go with Go-Go's system I'd also get the First Coast Diesel solid up pipes to go with it.

Another thing to look at for bulletproofing the 6.0L is the updated turbo oil drain lines, updated hpop STC fitting, and hpop dummy plugs and stand pipes. Since you have an 06 plan to do the STC fitting as its pretty much a guarantee that it'll fail. When you're in there doing the STC fitting its best to put in the updated dummy plugs and stand pipes. I'd do the hpop work and the turbo drain line when you do the EGR delete since you have to tear the top end off the engine to get to the hpop anyways.

Kit for dummy plugs and stand pipes: 6E7Z-9A332-B
STC Kit 4C3Z-9B246-F 1879930c91
Updated oil drain tube 6C3z-9T515-a 1876071C91
Fuel Pressure Spring Kit 3C3Z-9T517-AG

I would buy all the parts from Tousley Ford as they have the best prices on all these parts.