With so many manufacturers out there making aftermarket diesel performance modules, and other performance accessories, its easy to get lost in the advertisments. There are few things that are cooler than the sound of a diesels turbo, or having the ability to burn ricers, and gassers.
My questions is what are the best performance mods out there for the dollar. It seems there are 3 main manufacturers of performance modules; Banks (being the most obvious), Bully dog, and Edge. Are there any that I am overlooking that are worth while? Im considering Banks' big hoss system, but its kinda pricey, and Im not sure its more worth it than say, the 6 gun system. If I can spend less for true performance mods, that are reliable (and hopefully safe) I will.
Thanks in advance---Stu

Hypertech power programmer. You can run full power while towing. It makes our 28 ft enclosed with a truck inside feel like it isn't there.

First things first, what year, trans , and engine are you talking about?
Secondly I am not a big Banks fan at all, WAY over priced for what you get. I am not big on Bully Dog either. There are some very good companies out there and some that over inflate their claims. Do not believe the ads, they are not real world figures.

oops. I cannot believe I forgot to include this. Its a 99' with the 7.3 with an auto, and 4x4.

Check out Thedieselstop.com for the aftermarket forum for 7.3's

Get in touch w/ Jody Tipton @ DP-Tuner, sorry I don't have a link. He is the man when it comes to computer tuning for 7.3s, and very reasonable. Use his programming, get some guages, an exhaust, and go hunting 6.0s.

jody @ dp tuner is www.dp-tuner.com that'll get you a chip

- look into an aftermarket air intake www.tymarperformance.com has some good ones you'll have to call him the # is on that page or if you or your significant other doesn't like turbo whistle then the ford AIS intake system works very well and flows the same amount of air as the aftermarket. Another good one is AFE Stage2 intake. Stay away from the K&N filters. The design on them allows for poor filtration on the PSD.

-bigger exhaust (min 4") you can straight pipe it or put a good performance muffler on it.
-You MUST get guages to monitor boost, EGT & trans temp othewise you're risking very costly repairs. go w/ real guages & associated pod because when you get bit by the power bug you'll want more than the integrated guage displays & tuner will give you.
-trans shift kit upgrade to help hold the power (transgo tugger HD2) if you're towing an auxillary trans cooler (tru-cool 4950) stacked plate designs work best w/ a 28k gvw rating.

As far as sites go thedieselstop is a huge massive site with lots of bickering and a search engine that isn't worth your effort to use even if you do know you have to tag everything with a '+' before each term to get it to search. Their vendor's list is a good place to start once you figure out what you want. When trying to figure out what you want I'd suggest checking out www.thedieselgarage.com or www.superdutydiesel.com

EDIT: if you have a late 99 model truck look into the wicked wheel to replace the turbo intake wheel to eliminate turbo flutter @ high boost.

Best bang for the buck? Go to the deiselstop.com and do a search on the "upgrades and aftermarket 7.3" forum. Use 10k as your keyword. 70hp and 150ftlbs of trq for under $10.:grinpimp:

Ive been reading around on thedieselstop.com and I stumbled across the Diesel innovations page.. Are these kits worth while?

i have 2 of Diesel innovations chips. They are pretty good. Net one will be a D-P one from Jody. I would stay away from TS Performance. I had nothing but problems with 3 of there chips and the owner got to be a real prick, and said I was messing them up.

I have a 2000 7.3 P/S F250 and I run the Edge Evolution tuner with 4" exhaust to the muffler, and 5" exhaust out the rear. I have changed the air filter to an open element type, and installed a set of autometer gauges to monitor everything. My truck runs great on the medium setting, The EGT's don't get too high when pulling a single jeep on the trailer, and my trans runs cool. Towed 5 hours this past weekend each way, and trans temp ran around 125 degrees in the early morning, and about 140 in the afternoon.

I would definitely get a set of gauges before you start modding your diesel.

Stephen
:cool2:

I have to agree with most of what has been recommended. I recommend a chip over a programmer.
Good chip programmers are;
http://www.dieselinnovations.com/
http://www.wideopenperformance.net/Products.aspx?v=0
http://www.dp-tuner.com/
http://www.beansdieselperformance.com/mainframe.htm
Intakes;
Tymar has excellent intakes at a great price. http://www.tymarperformance.com/
Injctors; DI, WOP, or Beans Diesel Performance.
Trans stuff;
Trans-Go Tugger kit,
http://www.converter.com/stallion_power.htm
http://www.suncoastconverters.com/
http://www.brianstruckshop.com/
http://www.dieselsitetoo.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=266
These links ought to keep you in the poor house for a while. lol They are also all very good people to do business with.

Another vote for Jody Tipton. I sent my computer from my '01 to him and he burned an 80HP program for $75. I paid almost as much for shipping as I did for the program :rolleyes: . The program smoothed out the engine quite a bit, gave me a boost in mileage, woke up the engine noticeably, and a nice smoke screen :flipoff2: . Other than the burn all I have is the upgraded Ford intake, the "Zoodad mod"(holes cut in gril to allow more clean cold air into filter box), and a Bully Dog outlook monitor. I have towed my Willys on a trailer(6500+ lbs) over some of the bigger grades in SoCal at 60+ without a problem and power to spare.

Beyond that you really need to spend time on the diesel stop, how far you want to go and how much you want to spend is up to you. :D There are a couple of guys on there that are putting out some VERY impressive numbers.

Best bang for your buck would be a set of Swamps 175/173 injectors, 4" exhaust, DIY Tymar, 6 position flip chip, a regulated return and the prepump and in tank mods to repair all the air leaks into the fuel system. Of course guages are a must. Even with out the injectors you will love those few mods. Also be prepaired to replace your transmission with a new one.

I wasnt hoping to upgrade my tranny....Im kinda looking to keep this under 4k...
Im not going to be tractor pulling with this thing.. How much for a stock tranny anyway if I did happened to break one? Used that is?

If you break your stock tranny then a slavage yard deal usually runs 1500-2k.
In all honesty if you spend the money now for the trango shift kit & a good torque converter ($700-1200), and a larger trans cooler you're going to be covering the weak spots and you'll be able to run whatever power increases you want especially if you don't do injectors. Just about any shop will charge 4k for a performance rebuild of the 4r100.

w/ the stock injectors you can get decent power,

Intake - 200 depends on what option you choose some are 1/2 that price
exhaust - 500 very liberal pricing you can even get some SS setups for that price
Torque converter - 1000
transgo tugger - 100
trans cooler - 70
guages - 300
chip - 400
Intercooler upgrade - 1700 hypermax tapercore (optional)


If you're on this site I'm hoping that you can do the installs yourself so you'll be well under 4k that you set as a price point.

If you plan on keeping the truck do not even think about a used 4R100, especially behind a diesel. They are not the strongest trannies to begin with. But they can be built to take quite a beating with aftermarket parts. A stock trans will not last long with aftermarket injectors. The diesel perf. bug is quite a contagious bite. Its also an expensive one. You can have some fun within $4k, but plan on spending more in the future. Keep in mind the following is considering cost first, perf. second. Price are my best off the cuff guess.
First and foremost get gages.
A decent place to start in the trans as long as your trans is in good condition is;
Aftermarket T/C - $1000-1200
Tugger kit- $150
Schaeffers fluid- $75
V-10 cooler- $100
(the cheapest of the good trannies listed above is around $2800)

Modded IDM about $200
10k mod- less then $5
shim the FPR- free
boost tube or regulator for the boost signal to MAP sensor. No more then 22psi at the sensor. price varies
Zoodad mod- free
Tymar intake-about $130
Chip $400-600 depending if 4 position or 6 position.
Make your own exhaust, My last one cost only $150, 4" aluminized straight piped all the way back from the turbo. Advance Auto can get a 4" Super Duty "over the axle" pipe from Walker/Dynomax for a little over $40. Forget Stainless it has no perf advantage and costs a lot more. You can blow a lot of money on a exhaust system. I can not recomend Swamps, I will leave it at that. Injectors, and bigger turbo get kinda pricey so I would leave that for a later date.
Some people preffer a programmer over a chip, this is just personal prefference.