1997 Ford F-350

    Here is my late 97 F350 with the 7.3 Powerstroke engine.  I purchased it from the original owner in Farley, Iowa.  When I picked up the truck on April 1st 2006 is had 36008 miles on it.  It's a huge improvement over my little 96 F150.  I had looked at a lot of trucks both new and used before deciding to buy this one.  I really like Ford's old body style and life is too short to be driving an ugly truck!  I got the crew cab so my dog Belle could have a seat all to herself.  She loves going for rides in "her truck!" 

    I've done several mods, mostly fixing stuff that should of been done by the factory in the first place.  Just because something came like it is from the factory does not mean it's right or will work.  The leaky restrictive air box was replaced with an open element Tymar intake.  While I had Dale on the phone I got a new downpipe and 4" stainless exhaust.  Stock downpipe looks like an afterthought, or more accurately a flattened snake and is a worthless pos that every obs owner should replace.  Both mods made a noticeable improvement  in performance.  

    Next came a set of gauges, I chose Isspro as it's a well know brand.  Installed in an a-pillar pod were pre turbo pyrometer, transmission temp and boost gauge.  The install was very easy despide having to mount the gauge signal amplifier boxes and neatly route the associated wiring.  I have also installed a water temp gauge as the stock one is pretty much useless.  I stuck this one down over the transmission hump.  I'm waiting for Isspro to launch their Performax line so I can add an electric fuel pressure and high pressure oil gauge.  

    Next up came a transmission fluid/filter change and at the same time I replaced the dinky stock trans cooler with a big stacked plate unit from Tru-Cool.  This has made a huge difference in temperature!  In summer cruising at 65 empty with stock cooler I would see 180° but now it rarely goes over 130° with the bigger cooler.  

    In the spring of 07 I picked up a giant Spearco intercooler intended for Ford's 6.0 equipped trucks.  It was a tight fit and required moving AC condenser back as far as possible and moving trans cooler inside the bumper.  Even then the thing just fit.  The pipes were made from a set of Super Duty pipes along with some misc pieces from an unknown truck make and a J bend.  4 ply silicone boots were used along with stainless constant torque band clamps.  The Y pipe is from an early 99 Super Duty and thankfully came with the reduction boots.  This was an involved project but well worth it, exhaust gas temps are down 300°!  I also routed the crank case vent so it would not fill my ic system with oil.  

    By the summer of 07 it was clear I had a leaky injector o-ring so I upgraded to stage I injectors from Bean's Diesel Performance.  The install was very easy taking me 6 hrs and I was not hurrying.  To wake up the bigger sticks I called Tony Wildman and got a 4 position chip from him.  The difference over stock is night and day!!! 

    In the middle of winter I noticed some fuel in bottom of engine valley.  My fuel pump had sprung a slow leak.  It wasn't too bad and the truck still ran fine, being without a garage to work in and too cold to work outside I decided to leave things be but start collecting parts for an electric fuel system.  I'm using a Walbro electric pump coupled with a Stanadyne heated 30 micron pre pump filter and a 2 micron post pump filter.  All this is mounted on a bracket tucked up behind the transfer case.  3/8 push lok hose connects the tank selector valve to pre filter head.  I used 3/8 316 grade stainless steel hard lines to couple the filters and pump together.  A short section of braided stainless hose connects to post pump head to the 3/8 hardline on frame.  This is so the frame can twist a bit without causing stress on the hardlines.  Both stock 5/16 lines on frame rail were replaced with 3/8 stainless and new mounting brackets were made from aluminum.  Again to keep any frame movement or engine vibration from putting stress on the hardlines I used some braided stainless hose to connect up the fuel lines on engine.  Here too the stock ones were replaced with 3/8 stainless.  The feed line was piped to a stainless steel Y I made and mounted where the old mechanical fuel pump was located.  1/4 stainless line was routed to the back of each head.  For heat protection each line was encased in a length of woven ceramic sock.