Ford Diesel

Truck Profile.com recently started posting trucks on their home page, almost on a daily basis. There have been 2 Ford Diesel trucks posted so far. The rest have been Dodge’s. We need everyone’s help to fill that site with Ford Diesel Trucks! If you have a ford diesel, and would like to show it off, fill out the Truck Profile Submit form with good information and submit it. Be sure to post really good pictures as well.

This is a basic install/write up on the Snow Performance Water/Meth Stage III kit.
Here are the parts out of the box. Everything came in with no missing parts except the instructions were for a different year model than my ”05. A quick call to Snow Performance and within minutes they”d e-mailed me the correct instructions in .pdf format.

The first thing I did was begun surveying where I would mount the pump and the jug. Anyone who has ever been under the hood of one of these beasts knows all too well how tight it is and the limited area you have for installing add-ons of any size.
Where to put the jug really became a problem but I realized I could fab a bracket and mount it just off of the passenger side of the radiator.

The instructions had a picture of the pump mounted on the inside of the passenger fender well and that was the best place I could see to mount it so I went with it. They recommend the pump be at least the same height if not lower than the jug. I drilled a pilot hole, stepped up to proper size bit and used the provided screws to mount it flush.

Gravy right? Exactly!

Now the fun stuff. Loosen the bolt that holds the plastic CAC tube to the aluminum elbow. Pull the four bolts that hold the aluminum elbow on, lift her off and disconnect from the plastic tube. I then placed shop towels in both the intake and CAC tube to keep the crud out while I work and keep from anything being dropped into the hole.

Nozzle time!
When I initially installed mine I only installed one nozzle. After noticing no improvement I called Snow Performance and they told me with my horsepower I’d have to have two nozzles. On my initial install I drilled and tapped the hole into the aluminum tube – Snow recommends it at 90 degree’s to the direction of the airflow. The nozzles spray a 180 degree cone pattern. Again, I started small with my drill bits and stepped up, then used the provided 1/8-27 NPT tap to thread it. Take your time and keep the tap straight, it’s an easy thread.

Now it’s time to decide what nozzles to run. Snow Performance recommended I run one 625ml/min and one 375ml/min initially. I may replace the 375 with another 625 but for now I’m happy with the nozzles I’m running.

The install was really extremely easy – the only problem I ran into was when it came time to install the nozzle into the elbow. The instructions weren’t very clear and if you look at the picture below you can see where we became confused. Logic told us that the pipe thread on the outside of the “L” would mean it would screw into something….and I’m sure it does but that wasn’t the case with our application. Looking inside that fitting you see that it’s threaded on the inside as well. That is where the nozzles screws into.

 

Screw the nozzle(s) into the “L” fitting.

Run your red nylon hose and cut it to the lengths you need. You will have a line coming in from the tank into your pump, out of the pump and into the nozzle – or a “T” if you’re running two nozzles and then dual lines out of the “T” and into the nozzles. All of the lines slide in to the pump, “T” fitting and “L” fitting via quick connects.

Test the pump by having someone hold the nozzle while you put power to it.

Now assuming all went well with the pump test and nozzles spray, screw the nozzles into the aluminum tube you tapped earlier. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN.
Here is a picture of what mine looked like once complete.

Mounting the controller is straight forward. Here is the diagram from the instructions.

The hardest thing here was trying to figure out where I wanted to mount it. I chose to put it under my A-Pillar gauges since I’ll be glancing that way anyway if I’m standing in it.

If you buy the kit, you’ll see the instructions really aren’t that bad. At the time I wish a couple of things in them would have a bit more clearly defined but all in all they were well written. The instructions also include tips on tuning the system as well as troubleshooting and water/meth percentages and they’re estimated hp increases.

Here are the horsepower claims from Snow Performance:

I run a brand of windshield wiper fluid that they recommended called Super Tech. Here are some approximate freeze range/meth content’’s:

+20 - 7% methanol

0 - 23% methanol

-10 - 28% methanol

-20 - 35% methanol

-25 - 38% methanol

-50 - 62% methanol

I also have a few bottles of something called HEET that they recommended - it comes in a little yellow bottle. You can add that to the washer fluid if you want to increase the methanol content. Both Super Tech and HEET can be purchased at Wal-Mart. Snow Performance also sells their product called Boost Juice. I”ll be ordering some soon to try out when we go to the track.

I love the kit - noticeable hp increase and EGT drops but keep in mind - If you”re going to run more than a 50% methanol content you”re taking chances. 50/50 is supposed to be perfect. I run a little less methanol and when I”m towing or taking long trips I just run water.

This Article is by Rodslinger

The swap is relatively inexpensive and not to time consuming. Used 6.0 intercoolers can be had on eBay for around $100-$125. The 6.0 IC is about 30% larger than the 7.3. The original 7.3 PSD intercooler measures 30×18x2 and the 6.0 PSD is 30×21x2.25.



One thing you should be aware of before you stat taking stuff apart is the 6.0 IC inlet and outlets are not both the same diameter as the 7.3’s and the tube lengths are just a bit different as well. The easiest way to correct this is to purchase a transition hose, 3×3.25×8 and another 3×3x8. It is my understanding that some later ‘05-‘06 IC’s have a diameter of 3.5 on the hot side, so you may want to measure your IC before you order your hoses. You don’t actually need 8” of hose, but it will allow you to make the gap in distance with no problems at all, additional it gives you plenty of room for flex, and insures a great seal.

Here is a link to a vendor for the connecting hoses. At the time of this article, none of the powerstroke.org vendors carried these parts.As always we strongly encourage our members to support our site vendors.

http://www.dieselpowerproducts.com/air



You will likely need an extra person for some parts of the job, although not mandatory there are a few steps in which an extra set of hands comes in handy.

You will need:

Door panel tool (optional)
An extra person (optional)
Metric deep sockets
Long extension
Open end/box in metric wrenches
Non-petroleum based degreaser, Simple Green etc.

REMOVAL:

Start by removing black plastic panel that is in between the grille and the radiator, it is held in by plastic push rivets, a door panel tool is helpful here but not necessary.

Next remove the bracket that holds the lug wrench and jack accessories. Then remove the (4) 8mm bolts that hold the upper radiator support brackets in place.



The positive battery cable that runs to the driver’s side is held in by some small tabs. Disconnect the cable from the driver’s side battery and gently pry up the tabs, then tie it out of the way as it will still be hot.



Remove the 2 bolts that hold the coolant reservoir in place, it is not necessary that you drain or remove the reservoir completely.

Remove the 2 bolts that hold down the A/C lines on the driver’s side, obviously DO NOT disconnect the A/C lines. You also need to remove the brackets that hold the condenser in place located on the front of the cross member. You will also need to remove the hood latch mechanism.



Now remove the 2 bolts that hold the upper portion of the IC onto the cross member. Take them all the way out.

Next step remove the cross member, it is held in by (4) 13mm bolts on either side. You may need to use a little extra effort in removing the cross member. Tap down on one side, then lift on the other, this is where you may need an extra person.



The radiator will push back a bit as well, you should have plenty enough room to remove the IC.



Loosen up the hose clamps on both sides of the intercooler and slide them back. Now the IC should be free.



You may find it easier to reach the drivers side clamps, by removing the factory air intake piece. On the drivers side you will need to wiggle around the A/C lines that you loosened earlier to make room. Zoodad anyone?



The intercooler will come out much like the cross member did, first lift up on the drivers side, and then you can more easily navigate around the BS on the passengers side. An extra person here is a bonus as well.



Before you drop the new IC into place, you should take the IC hard pipes loose from the top of the intake. You may not need to do this, but it does make things a bit easier when hooking up the new hoses.




The foil on the intercooler end of the drivers side hard pipe will need to be trimmed back about 4” At this point the easiest way to do it is just take the pipe all the way out. After the foil is removed replace the pipe in original location. (If you’ve ever wanted to do the foil delete mod, this is a golden opportunity)

Get yourself a non-petroleum based degreaser such as Simple Green, etc. to clean the oil and dirt from the ends of the IC hard pipe. As you can see in our example, they were caked up with oil residue and dirt.



Take a few minutes to get the extra oil residue wiped out of the hard pipe where you can. The oil is a normal thing, so if you see some here and there, don’t worry.



It is easiest to place the connector hoses on the hard pipe FIRST. With the ends of the hard pipe loose from the top of the motor, this will allow you wiggle room and make the connections to the IC much easier. If you have trouble sliding the hoses on, a light soap and water solution will make it easier. Slide the 2 clamps on each of the pipes but don’t tighten them just yet. Don’t forget your transition hose goes on the passenger’s side. The hot and cold sides are reversed on the 6.0.

You should have plenty of room to set the new IC in its new home. If you have help, take care to place the intercooler in the new spot, and check for any clearance issues. The passenger’s side lower portion of the cooler may butt up against the tranny cooler, but once you get the cross member back in place and re-hang the IC, you should be in the clear. Nevertheless do pay close attention to this just to be safe. Worst case scenario, you may have to bend the tranny cooler out of the way a bit, but it won’t take much.



Once you feel comfortable with the placement, you can connect the hoses from the hard pipe. It helps to have 2 people here, one to place the hose and the other to work it into place from the side of the truck by wiggling around the hard pipe.



Once your hoses are on, you can tighten your clamps up, they should be snug, but don’t over do it, you may distort the hard pipe or worse crack the inlet/outlet on the IC, they do have a metal sleeve inside, but they are plastic otherwise. You should make sure the hoses are as far up against the IC elbows as they can go. The inlet/outlet has some small ridges on them, just push the hoses up to the ridge evenly, and tighten everything up.



Now the rest. Not much to it, just put everything back where you got it……double check your hoses to make sure your clamps are on tight, and look to see if anything is in the way etc. Just a quick common sense look.

It easiest to start with the cross member, set it in place, but don’t bolt it in just yet. First loosely attach the intercooler with the 2 bolts that hold it to the cross member, tighten them down but not quite all the way. Now you can attach your cross member and snug it into place, then go back and finish tightening the IC bolts. Its easier doing this way, than doing the cross member first and tying to wrestle the IC up into place.

Reattach the upper portions of the hard pipe to the plenum.

Next put you’re A/C condenser brackets back on, and tighten them up, then your coolant reservoir bracket back into place, also the bracket for the A/C lines, and snap the little air intake piece back into it’s place. Bolt up the hood latch mechanism. Reconnect the driver’s side positive post, and tap the tabs back into place. Replace the black plastic cover, and the jack components. Done.

Last Checks

Drive around and make sure everything is as it should be. If you took time and checked that everything had proper clearance, the only real problem you may encounter is a loose clamp resulting in a boost leak.

The Payoff

The single biggest benifit to the swap is lower EGT’’s. In our example peak EGT’’s were down 75-100 degrees. The truck seems to make just a bit more power, no doubt from the cooler air charge from the larger IC.

Welcome to our site full of resources, articles, parts, accessories and up to date information on your favorite Ford Diesel Truck. This is not an official Ford site.

The 2008 Ford 6.4L Super Duty Diesel is finally out. This truck has power like no other stock diesel pickup on the market. The new 6.4L features twin turbos and loads of other modification from previous ford pickups.

There are a lot of rumors going around that the new trucks do not get as good of fuel economy. Here is the thing, in this day and age, everyone wants the horsepower, fuel economy and clean emissions. Well, unfortunately one of those has to drop and since power seems to be in the best interest of the customer and less emissions seems to be in the best interest of the government, the fuel economy suffers. Because of the new Ultra-Low Sulfur fuel, all diesel trucks, not just Ford trucks, will be decreasing in fuel economy. The sulfur in the fuel has always been what has kept the injectors and pumps lubricated. The best thing you can do is to supplement with an additive. A good Diesel fuel additive will help to lubricate those injectors and pumps to help give you better fuel economy and longer engine life.