How much before heads blow?

[TennesseeDuck]

My brother sold me his 99 F-350 4x4 PSD and got a 05 F-250 4x4 6.0L CC SRW automatic. He is wondering how much he can mod it without blowing the head gaskets. This truck is stock with 50K on it. He is looking at either a 4" or 5" exhaust with cat and muffler delete and a AFE Stage 2 intake. He likes the SCT Livewire for the tuner and gauges but isn't sure if it will be too much for the stock engine with preloaded tunes and how much custom tunes he could add without fear of damage. Any advice from some of you 6.0 folks would sure be appreciated and I'm sure he will looking here first chance he gets.

[720Deere]

I honestly don't believe that any tuning on stock injectors and turbo is enough to cause head gasket problems on a 7.3. A 6.0 would be a different story altogether.

[TennesseeDuck]

His 05 is a 6.0. I love the 7.3 I got from him and can't believe he got rid of it. He is worried about the 6.0 and I don't know anything about them so I am no help.

[720Deere]

Sorry, should have paid closer attention! I personally wouldn't recommend any more than a street tune for a stock 6.0 as far as daily driving goes. It's a real crapshoot with them. Some never blow and some do it fairly quickly.

[rednekexprez]

From what I understand you can get custom tunes and as long as you keep your EGT's down you shouldnt have a problem...

[TennesseeDuck]

He has a 3yr/36K warranty with this truck but I am not sure if it would be covered with the use of tunes. He can always get it to me and I can fix it but then the costs are on him but we would use head studs if I did it.

[BigRed]

Tunes will void your warranty, depending on the dealer the exhaust and intake shouldn't...

[PSDfan99]

Originally Posted by TennesseeDuck

He has a 3yr/36K warranty with this truck but I am not sure if it would be covered with the use of tunes. He can always get it to me and I can fix it but then the costs are on him but we would use head studs if I did it.

If the dealer sees a tuner on the truck when it goes in for service... they might throw your warrenty out the window, or if the postons have heat scorch marks on them. Doing a headgasket/ headstud job is quite the undertaking. You need to pull the cab off the truck and then start the motor work. Plenty of guys on here have done it and there are some good pictures and write-ups to look at, but it's no afternoon job like bolting on a turbo or installing an exhaust.

[TennesseeDuck]

I kinda figured the warranty would be voided with tunes. He might be better off just bringing me the truck and letting me stud it right from the start and head off any issues before they start. Hopefully with stock street tunes he won't have any troubles tho. I don't think he wants anything too wild, just a little more power is all.

[Granny]

If he is really concerned with his warranty issues he may want to wait before he starts modding. There are some dealers who are more "mod-friendly" than others. Of course if you took the truck in for servicing you would return the truck to stock and remove the SCT from inside the truck, if at all possible. Good luck in your quest for power and information.