1997 powerstroke mods ( advice??)

[Dirt rider1]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and to diesels, and I'm wantin some info on how to modify my ford. I've got a 1997 ford powerstroke turbo diesel f250 automatic with 218,000mi on it.

Here is some of the engine mods I'm wantin to do:
- muffler and cat delete kit
- air filter (I'm wanting a high flow one)
- 8" tip

Is it possible to turn the pump up some on this year (1997) or am I gonna have to go with a chip?

Im wanting to be able to throw a good bit of smoke and get a little more acceleration power.

Are any of these mods gonna cause harm to my tranny?

Is it legal to remove my catalytic converter and add a delete pipe?

If i cant turn the pump up, can someone send me a link or something of a good chip I should use in my 1997 7.3 that'll give me some good acceleration power and smoke I'm a newbie and don't know where to find em. I'm not wantin to spend a lot of money on one however.

Thanks

Dirt rider1

[2000-7.3L]

pics of your rig?

[nine6stroker]

A bit of a warning - Blowing smoke is not looked too highly upon on this forum, so you can probably expect to get some harsh responses for that. With that being said, no, there is no pump you can turn up on these trucks. The fuel delivery from the injectors is electronically controlled. You can add a good 6-position chip which will give you a decent bump in power, but with the stock injectors on these trucks being as small as they are (96cc), you won't see a massive increase in power (or smoke) until you bump up to larger injectors.

A few tuners you could look at are:
Gearhead - these guys are actually against smoking, and their tunes are very clean (as far as an old 7.3 goes). It says right on their homepage that any requests for smoke tunes will be turned down. With that said, I have heard numerous good things about Matt's tunes. Gearhead Automotive Performance

Power Hungry Performance - Bill has been in the tuning business for a long time, and definitely knows what he is doing. I actually ran his tunes for about 10 months. I was very happy with them, the only reason I switched was because I wanted to try new tunes, just for fun. Power Hungry Performance - Phoenix™ Chip

Another good one is Tony Wildman. I have heard numerous good things about him as well, although last I heard he was fairly backed up and heard to reach, as his daughter is going her second round with brain cancer. I have personally met the Wildmans, and they are great people. I'd like to try his tunes some day... Tony Wildman Performance Chips


As far as harm to the tranny, it depends on what kind of condition it's currently in. My truck had a new tranny put in just under 50k miles ago. I run stage 1 injectors, a custom tuned 6-position chip, and a T500 HPOP, which should put me at roughly double the stock hp/tq (well, at least at the crank anyways... hopefully). Pretty much what I'm saying is I'm pushing quite a bit of power over stock, and have a very heavy foot. My trans is taking it very well (for now), and is still shifting and driving as well as ever.

As far as the catalytic converter, it depends on your state. Here in CO where I live, we have yearly emissions testing on diesels. So, I took my cat off, hollowed it out, and slapped it back on there, and passed emissions with flying colors, even though it's technically a straight pipe. The cat is just there for visual inspection now.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add earlier, get a 3" downpipe if your truck doesn't already have one. That, along with a good intake (the 6637 is a popular one) are some of the first mods that should be done if you're going to be looking for more power. Those, and gauges.

[ol_Blue97]

i can see this one being closed soon... ^^^^X2 everything Kevin has said

[2000-7.3L]

Cant roal coal or talk about it?

[nine6stroker]

If he wants to roll coal than more power to him. I was just letting him know a good number of the members on here or against unnecessary smoking, so he may get some unpleasant responses for asking how to do so.

[BigFuel]

Dude, you're in Texas. I don't think they have any laws on anything truck related (except max height that I've seen). 7.3L's won't "roll coal" without intentional damage to the engine (not that it's good for any engine).

Anyway, here in Cali. only diesels '98 and newer are inspected for smog. Texas might be the same. Then it might be like Colorado where the inspect them all every year. You will have to find your local laws and see what is required of your truck to pass emissions. Some of these guys replace the whole exhaust with a straight pipe. I chose one that used my Cat. and then I bought a Diamond Eye test pipe and I've got the Cat in the garage just in case.

[dentexpowerstroke]

To "roll coal" put a bag over the air intake, oh also get a giant cumminGs sticker, a monster sticker, and a flat billed hat. What does "rolling coal" accomplish? I have a legit 500+hp truck that doesn't even smoke, every time I see some idiot "rolling coal" I walk all over them with my smokeless truck. You look like a douche smoking every where.

Look at the 6637 for an air intake, high flow and good filtration. Straight pipe it, check out diamond eye.

If you are in the north texas area I will show you what a good, clean running diesel will do. You will change your mind on the wanting to smoke thing very quickly, just remember it's unburnt fuel, think of what happens when you burn all that fuel(power).

[Dirt rider1]

What kind of difference, in power and sound, will I get by puting a 3" down pipe on my truck? I've desided to just keep the stock pipe that's on it right now and just cut off the muffler and run a 8" tip in front of the back tire. I'm wanting to get that squashed looking down pipe out of there and get something bigger to get me some more power.

I called napa and they don't have any other aftermarket filters except K&N.

Thoughts??

[nine6stroker]

The stock downpipe is incredibly restrictive. I would actually get rid of that before the muffler in my case. If gives better sound as well. The 3" downpipe flows much more than the stock downpipe. The easier you can get air in and out of your motor, the better.

The 6637 can be found under other names from different companies as well. If you type something along the lines of "Napa 663 cross reference" into google, you sould be able to find a list of other manufacturer's part #'s for the identical filter. But whatever you do, DON'T put a K&N on your truck. They don't flow well enough for the even the stock turbo, and are known for dusting motors.