Spent 12 hours on 7.3 in the shop today...

[EArmsF350]

Well I spent 12 hours working on my 2000 7.3. First at 10 this morning I started the disassembling of the Turbo and up pipes. Yes the up pipes are a bast#rd to get off. When they say PB Blaster works to help free the crud they are absolutly correct. I was sucessful in the replacement of the up pipe gaskets and I used the brass gaskets from Beans Diesel Performance and they look great. I also installed Beans Diesels compressor wheel to help with my surge problem. It is not any louder than the stock wheel I took out. I am having a problem, I am only pulling 10 psi of boost now at maximm acceleration. I was pulling 18-20 psi with the stock wheel. Yes I went over that truck 4 times checking and rechecking all clamps and vaccum lines for boost and vaccum leaks. I am in better shape now in that aspect as before I started this project this morning. Everything is clean a tight. Any ideas of low boost pressure? I also installed Beans Diesels IDM upgrade today which jumps from the standard 120v to 140v. It does start faster and has better throttle response. Could any of these upgrades and fixes cause my low boost pressure?

[Dietoremain]

uhmmm... are you sure your uppipes are sealed? sounds like a huge leak, the compressor wheel will only lose 1-2lbs of boost max on a stock truck.

[campbellflage]

what he said

[dereku]

Those uppipe gaskets are a crush design so they have to be very tight. And the vband on the back of the turbo can be temperamental.

[EArmsF350]

I was exhausted by 9:30 last night and when we did the primary and secondary checks before we fired it up all was very tight. After posted this I got to thinking about how the flange and the y-pipe were touching before we took them apart (granted the old stock gaskets were basically gone), but looking this morning I can see about 1/8" gap between the two surfaces and the brass is visible. So I'm going to drive it to town and get it good and warm, pull in the shop and drop the passengers side fender liner and try to tighten them some more. I just dont want to twist them off. Those brass bushings are pretty tough and I'm not sure how much it will take to crush them to get a good seal. Are the flange bolts hard or are they a standard grade 5?