This ^^^^
My pickup has 177k on it. Only had it for about 500 miles now. I appreciate all the feedback but no one has really answered my main question lol. Which are better for a budget and a good 25-50 hp gain? Nozzles or injectors. I know injectors are better but will nozzles do a decent job? What part of the factory fuel filter setup is prone to leaks?
Nozzles are great, if you have more fuel than you have time to push fuel out of the injector.
But, since a 7.3 injector is an all in one deal with no injection pump behind it trying to push out more fuel than you have time for...
Then there's no sense in upgrading a nozzle when the fuel load of factory available fuel can be pushed out well within the window of crank rotation were burning fuel makes power.
In short, if you only want a little more power, do a 160/stock injector, otherwise known as a stage one.
And as long as you keep the filter bowl leak free, and the in-tank pickup in good shape, the stock SD fuel system will support a 238cc injector.
Didn't say that at all, but there are better options in my opinion.
I've seen dyno's that prove otherwise.... not to get into a pissing match. It's not only fuel, its how you use the fuel.
I've driven both PHP and Beans tunes on my trucks. I like PHP and Beans alot. The only reason I run Jonathan at Beans tunes over PHP, is Beans is about an hour from me, which makes reburns, tweaks, etc... Very nice and easy.
They are both excellent tuners, with very similar styles. The biggest thing that sets them apart, is smoke levels. PHP tunes tend to run a little cleaner, at near equal power levels.
And dyno's lie... Period. Physics don't lie... Period.
So when you see a truck dyno higher than normal numbers, take it to a quarter mile strip, and see how fast it's going at the traps. Speed of a known object with a known weight in a known distance never lies.
And I'm not talking about ET, I'm talking Trap Speed. ET is wildly more variable than Trap.
I've seen countless dynos of Beans running 40whp/100ft-lbs+ on similar tuning as other guys. That in my book = the best.
I love Beans, so don't get me wrong here...
But no factory injectored truck is gonna do over 330.
The energy per part of fuel just isn't there.
Plain ol, not there...
Unless one can back up that claim using multiple dynamometers, it's all just a number-chucking pissing match.
In my case, I made 385 RWHP on one dyno at 930 ft. above sea level on a 90 degree day vs. 402 RWHP on a different dyno (same tune and no hardware changes) a few weeks later at 4000 ft. above sea level on an 85 degree day (sans any corrections). My track time and speed at 900-ish ft. above sea level backs up the 402 number though.......Weird. There's a 17 HP difference right there....but shouldn't I have "dyno'd" LESS horsepower at 4 times the elevation?
I'm not making accusations or pointing fingers, but dyno numbers are NOT the end-all, be-all. A dynamometer is a tuning tool. It is used to measure gains or losses of power in a semi-controlled environment over the course of tuning/parts changes. A baseline is made and every change can be graphed out to see what changes did what. Running a truck on a dyno in Anywhereville, NM and getting a baseline there is fine. Just make sure to use the same dyno (preferably the same day or time of day within a few days) after modifications have been made. To get a baseline number on one dynamometer in March and then change tuning three months later just to subsequently "dyno" 2000 miles away on a completely different dynamometer will never give an accurate representation of what has been done or what "concrete" power number has been made. Track times don't lie....they just rely on very accurate data.
I bet that extra 100 ft. lbs. you're talking about comes along pretty early in the rpm window......
This ^^^^