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Excursion top end upgrades

3340 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  TheBaalmans
Been a while since I posted, been enjoying the Ex for a few years. However developed a head gasket leak after she got overheated pulling boat up out of Willow Beach this fall. The bolt holding the coolant bottle disappeared and the bottle went into the AC compressor and blew coolant all over. By the time I got the rig to where I could safely pull over she was HOT HOT HOT. After getting rig and everyone home safely, replaced the coolant bottle and that effing bolt. Kept an eye on things, she ran just fine but started getting oil showing up in the coolant but not water in the oil so she got parked until I could get the time and money to fix her.

Pulled the heads last weekend, found the leak in the gasket and sent the heads off to the machine shop for inspection and decking.

While the top end is off, planned on doing upgrades to make her my ultimate boat towing rig. I wanted more power and torque, but keep stock trans. So mildish upgrades without sacrificing reliability. Here's what's going to be done outside of all the gaskets, seals, sensors, glow plugs/relay, oil cooler seals, and new tensioner assy/belt/idler that are being replaced.

KCTurbos KC300x Stage 1 (63/68) .84ar
Full Force Injectors Stage 1.5 180cc/30%
CNC Fab Stage 1 HPOP and new lines with crossover
Riffraff Diesel FRX regulated return crossover with new fuel lines (rebuild the fuel bowl with new o-rings while it's out)
Bellowed Y pipe
John Woods trans valve body

Hutch and Harpoon mods

What's been done prior
Hydra tuner
Edge CTS for gauges and pyro
Banks intercooler and pipes with new CAC boots
Intake plenum reinforcement bushings
Aluminum radiator
Mishmoto trans cooler
non-EPBV pedestal, intake heater delete
4" turbo back exhaust
Ford aluminum finned rear diff cover
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I'm a bit biased, but I'd do this fuel line kit vs the frx hoses.


Otherwise the list looks good.

With everything apart on the top, I'd inspect your under valve cover gaskets and harnesses, install a non-ebpv turbo pedestal, install plenum reinforcement bushings, inspect your CAC boots if they are squishy (oil saturated), maybe reseal your oil cooler, depending on how many miles, but consider replacing the low pressure oil pump.

I have everything on your list and the things I mentioned on the shelf.

If you want to put a list together and email me, we can quote you a package price. [email protected]

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