EDITOR’S NOTE
THE 7.3 GETS A REMODEL
This old 7.3L was my first personal diesel. Picked it up in 2002 when it was just a year old. It has gone through so many transformations over the years, and because of my career path, it really has changed as the diesel performance industry changed. Funny to think about that when I got it, all we really had were simple tuners and inline signal modifying type modules, archaic by today’s standards. Stacking tuners (such as installing an inline module as well as an uploaded file) was a big thing, and my 7.3L definitely saw that type of modification, as much as I hate to admit that now... I remember hitting 300 rear wheel horsepower on a dyno after doing what I considered a ton of modifications, I was so proud of the 300hp number.
At that time I was working at a small truck shop and the truck had a Superchips tuner stacked with an Edge Juice with Attitude module plus an AFE intake and Magnaflow exhaust, that was it. Five or so years later, after putting the wrenches away and starting a new job running a magazine (RV Magazine), the truck got another transformation to make it a better tow rig. Just about all of Banks’ catalog was thrown at it in the form of a new intake, an intercooler, turbo compressor wheel and wastegate. Dieselsite hooked it up with a new Adrenaline HPOP, overboost code eliminator, better boost tube boots, high flow LPOP and I’m sure a ton of other things I’m forgetting. On top of a bunch of chassis mods the engine got a dose of water methanol injection from Snow Performance. That was one of my favorite mods. It made a huge difference when towing heavy. The horsepower didn’t change from 300 at the wheels, but I could tow anything up any grade at whatever speed I wanted to. It was a great setup.
Flash forward to when I started here at Diesel World, the truck got yet another re-do. This one would be the most extensive one yet. With an eventual goal of 700 horsepower to the wheels, we went a bit overboard with a couple things. The heads were treated to a valve job and prepped for fire rings by Swamps Diesel. A set of 300/200 injectors were also sourced from Swamps. The heads got a set of stiff valve springs from Irate Diesel and Irate also provided the much stronger than stock intake runners and the regulated return fuel system. The turbo was sourced from BD Diesel with a little extra oxygen on tap via Nitrous Express. Dieselsite helped me out with a transmission to handle all the added power, and a Hydra chip plus tuning was sourced from Power Hungry Performance. All in at this point, the truck made 626 horsepower on spray and 525 on fuel only. In the quarter mile it ran high 12’s while struggling for traction.
I’ve been driving the truck like this since 2016. It’s a little temperamental in the cold, doesn’t really like to start in below freezing temps, but otherwise, for the most part it hasn’t skipped a beat. Until a few months back when it overheated and warped a head. My temp sensor is obviously broken because the gauge read normal but there was zero coolant in the system when I pulled over after the exhaust started bellowing white smoke. Upon further inspection, a rodent had been using the engine as a home over the winter (a plugged in block heater made for a great home in 20-degree weather). That rodent had chewed through a heater line connector and once the thermostat opened it drained the system, causing the overheating situation.
So, thanks to a Rat, it’s time for another rebuild. I toyed with swapping a Cummins in, but have decided that it’ll stay all 7.3L, true to my roots. This time the whole engine bay is getting a refresh as well. I want something that will last for another decade without any major work. New wiring, new paint, new HPOP, refreshed injectors, anything that’s more than a few years old is getting replaced. Can’t wait to get my truck back on the road. Stay tuned for the rebuild.