|
|
|
2000 Ford F-250, 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel |
Model specs:235 hp |
I needed to replace my old 83 GMC after it was totalled, so I decided I would grow up and get something nice that would be able to accomplish my eventual goal of towing two cars to the track. I did some research and found that the 7.3 was incredibly well-built and I knew it wouldn't be a turd because I had borrowed several friends trucks of the same generation of F-series. Furthermore, I decided to go with the newer generation 99+ b/c I intended on using the truck as my dailer driver as well as my tow vehicle. (Looking back, if I had known that diesel was not going to stay around $2.60/gallon like when I bought it, I probably would have gotten an older one for considerably cheaper and bought a nicer daily driver). Despite the costs, I really like this truck. It's actually kinda fun to drive and I absolutely love the sounds that it makes. I bought the truck with the intentions of it being steadfastly reliable, so my modifications have been minimal since have no real need to add a lot of power. The first thing that I did as soon as I got it was all of the scheduled maintenance. This included an oil change, fuel filter, front and rear differential fluids, transmission flush, transfer case fluid, and brake fluid flush. I also flushed the power steering system with fresh ATF b/c the steering would hiss at full lock (the old fluid came out brown, ew!). |
Modifications: Marinco block heater plug |
After I was satisfied that the truck was in top shape, I started adding extra stuff.
-The first thing I did was added a Marinco block heater plug to make it easier to use (no longer fishing for it behind the tow hook).
-Is exchanged the cup holders to get rid of the early-model "cup flipper" that would lose my cups/cans any time I took a turn at more than 5mph.
-I removed the stock fuel neck and ground out the center fuel restriction so that I could use the faster-flowing gas pumps at my local truck stop.
-
A dirty air filter is one of the worst things you can do to a diesel, so I upgraded to the Ford AIS intake system. This has a much larger filter element and is supposed to provide some performance increases, but I just like the peace of mind knowing that I have a high-quality filter in there.
-Installed a Fumoto Valve, which is a small drain that replaces the stock oil pan plug. This thing makes oil changes an obsolute peice of cake and essentially eliminate any chance of making a mess b/c it has a nipple to attach a peice of hose to run right down to your container; hands down my favorite mod so far.
-I added a blow-through muffler to replace the stock muffler, which is a major restriction on the factory 3.5" exhaust system. Considering the pipe only cost me $50, I was extremely happy with the noticable performance gain and the very slight increase in exhaust noise; you can clearly hear the turbo spooling up now :-).
-To complement the exhaust upgrade, I cut a hole in the front fascia to feed cold air directly to the intake, referred to as the Zoodad mod.
-When I flushed out the old green coolant and replaced with red Fleetrite ELC, I also installed a coolant filter to capture sand grains from the casting process that slowly seep out of the metal over time.
-So far the only thing I have had to pay somebody to do is the install of the ball joints and welding some extra pipe for my muffler mod b/c I screwed up on the install and didn't measure properly.
-Replaced what appear to be the original batteries and alternator at 151,000 miles. Alternator failed and batteries drained getting me home, figured it was better to replace them than get stranded towing something later on...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |