PROJECT MY2K: PART 4

Buying Used and Getting Back to Basic

Getting back into our 2000 Ford F350 series, Project My2k is continuing to take shape as it morphs from your everyday half worn out used truck, into a refreshed practical daily driven tow rig. We started off the build going through a few basics, what to look for when buying used, simple tech tips for the 7.3L platform. We upgraded the factory intake and exhaust system and most recently upgraded the suspension with a BDS leveling kit, Fox shocks, and some new Toyo Tires on 20” Anthem wheels. This month, it’ll be more of the same, simple upgrades that can have a positive effect in how you use your truck and improving the overall driving experience.

To add some versatility and usefulness to the truck, we wanted to add a bedcover to help protect the things we haul around in the winter months. The Bestop roll-up cover is not only budget friendly, but super simple to install with just a couple of wrenches.

The installation of the Bestop cover requires the two main rails to be mounted to your inner bedsides. Simply line the rail up to the front of the bed, flush with the top of the bed cap and clamp it in place.

Bestop EZ-Roll Tonneau

If you’ve ever owned a truck with a roll-up tonneau cover installed, you’ll understand why we’d tell you we could never drive another truck without one. And for a truck build, where you aren’t wanting to spend more than the truck is worth on upgrades, but still need great quality parts that work, Bestop offers a bed covers that’s hard to beat for the price. Their EZ-Roll soft cover was the perfect fit with a sleek low-profile cover that follows the bedsides nicely for a good look while offering great functionality. The easy no-drill installation took less than 15 minutes in the garage and the treated leather grain vinyl-coated polyester will withstand any climate and offer great UV protection. The simple hook-n-loop fastening system allows the cover to roll conveniently at the front bed rail to allow full access to the entire bed area while helping keep stored stuff protected from the elements when closed.

Bestop includes these simple aluminum bracket clamps to hold their rail system securely in place. On our long bed truck, there were four clamps per side which are just snugged evenly down the side with one each end.

With the rails in place, the vinyl top can be slid into place where it will sit perfectly in place between the rails. Once it is rolled out and clicks into place near the tailgate, the Velcro edges can be pressed down and then set out in the sun to allow the vinyl to heat up and stretch into it’s new shape. Simple pull handles will unclip the cover at the rear so it can be opened quickly allowing us to use the entire bed for taller items when needed.

Edge Revolver Tuning

When this truck was brand new, there weren’t many ‘chip’ upgrades available, but the aftermarket back then developed some neat stuff in the early 2000’s like the Superchips Microtuner we found stashed behind the back seat of this truck after we’d purchased it. That Superchips tuner was extremely popular for the Power Stroke and could add safe power for towing but technology and the aftermarket even for the 7.3L market.

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One of the first things you should ever do after purchasing a used truck is changing the fluids and filters. On the 7.3L Power Stroke, the fuel filter is located in the valley of the engine and easily changed. We ordered our filter from Riff Raff Diesel, who specialized in Power Stroke parts, and even upgraded to their slick billet cap set for some extra durability and style.

The machined billet caps Riff Raff offers not only look really good but offer some added durability to the fuel filter as the factory plastic style caps can strip, crack, and leak. The billet fuel filter cap also adds a 1/8” NPT port on top for a great place to add a fuel pressure sensor should we even feel the need to.

Quick tech tip for a cheap and easy mod. For those living in areas that don’t see real cold weather, removing your factory Air Intake Heater can remove some airflow restrictions within the intake manifold and can be done for next to no money spent. This is also good info, should your AIH ever fail, and you don’t want to spend to replace it.

For years, Edge Products has been a leader in performance diesel tuning and calibration and hasn’t forgotten about the old 7.3L trucks with their latest Revolver multi-position chips available for the 1994-2003. The Revolver chip isn’t new technology, as this style of chip has been on the market for over a decade, but Edge’s latest updates allow it to be run in conjunction with their innovative Insight CTS3 for total control of the driving experience. By plugging the Revolver directly into the PCM through the factory J3 port found on the computer board and connecting into the EAS accessory for the Insight, power levels are now controlled on-the-fly with the touch screen monitor, no need to install an extra switch on the dash.

tart by following the two wires coming off the intake heater where you’ll find them attached to a relay there in the valley of the motor. You can disconnect both wires, one of which is a power, the other a ground. Be sure to re-install the nuts on the relay once disconnected. Then the AIH can be unthreaded from the intake spider, revealing the massive heating element that takes up much of the intake tract within the spider.

Now to seal off the hole left by the removed AIH, pick yourself up an oil pan drain plug for the 1994-1997 12V Cummins, this plug threads right into place and will include a gasket seal to ensure you don’t have a boost leak.

The Edge Revolver offers 6-poitions to suit just about any driving needs, from light and heavy towing, daily driving, performance and even a High Idle tune for faster engine warmups on cold mornings. The tuning strategies were developed to squeeze every ounce of performance out of that old 7.3L, safely and efficiently without a bunch of smoke. The chip also makes changes to the transmission strategy for improved line pressure and better torque converter lockup for excellent towing performance. The tow tunes offer great shift patterns to keep a heavy load moving, while the daily driver economy tune has great throttle response and pep for stop and go style driving.

In our very first article on this build, we installed the Edge Insight CTS3 so we could start using it as a diagnostics tool, checking for proper injection pressure, boost levels, etc.… It also works well for reading and clearing codes along with monitoring Exhaust Gas Temperature with the optional Pyrometer kit. Now we’re going to add some more functionality to your Insight by using it to control the Edge Revolver multi-position chip.

With our PCM out of the truck (located in the cab directly above the emergency brake pedal) and on the bench, we’ll now need to open it up to get better access to the J3 port located on the one end. This is where the new Revolver chip will be installed to relay our new programming data into the PCM.

Results

The 2000 Power Stroke was rated from the factory with 250hp at the flywheel, so accounting for drivetrain loss, it should be capable of around 210hp on a chassis dyno. Before we had our new lift and tires installed, we were able to visit the Edge Products facility in Ogden, UIT for a tour and a quick run on their in-house dyno room. With our previously installed Jammer air intake and 4” exhaust our 165,000 mile truck put down 223@2650 RPM with 445ft-lbs torque @ 2600 RPM’s. These numbers seemed pretty accurate and would give a great baseline to compare the new Revolver tuning with. With a quick reach over to the Insight CTS3 monitor, we were able to bump up to the Level 6 tune, which offered the most aggressive fueling and timing curve and best power potential. Another quick run through the powerband showed an improvement of 79hp/144tq, jumping output to 302/588. While we were pretty happy with this considering it was just a button press away for that 80hp, our CTS3 monitor did help show us we aren’t reaching the engines full potential yet.

The white bar code sticker on the end of the main harness connector is where the PCM code will be found, you’ll need that information to confirm the Revolver is programmed for the correct computer.is located, information your customer tuner will need in order to write files that will correspond and work with your truck. The PMT2 code confirms our truck is a 2000-2001 automatic truck and that we ordered the correct Revolver from Edge to work in our application.

With the small bolts removed, the outer shell is can be opened up to reveal the brains behind this whole deal, the PCM computer board. Don’t be intimidated here, as you don’t need to make any physical changes to the PCM board, the J3 port just needs to be stripped of the protective silicone film so the new Edge Revolver can make solid contact with the metal connectors for solid data transfer.

Included with the Revolver are all the tools we’d need for preparing our factory PCM, including a small of scrub pad to rough up the metal contacts. You need to be careful here that you don’t remove too much material, just enough that the chip makes a solid connection.

On that top tune, which calls for more injection pulse width (injector on time) our factory high pressure oil pump just couldn’t keep up and our injection pressure, which should be in the 2800-psi range was plummeting at wide open throttle to well below 2000-psi. This means fuel isn’t being injected efficiently and won’t offer as complete of a burn as it could. This also meant we were losing some combustion chamber efficiency, meaning lower exhaust gas energies, resulting in less than optimum turbocharger performance and lower than normal boost pressures. It’s really a domino effect that we’ll definitely be looking into for some upgrades to make sure we’re getting everything we can out of this old engine. We’d fully expect another 20-30hp with the right ICP and boost pressures, and while a better high pressure oil pump is in the future, we’ll probably look at a turbo upgrade from KC Turbos and some fuel system changes from Riff Raff Diesel and maybe even a larger injector from Full Force Diesel.

Once cleaned, you can reinstall the PCM into the truck, making sure your battery cables are still disconnected and the keys are out of the ignition. The new Revolver will then be inserted into the PCM, and the included cable will be routed to the previously installed EAS accessor cable on our Insight monitor. You’ll also notice, we used a dermal tool to remove some of the black outer casing making access to the chip easier in the future, so there will be no need to remove the PCM from the truck again.

Once the Revolver chip was installed, our batteries reconnected and the EAS cables all hooked up, we were able to turn our ignition to the run position to power up the CTS3 monitor. The Insight recognized a new accessory added and prompted us with the choice to make our power level screen the default display. Upon confirming this command, the device now shows our power levels with up/down arrows along the left side, allowing us to turn up our programming on-the-fly with no extra switch required. We now have full control of the chip through our touchscreen.

As for the everyday drivability of the truck with the new Edge Revolver chip, it’s made a noticeable improvement in throttle response, turbo spool-up and even how the transmission feels. The truck definitely has more pep from a stop light and has really made it more impressive when towing. The weight doesn’t seem to load it down so hard and the truck accelerate much easier. Granted, if you’re comparing to the brand new trucks, we’re still 150hp shy of keeping up, but for what it is, the freshly tuned 7.3L is more than capable of getting the job done and taking you where you need. In upcoming parts of this series, we need to focus on some brake upgrades, fixing up that weak high pressure oil system, repairing some minor exhaust up-pipe leaks and getting a little more air through the engine with a better drop-in turbocharger.