Rob D
Member
Welp guys - I apologize in advance. This is going to be a long thread - but I think it will really help out some guys new to the 6.0 platform - and allow some old timers who have been around for some time to really give sound advice.
My First 6.0 story:
Some of you may recognize my name around here - others not so much. I have been out of the game for the last couple of years. I bought my first 6.0 back in 2007 and started off back on the nation in '08 so I was around for awhile. Nice to see some of the same names on here still. Anyway here is a quick rundown of what my set up was (just the main upgrades not going to list all the small stuff) The truck had 190s/75 over, studs, powermax, built trans, airdog 2, RR kit with upgraded lines, AFE stage 2 intake, GOGO egr deleted manifold, intake elbow, 4" turbo back exhaust. I ended up having to do 3 HG jobs - first time was because I blew them and that is when I added most of the above mods. Unfortunately I used black onyx gaskets and they blew with less than 10k miles again. So that was round 2. Last time my truck was blowing white smoke all over the place when cold and it appeared my valve train some how got out of alignment so I put a whole new top end on the truck which did not fix the problem. It was finally found that 2 cylinders had low compression at which point I put a new bottom end under the new top end I just bought and sold the truck out of frustration. I had more money into repairs and parts alone than what I sold the truck for.
Having given my nightmare story - I do not know one other guy who went through what I did with their truck, so I think my truck honestly was a factory lemon that I unfortunately got stuck with by tuning it while still under warranty.
Since then I have been in a 2013 F150 FX4 Ecoboost and a Dodge 2500 24V Cummins 6 speed. Needless to say both of those trucks lasted less than a year each. I never got over my 6.0 and decided I needed to get back into one - which speaks volumes after what I went through. I am having a 2005 Harley Davidson edition 6.0 shipping from across the country in the next couple weeks. She is stunning - only 38k miles on the clock. Every possible option Ford offered in that model year.
I am starting this thread as a way to get back up to speed on the latest and greatest for the 6.0s. I would like to see if the technology back when I put these parts on my first truck 5+ years ago is outdated and what the best newer systems running today are. I know a lot can change over a couple of years. The truck will eventually be moderately built. HP goals around 500-550 tops. I want this truck to last and not cost me thousands in repairs. I want to make sure I am doing everything right the first time - and only putting the highest quality parts on this truck.
My personal top 10 mods in order of how they will go onto the truck:
1) - New manifold with EGR delete. I see there are a lot of threads here about removal of posts only VS fully ported. Part of me feels like if spending 6 or 700 for a post removed unit - mind as well spend a couple more and do the job 100% the first time. Other side of me says hey - the heads are the next restriction - is it even worth it to spend 1k on a fully ported unit, or should I look at for example Absolute Performance's "mid ground" manifold they have mentioned will becoming available?
2) - Coolant filter - plenty of people have good products for this
3) - Tuning/Monitoring: First truck I had 6 autometer gauges. This time around I am going to go with electronic monitoring - seems like from what I have read today's units are just as accurate as the gauges. Not sure if I want to go with an Xcal3 with a CTS or just the SCT livewire TS. Livewire is cheaper and I like the idea of tuning and monitoring all in one unit...but so many guys prefer the CTS xcal combo. Also the other side is that it might be safer to keep your tuner and monitoring system separate so if one goes down you are not out of both tuning and monitoring.
4) - Turbo back exhaust. Does 5" sound much different than a 4" or is it more of a look thing? Does aluminized hold up as well as T304 Stainless? Being from New England which unfortunately salts the roads - I want the pipes to stay clean.
5) - Fuel system:
A) Seems like more and more people are getting off the FASS and Airdog wagon and building custom systems with A1000s - thoughts?
B) RR kits. I bought the DJ fuel plus back when DJs diesel was still in business. This kit opened up the lines to the front of the heads - and removed the stock regulator assembly which was replaced with the aeromotive regulator. Back then there were huge debates as to whether doing a crossover or also having return lines off the back of the heads was worth it. Also if running an airdog II which is self regulated - does it make sense to just upgrade the lines?
6) - Internals: When it comes times for a stud job - what else are other guys throwing in the top end while the heads are off outside of doing all of the standard updates. Ideas like pushrods, high rev valve springs remote oil coolers etc. - thoughts?
Mod #s 6-9 would all be done at the same time.
7) - Oil/Fuel Filtration. Thoughts on the underhood delete kits with remote replacments for both? I always liked clean and how much room deleting the underhood oil and fuel bowl/filter housings created - but is it worth it?
8) - Turbos: Age old VGT or non-VGT. When I was in the game there was no good non-VGT setups yet. Guys were struggling all over the place with dead spots. I love the sound of non-VGT trucks, but am not interested at all in dead spots and blacking out roads until RPM/boost is built etc. Are we having more success with non-VGT yet? I read/watched the video thread and some others but seems like there is not a fully functional system yet? As far as VGT there are some newer names in the industry putting out some solid VGT turbos - such as Barder for example. MPD seems to also be working on some nice setups.
9) - Injectors: Seem like guys are starting to explore smaller nozzle sizes for same power levels but more but more efficiency - back when I did mine I feel like everyone was 75 or 100 over. I have read a bit on 30 being a more popular choice now. Who are the big injector guys in the game now?
10) - Suspension: I never thought I would be saying this - but after seeing a friends 08 lowered a couple inches - I fell in love. Who makes the best kits for this? Same goes for traction bars - heard great things about OUO. Would love to have smoother shifts after tuning etc.
Thats it for now guys. I am sure there will be more later. It will be a couple of weeks before I get the truck but I will keep this thread updated with information and pictures as I go. Thanks!
My First 6.0 story:
Some of you may recognize my name around here - others not so much. I have been out of the game for the last couple of years. I bought my first 6.0 back in 2007 and started off back on the nation in '08 so I was around for awhile. Nice to see some of the same names on here still. Anyway here is a quick rundown of what my set up was (just the main upgrades not going to list all the small stuff) The truck had 190s/75 over, studs, powermax, built trans, airdog 2, RR kit with upgraded lines, AFE stage 2 intake, GOGO egr deleted manifold, intake elbow, 4" turbo back exhaust. I ended up having to do 3 HG jobs - first time was because I blew them and that is when I added most of the above mods. Unfortunately I used black onyx gaskets and they blew with less than 10k miles again. So that was round 2. Last time my truck was blowing white smoke all over the place when cold and it appeared my valve train some how got out of alignment so I put a whole new top end on the truck which did not fix the problem. It was finally found that 2 cylinders had low compression at which point I put a new bottom end under the new top end I just bought and sold the truck out of frustration. I had more money into repairs and parts alone than what I sold the truck for.
Having given my nightmare story - I do not know one other guy who went through what I did with their truck, so I think my truck honestly was a factory lemon that I unfortunately got stuck with by tuning it while still under warranty.
Since then I have been in a 2013 F150 FX4 Ecoboost and a Dodge 2500 24V Cummins 6 speed. Needless to say both of those trucks lasted less than a year each. I never got over my 6.0 and decided I needed to get back into one - which speaks volumes after what I went through. I am having a 2005 Harley Davidson edition 6.0 shipping from across the country in the next couple weeks. She is stunning - only 38k miles on the clock. Every possible option Ford offered in that model year.
I am starting this thread as a way to get back up to speed on the latest and greatest for the 6.0s. I would like to see if the technology back when I put these parts on my first truck 5+ years ago is outdated and what the best newer systems running today are. I know a lot can change over a couple of years. The truck will eventually be moderately built. HP goals around 500-550 tops. I want this truck to last and not cost me thousands in repairs. I want to make sure I am doing everything right the first time - and only putting the highest quality parts on this truck.
My personal top 10 mods in order of how they will go onto the truck:
1) - New manifold with EGR delete. I see there are a lot of threads here about removal of posts only VS fully ported. Part of me feels like if spending 6 or 700 for a post removed unit - mind as well spend a couple more and do the job 100% the first time. Other side of me says hey - the heads are the next restriction - is it even worth it to spend 1k on a fully ported unit, or should I look at for example Absolute Performance's "mid ground" manifold they have mentioned will becoming available?
2) - Coolant filter - plenty of people have good products for this
3) - Tuning/Monitoring: First truck I had 6 autometer gauges. This time around I am going to go with electronic monitoring - seems like from what I have read today's units are just as accurate as the gauges. Not sure if I want to go with an Xcal3 with a CTS or just the SCT livewire TS. Livewire is cheaper and I like the idea of tuning and monitoring all in one unit...but so many guys prefer the CTS xcal combo. Also the other side is that it might be safer to keep your tuner and monitoring system separate so if one goes down you are not out of both tuning and monitoring.
4) - Turbo back exhaust. Does 5" sound much different than a 4" or is it more of a look thing? Does aluminized hold up as well as T304 Stainless? Being from New England which unfortunately salts the roads - I want the pipes to stay clean.
5) - Fuel system:
A) Seems like more and more people are getting off the FASS and Airdog wagon and building custom systems with A1000s - thoughts?
B) RR kits. I bought the DJ fuel plus back when DJs diesel was still in business. This kit opened up the lines to the front of the heads - and removed the stock regulator assembly which was replaced with the aeromotive regulator. Back then there were huge debates as to whether doing a crossover or also having return lines off the back of the heads was worth it. Also if running an airdog II which is self regulated - does it make sense to just upgrade the lines?
6) - Internals: When it comes times for a stud job - what else are other guys throwing in the top end while the heads are off outside of doing all of the standard updates. Ideas like pushrods, high rev valve springs remote oil coolers etc. - thoughts?
Mod #s 6-9 would all be done at the same time.
7) - Oil/Fuel Filtration. Thoughts on the underhood delete kits with remote replacments for both? I always liked clean and how much room deleting the underhood oil and fuel bowl/filter housings created - but is it worth it?
8) - Turbos: Age old VGT or non-VGT. When I was in the game there was no good non-VGT setups yet. Guys were struggling all over the place with dead spots. I love the sound of non-VGT trucks, but am not interested at all in dead spots and blacking out roads until RPM/boost is built etc. Are we having more success with non-VGT yet? I read/watched the video thread and some others but seems like there is not a fully functional system yet? As far as VGT there are some newer names in the industry putting out some solid VGT turbos - such as Barder for example. MPD seems to also be working on some nice setups.
9) - Injectors: Seem like guys are starting to explore smaller nozzle sizes for same power levels but more but more efficiency - back when I did mine I feel like everyone was 75 or 100 over. I have read a bit on 30 being a more popular choice now. Who are the big injector guys in the game now?
10) - Suspension: I never thought I would be saying this - but after seeing a friends 08 lowered a couple inches - I fell in love. Who makes the best kits for this? Same goes for traction bars - heard great things about OUO. Would love to have smoother shifts after tuning etc.
Thats it for now guys. I am sure there will be more later. It will be a couple of weeks before I get the truck but I will keep this thread updated with information and pictures as I go. Thanks!
Last edited:
haha
