205/30 and KC Stage 2 Review

[nighthawk285]

Ok....I've had enough seat time that I think it's time to write this up. My truck isn't known here, so here's my mods up to this point in regards to the engine.

2005 King Ranch F-350:
Studded and O-Ringed
205/30 Holders Injectors
Stage 2 KC Turbo
ODAWG Ported Manifold
MBRP Up-pipes
4" TB Exhaust
Stage 2 AFE Intake
Mishimoto Intercooler
Billet Torque Converter
BPD 58V FICM, BPD Water Pump, BPD Oil Bypass

Up until this last round of upgrades, I was still running on stock injectors and had what I was calling a "KC 1.75" lol. I've also run the KC S1.5....so now with the background established......

I want to first say thanks to Charlie (KC Turbos) and Rykan (Holders Diesel) for providing excellent service, and furnishing a world class product. I'm a guy that really likes to see the numbers first or at least try to do as much research as I can before sinking this kind of money, and they did their best to help me out, tell me what they had received back for reviews, and answer my technical questions. This was also my first dealing with Rykan and I was surprised at how much he responded to a first time customer with no previous history with his company; it's not something that you get with most businesses nowadays from my experience.

I placed the whole order through Charlie, and shipped my core injectors straight to Holders. Rykan told me that they were busy and it would take a little longer than normal, but even still, I had my tracking number and the sticks were back on their way to me in a little over a week. When they arrived at my door, they were packaged very nicely, with each injector in their own small box, bubble wrapped and in a sealed plastic bag. The small boxes were packaged in a larger box and fit perfectly, and as I was removing them, the flow sheet came out as well. The flow sheet was broken out with each numbered injector, the flow rate when tested, as well as the ICP that they tested them at....again I was impressed.

The turbo came right from Charlie and was the best packaged turbo I have ever received yet. All the covers were in place, a full install kit and some instructions......bah, who needs those? lol. At the very top and bottom of the box enveloping the turbo was some form-fitting foam that made a great contour over the turbo and into the box. In a world where you can't ship anything without a constant worry that it won't end up at the destination in 1000 pieces (seriously....I shipped a VGT solenoid to a guy and it didn't make it intact....WTF do they do to our packages?), I believe this package could be used and abused by shipping companies and the contents would be perfect.

I proceeded to take my brand new turbo, pull off the compressor cover, and polish it up...it was shiny to start with but I like a mirror's finish as best as I can. Later on, the install went perfect and only took about 1/2 an hour to have the old one out and this one in.

 

[nighthawk285]

The turbo was actually in for a solid two weeks with the stock injectors before I got around to installing the injectors. All of my tunes were already written for an S2 with stock sticks, and I was curious how it would run. All I could do was smile like a Cheshire Cat; it was the most fun turbo I've had since the 1st gen 1.5. Even on stock injectors, the spool was really fast and it would more than keep up with the stock system. For a size apples-to-apples comparison that usually happens, I have driven other people's rigs with billet wheeled PMAX's and they've got nothing on this S2. At WOT, I absolutely could not get the EGTs above 1450 on my hottest tune. Before hand, even with the other air upgrades, WOT would start at about 1500, and after about a mile, the EGTs would climb back up to around 1650-1750. With the stock injectors, I could hold it wide open and the temps would just stay planted. Boost would max out about 35psi.

In the 2 weeks I had that combination, I put on about 1600 miles of commuting, stop-and-go, some light towing, and a road trip for Mother's Day. I never did any fuel mileage comparisons, but I couldn't keep my foot out of it either. From now on, this will be my recommended turbo for anyone that likes to have some spirited driving now and then, still tow max weight, and wants to keep the door open for upgrades later.

The Sunday night of Mother's Day weekend after we returned home, my wife went to work and I dove in to get the injectors done. Started about 7pm after my daughter went to bed, and was up and running again by 1130pm. I had bought a couple new tools that made the job much easier (1/4" locking flex head ratchet ) and everything went smoothly. The next day I loaded up my revised tunes and went to work. I was very impressed at the bottom end performance, but the truck would just fall on it's face and wouldn't pull any harder over 1/2 throttle. I had also put on a BOV within the same time frame, so I spent a couple days troubleshooting thinking that I had done something to the APP sensor and messed it up and then it hit me to check fuel pressure....sure enough, it wouldn't hold even 20psi during a longer pull at half, or anything at WOT. So note to the next guy, 205s will NOT be supported on stock fuel. I knew this already and was gathering parts for a 6.7 swap, but with fresh injectors in there I needed a solution ASAP. So a couple days later for shipping, I had a new AD2 pump at my door. I put that in last Friday night, installed my RR I had sitting on the shelf on Saturday, re-loaded up the full fuel tunes, and went to go sled pulling 100 miles away in Ontario, OR.

Had to keep getting in-and-out of the throttle to keep the front end from hopping in this one
https://youtu.be/6koNHYP0-5M

Front end was strapped down and this was a stronger almost WOT run
https://youtu.be/0H-uxKd7g6c

The truck has done beautifully ever since. Power is on tap when I want it, and smoke is very minimal. Spool up is quick enough that I can drive the truck like I always have and be aggressive into the throttle down low without fear of smoking out an intersection or highway when passing. Unless I go right to about 75% throttle or more, there's no smoke to be seen down low. Cruising EGTs are right around 800deg, and I now have to re-train my foot to use the top inch of the pedal, otherwise I look down and I'm doing 80mph like it's nothing.

I knew I'd be pushing the limits of the S2 with 205s during WOT runs and I am. HOWEVER.......that brings me to NOTE #2.....205 conventionals will NOT hold ICP on an otherwise healthy system on a full fuel tune. This is a question I never saw fully answered when doing my injector research, as folks would post "Yeah I can hold full ICP" and then two threads later post up "I think my HPOP is dying." On my reduced fuel DD tune from ********, I can support 2.2ms of PW and keep 4.5v ICP.....on my full fuel tune that's supposed to be at 2.5-2.6ms, I drop to 3.6v ICP. With the drop in ICP, the computer tries to compensate by extending PW and I end up right around 2.74ms PW and 3.5v ICP at WOT. Unfortunately that much fuel and poor ICP for atomization leads to a lot of heat and a bit of smoke. I bounced the pyro off of 1850deg a couple times before I stopped doing that. Since there's no good options IMO for high performance, reliable 05+ HPOPs, that'll be something I'll just have to watch when running a full fuel tune and probably manipulate the PW a bit more to find out how much I can give it without losing ICP. Boost on the turbo now with the bigger injectors for better drive pressure max out around 37psi on most tunes, 42-45 on my full race tune.

This has gone on for longer than I intended, but I wanted to share the full story and give all the info I can for a solid review. The bottom line is that I'm very happy with this combination, and have been nothing but impressed with the S2 turbo, both with stock injectors and with bigger ones.

 

[6.0 Tech]

Great write up man. Charlie and Rykan are awesome to deal with. I loved my stage 2 with 190/30s, and eventually stepped up to a stage 3 with yhe 190/30s. There was absolutely 0 smoke on the top end with that setup, now i bumped the injectors to 205 and have a slight haze.

I have a new hpop, due to the thought that it was dying after putting the injectors in, as it only would not hold icp at wot when hot, fine when cold. Im hoping i didnt waste money on the factory pump....

Good luck and have a chit ton of fun with it.

 

[nighthawk285]

Thanks. I thought about the S3 when I was planning this build, but I really like the quick spool of the S2.

You bring up a good point....and since I can't edit my post I'll just add it here for clarification. My numbers are based off of the 05+ HPOP....yours being an 04 would be a little different, and if I ever pull the motor for a cam I may just swap out the branch tubes as well so I can use a 03/04 HPOP.

I'm having a ton of fun with it already. The more seat time I have and the tighter we can get the tuning, it'll just keep getting better.

 

[strokin6L]

Awesome review Nick...sounds like a killer combo. I can't wait to really test my stage 2 out. It's been on the truck since last August, but I've been driving it with #3 having 85# compression haha. Hopefully I can get this new built motor swapped over soon. Even with a bad cylinder....I was impressed with how the stage 2 performed over the stage 3

 

[DiehardFordguy]

Could you commute a suburban subdivision at midnight with the whistle? Awesome review..

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[nighthawk285]

Yeah Chris I really like it. Great power so far, and may as streetable as stock was.

As for your question Diehard....I could, but it would probably piss off more than one suburbanite. Just one more reason I like living in the sticks

 

[Fox hunt]

Awesome review, been hoping to hear how you liked that setup


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[nighthawk285]

I'm going to try to get over to Diamond Eye and get it on the dyno in the next month and get some numbers in this setup.....if I can't coordinate that, I'll at least have dyno results from Hunting4Horsepower in September.

The one thing that caught me off guard with these sticks was the "jump idle" that comes with the plugged spill port injectors. That was one thing I didn't come across until after the fact, so after being on the throttle and letting off, the idle will hang at 950 ish until I either kick the truck down into neutral or load it down with the brakes. I've read tuning can help but so far still am having it. It won't be a big issue in the summer, but when the winter comes, I need the power to be off when I say it is lol.