Tuning the 7.3 in current times

[psduser1]

Gearhead
Jelich
Php

Off the top of my head. There are some others around, but they may not spend much time promoting the older stuff- you know, 7.3l.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

SDK Performance out of Canada.

They have tuned some of the highr hp 7.3s.

 

[lincolnlocker]

I have his tunes in my 450 and Dp in my 250 which I want to start back up working on. Just been away to long so looking for a good reliable Tuner in these times.

Understandable bud

 

[ncollins64]

All the 7.3 tunes I’ve sold lately are from jelibilt and the customers love em.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Truck still going strong.

If you still have a 6 pos and don't want to retool I very highly ref tw...

It is an entirely new animal.

 

[Homesteader]

Few things:

-- PMR rods started in 2001, but there are quite a bit of 2001's that came w/ forged. There are probably a handful of 2000's with PMR as they did a test run. All 94.5 - 99 are forged rods and the vast majority of 2000's are forged rods also.

-- The PMR issue is mainly cylinder pressure and dumping too much fuel and/or too much timing too low in the rpm curve. This issue has been figured out by all the tuners I listed earlier. Notice that DP was not on that list...

-- If staying with stock injectors up to AC code 160/0, then just do a KC Balanced Assembly for the turbo. It should work great. I would recommend the 160/0 AC codes anyways as they are a "stock" injector for the high output T444e, so you can buy them at any International Dealer. This with hydra tunes will make a world of difference and will still be safe on PMR's.

Why wasn’t DP on the Tuner list you mentioned?

 

[psduser1]

Truck still going strong.

If you still have a 6 pos and don't want to retool I very highly ref tw...

It is an entirely new animal.

Most of the tuners listed don't want to mess with a ts chip anymore, including 2 of the three i listed. They'd rather sell a hydra...
Gearhead still does the ts chips, and I'd love to try tw tunes, but I don't know how to get ahold of him.

 

[Homesteader]

Most of the tuners listed don't want to mess with a ts chip anymore, including 2 of the three i listed. They'd rather sell a hydra...
Gearhead still does the ts chips, and I'd love to try tw tunes, but I don't know how to get ahold of him.

Is TW Gearhead?

 

[psduser1]

Is TW Gearhead?

No, tw- Tony wildman

 

[Homesteader]

So DP is only for DP tunes? 6 position TS is limited and Hydra would be the newer of the two with more tune options?
Sorry guys I’ve just been away to long just trying to catch up on what’s hot or not.

 

[Iso-baric]

Most of the tuners listed don't want to mess with a ts chip anymore, including 2 of the three i listed. They'd rather sell a hydra...
Gearhead still does the ts chips, and I'd love to try tw tunes, but I don't know how to get ahold of him.

TW tunes were my favorite before starting to write my own.
He was not an easy person to get ahold of for revisions at times (understandable given the circumstances) but always came through. He wouldn't remember who I am but he is definitely one of the most standup individuals I've come across in the diesel game.

Appears that he is back up and running at https://www.totaldieselperformance.com/category-s/162.htm
@Vengeance is his username on here. Doesn't look like he's been active since 2018 however.

So DP is only for DP tunes? 6 position TS is limited and Hydra would be the newer of the two with more tune options?
Sorry guys I’ve just been away to long just trying to catch up on what’s hot or not.

As far as I am aware, it depends on what vintage of DP Tuner hardware you have.
If I recall correctly, circa 2015 DP Tuner was the only one able to write to their device. It looks like they now have an "open-source" version of the DP Tuner F6, which can accept any tunes written in the 256k format. My guess is it came about as a response to the PHP Hydra, and incorporated most of / all of the features of the Hydra.

Back in the day you could buy a TS chip burner for $250 and burn tunes from someone else, or your own onto the chip. It looks like TS no longer supports the chips, or burners.

Long and the short of it is, it appears the PHP and the Hydra is the platform with the most support currently.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

DP will still write tunes for the TS platform.

 

[dsberman94]

I’m happy with jelibuilt. When you call him up and ask a question about tunes, he asks what the setup is and responds “oh that’s gonna be fun”. It sure is too. Gotta get a tow tune from him. Nothing I have is too good for towing right now.

 

[Tiha]

I have FF tunes, TW tunes and one other currently that I honestly cannot remember, On a hydra.

I am running 180/0 injectors. Intercooler, .84 housing, few other mods.

Anyway. The TW 4 position chip I had like 10-15 years ago was awesome. Can't imagine it could get better than that.

that chip went bad. That led me to buying a hydra. I got the canned FF tunes because that is where I got the injectors. Didn't like them as much as my TW tunes.

My son talked me into 1023 tunes. I didn't like them as much as my old TW tunes.

Now they are all good tunes, but I was happiest with my 4 position chip.

So I went to TW website. Just ordered the tunes for the hydra on there. Put in all my specs. It took like a month to get them. I am disappointed. They are ok tunes, but not as good as my old TW chip was. They are not the same.
Also they were not really any better or worse than any of the others I tried. Just different.

They all have different street manners, towing manners. Smoke levels, lag, shifting, whatever. You just have to try them until you find one you like.

Basically as I understand it I would need custom tunning to get back to where I was 10-15 years ago. Of course the price goes way up when you jump into custom tuning.
You can try a lot of canned tunes for that price.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Have you tried any of PHP tunes? If you bought the Hydra you should have access to their tunes they have on file.

 

[Tiha]

Have you tried any of PHP tunes? If you bought the Hydra you should have access to their tunes they have on file.

I do have the tunes, but I think the only thing available to me was stock setup. Nothing for my bigger injectors.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

I do have the tunes, but I think the only thing available to me was stock setup. Nothing for my bigger injectors.

Okay, I was under the impression that there basic canned tunes where available for AC code injectors.

I very well could be wrong.

 

[Homesteader]

Hi guys,
Isn’t all the Tuners mentioned custom tunes? I always thought that can tunes was a generic tune, like one size fits all. My DP F6 tunes are about 13 or so years old. Who is FF? I was thinking maybe gear head because I may be getting my parts from Irate.

 

[Tiha]

Okay, I was under the impression that there basic canned tunes where available for AC code injectors.

I very well could be wrong.

I honestly don't remember. I do remember modified non modified transmission being an option but otherwise they just had tunes for stock injectors. I am also on a 1995.

Hi guys,
Isn’t all the Tuners mentioned custom tunes? I always thought that can tunes was a generic tune, like one size fits all. My DP F6 tunes are about 13 or so years old. Who is FF? I was thinking maybe gear head because I may be getting my parts from Irate.

FF is Full Force Diesel. I bought my 180/0 injectors from them.

Custom tunes have become canned tunes. Like someone else said, nobody is doing programing anymore for these. Unless you want to pay for something specific or live tuning.

I don't know, but I think these program sellers just take their popular tunes and have them available for download after you pay of course. then you load them on your hydra.

Back when I got my TW 4 position chip he had like 12 tunes to choose from. I spoke with him on the phone, based off my setup and I wanted all trans tunning omitted. He set me up with what he thought would work best and I was tickled to death with them.

Now it is just, here are these, take them or leave them. To have someone omit Trans tuning from their program is now going to be "custom" and more money.

I have a heavily built trans. Any trans tunes makes it shift way too hard and usually makes the shifts pile up. So I have since softened up my valve body rather than paying for the "custom" tune.

When my tw 4 position chip failed it had been like 10-15 years old. I assumed there was better programs out there. That is why I started trying other companies.

I am disappointed. Some day I might pay for live tuning. But right now I am not towing with it, or really driving it more than 5k miles a year.

In the end it is what you are looking for, what works for you. I am not racing, I am not towing. Just putting around. I still have a 50hp banks towing chip that is for stock injectors. If I am going on vacation I will throw that in. It is the nicest driving chip with the best street manners I have ever had, but I won't be the first one to the top of the hill.

 

[Outlaw Bill]

When I jumped up to 200/30's from stage 2 split shots i tried Gearhead tuning first...........talk about total dissapointment. There was no power and noisy as heck, very little customer sevice and I was told Tony does not tune 7.3's anymore and a local guy comes in and does it. From there I cut my loses and went to Jelibuilt which ran awesome and had great customer service. I jumped to 238/100's and went with Jelibuilt again the tuning was spot on. This was just my experience and not meant to offend anyone.