Vans Maxed Out?

[racer06]

Got my van on a chassis dyno for the first time over the weekend and was hoping to see somewhere around 350 rwhp. ended up with 333 rwhp and 704 rwtq. The horsepower curve hit 333 around 2500 rpm and then was flat at 333 till like 3300. What do you think is holding me back from gettin more power? check the sig for specs.

[Gaucho]

I'm impressed with the dyno numbers your van posted. You made almost 100 more hp and 1.6x the torque to the rear wheels over stock even after driveline losses (15+%?).

The vans supposedly have a smaller intercooler than the pickup/Excursion due to the space limitations. I don't know how you can make bigger numbers without a more aggressive tune (was this an extreme tune?) or expensive fuel or engine mods.

I've been very tempted to get an SCT tuner, but am leery of the head gasket issue, warranty problems, and the fact that the vans are supposed to run hotter than the pickups. Did you have gauges before you installed all your mods? If so, any significant difference before and after? Any mpg difference? Have you towed with the mods?

[racer06]

Yes I have gauges and yes it was elite diesels insanity tune. The SCT has been amazing, I tow with the van 95% of the time and it does a great job. With out a trailer and running the 50hp tune I get 20mpg running normal highway speeds, 70-75mph. On the big file, yea it runns hotter than stock, but with elites tunning it actually runs cooler on the tow file and much quieter, less drone and the tranny shifts awsome.

I guess my main question is that, with the way the power curve just leveled off it seems as though somthing simple like fuel pump or intake is just letting it go higher. I guess i expected the curve to peak out then fall back off not just level.

BTW it made 171rwhp in stock mode and 337rwtq. So thats a gain of 162rwhp and 367rwtq!

[Gaucho]

Thanks for the info Racer. 20 mpg, awesome!!! That's a pipe dream for me with my setup. Any improvement a tuner could give would be welcome.

I looked at several dyno graphs of other 6.0 Powerstrokes posted on the web and all of them made peak hp somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 rpm. Doesn't seem right your readings were the same from 2,500 to 3,300 rpm. I wonder if you have enough fuel pressure or if boost was falling off. I think you're right, there should be more ponies in your motor somewhere. The torque curve of these motors is supposed to be flat, not the hp curve.

[racer06]

I just had the dealer replace the egr cooler,(its been puking coolant ou the overflow tank for a while now) said it was bad and they thought it may have been sucking boost away from the engine. Anyone had a similar problem? U think this may have been the reason for my flat power curve?

[van_350sd]

I'M running the 7.3L engine, and I aslo use the SCT with the 60HP or Tow Setting.

I also get about 20 MPG if I don't get-on it. If I practice slow-starts from stop lights and set the cruise control I get good numbers.


racer06,
What brand and model # is your 22" Plasma TV? Does it fit in the overhead area?

Thanks,

[racer06]

Yes it does and it is a Jenson but I am unsure of the model number.

[SVONick]

I dyno'd mine earlier this year and got 405hp/627tq on Innovative's extreme tune. All I had done at the time was a 4" cat back and the tune. Well now that I think of it, that's still all I have done . oh, and synthetic fluids. So it must be just a difference in the tune. The earlier power in the rpm band on yours would also explain the difference in torque. The way I made my run, I had to roll into it pretty gently to keep it from down shifting. That is why my numbers are low early on. I wish there was a way to keep it in say fourth gear, and make a pull from around 1200.

Nick

[racer06]

After getting the thing back from the dealer agian for somemore warrenty check up, they found somthing wrong with the turbo and replaced it so I am really wanting to dyno it agian and see if my horsepower numbers will come up some. yea holdin it in gear would be nice.

[van_350sd]

racer,

I hope you switch your van back to stock program before you take it to the Dealer?

If they see a Tuner Program in there they will re-flash it and you will lose it.

Your luckey to get a new turbo with the Apillar guages in there, many times the dealer will make excuses to void the warrantee because of chips, mods etc.

If you have the stock downpipe hooked up to the turbo you may want to delete it. And I would also get rid of the CAT.

My van is a 2000, and they did not install CATs in that year.

Thats very sweet they gave you a new turbo, they are a couple of G's.


I have a SS Magnaflow system installed and it's a straight through system, I wrapped the entire system with Thermo-Tec Header Wrap Tape 2", and it made the interior noise almost gone. it's very quiet inside now, well worth it. When I run on the HWY at 80 mPH my Pyro is about 850 or so. Does this sound average?

And your jensen TV is a LCD, not a Plasma. LCD is just as good, if not better in some cases.

[racer06]

Yea im not stupid enough to leave the thing tuned while it goes in for warenty work. So I still have my tunes. They didnt say anything about the gauges and since I do have a Custom down pipe that resembles nothing of the stock one, they even called before the cut it to get it out to make sure that i didnt care. ( I was nervous when they asked about it but thought it was sweet that they loved it and wanted to know who made it) Yea the cat is gone, its gotta straight pipe on it that sounds amazing! I am thinking about the header wrap tape. We run it on our national midget and it works great. did you notice any egt difference once you put the stuff on? 850 sounds about the same as me on the stock file but with my tow tune its around 750.

BTW I am really lookin for a way to get my egt down and was thinking about tryin to stuff a trucks spearco intercoller into the van? Any one done it or done somthing to improve the intercooler in the vans?

srry bout the typo on the t.v its fixed now.