Under The Hood
Upgrades most owners make first is the intake, exhaust and performance chip so this is where we went next. The old air cleaner wasn't looking too bad, but just knowing we were upgrading it by going with a proven aFe Power intake was a good step towards improving our fuel mileage. The part number is R24-91018 and the aFe product was a great fit for this truck. For the exhaust we again went with aFe as we said bye-bye to the 3.5-inch rusty-looking exhaust and went with the 4-inch Turbo Back version that is just for 7.3L trucks.
Hooking up with Wide Open Performance for the performance chip was an easy call because these guys really know their stuff, especially when it comes to Ford trucks. The improvement in the fuel economy is what we noticed first. The six tune chip is set up for towing, economy, daily driving and racing as well as stock and high idle. In the economy tune we improved our mileage around town with the chip as well as the new intake and exhaust from aFe Power. To top it all off we also added a new alternator from Mean Green Industries while we had the hood up.