6.4L Power Stroke Power Recipes - Budget-Build

The final installment of our Power Stroke power recipes includes the latest mill offered from Ford. With 6.4 liters of displacement, common-rail injection, twin turbos, and 350 hp from the factory, plenty of potential exists in the latest International V-8. However, modifying your new 6.4L can come at a price. Removing factory emissions equipment will void your warranty, but power gains can be had that make these mills more fuel efficient and keep them reliable. In keeping with our longevity-first theme, we'll recommend the best performance parts currently available for your 6.4L Power Stroke. Also look for Cummins and Duramax budget recipes in the coming months.

Patrick Whitcomb's '08 F-450...        read full caption Patrick Whitcomb's '08 F-450 impressed us at this year's Diesel Power Challenge. Despite weighing nearly 10,000 pounds, the truck was still able to pull off a 13.25-second quarter-mile pass. Nationwide, the 6.4L craze has caught on--with only an air intake, free-flowing exhaust, and custom tuning, Super Dutys are making 500-plus hp and 12-second quarter-mile runs look easy. We've even seen a few add nitrous to the mix and now have 8,000-pound trucks making nearly 700 hp at the wheels.	Common-rail injection and...        read full caption Common-rail injection and twin turbos as standard equipment on the 6.4L Power Stroke opened a lot of eyes in the Ford aftermarket. Many companies sell tunes that make upward of 550 hp at the wheels, which correlates to nearly 690 hp at the crank. In the days of old, it would take thousands of dollars to match that with a 7.3L or 6.0L Power Stroke.	After speaking with the experts...        read full caption After speaking with the experts at Elite Diesel and River City Diesel, a stock transmission will handle 500-plus hp at the wheels, but no one knows for how long. With us looking out for your long-term reliability interests, we recommend upgrading your 5R110 if you want it to hold up to high horsepower on a day-to-day basis.
The DashDAQ monitor from Spartan...        read full caption The DashDAQ monitor from Spartan Diesel Technologies allows you to monitor nearly all of your 6.4L's vital functions. Because a custom-tuned SCT won't come with a read-out display, we recommend you run a monitor like the DashDAQ or an Edge Insight monitor, which go for less than $300. Trust us, with a $50,000 pickup making twice the factory horsepower, you're going to want to know how it's running.