We have all heard the claims in the marketing brochures, "Huge Horsepower Gains", "Incredible Performance", "Easy bolt-on", etc. We wanted to find out for ourselves just what could really be accomplished in a few hours at the shop. We scheduled some time with Bully Dog Technologies at their shop in Aberdeen, Idaho.

For testing we brought a 1999 Ford F350 Crew Cab with 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel and 5 speed transmission. The F350 is relatively stock with only the addition of a 2 1/2" leveling kit and 33" tires. The Power Stroke Diesel is just getting broke-in with approximately 77,000 miles on the odometer.

We planned to add the Bully Dog Technologies Package 1 for 7.3 liter Ford Power Stroke. This package consists of the 4-Bank chip, 4" Rapid flow Aluminized Exhaust (we opted for the 4" Stainless Steel system over the aluminized system), Rapid Flow air intake, and pillar pod & gauges. The marketing brochure says this package will increase stock horsepower from 232 to 307 and stock torque from 462 to 627 at 2600 RPM.

The 4-Bank Chip utilizes state-of-the-art programming to produce the lowest exhaust gas temperatures in the industry, running 50 to 100 degrees cooler then most of the lowest horsepower chips from the competition. The chip produces 50 to 100HP. To make it adjustable on the fly you can add a flip switch, which plugs into the 4-bank chip and has 4 different power settings including stock.

The Rapid Flow exhaust system is designed with the lowest degree mandrel-bent angles in the industry. The exhaust system is said to produce 8-20HP, while also reducing exhaust tempatures nearly 200 degrees. The Rapid Flow system will allow the turbo to generate air more freely and create a more efficient burn. We will install the stainless steel version which is made of 1304 stainless steel and includes a 5" polished tip and a Lifetime Warranty.

The Rapid Flow Induction is said to increase air flow 200-300% over stock intakes and is a simple bolt-on. This also gives you a lifetime air cleaner that can be cleaned and reused.

The gauge pods are available in 1-, 2-, and 3-pod versions. With Package 1 we will be installing the 2-pod version with a boost gauge and an exhaust temperature gauge. These are high quality analog gauges with the famous Bully Dog logo on them.

Strapping the F350 down to the Dyno

First up was getting the stock exhaust out of the way. While you could unbolt it and save the stock system, using a sawz-all for removal makes the process much quicker and easier. In a matter of minutes the stock system was on the ground. While you're in there removing the exhaust system, you will also want to remove the existing pipe hangers from the rubber bushings on the chassis rail. Under the hood you will need to remove the down pipe clamp from the turbo so that piece can be removed.

First on the agenda was taking the Sawz-all to the stock exhaust system	Removing the stock tailpipe once it was cut loose

The old system was already looking in pretty rough shape, with a few small leaks showing here and there	Removing the down pipe clamp from the Turbo requires a little under-hood work

As soon as the old system is down you can start hanging the Rapid Flow system. Start by installing the down pipe to the turbo. Go ahead and snug the clamp down. The rest of the system will need to be fit before you tighten it down. The first straight pipe slides into the down pipe. The second straight pipe may have to be cut depending on the wheelbase of your vehicle. To do this you will need to temporarily hang the muffler and tailpipe sections so that you can determine the proper length for this piece. Once you have all the pieces up, you need to adjust it all so that the exhaust system is not touching the vehicle in any place and your tail pipe is exiting correctly, so it will not damage or blacken the paint on your truck. Now tighten all the clamps and this piece is done. Boy, does that stainless steel shine!

The Bully Dog crew fitting the new stainless steel exhaust system in place along the frame rail	The exhaust components are made from 1304 stainless steel, with mirror finish

Stainless steel pipe and muffler being fitted along the frame rail	How about that massive 5" stainless steel tip?

While one of the Bully Dog crew was working on the exhaust system, another was installing the 4-bank chip and flip switch. The hardest part was getting the computer out from under the dash. It took two people to finally get it removed. Standard transmission models such as ours are said to be more difficult, so you may find yours easier to remove.

The computer is located under the dash behind the parking brake. It did take some time to fanagle it out of there.	Disconnect the wiring harness from the computer. There is a 10mm bolt that needs to be removed before disconnecting the harness.

You can mount the switch anywhere, but this hole that already exists is a very convenient one and requires no drilling.	This is the back of the switch. The knob will be accessible by reaching up under the dash near the steering wheel.

With the computer, remove the black cover, then plug in the 4-bank switch and flip switch. It is important that you have a good connection when plugging in the chip. As the name implies, the switch has four settings. Turning the switch all the way to the left (counter clockwise) puts it in the stock setting. Turning it to the right you get the low, medium, then the high setting.

The Bully Dog 4-bank chip and flip switch plugs into the back of the computer where the black cover was.	Computer and mounting bracket can now be put back in place. Installation is much easier than removal.

While installing the performance equipment we chose to also install the Bully Dog pod, exhaust temperture and boost gauges so we could see just what was happening inside our PowerStroke.

Gauges, sensors, and new pod for mounting the gauges	We painted the pod to match the color of the interior then left it to dry while the other stuff was finished.

Remove the stock plastic window column to make way for the new gauges and pod. You can route the wires for the gauges under the hood so they can connect to the exhaust tempature sensor and the boost sensor.

If you look closely you can see the exhaust tempature gauge connected in the down pipe just past the Turbo.	This "T" is installed so that the Boost gauge can get a reading.

The pod and gauges look excellent when mounted. They are out of the way and don't seem to block anything else.

While working on other things, the Pod was painted to match the interior of the truck then left to dry. After it dried the guages were installed then the column re-installed. To provide lights for the guages we tapped into the interior lights behind the switch on the dash.

Installing the Rapid Flow induction system couldn't be much simpler. You remove the stock air box lid and filter then snap the new intake box in place. Install the conical filter and tighten it all down. You are ready to rip.

You need to remove the stock air cleaner lid then the stock air cleaner. Yea, it was a little dirty under the hood...	The Rapid Flow unit simply snaps in place where the old lid was, then slide in your new conical filter.

With the two Bully Dog engineers, we were done with the installation in just over three hours, including the initial Dyno test. Now all we had to do was our final dyno testing to see the results of the morning's effort.

Would the Bully Dog product live up to it's claims? Still strapped on the dyno, it was time to rip. We would test the Powerstroke with the 4-Bank chip in all settings and see just what we could crank out.

WOW! What a difference from that measly 206 HP and 434 Ft-lbs of torque that we started with. That is an incredible 120HP gain in under four hours.

The only slightly negative thing we have noticed is that at certain RPM's in the medium setting we will get a slight "wiffeling" sound when accelerating. You can hear this and also see it on the boost gauge.

After talking to the Bully Dog engineering crew we believe this is something that is caused by the straight vanes in the Turbo and was probably always there - it is just that the modifications have now amplified it and made it more noticeable. Bully Dog does offer a kit that modifies the Turbo with variable vanes and fixes this problem.

We are VERY pleased with the Bully Dog Performance package. They have lived up to the marketing claims and passed with flying colors.