Bullydog Downloader and Edge EZ Stack Question
 

Is anyone running a Bullydog Downloader and Edge EZ Stacked together? If so, what settings are you running each of them? How are your egts and what do you think are the best HP settings and Fuel mileage settings? For you tech guys, If you know what is affected at each level with the EZ and the Downloader such as timing, boost fooling, pressures, etc? Thank you all very much for any responses. PM if you like. I did a few searches and could not find anyone running this stack for an early '04 with the old BDDL.

I'm running this stack on my H.O. '03, which should be the same 305/555 motor as your early '04. I absolutely love the combination, and don't foresee changing the setup any time soon. I wasn't after a racing machine, just better everyday towing performance.

I started with the BDDL, combined with a Scotty III intake and a dual exhaust system. In the "tow" mode, the every-day driving wasn't much more exciting, but it definetly perked up the towing performance. I was able to maintain speed in 6th on hills that previously required downshifting. The penalty here was EGT's, despite the intake/exhaust mods. This had me searching for cooler EGT's, and my research led me to the EZ with the boost elbow. No one could (or would) definatively say "more boost helps reduce EGT's", but my personal research on the subject lead me to believe that was at least partially true. So, I found a used EZ for a good price, plugged it in and installed the boost elbow, set it on Level I, and have been enjoying DRASTICALLY reduced EGT's ever since! So, I'm running the lowest setting on each unit, for a total combined increase of ~60hp by the manufacturer's ratings. My truck won't win any drag races or anything like that, but it tows a whole lot better than stock and I can easily keep the EGT's in check. I don't feel that on the lower settings I'm doing too much harm to the overall system, as the parameters aren't that grossly altered.

As for what each box does on the various settings, here's my understanding:

BDDL in "tow" = mild timing and duration increases for ~40-50hp
BDDL in "performance" = moderate timing and duration increases for ~90hp
BDDL in "extreme" = extreme timing and duration increases, moderate rail pressure increase for ~130hp (maybe more now from this "Crazy Larry" program I've heard about?)

The EZ simply bumps rail pressure up in accordance with it's power setting, i.e. Level I has a very mild pressure increase while Level IV gives a pretty healthy pressure increase, ranging from 20-80hp I think? Don't quote me on any of the power increases for the EZ, as my main drive for using it was the boost elbow so I didn't pay any attention to the power curves.

Anyhoo, just my $0.02 and my personal experiences. HTH :)

I used to run an EZ on level 4. I did that for 60k miles. I wasn't happy with it's goofy idle sometimes (in fact it died a few times at stop signs, too), so I removed it (left the boost elbow installed) and installed a BDDL tripledog. I could run the tri-dog on extreme all day long. I trailered with it, too. Then one day I decided to put the EZ back on to see what it would do. Holy COW! I ran the EZ on all settings with the BDDL on extreme and it gained a LOT more power and torque. I never towed with that combo, but I drove it for a couple weeks set up that way (EZ on 3, BDDL extreme) and was very happy with the smoothness and performance. The only problem I had was that at idle it sounded like the rail pressure (maybe it was inj timing) was fluctuating. The sound of the injectors would change about once a second. Very odd sounding and I believe it is the same problem my EZ had with the idle all by itself so I removed it. If it didn't have the funny idle I would have left it on there!

Andy

Thanks for the info. I am wondering if doing the tone ring mod will give to much timing advance. Realquash, I wonder if you could send back the EZ and have it checked out. Bullydog has been real good to me with updating my BDDL at no cost. Maybe Edge could do the same for you. If not let everyone on the forums know so we can keep this in mind when purchasing new toys.

Some of the early EZ's for the '03/'04 trucks had a surging problem at idle. Do a quick search on the forum here for "idle surge" or something like that and you will probably find tons of reading/info on the subject. If I remember correctly, Edge was taking care of there customers on this, but I'm not 100% sure?

That seems to be the case. I have an early one with the 6 levels and I bought it used a few years ago, so I suspect they won't do anything for me. I have been thinking about getting a quad race box to stack...

Andy