Gauges + Exhaust + Intake + Turbo + Pump = Good

["Mad Max"]

I decided to take a few days to get my '93 up to spec, and yesterday was the big wrench fest out at the shop. We had a lot of local TDR members out with their own trucks and we had a grand time.

Thursday I removed the gauges from my old '93 (RIP)... been sitting in there for over two years... and reinstalled them in my new '93. Six gauges in all, and I feel all are essential, at least for my peace of mind.



All six installed - On top is an Autometer triple pod (2nd gen #15002, modified to fit 1st gen dash) with boost/pyro/transmission temp, along the bottom is a dual panel with oil pressure and water temp (I like having real numbers and not relying on hash marks), and of course the tach in a cup on the column back upper cover. Also note the 2nd gen shift lever with o/d button at the tip.



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Some close-ups:



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Water temp sending unit:



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Oil pressure sending unit:



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Boost:



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Pyro:



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transmission temp:



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Next post: Fabbing up a fresh 4" exhaust.



- M2

 

["Mad Max"]

Removed the very below average stock exhaust and replaced with fresh 4" full mandrel exhaust, including a very custom downpipe. Doing this 'my way' required making some space for the big 4" downpipe, and meant two things: Moving the transmission dipstick out of the way, and removing the heat exchanger completely. Neither presented a long term problem as I am doing a NV4500 conversion, so neither the dipstick or exchanger will be needed in the long run.



Dipstick relocation. Very simply, add an extention to the existing bracket, and slide it over a couple inches:



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The heat exchanger's job is to help warm up the transmission in very cold climates. A transmission bypass line runs through the exchanger which is surrounded by engine coolant, and as the engine warms up it also warms up the transmission. When warmed up and at temp it keeps the transmission as hot/cool as the engine. No manual transmission has this exchanger, so I'll suffer whatever drawbacks there will be by removing it altogether. Even here in Colorado I do not think it is really necessary.



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There are both an inlet and outlet ports (red arrows) which must be bypassed or plugged off. The lower port has a double 'T' for both the exchanger (p-side exit) and the heater hose port (green arrow).



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I chose to bypass with new hose, shown with a drawing:



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- M2

 

["Mad Max"]

Next was fabbing up an exhaust on Friday. I wanted a full open 4-inch system and a tapered long-radius downpipe:



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Downpipe:



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Before...



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After...



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Underside, with Dynomax 4" straight-through muffler.



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- M2

 

["Mad Max"]

And yesterday was VE44 day, and did three pumps at the shop. We had a great turnout! Dave, George, Andy, Kurt and Mike came down from Denver, Trevor, Pat, and Matt from Rockware in Colorado Springs came out, plus a couple friends from the local Mopar club came out.

Easily, Kurt was the MVP for the event - his knowledge and experience were instrumental to success at this event. With his instruction we 'did' three VE44 pumps, including one 4BT on a stand!

Andy did a 366 spring and leak-proofing to his pump and made a BIG difference in his 6BT-powered RC.

Trevor did a PDR fuel pin, 366 spring, and pump screw tuning. That 4bt aught to be a great engine for his '52 M-37 Power Wagon.

I did a 366 spring, fuel screw set to 'full', rotated the diaphram to max, installed a custom 4" exhaust that I made yesterday, installed POD's, plus a PDR HX-35 hybrid turbo and a 16 cm collar. HUGE difference, probably upped power from 130 to around 270-280. We'll re-dyno it next week.



Here's some pics:



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Pat's '77 Power Wagon

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Kurt's rig

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Dave's rig

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Kurt (on left), Pat (in back), and Andy on right

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Trevor and his 4BT

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Yours truely tweakin the pump

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... and what it was all about - making this little box pump lots of reliable fuel and make big power.

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Again, a very big thank you to Kurt (GLHS) for sharing his knowledge and experience and getting down and dirty. He stayed late to tune my rig (it took the longest to finish) and we got it all squared away and running good. Also a big thank you to Andy (Idually) for also staying late and helping throughouot the whole day.

Thanks to Trevor and Matt for helping wrench on my rig, especially the exhaust R&R.



It is the folks like this that keep this kind of thing more like fun and less like work. We all learned a lot of small stuff about our rigs, got 'em tuned up, bolted on a few go-fast goodies, and are happy about it.



Oh, we decided to do Sonic, and a huge Thank you to Trevor's wife Lauri-ann for running to Sonic for food - thanks LA!



- M2

 

["Mad Max"]

And the finishing touch was installing one of our Intakes, of course



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To say the truck came alive would be a serious understatement. The whole package added up to what we guestimate at 150 hp gain, from stock of 130 hp to around 280. We will be dynoing the truck this Saturday and we'll have some real numbers. Now, I think, I have the truck right where I want it.



Total cost for parts was around $1200, which included everything above - PDR Hybrid turbo and 16 cm collar, exhaust (done in-house), and misc parts and accessories. Gauges and POD injectors I already had and are not included in the total.



- M2

 

[DanaLittle]

Looks like a good time an good pictures

 

[Matthysse]

Good looking down pipe, excellent work.

 

[Monte]

great photo's, this will help my son who is adding his gauges to his 92... . thanks, monte

 

[RWWinslow]

Maybe you already did this but the pictures did not show it . . . . I would highly recommend that you put heat shield material on the fire wall - you will be amazed at how efficient that new down pipe is a radiating heat to your fire wall - personal experience on this one. . . .

 

["Mad Max"]

Haven't done it yet but was definitely planning to - wasn't sure how exactly to do a shield, but I will be fabing up one similar to the stock version and tack welding in place. Thought about sending the DP to Jet Hot plus wrapping it in header wrap..... hmm, wonder of the header wrap will catch fire ?



Anybody ever try header wrap on a DP? It'd be a temp fix anyway, but I know the heat is a lot more on the diesel vs a big block.



- M2

 

[RWWinslow]

I use header wrap on the turbo-charger down comers all the time... . . . . it will work fine. . . . . you might also want to put the heat shield on the fire wall - I used . 040 aluminum insulation lagging material that is used in power plants and process plants piping insulation systems. Works very well at reflecting the radiant heat and I did not have to mess with trying to weld onto the down-comer.

 

[dpuckett]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the early PSDs had some heat wrap on the downpipe. I know they had it all over the firewall, too. I have considered wrapping my downpipe when/if I get around to making one.



Nice looking work.



Daniel

 

[cerberusiam]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the early PSDs had some heat wrap on the downpipe. I know they had it all over the firewall, too. I have considered wrapping my downpipe when/if I get around to making one.



Nice looking work.



Daniel

Hmmmm... . no wrap yet? Weren't you one of the ones that melted the blower motor cover or was that James? :-laf



The first couple years of the 2nd gen's, 94 and 95, had a bit of the same problem. Seems they would start the firewall insulation smoldering and even flaming if they were pulling hard for a long time. Fix was wrapping the DP with header wrap to keep them from burning down.



Hey Max, whats that white stuff you got around your yard? Kinda looks like sand drifitng off the desert. I don't remeber any desert around Colorado Springs.

 

[dpuckett]

Hmmmm... . no wrap yet? Weren't you one of the ones that melted the blower motor cover or was that James? :-laf

No, the previous owner did that on my 92. Actually burned off the downpipe, taking out all the heater related stuff. So, all that is newer in my pickup.



DP

 

["Mad Max"]

No, the previous owner did that on my 92. Actually burned off the downpipe, taking out all the heater related stuff. So, all that is newer in my pickup.



DP

... okay, yeah I'll be getting right on that then... and header wrap is cheap.



Oh, Alan that white stuff is just some leftovers from the Extinction Level Event they predicted the other day that only dumped a couple inches. Luckily most of it melted off befroe everyone arrived!



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I can't believe how much better the truck drives now. Throttle response is teriffic. I also did a bunch of smaller unseen mods aimed at making the truck drive better - new Mopar throttle linkage, raised up the go pedal (removed it from the floor, cut and re-welded it moving the pedal about 1/2 inch further away from the floor - it 'feels' so much more natural to drive now, not like I'm always pushing way further on the pedal to maintain speed than I 'should'), got lots more rpm, and spool up. Wow, push the pedal even a little and the rig moves right on out... . and holy smoke clouds does it roll on the coals. I really notice how much better it 'feels' at speed - lots of pedal left over for passing, and nowhere near the floor. Feels very, very good.



Thanks everyone for your replies, and thanks TDR for the info/education over the past 7 years to get me and the rig where it is.



- M2

 

["Mad Max"]

Fresh off the dyno:



This is the chart from yesterdays dyno run after all the mods except the fuel pin - it isn't in yet. These numbers are a true 'at-elevation' at the rear tire number, straight up - no modifiers. This is what the truck did 'straight up' at the rear tire at around 6800 ft elevation. Sea level would roughly be 15% more, approximately 290 hp / 646 Tq. Pretty good numbers for an old 1st gen



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- M2

 

[sdstriper]

I also did a bunch of smaller unseen mods aimed at making the truck drive better - new Mopar throttle linkage, raised up the go pedal (removed it from the floor, cut and re-welded it moving the pedal about 1/2 inch further away from the floor - it 'feels' so much more natural to drive now, not like I'm always pushing way further on the pedal to maintain speed than I 'should')- M2

I shimmed mine out 5/16 along with some other minor surgery to get more throttle travel. After trying this I will now recommend moving the throttle rod ball at the pump lever in to where the TV cable return spring is, it lightened the pedal effort a ton. My right leg was getting a serious workout with the heavy pedal effort before. After digging in to optimize throttle travel and lighten the effort I was very surprised at the amount of throttle travel I gained and my top speed increased to who knows how much now that the speedo can be buried and climbing...

 

[DBF]

Nice work & good results.

I've also removed the heat exchanger and put a hose where you did. But I figured later that all I'm doing with that hose is moving hot water to the cold water side.

So I put a clamp in the middle of the line to limit that flow until I get into it and put caps on the ends.

Regards, DBF
(308/668 at sea level, similar to your results)

 

[RWWinslow]

"I've also removed the heat exchanger and put a hose where you did"



Quick question . . . which heat exchanger did you remove and why?



Thanks!

 

["Mad Max"]

Check out my post #2 - it goes over the heat exchanger. Basically it's job is to warm up the transmission, typically in very cold climates. But since we don't have severely cold weather hardly at all it really isn't necessary on my rig, but more importantly, it was in the way of my down pipe. A 4" DP will fit with the exchanger in place, but it is very close, and I just chose to remove it entirely. And like DBF said, sooner or later I'll go in and cap off the two ports, but until it becomes necessary I'll leave the bypass hose in place.



- M2