12 Valve low power!

[BigPapa]

Governor Springs will make a very noticeable difference in usable power and a 3K kit won't hurt a thing.

 

[Mike_0521]

Governor Springs will make a very noticeable difference in usable power and a 3K kit won't hurt a thing.

I have a life long friend who moved back to Illinois who knows these things in and out. He has a 94.He works for case they still see the 5.9 and 8.3 time to time. He said exactly what you did. Along with sliding the fuel plate and one or two other things i have written down.
Im going to say you guys are right and its time to throw a few fun parts at it. Thanks for the response.

 

[Mike_0521]

215 is really nothing, especially you have driven a Commonrail before.
Also the Torque is very low on these compared to anything newer.
And Torque is what makes the Truck feel powerful.

Very true. I have owned 99,01,2 03's and an 08. All the 12 valves ive driven over the years have been turned up. My own 12 valve is the first stock one ive been in.

 

[Mike_0521]

The Cummins Rams ive had. All having more power then the 12Valve of course.

 

[BigPapa]

All having more power then the 12Valve of course.

In stock form.

Power is cheap and easy to get on a P-pump 12-valve. It's all I've ever owned, well, except for a '92 D-250 I had for a while that wasn't stock, either. I bought my '95 in 2001 with 80K miles on it. It had 550K plus on it when I sold it. At one point, with a large turbo, it was 400+HP and 650+ torque.

 

[GAmes]

UPDATE
So Rusty puts down 170hp on the dyno. Kind of sad being a 215 pump..........

The 215HP/440TQ rating is at the flywheel. 20% loss from the drivetrain would mean 172 HP at the wheels. Your engine is in spec.

With nothing added except timing advanced to 15 BTDC and a custom fuel plate mine put down 313/756. I've always been able to turn 3000 rpm, no gov springs needed. That's the upside. The downside is I went through 12 NV4500s while towing a steady stream of trailers. Your transmission will be the weak link if you turn it up.

 

[Mike_0521]

In stock form.

Power is cheap and easy to get on a P-pump 12-valve. It's all I've ever owned, well, except for a '92 D-250 I had for a while that wasn't stock, either. I bought my '95 in 2001 with 80K miles on it. It had 550K plus on it when I sold it. At one point, with a large turbo, it was 400+HP and 650+ torque.

Good point. Yes definitely in stock form. That is definitely impressive

 

[Mike_0521]

The 215HP/440TQ rating is at the flywheel. 20% loss from the drivetrain would mean 172 HP at the wheels. Your engine is in spec.

With nothing added except timing advanced to 15 BTDC and a custom fuel plate mine put down 313/756. I've always been able to turn 3000 rpm, no gov springs needed. That's the upside. The downside is I went through 12 NV4500s while towing a steady stream of trailers. Your transmission will be the weak link if you turn it up.

Wow that's nice.
12! Well I hope I don't have to do that. It does have a very beefy dual disc in it. Apparently the first owners pal was a sled puller guy and convinced him to let him install one of those clutches with all the other fancy parts. Him being in his 60s didn't really care about power though. So I got this big heavy clutch that chatters like a 1990s Freightliner FLD 120 but no power to back it up

 

[GAmes]

I never had a clutch fail. Stock, or a single disc from South Bend. I did replace a couple because the transmission was out, so why not, but clutches were the least of my worries.

 

[Mike_0521]

I never had a clutch fail. Stock, or a single disc from South Bend. I did replace a couple because the transmission was out, so why not, but clutches were the least of my worries.

I got ya. I wish i knew more about what was done to this truck but the previous owner not being much of a truck guy his info is limited. He just drove it 20+ years

 

[Ozymandias]

Take GAmes advice serious, he knows what he is talking about.
The NV4500 is already a weak transmission, turning on the Powersrew, even just a little can and will kill it even faster.
Sure you can upgrade to G56 that can handle the power.

 

[NIsaacs]

At one point, with a large turbo, it was 400+HP and 650+ torque.

Was it an auto? Cummins in general, will double the torque v/s hp with a manual transmission.

 

[BigPapa]

Was it an auto? Cummins in general, will double the torque v/s hp with a manual transmission.

At the time I ran the Sled Puller 66 it was with an NV4500. When the truck was totaled and I put the engine in the ‘98 in front of the Goerend auto, I sold the SP66 and went to a modded HE351CW. The SP66 was too laggy. Other than the turbo change, all else was the same.

 

[Mike_0521]

Update for now
Truck is being released by cummins.
cac is good
175hp to rear wheels
Turbo is good no shafty play
Fuel pressure holds at 25psi under load
Advance the timming by 15 degrees. ( does that mean put timing at 15 degrees?) Noted that after the timing advance it no longer has white smoke/ stutter issue.
Blow by is in spec at 2 inches. ( I dont understand that measurement. Feel free to explain)

shut off valve boot is missing. They wanted to replace that
Waste Gate bellows leak after it starts to open (Seems dumb of me to ask but would i notice this driving?)

So i have a new waste gate ready to go but they said the bolts were rusty and wanted to pull the turbo and if the bolts break ill need a new turbo. Rusty bolts on shut off and that could break and they would have to pull the p pump and have it sent off to be fixed. Total as long as none of that goes wrong $3300.00
The services ive had done so far make up 1,386.00 of that.

I said id take my chance replacing the acutator/ waste gate whatever you prefer to call it. Hope i dont mess that up.

 

[GAmes]

Apparently they set your timing to 15 BTDC which IMO is a good setting. Stock is 12.5 or there abouts.

The FSS boot is fairly easy to replace. I drove a long time without one so it's up to you. The FSS is bolted to a bracket that is bolted to the afc. I've never heard of those bolts breaking, but if they do the three bolts to the AFC shouldn't.
'94-'98 Dodge Cummins Diesel Fuel Shutoff Solenoid Boot (genosgarage.com)

Boost leaking from the waste gate actuator will cause the air fuel control (afc) to not function correctly if the air line is teed off the afc like mine is. So would you notice it while driving? Maybe. My actuator not only leaks, but it is frozen in place. I simply blocked the air line to it and don't care if the waste gate doesn't open. One of these days I'll replace the actuator, maybe.

 

[BigPapa]

I wouldn’t worry about the boot. Mine didn’t have one for well over 300K miles till I had to replace the solenoid. Also, all you need to remove are the two screws holding the solenoid to the bracket, no need to remove the bracket from the pump. I agree with Gary about the actuator.

 

[Matt42]

The low power, low speed gremlin happened to my 1996 back in 2000. We were towing a TT up the Black Canyon Grade on I-17 north of Phoenix.

I pulled off at Cordes Junction and had a look at the throttle linkage. The lock nut had loosened, which allowed the linkage rod to shorten a little, preventing full travel. I fixed it on the roadside and then bought a spare.

 

[Mike_0521]

The low power, low speed gremlin happened to my 1996 back in 2000. We were towing a TT up the Black Canyon Grade on I-17 north of Phoenix.

I pulled off at Cordes Junction and had a look at the throttle linkage. The lock nut had loosened, which allowed the linkage rod to shorten a little, preventing full travel. I fixed it on the roadside and then bought a spare.

I didn't even think to look at that. So I went out and looked at my truck and mine is pretty well rusted together haha. I think I'll just replace the whole thing though because I'm trying to replace all the rusty stuff as I go. Thanks for the response!

 

[DavidOmalley]

The 215HP/440TQ rating is at the flywheel. 20% loss from the drivetrain would mean 172 HP at the wheels. Your engine is in spec.

With nothing added except timing advanced to 15 BTDC and a custom fuel plate mine put down 313/756. I've always been able to turn 3000 rpm, no gov springs needed. That's the upside. The downside is I went through 12 NV4500s while towing a steady stream of trailers. Your transmission will be the weak link if you turn it up.

Know all about that. Waiting on a 5th gear fix 3rd time as we speak. New updated NV4500 is comming next.

 

[GAmes]

Know all about that. Waiting on a 5th gear fix 3rd time as we speak. New updated NV4500 is comming next.

It is well known that a fully splined shaft and gear is the only true fix for the 5th gear. Of those 12 failures I noted, only one was 5th gear, the first one.