You musta got over to Bodie, then?
How was fishing at Twin Lakes?
I-80 over the Sierra, driving at the speed limit down in 5th gear to stay behind my BIL's MH (55 MPH - UGgggg, sloooow! :-laf), I saw a max of about 900* - and not much more when pulling my usual 60 MPH over the same route...
Yeah! Sometimes take the putt from Masonic to Bodie to Aurora & out through Lucky boy mine/pass to Hawthorne. . Or up through Dunderberg. Always enjoy the outings and never do seem to get to actually "use" that dang expensive metal detector
. One time did a little "sneeking" and followed the Mono Mills railroad tracks up to the back side of bodie (try that today. . prolly go to jail - and not the little bodie one either
)
This time wanted to get further out east in the Nevada desert and check out "Simon", Gabbs, Ione, (have been wanting to see them for a few yrs) & whatever else looked interesting. Ended up running out of daylight, but got some good exploring in though.
Fishing: Very good this year. . Most of the people around were limiting out. I had to try the new project out and was doing more experimenting than catching. Set up an RC boat to "tug" the line out to the middle of the lake or any spots that were looking interesting (upper twin - eastern end - north shore). Was more "amusing" than successful. Need to improve upon the "release" mechanism (gonna have to use another channel on the radio next year - hehe), but the ones it did bring in were larger than average, so still ended up with plenty. . (and some twisted up fishing lines that got caught in the props too). Funnn!! - I hope your trip went the way you wanted as well!!
EGT's: You picked up on my biggest concern also. . Going to hook up the timing box to see what kind of difference that REALLY makes. Have a box that will increase timing only, not fuel, so am hoping to see about the same egt's (per hp use) as before the injector swap. That's the next step other than playing with the intake I suppose, but really want to keep the "stock" appearance, hence the stock box w/ black PSM hose. Will re-remove the box after the test.
The problem with the way i did things was changing more than one thing at a time. . Almost always creates more questions than answers. Can't directly answer your question yet other than say compared to the DD3's (100 hp honed types I ran for a couple yrs), these M2's don't run any hotter overall, are cleaner running down low (the turbo spools and pulls better rowing through the gears), are definitely stronger throughout (butt-o-meter again). But(t), before with the honed types, it always felt "sluggish" without a VA or EZ box and now without one of those, that problem is gone. It still is quite responsive. This is without the added timing which supposedly makes the significant difference (plus the fueling). Will find out what difference timing makes soon.
It looks like the major trade-off with added timing is, we theoretically get less egt and better fuel economy/efficiency, but with higher cylinder pressure and rattling noise.
1. 6's are probably a little easier to tow with if you don't want to watch the pyro a lot or have more air. I wanted the power range of 1. 6's without added "can bus" (or tap-wire boxes), so went with the 2. 0's to make up some of the difference of the c-bus box at least. (actually, I think we're only talking about 20 hp difference between the 1. 6's and the 2's)
Currently, the truck is as quiet as it ever has been, you can hear the difference in the VP (sounds like its loafing at cruise). I dont think I've ever been able to tow up hills like you describe down at 900*, but possibly with a combo of our pyros being cal'd slightly different (debatable), and/or the drag, etc of my rig might be a bit higher, and the natural timing, higher inj pressure, efficiency of your HO vs my SO may be factors as well. Just guessing. .
I can say for sure, when I used to tow with the stock turbo and 100hp DD3's, I was watching the pyro and downshifting all the time while pulling grades keeping it at 1200 to 1250 max (which was one reason for trying the 275's, other than mileage). But again, that was with added timing and the BHAF style AFE PG7 filter. Now she's got the stock airbox and timing.
I'm sure there is going to be that timing/egt/mileage/rattle/stress/simplicity trade-off to deal with no matter which power level is chosen. Hopefully, I didn't lose much mileage in removing boxes to simplify things and be able to keep these "cali carbon counters" happy. #@$%!(Awww, Send 'em a plastic owl to keep 'em distracted, where's those servos at? Gotta get ready for next years RC boat fishing. . )
Glad that was a simple question, it allowed for another simple answer :-laf:-laf.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
. Thanks again!
. Found the c-clip but need a ring... (anyone??) I know there's a ton of 'em out there laying around. 
