Keep or trade my 06??

[BHolm]

Having street and NHRA raced for about 30 years (and yes, I have seen some fast Buicks in the past), I seriouslly doubt you are breaking into the 11's with "street" tires (not M&H or other so called wrinkle walled dot's). The fastest 70 and 71's will do in the mid 12's on actual street tires.

With so much experience it would seem you would be familiar with the FAST series. It requires cars to appear stock, including cast exhaust manifolds, and run stock size bias ply tires. Those cars run in the 11's all the time and one recently ran a 10. 90. I run BFG drag radials, on the street and on the track.

An oval port headed chevy will out run a Buick anytime on Torque. The Buick heads sign off at about 4500 rpm (extremely restrictive intake runner design).

I would have also assumed you knew about head porting and how it can correct for stock deficiencies. Beyond that there are several very good flowing aluminum heads for the Buick.

As far at the porsche, HP means nothing. We've built some small 302 chevies in the past that made over 800 hp naturally aspirated, yet was all in the 8000 rpm plus range, with absolutely no torque down low. That's why your porsche is shifting so much, as the power is all upstairs not down low.

Thats great power, now make it last on the road for 250k miles and make it meet emissions and just try to make a 800hp 302 drivable.





Good to know I was speaking with such an expert.

 

[BHolm]

Well I guess since you now own a Dodge everything else is junk. Do a search for lift pump, injector pump, hmmm what do you find a TON of mad people because there DODGE failed. Every brand has a flaw or a problem. Dodge had lift pumps and vp44's, oh also I gues the injectors that fail on 3rd gen are ok??

I own a couple Dodges and a Ford 7. 3. Somewhere in between those I owned two Isuzu-max trucks, an '01 and an '03. That makes all three brands. I think that makes it pretty tough to pigeonhole me into being a brand loyalist.



The injectors on the Isuzu seem to have about a 20% failure rate. It is right there for all to see on the GM-diesel board. Is there any comparison to the 3rd gen failures? Not even close from what I have seen. In addition many of the Isuzu's are catostrophic failures of the engine. This is almost never the case with the Cummins. The other malady's you list do not apply to the current trucks. I guess we could go back and discuss failings of the GM 6. 5L diesel too if you would like.



Enjoy your new truck though, seriously. I hope it was the right choice for you.

 

[KBalzuweit]

Well you know what they say "there is one in every bunch". Well guys I guess we found the one. :-laf :-laf

 

[BHolm]

Well you know what they say "there is one in every bunch". Well guys I guess we found the one. :-laf :-laf

I guess when you have no facts, no real world experience, you must resort to getting personal

 

[bmoeller]

Hey I figure if my duramax does ever break down, I can watch a movie in the back until the tow arrives...

Or, you can do what I saw this past week. A guy driving a F-250 with a 6. 0 PSD, and was towing a F-150 gasser behind it with a tow bar. That way, if the PSD crapps out, he can tow it to the next dealer. lol

 

[Giachino]

Congrats

Congrats on the truck..... I dont want to start the whole dodge vs. chevy war, but I am really looking for an honest opinion between the two... . own a glass shop and we're gonna need a new glass truck this comming year..... I have 0 brand loyality, but dodges have been good to me in the past... . if they LBZ continues to get good reviews in the comming months, pehaps I will get one of those and then decide which truck the glass shop gets!



What are your driving impressions vs. the dodge? Loaded & unloaded... , power, handling, suspension,... . anything else you can think of... .

 

[KBalzuweit]

I guess when you have no facts, no real world experience, you must resort to getting personal

Plenty of real world. I have had 6 Dodges w/ Cummins, 6. 9 n/a Ford, Early Powerstroke, LLY Duramax, and now a LBZ Duramax. I have likely driven more miles in these trucks than you have or ever will. So if you want real world experiences I have them. My trucks have all worked for a living and some have worked better than others. As far as facts lets see were you found the FACT is that 20% of d-max injectors fail. Oh if you want more real world I could show you the receipts I have for 15k in repairs it took to keep my Dodge working. Before it gets said I do not beat or abuse my trucks either.



NOW TO THE REST OF THE TDR MEMBERS, HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

 

[KBalzuweit]

Congrats on the truck..... I dont want to start the whole dodge vs. chevy war, but I am really looking for an honest opinion between the two... . own a glass shop and we're gonna need a new glass truck this comming year..... I have 0 brand loyality, but dodges have been good to me in the past... . if they LBZ continues to get good reviews in the comming months, pehaps I will get one of those and then decide which truck the glass shop gets!



What are your driving impressions vs. the dodge? Loaded & unloaded... , power, handling, suspension,... . anything else you can think of... .

I can not give you a real 100% fair opinion. My Dodge was a srw 3500 short bed 4x4 and my Chevy is a crew dually 2wd. But here are my thoughts. The ride on the Chevy is better, but that could be helped by the longer wheel base. Unloaded acceleration will go to the LBZ. Loaded acceleration is close, but the xtra 35 hp is a plus. Fuel economy is pretty close, I think once the LBZ breaks in it will be about the same. I think once Dodge gets a 6 speed auto and some more hp/torq next year its going to be a hard thing to call. If you have any specific question pleae feel free to PM me. Karl

 

[bmoeller]

Hey Karl. Congrats on the new truck.



I was a bit surprised that had gotten the SRW, S/B Dodge, given what you use the trucks for. My boss' brother got rid of his S/B Chevy for a similar reason. He pulls a 24' Featherlite G/N stock trailer. Hauls cattle and hogs with it.



I'm not familiar with the designation of the D-Max. Is it the new 360hp engine I had heard about?



Sounds like a nice truck. Hope it treats you well.



Say, if we have another Meltdown in Minooka, are you gonna back 'er up on the rollers? I will again.

 

[KBalzuweit]

Hey Karl. Congrats on the new truck.



I was a bit surprised that had gotten the SRW, S/B Dodge, given what you use the trucks for. My boss' brother got rid of his S/B Chevy for a similar reason. He pulls a 24' Featherlite G/N stock trailer. Hauls cattle and hogs with it.



I'm not familiar with the designation of the D-Max. Is it the new 360hp engine I had heard about?



Sounds like a nice truck. Hope it treats you well.



Say, if we have another Meltdown in Minooka, are you gonna back 'er up on the rollers? I will again.

The LBZ is the new one, 360hp/650torq, thats what I got. As far as another Meltdown, would be there in a heartbeat!! Thanks, Karl

 

[BHolm]

Plenty of real world. I have had 6 Dodges w/ Cummins, 6. 9 n/a Ford, Early Powerstroke, LLY Duramax, and now a LBZ Duramax. I have likely driven more miles in these trucks than you have or ever will. So if you want real world experiences I have them. My trucks have all worked for a living and some have worked better than others. As far as facts lets see were you found the FACT is that 20% of d-max injectors fail. Oh if you want more real world I could show you the receipts I have for 15k in repairs it took to keep my Dodge working. Before it gets said I do not beat or abuse my trucks either.



NOW TO THE REST OF THE TDR MEMBERS, HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

Well I was wrong, the number seems to have gone up for Isuzu-max injector problems. It now looks like 24% of respondants have had problems. That is 1 in 4, hope you picked the right one off the lot :-laf Here is the link to the poll http://forum.thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=007975



I think I can give you a pretty good run for your money on experience. 4 third gen Dodges totalling about 250k miles, 2 Isuzu-max trucks good for 130k miles, my '99 Ford 7. 3 currently with 250k miles, and a '92 Dodge that I kept for 180k miles. Almost all of those trucks used for heavy towing on a daily basis in and out of construction jobsites.

 

[hasselbach]

With so much experience it would seem you would be familiar with the FAST series. It requires cars to appear stock, including cast exhaust manifolds, and run stock size bias ply tires. Those cars run in the 11's all the time and one recently ran a 10. 90. I run BFG drag radials, on the street and on the track.

Yeah, I know a lot about the FAST series. And I can tell you first hand there is a lot of major cheating going on in the program. "It requires cars to appear stock" Many are so illegal the whole FAST program is a joke. Most of the fast cars are far far from stock.



BTW, BFG drag radials are about as street tires as wrinkle walls. They last about 2000 miles (maybe) and are basically a stiff wall slick with super soft rubber that has received DOT certs. Sure, you can drive on them around town, but not very long. And belive me, they don't hook up worth crap on a typical street pavement without major VHT and rubber on the ground. They only work on a sticky track surface. Trust me, we've tried them many times, and fast street cars street racing don't use them. Why? They don't work. The rubber is way too soft and balls up causing them to feel like you are on marbles. With some minor suspension mods, I can get a Remington junko tire to hook up in a car wash before those BFG's do.



Sure, you can carve up a Buick head to flow over 300 cfm on the intake side, but so what? I can get a good stock cast iron oval port Chevy to flow 375 cfm plus without moving the ports, re-welding, raising, etc, or having to resort to "non-stock" aluminum heads. And the exhaust side is super restrictive. Almost like a ford winsor or FE head. Horrible design.



Dollar for dollar, you will make a lot more usable torque from a chevy than a buick, period. Yes, you can make a buick hum nicely, but your wallet is going to be a lot thinner than before.



And yes, I'm glad you realize you were talking to an expert on the subject. If you need more help, I get $100 an hour for consultation services. :-laf

 

[hasselbach]

Well I was wrong, the number seems to have gone up for Isuzu-max injector problems. It now looks like 24% of respondants have had problems. That is 1 in 4, hope you picked the right one off the lot :-laf Here is the link to the poll http://forum.thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=007975



I think I can give you a pretty good run for your money on experience. 4 third gen Dodges totalling about 250k miles, 2 Isuzu-max trucks good for 130k miles, my '99 Ford 7. 3 currently with 250k miles, and a '92 Dodge that I kept for 180k miles. Almost all of those trucks used for heavy towing on a daily basis in and out of construction jobsites.

A poll on the diesel place hardly makes it an accurate scientific outcome. So if 2 people contributed to the poll and 1 had an injector problem, then the results would be 50%?



The injector problem is not as bad as you are making it to be. To each his own whether its a chev, dodge or ford. Thank god we have choices. All have thier pluses and minus points.

 

[Ramtough]

My NV5600 is junk - failed at 70K miles - cost nearly $3K to rebuild w/clutch replacement.

 

[KBalzuweit]

A poll on the diesel place hardly makes it an accurate scientific outcome. So if 2 people contributed to the poll and 1 had an injector problem, then the results would be 50%?



The injector problem is not as bad as you are making it to be. To each his own whether its a chev, dodge or ford. Thank god we have choices. All have thier pluses and minus points.

Agree. People visit these forums because they have problems, so these polls are not really worth a darn. Heck I bet if you found the one on lift pumps its got to be high.

 

[BHolm]

A poll on the diesel place hardly makes it an accurate scientific outcome. So if 2 people contributed to the poll and 1 had an injector problem, then the results would be 50%?



The injector problem is not as bad as you are making it to be. To each his own whether its a chev, dodge or ford. Thank god we have choices. All have thier pluses and minus points.

But it isn't just two people, it is nearly 800 people that have responded over almost two years time. Just go ahead and tell the 200 guys who blew Isuzu-max engines up, that the problem isn't as bad as they think :-laf



It is bad enough that GM extended the warranty for injectors to 200k miles, thats double what it came with. Now since they do not appear to have a good handle on the issue they reportedly have put serial numbers on every injector to track which ones fail and try to figure out why. I guess your right, it doesn't sound that bad.

 

[KBalzuweit]

Just to show how misleading these polls are here are a couple on the tdr.



This one would show more than 20% of the VP44's fail, true or not?



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=353



This one only 30% of the people have not had a lift pump fail, wow!



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=534



Almost 10% of 3rd gens have the death wobble and can not get it fixed!



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89296&highlight=poll



14. 16% of 3rd gens have injector failures!!! WOW



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=728



Here is a good one 13. 51% of 3rg gens have had more than 1 cp-3 injector pump fail!!



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=749



Another injector poll 23% of 3rd gens have injector problems!



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=691



Ok so I think I made my point. If you look you will find polls or comments that would make ANY truck look bad. So BHolm, if you are just a D-MAX basher that is ok. Hey its your opinion. But if your "facts" are correct, then I guess the above "facts" show that Dodge is also in trouble.

 

[BHolm]

Yeah, I know a lot about the FAST series. And I can tell you first hand there is a lot of major cheating going on in the program. "It requires cars to appear stock" Many are so illegal the whole FAST program is a joke. Most of the fast cars are far far from stock.



BTW, BFG drag radials are about as street tires as wrinkle walls. They last about 2000 miles (maybe) and are basically a stiff wall slick with super soft rubber that has received DOT certs. Sure, you can drive on them around town, but not very long. And belive me, they don't hook up worth crap on a typical street pavement without major VHT and rubber on the ground. They only work on a sticky track surface. Trust me, we've tried them many times, and fast street cars street racing don't use them. Why? They don't work. The rubber is way too soft and balls up causing them to feel like you are on marbles. With some minor suspension mods, I can get a Remington junko tire to hook up in a car wash before those BFG's do.



Sure, you can carve up a Buick head to flow over 300 cfm on the intake side, but so what? I can get a good stock cast iron oval port Chevy to flow 375 cfm plus without moving the ports, re-welding, raising, etc, or having to resort to "non-stock" aluminum heads. And the exhaust side is super restrictive. Almost like a ford winsor or FE head. Horrible design.



Dollar for dollar, you will make a lot more usable torque from a chevy than a buick, period. Yes, you can make a buick hum nicely, but your wallet is going to be a lot thinner than before.



And yes, I'm glad you realize you were talking to an expert on the subject. If you need more help, I get $100 an hour for consultation services. :-laf

So it IS possible my car dipped into the 11's(barely). I do still run iron heads and they are ported but not all cut up and welded. My intakes flow 275 and that was enough to make 525hp and 560 lb/ft. I was enough to push my full weight GS to an 11. 97@117 one day last summer. I run it in a street class, so that is why the Drag Radials. I agree there are better choices. I have probably 100 passes and 3000 street miles on them. I actually find they hook on the street pretty well with my mostly stock suspension (no-hops and airbags). Regular radial TA's just burn up on a street launch. Never seen a DR wrinkle, seen a bunch of them though. Oh, that time was full exhaust too, nice quiet Walker long case dynomax.



I found the cost to do the Buick wasn't much more than the Chevy's, maybe 15-20% more for the same power level. The 455 Buick engine also weighs about as much as a small block and has enough nickel content in the heads to not need inserts for the valve seats. It has its advantages. Granted the next bump in power will require a girdle for the block but any faster and it will require a roll bar. I didn't want to do that because it is a street car.



Thanks for the tips though, hope I didn't run up too big of a bill.

 

[KBalzuweit]

But it isn't just two people, it is nearly 800 people that have responded over almost two years time. Just go ahead and tell the 200 guys who blew Isuzu-max engines up, that the problem isn't as bad as they think :-laf



It is bad enough that GM extended the warranty for injectors to 200k miles, thats double what it came with. Now since they do not appear to have a good handle on the issue they reportedly have put serial numbers on every injector to track which ones fail and try to figure out why. I guess your right, it doesn't sound that bad.

Yet Dodge never did that to help out with all the failed vp's and lift pumps. Even after all the letters and emails many of the tdr members sent. No comment on the above polls either I see.



In the almost 3 years I have been a TDR member many of you have answered many questions for me and I do thanks you very much.



In the above post I think I made my point and to continue this is just stupid. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. In this case I will quote a saying that I feel is right on... opinions are like **sholes everbody has one. :-laf

 

[hasselbach]

But it isn't just two people, it is nearly 800 people that have responded over almost two years time. Just go ahead and tell the 200 guys who blew Isuzu-max engines up, that the problem isn't as bad as they think :-laf



It is bad enough that GM extended the warranty for injectors to 200k miles, thats double what it came with. Now since they do not appear to have a good handle on the issue they reportedly have put serial numbers on every injector to track which ones fail and try to figure out why. I guess your right, it doesn't sound that bad.

I think I read somewhere recently that GM has produced something like a half a million duramaxes in the past few years, so 200 with injector problems isn't that bad.



I asked the local Chevy dealer a few months ago how bad the injector problem really was, and he said they do a repair once and a while, and that it wasn't as bad as the web sites post.



But both dodge and chevy have had the problems, both use common rail and very similar injections.