more power

[DPKetchum]

Hi,new to this also,the performance end of it mainly and new to TDR. my 93 w250 with auto and tci convertor,banks intercooler and banks small waste gaited turbo only pulls 19 psi of boost wide open hard pull. Egt tops is 900. On big hills towing 9600lbs it drops to 12 or 13 psi. It as 4. 10 gears also. Whats next??Injectors??Dont want to go too far but want more zip mainly while towing. Also has K&n airfilter and 3. 5 exhaust with dynaflow muffler. Its really hard to even pull 19 psi out of turbo,takes high speed WOT. Any info would be nice,Thanks

 

[Withers]

Right off the bat I would say get some more gauge's, pyro, trans temp, for sure if your planing on towing that kind of weight, our transmissions can get pretty hot, it's cheaper to gear down or ease up on the throttle, then it is to replace the transmission. Second would be injectors, there is a few different one's you can get, some smoke but give you big power, some don't smoke but don't give you as much power, just depend's on what you want/need. If you have emissions testing down south you might want to keep things clean, but you should be able to adjust a lot of the smoke with some pump adjustments. I hope this points you in the right direction

 

[Case500D]

Simple tweaks

Hi DP,



It sounds like you are on the right path for some effecient power. I would also recommend advancing your injection pump timing. JFitzgerald and I bumped our pumps 1/8" towards the engine and really liked the results. After talking to Piers, it has been determining that that is approximately 1. 45 mm. This will increase your top end power a bit and also lower your EGT. But you might loose a bit of top end boost. You can also adjust the wastegate on the turbo, but someone else is going to have to jump in and tell you how to do that. I noticed about a pound increase on boost just by adjusting the valves. I have a set of 185 hp injectors and really like them. I can make 20 lb of boost with a max EGT of 1100F under a full 10,000lb+ load. I went with these injectors because of less smoke issues, and not a great amount of power being put to my stock auto transmission. If you have any questions, let me know.



Jeremy

 

[Old Smoky]

If you haven’t been welcomed yet, Welcome to TDR!



It sounds like you have the intake and exhaust taken care of. Your Banks wastegated 14cm2 exhaust housing is also a good choice. Performance injectors will really help, as Withers said. It is also a good idea to advance your timing when adding more fuel. This will help reduce smoke and egts, and help mileage a bit. Also, with more fuel, some like the BHAF (big honkin air filter) because it flows a bit more air than the K&N. (NOT a sales pitch).



Bosch Power Wagons, and Lucas Prince of Darkness, are the most popular injector choices for our rigs. PW's don’t flow as much fuel, but run a little cleaner. PW's are also a little cheaper. Most of the high horsepower guys are using the POD's. But I am making 30psi with PW's, so don’t be fooled by their size.



I have heard that an improved torque converter really helps too. You will have to talk to someone with more experience with that than me.



Hope this helps. Don’t become too addicted!



Mike

 

[formula]

"Too addicted", eh? Is there such a thing?



As for more power:

I've got the same Banks stuff as you but was less than satisfied with the performance of the truck after putting it on. My truck performed just about the same as yours after the Banks mods. The one thing that the Banks people did not care to discuss was the fact that the stock injectors (and the friendly little lock collar on the fuel screw) severely limit the performance of their turbo housing and intercooler. At your boost levels, the wastegate is probably not opening at all. I'm assuming, from your EGT that your pyro probe is in the manifold?



Then came the TDR and Piers. Got a set of the POD injectors and tweaked up the pump and then . Now my boost will shoot right up to 26psi (35 or so with wastegate disconnected) and egt under load creeps its way to 1300. The POD's do make more smoke than the stock injectors, but once the boost is up the smoke is minimal (however, I like smoke). As far as I have seen, the biggest power enhancements are had from bigger injectors and pump tuning. But to make use of these mods you first need the smaller turbo, bigger exhaust, and of course the gauges. Hummmm..... perhaps a nice transmission upgrade too... .

 

[BCaldwell]

Hi and welcome. here are a couple of sites to give you some ideas www.Piersdiesel.com Piers and Al are both knowledgable and easy to talk to. dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/more_power/Power ve Htm . Bill

 

[DPKetchum]

Gee,thanks a lot guys. The pump has been advanced and I somewhat tried to adjust the screw with lock tab,but only managed about a 3/4 turn before it stopped. Maybe lock ring holding it. This was about 18 months ago. Valves have been adjusted. Had flex plate shatter in middle of night on I40 near Knoxville Tenn. and when this was repaired I put a TCI torque convertor in it. I've been towing this weight out West and back a number of times. The pyro gauge is between turbo and manifold were Banks said to install. After those modes I too was dissapointed in performance. What are PODS?At this time there is no smoke at all except on restart and its slight. Truck has 109,000 on it as now. Guess I need injectors and a valve body or valve body upgrade??

 

[DPKetchum]

Well it just dawned on me what PODs are!Now are 185hp powerwagom injectors?Next is trans. ?valve body or valve body mods?Who to contact?Thanks for just a little more info!And is this the only selection in injectors?

 

[Case500D]

Injectors and VB

DP,



The 185 hp injectors are the Power Wagon injectors. They are also know as BD injectors. Basically, the POD's and PW's are the two injector options you have. The rest of the fuel comes from pump adjustments. As for transmission parts and especially valve bodies, check with Bill K. at www.dieseltrans.com There are several guys running the DTT parts and have had good success. I am waiting until my transmission dies to get some parts from Bill K.



Jeremy

 

[JFitzgerald]

Welcome!

DPKetchum,



The most dramatic results I have seen came from advancing the timing (as Case500D mentioned) and increasing top rpm's. Sure, the pump tweaks and turbo housing helped, but during towing, the timing advance really shows its' benefits. It dropped EGT's and the engine seems to have more upper end power. For whatever reason, my boost stayed at 22 psi max, and the timing change did not effect it like it has on other trucks. The increased rpm's is a big improvement with my 5 speed when getting my typical 12K lbs. of trailer rolling. With an auto, the extra rpm's may not be as big a plus.

 

[justduneit]

One more injector question . . .



Here in Arizona, we have to pass an exhaust opacity test once a year. My truck is stock right now except for a K & N (working on the BHAF project) and it passed by a huge margin. Could some of you guys with the experience give me a little insight on the preferred injector - PW's or POD's? I don't pull extreme weight (total truck, trailer & load weight when pulling - aprox 12k pounds) but I would like to pull a little harder , without having problems passing the emissions test.



Keith

 

[justduneit]

One more injector question . . .



Here in Arizona, we have to pass an exhaust opacity test once a year. My truck is stock right now except for a K & N (working on the BHAF project) and it passed by a huge margin. Could some of you guys with the experience give me a little insight on the preferred injector - PW's or POD's? I don't pull extreme weight (total truck, trailer & load weight when pulling - aprox 12k pounds) but I would like to pull a little harder , without having problems passing the emissions test.



Keith

 

[bvanetten]

Originally posted by justduneit

One more injector question . . .



Here in Arizona, we have to pass an exhaust opacity test once a year.

Keith

I live the Valley also and just finished the emissions thing so I think I can answer this. I failed the first time through. The max allowable opacity reading is 55%. I got 56%. Some truck info... 1990 non/intercooled motor with 1996 intercooler, POD's, 12cm hot side turbo housing, 89% DTT treatment. The smoke screw was way out. The power screw was 1 turn past the coller. The timing is advanced 1/8. The diaphram was turned to the most aggressive position.

I turned in the smoke at least 2 turns maybe more. I backed out the power screw 2 1/2 turns, kept the timing the same and set the diaphram to the least aggressive position... My new opacity reading is 3%... and the truck can't get out of it's own way. Also, I went from 16-17 mpg to 15-16 mpg. We are "re-tuning" this weekend.