My first diesel

[Simms]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. A friend that is a member here told me about this site. Great info.



I ordered my first diesel about a month ago and I am anxiously awaiting its arival. I ordered a 2003 3/4 ton, quad cab short bed, white sport with the Cummins HO, 6-speed man. with 4:10 gears with limited slip. The truck will be my dailer driver as well as pull my other truck to shows.



I must say, I test drove the non HO cummins and I loved it. Being a gear head, I had to have the HO version anyway. I am very impressed with the CTD. It made my supercharged 360 feel not so nasty anymore.



Since I can't leave anything alone, I do plan on making upgrades to my CTD. I am very familiar with gas engines but may need some help here with the diesels. I am an engineer and uderstand how the diesel engine cycle is different for the gas cycle but I still am a beginner here.



What upgrades to the 03 do you all recommend for me starting out? I figured the basics like an exhaust, air filter, EGT guage, and computer upgrade. Any recomendations on manufacturers would be greatly appreciated. In addition, I am curious on what differences there are between the HO and regular CTD. Will this affect my upgrades (ex. I heard the HO already has a 4" exhaust, is that true?)



Sorry for all the questions here, I have lots to learn.

 

[kaptn]

Welcome aboard. The guys around here call it going over to the DARK SIDE. Your going to get alot of different opinions,here's mine. I use Autometer gauges from Geno's Garage mounted on the A column. I will be getting a Edge Comp fueling box. The rest can be seen in my profile. I reccommend Pier's Diesel research,Diesel Dynamics,Diesel Transmission Technology,Black Mountain Diesel. Good Luck!

 

[SOOT]

As already said welcome to the Dark Side Where you will be Oo. while your wallet is:{ :-{} Even though the 03's are new there is a lot of good info in the 3rd Generation forum.

 

[Hohn]

do a search

There's a lot of good info on here if you do a search for what you're looking. I am pretty new here too, but here's what I gather:



1) get a fuel pressure gauge. Need to know if your lift pump dies. (not sure how this affects the common rail motors)

2) If you have a lift pump that bails, try maybe to rig up a pusher pump. The Carter is popular (try a "pusher pump" search) Need to keep fuel pressure around 15 psi to injector pump



3) get a pyro (exhaust temp) gauge if you are going to do injectors or a box.



Anything after this is just gravy.....

HOHN

 

[HC]

EGT gauge, boost gauge, fuel pressure gauge - these are "musts" for any true gear head. (OK, I admit, my fuel pressure gauge is still sitting on the coffee table - my bad. )



After those, my favorite "toy" is the exhaust brake. You will find the diesel has trouble warming up unless under load, and can't maintain heat if you get stuck in a winter traffic jam. The exhaust brake cures that, and golly gosh, can even be used to slow the truck down, too. Makes driving in the mountains a heap-o-fun.

 

[WadePatton]

GAUGES



Then contact Diesel Dynamics or Piers Diesel or somebody for the real GO GOODIES.



The HO is nice and the 6-speed is great, but the real kick in the pants is MORE FUEL!



Welcome to the smoke filled Dark Side.



[edit]

Just check the Configurator at DD. You can get 50 Rear Wheel Horsepower for 800 bucks. Also get rid of that AWFUL stock muffler and install a BHAF!



enjoy.

 

[drees1]

Well said Wade