New Mexico

[Joseph Donnelly]

OK, we got an official chapter meeting!

Bea's 2 on Zuni, 11AM Thursday.

 

[WRStrong]

I'll do my best to meet you guys at Bea's @11. Will be driving a civilian rig since the dash is all apart on my Dodge. Starting installing gauges and ran out of time on Sunday... then snow... . blah blah

 

[bighornram]

Sure wish I was going to lunch tomorrow, but this one I have to pass on. Just can't get there this time.

 

[LOtero]

see ya boys then!

 

[pwerwagn]

Good Lunch Guys!

So, does anyone want to contribute to the "buy parts from Joe D. for Jeffs truck fund"?????

I'll put your name on my truck if you do! Oo.

 

[WRStrong]

Lonche

Good lunch meeting y'all. Enjoyed it as always. Jeff I'd like to contribute but my own favorite charity(s) takes up all my spare money.



JWolf, we missed ya. . I would not be opposed to doing a NMTDR road trip some time. We could all get up early on a Saturday and drive (haul @#$) to Farmington. I have never been there but to pass through.



When is that big Farmington offroad event?



Think about it.



To pay back the wealth of info I get by talking with Joe D. I think pwerwagn and LOtero ought to buy his lunch next time. :-laf :-laf

 

[WBlackberg]

Hey do any of you guys know of a set of factory alloys for sale ? 2001. One of these days I hope to meet some of you at the lunches.

 

[pwerwagn]

Luis had a set of factory alloys, but I think he sold them.

After seeing what he does to wheels, i wouldnt want any of his anyways. :-laf

 

[LOtero]

easy on the wheel jokes there whippersnapper! i repaired that one by the way! woo hoo!!! Oo.

 

[bighornram]

When is that big Farmington offroad event?

Sorry I had to miss that lunch. There are a couple rock crawls here, not sure of the dates but will find out. LOtero mentioned coming up here for that too. Spent last week finishing up the guage install. I put a 60 torr guage in for turboboost but am thinking maybe it is too high. I can only get it to about 20 or so. That is empty of course, I have not pulled the fifth wheel yet with the guages in. Going to Denver third week of April so will get to see how things go up Wolf Creek. (Hoping for clear roads--ya never know that time of year up there).

Oo.

 

[WRStrong]

Hey guys,



Got a little closer to finishing the gauge installation today. The pyrometer is completely hooked up. Still need to drill and connect tubing for boost signal and transmission temp sensor. I am really amazed at how quickly the EGT gauge responds. Didn't expect that. Did a short run to check things out. While running real easy at 65 to 75 the temp stays at 600F. Step on it a little and 800F comes up real fast. Not hard to hit 900. That's running empty. Will do some towing tomorrow to get a baseline there. I think I will turn down the old EZ setting. I expect that the temps will spike while towing hard.



My only complaint about the Isspros is that the lighting intensity is not uniform between the gauges. The boost gauge is really bright and easy to read while the other 2 are not as clear.



I saw a set of 2nd gen alloy wheels on Ebay couple days ago.



I'll post pics soon.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Interchange the bulbs and see if one is brighter. It may be the design of the gauge itself. You can dim a bright one by spraying a thin film of white paint on it (or colored paint to tint it).

 

[WRStrong]

Yeah, I thought I should check the bulbs. Would be great to have all 3 equally lit and easy to read. The most noticable difference is at twilight. Once it's really dark they look more equal.



I'm really considering the PMCR now. Probably in a couple of months. I'll put the EZ on Ebay.



Thanks

 

[bighornram]

I have not driven mine in the dark yet but of course had to go out and turn the lights on to "test" them after they were all in. My ISSPRO EGT guage uses two 5 watt bulbs and the boost and FP use one 10 watt each. Did you get the EV guage with the colored ranges? I treated myself and drove the RAM to work tonight. I will get to drive it in the dark in the morning so I will be able to give a tested opinion on the subject. I used the 3/4" plug behind the LP pump. Do you have that on the 3rd gen? That took all of 15 minutes to back the plug out and slap a little permatex on the new fitting/reducer and the boost tubing screwed right on.

 

[bighornram]

Update to my previous post:



WRStrong: My lighting appeared to be pretty uniform. Although the egt guage maybe appeared to be a little darker, the white text "Pyrometer" and "ISSPRO" appeared to be the same as the other guages. I noticed that even with the blue "condom" over the bulb, the lighting seems to be white.

 

[WRStrong]

I didn't get the colored-range gauges. Mine are white faced to match the factory Gen3 gauges. The lighting is something I can live with. As I said earlier it's worst at Twilight. After total dark all 3 are readable. I couldn't find a factory provision any place to tap into boost pressure so today I removed the air horn (or whatever) and drilled and tapped it. It's aluminum so no biggey. It works great. I can punch up 28 lbs of boost by mashing the throttle down.



BTW, I removed the Edge EZ today too. I don't like the truck near as much without it. Way less responsive. EGT didn't seem to come down much, but I didn't tow anything. I am going to leave the EZ off for a while and develop a good baseline dataset. Now that I have the gauges installed I will save up and get a TST Power Max box. I like that system better since it doesn't increase fuel rail pressure.



Out of curiosity JWolf what EGT do you run when cruising highway speed? As for my truck, at 65 mph and no fueling box, I see about 600F and only 3-5 lbs boost.



Take care.

 

[bighornram]

Have not had it out of town yet but when I am running at 1500-2000 RPM I am in the 600 range. I have noticed that the temps are hotter if I run in a higher gear with RPM's 1500 say 6th gear around 45mph than if I stay in 5th with RPM's running 1800-2000. There is a couple hundred degree difference. That surprised me as my driving habits have me getting to the highest gear possible with lowest RPM's. It must be more efficient taching up a little bit. I forgot you would be using the white faced guages. Did you put a colored condom on the bulbs our of curiosity, does the guage have a different color if you did? When I punch it let it tach up to 21-2200 RPM's I'm getting about 20 torr boost. That's about as high as I've seen it. Mostly it seems to be living on "0".

 

[pwerwagn]

I spotted WRStrong sunday, about 4:45 at hwy 314/main street in front of blakes. I love the silver stripes. they look nice. I didnt think it was you at first, for some reason I didnt think you had towing mirrors. I guess you do.



My isspros are not evenly lit either. My EGT gauge has a steel housing, and the boost has a plastic. the light seems to penetrate the plastic and light the gauge better. I didnt use the bulb condoms, I went to checker and bought colored replacement bulbs. The color is more drastic.

My thermocouple is post turbo right now, but I see 550* at 50mph in fifth (prolly 1600rpm). at 55mph, i am right at 5psi. On the freeway runnin 75-80 i am at like 8-9psi, and usually 600 or so degrees. Towing ~7,000 lbs I regularly hit 950* (about equal to 1250 on yours). towing 16-17,000 lbs I cant really use fifth except on flat ground around 60-65. I usually leave it in fourth with that much weight, and up the hills by montessa I am around 900* at like 2700 rpm. I've only hit 1050* once, and that was pulling 12,000lbs up monticello hill going to the lake, in fifth at 75mph.

Glad your wheel worked Luis.

-Jeff

 

[LOtero]

yup i am in the same temp range as you guys, the hottest i have had mine is about 900, and the transmission up to bout 200, that was in the mountains pushing snow. i do about 29. 765 lbs of boost at wot. i am glad my wheel worked too! now i am semi looking for hummer wheels. what i am seriously looking for is a valve body, my hard pedal issue is getting worse, so i am going to try to find a stock valve body to put back in there.

 

[WRStrong]

Yup Jeff that was me. That was the maiden run with all 3 guages hooked up and spewing out information.



I was so concerned with making the green arrow that I didn't even see you. You must not have been in the red ram. As for the stripes, i get pretty good comments from most people. Then there are those that give me the sidelong look like, "dude have you lost your mind? and good taste?" Anyway I like em. Will install the other side when it warms up.



Luis, did your trans temp stay at 200 for long? or did it peak there? I am not anxious to see what mine runs driving in deep sand in 4x4 high range. I bet it goes out of sight. Low range is the only way to go with these automatics in sand.



At what exhaust temp should I let off when towing?



BTW - truck feels like a slug without the EZ on line. Can't wait to save up and get into a timing-duration box :-laf ... and a smoked trans.