Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) new to me truck

[bull642]

I just purchased a 1994 gen 2 4x4 that has never been tinkered with engine wise. Other than the fact that the truck has been lifted and leveled it is stock. The truck currently has 270K on the od. My question is do I dare start messing with this motor at this stage for more power and torque or leave it alone and build another motor and new tranney and install it at a later date. Due to the state that I live in I am able to go straight pipe exhaust which I would like to do cause diesels love to breath and I would like to go cold air intake. Other than that I could turn up the p pump a little and go with some bigger injectors but I dont want to have to deal with EGT monitoring. any suggestions or should I leave it alone?

 

[bull642]

there is just sooooooo much stuff on here it is daunting to try and search it all out but I did try first.

 

[snappy]

If EGT monitoring is a deal maker/breaker,then leave it near stock. You could do the cold air intake and exhaust. Is this an auto or a stick?

 

[SLangone]

Read the 2010 buyers guide and read TDR 65 start on pg 84. A cold air intake wont make much of a difference until your over 500hp! Replace problematic items such as fuel lines and exhaust manifold. Get gauges before you mess with it also. Good Luck and Welcome

 

[bull642]

i read the buyers guide... I posted after reading it. I plan on changing the intake and freeing the exhaust from its constraints. I would like to change out the fuel plate and dial up the fuel timing a few degrees I dont know if the rv injectors will do that much for me but my main worry is egt. I am an aircraft mech by trade and egt is always a concern for us. it is how we monitor the efficiency and health of a jet engine. diesels are the closest we have to jet engines in the auto world. I dont want to change the size of exhaust just take out the muff and cat and make it straight exhaust. I dont want to change out my turbo till it fails. I just want more than stock hp and I want the power on demand without damaging the powerplant that I currently own. I guess I want power when I want and the abilitiy to waste tire thickness on demand without losing fuel efficency when I want to be a good boy... Does that make sense?
it is an auto trans.
I have always heard that diesels are very choked down on the front intake side and also on the exhaust side as well I am wondering what efficiency I will gain by cleaning up those two areas first.

 

[snappy]

An aircraft mechanic, eh! You will be very detail oriented. First, gauges, a boost and a pyro. A gauge for the automatic would not hurt either. When modifications like a fuel plate and injectors are installed, you will need gauges. To the best of my knowledge,there are no rv injectors for a 12 valve.

 

[bull642]

thanks snappy I was meaning marine injectors like 150 hp version... nothing to cracky but a little more refined from stock. I just don't know if it would be smart to do all this to a motor that has 270K on it. that was the reason for the original post. but I do like guages... lots of them on a flight deck... cant call it a cockpit no more!

 

[JMcCoy]

You should be fine with modifications if the engine was properly cared for. I think you will enjoy monitoring your gauges. You don't have to stare at them all the time. You will know when you have to look at them and when you don't. If your towing heavy up a mountain at full throttle, you may want to take a peek. Egts, though need to be monitored on a modified engine, are not as criticle on a diesel truck as a jet. Your not going to crash from 15,000 ft. LOL. If you don't want to monitor egts, leave it alone and save your money. You will gain vertually nothing with an intake and exhaust on a stock engine. I would get gauges, do a fuel plate, and ddp stage 1 injectors. Then the modification bug will get you and you will be happy you have the gauges. Forget the "straight pipes". Get a 3 piece ehaust manifold (mostly to prevent head cracking) and a 4" turbo back exhaust. I have the MBRP 4" T-409 stainless steel. It eliminates the cat and has a straight through muffler. If you really want to free things up and are competing, do stacks. Just my . 02. Good luck.

 

[snappy]

A 150 hp injector is not a small by any means. A bigger turbo and trans mods would be required. As was stated by Jim, ... . engine properly cared for and my 95 had a few miles on her when I turned up the power. His . 02cents is worth a lot more than that. Are you fixed wing or roto ?

 

[WilsonF]

Leave the intake and exhaust stock until you get to 400-500 HP. Spend your money on other things. Your trans-47rh is a good trans but not known for longevity after modding the engine, look into a low stall torque converter and valve body/or Transgo vb kit. As others have said get gauges and include the trans. temp gauge. My advice is to wait awhile and read this forum and others until you get a feel for what others have done and their results. Take it from an old aircraft mechanic take ALL things you read with a grain of salt. You will soon figure out who on these forum are giving good info and who is full of crap.

Floyd

 

[Mhannink]

let me start out that 270 is nothing for the engine. when we pulled the head on my cousins truck at about that mileage the honing on the cyl walls looked brand new still. also these guys are right. my truck has a cam, fuel plate, and turbo mods, i has a 4in straight pipe exhaust, and boost and egt guages. this is my third dodge i had to learn things the hard way. this is the first truck that didnt have a big exhaust and or modified intake. ill tell you first hand i cant feel a bit of difference between them. the straight pipe on this truck is purely for sound not performance. first things first get a set of guages boost pyro and trans temp, then i personaly like to cut my own plates but to each their own. either buy or cut the plate. i can give you a rundown on how best to cut it or spend some time looking around on here and you'll figure it out. then put a boost elbow in the line to the wastegate so you can bump the pressure up, this is very easy to make, also adjust the afc spring and housing postion while doing the plate. i had a truck much like what your looking for that spun 33's on the dyno going into 4th gear, and i only spent about $12 in parts. these 12 valves can build big power with the stock parts, a handful of dollars, and the proper tunning. one thing to consider that i never did is a valet switch. this allows you to go pretty wild and by flipping a switch make it very very tame almost dead by comparision.



if i where to start over with an untouched truck my mods would be as follows. one: gauges, boost pyro trans. two: cut plate to a 100, slide plate and afc housing forward to some degree, and greatly lighten afc spring tension. three: install boost elbow and adjust for 32 to 35lbs of boost. four: straight pipe exhaust and install k&n or afe air filter(stock drop in not whole system). five: install valet switch. that combo will put you around 300 horse would be my guess, and when driven right will smoke out highways and roast tires and still drive very nice when desired. there are a lot of variables to this set up depending on what you want, and if this isnt wild enough then you can push it a little more but not much more without spending big money.



for the trans look into a converter, and a valve body for sure, help hold the trans together. without knowing the history of the truck my guess is you will probably be rebuilding that trans pretty soon. if thats the case go with a converter, valve body, and heavy duty rebuild kit. for more info look at suncoast or dtt.