Simple ways to improve your truck

[y-knot]

I just wanted to pass along a few very simple and realitivly low cost ways to improve performance and comfort of your Cummins Turbo Diesel trucks. The performance gains are purely subjective, in principle the therory is sound, but without a boat full of money and all the latest equipment, the true gains will never be relized.

What is very evident is how the truck responds, and how it feels. Turbo lag, the time from which you need the power, till the engine makes the power has been somewhat of a concern for me. Since the addition of the larger turbo housing, the normal boost I would see while driving along has fallen from 12-15 to 5-9. These produces less response at lower rpm's, the engine just doesn't feel as snappy. The trade-off was the train like power while towing a very heavy load, the boost is still there, just it takes more load to reggister. That and the fact that EGT's are no longer a problem, the increased flow has them in check, even on the longest of hills.

What I did was simply wrap the turbo housing with a insulating blanket, and the down pipe as well. This insulation keeps more of the engines heat contained with-in the system, which provides more energy to drive the turbo. Turbo's live off of the free heat,energy that is produced by the combustion of fuel, this just helps the turbo recieve all of that energy. I also made a blanket, cover for the exhaust manifold, this to is made of a high heat (2000 degree) matterial that helps keep the heat from the exhaust, contained to the exhaust. Other benifits include lower under hood temps, which help performance by lowering the intake charged air temps and helps items like the batteries live longer. Wrapping and insulating the exhaust manifold maintains hotter exhaust gas temperatures that exit the system faster by way of increased density. Increased exhaust scavenging is produced, along with lower intake temperatures.



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shot of engine compartment while working



To further aid my efforts, I also insulated the AFE Filter box, Intake air hose to turbo, and the pipes that run to and from the intercooler. This reduces the transfer of heat to the charged air system thru radiation and heat sinking. The air box was cleaned and de-greased, then from a sheet of heat barrier I cut out the various shapes needed. Then the air box and the back of the sheets were sprayed with glue, and the pieces applied, I then reinstalled the molding around the top. So far my heat readings, taken with a inferred heat gun, show almost a 150 degree reduction of heat at the air box, and have not pulled anything yet. There was a little over 200 degrees of heat reduction at the bottom intercooler intake pipe, I jsut finished and have not had time to take all the readings I want, but so far it's been a success.



this is a covered AFE air box

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picture of a completed right side



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left side air intake tube



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[Kalaehina]

Cool! (literally), I like to learn about all the "little" things we can do help with our engines performance and operation. Thanks, may have to give this a try.

 

[DDT]

Neat Idea. I have a Jake can I still put a blanket on? Best place to get one?

 

[txhawg]

I thought the idea was to get rid of the heat??????

 

[Hohn]

I'd submit to the board that you don't want the intercooler pipes TO the IC insulated. The air discharge temp of the turbo (pre-IC) is going to be MUCH higher than the underhood air temp.



Thus, insulating the tubing from the turbo discharge to the IC increases the amount of heat the IC has to try and dump.



You only want to insulate the "hot" piping-- exhaust manifold, turbine housing, downpipe, etc.



EDIT: the wrap on the the intake hose from the filter to compressor inlet is a good idea.

Justin

 

[Sticks]

So has this increased your cool down time for the turbo?

 

[y-knot]

It sounds good, but in the real world of things the air is actually picking up heat from the engine and the close proximity to the bottom radiator hose. By insulating the tubbing it show a drop in the intake air temperature, so there has to be some sort of radiant heat gain present.

The next question about heat. Yes you do want to get excess heat out of the engine, that is why we have so many cooler in the front. But the heat generated in the exhaust system, is the heat (energy) used to power the turbocharger. If you lose heat between the engine block and turbo exhaust side inlet, you are loosing energy. That extra heat (energy) is very noticeable after the insulation is applied, the turbo response's faster and wines up further. Also the faster the exhaust gases move the better scavaging. Under hood temperatures are far lower with the add insulation, the heat is more confined to the exhaust system, rather then being spread thru out the engine compartment.

The reason the air box, intake hose, and most of the blankets were used was to keep the heat out of the incoming air. The cooler air is being drawn in from the right side, there it is filtered and sucked into the turbo. The added insulation to that system, allows that cooler air to stay cool and not pick up the heat thru radiant or heat soaking. Same holds true for the rest of the charged air intake system, the inter-cooler removes alot of the heat that is picked up by the turbo, and the insulation is there to keep any heat from getting back in.

On cool-down it's different. With the insulation in place the exhaust runs hotter then before, I picked up almost 75 degrees at idle. So far I have not increased the cool down time, which is 2 minuets. But I haven't had enough time with the new set-up to learn all it's wants.

I will admit, I am still learning much about this new system, but there is know doubt that there is real and foreseeable power gains. This is only stage I for me, I fully intend to learn and continue on with more.

 

[Hohn]

Thanks for the testing. These are great, cheap upgrades that anyone can do and see benefits from...



justin

 

[JoshPeters]

So the question of the hour... ... where do we get the insulation?





Josh

 

[moparguy]

I'm curious about the effect of the retained heat on a insulated stock cast iron manifold. I know y-knot has the ATS, but for those who don't, the stocker has issues dealing with the lower temp conditions of normal operations, so would the higher temps from insulation hasten it's demise.



Don't need to break a mounting boss on the head due to accelerated shrinkage of the cast iron manifold.

 

[y-knot]

Mopar guy I don't have a ATS manifold just transmission, my exhaust manifold is stock. I do not believe there will be a problem, the temperature at say idle is roughly 75 degrees more. While running down the road, say on the interstate, I see about 100-125 more degrees then before at the same speed. These are my pre-turbo temps, the post turbo temps are slightly higher then before the insulation, but not as much as the pre turbo temps. The turbo is staying up on boost much better, and the response is much better, it comes on right now. I think this is the way to go, at least for me. The larger turbo really lacked the low end punch I was use to, this does not compensate fully for that lack of low end, or increased lag. But it does go a very long way to even me back up to where it use to be. The truck runs much better now, I have taken it out several times and have continued to be impressed. I think the added efficiency as really help, the faster and hotter gases bring more energy to the turbo. On the low side of the rpm scale, the added temps help with faster response and quick boost. At the higher rpms I see higher boost numbers, for the same temps, the truck is much more responsive in that range. I have no ideal about mileage yet, but I would expect some gain.

Also I did not wrap the exhaust manifold, instead I made a cover out of a high heat material used for header blankets. This cover lays over the top of the manifold and hangs down 4" around the sides. Since the exhaust manifold is cast, I went with the blanket. The intent was to retain some extra heat with in the manifold, and keep as much heat out of the engine compartment as possible. That cover was very easy to make, I ordered a Thermo-Tec Cool-it header blanket,893-14003 from Jeggs for $75. 99. For the turbo, I ordered a Cool-it turbo wrap kit, 893-15002 from Jeggs for 91. 99 and a sheet of aluminized heat barrier,893-14001 for $75. 99. To do the turbo, you fashion a cover from the kits matterials that wraps around the exhaust side turbine. I then made three separt covers, one for the turbo elbow, one for the downtube, and one that covered the area where the Pac-brake is. All these covers were had useing the aluminized heat barrier as the outer most layer, what you wouls see from the outside. A several layers of header warp that was lay ed length wise on the covers and attached. The cover were held in place with stainless snap straps,893-13001,$19. 99.

I wanted the covers to be made so I can easily take them off if repairs are necessary. The snap straps do a fine job and look good also. No area has an exposed portion of header wrap, it is all contained under the heat barrier. This gives a very clean look, and protects against the elements. The header wrap I used was both 1" wide x 50' 893-11001 $23. 99 and 2" wide x 50' 893-11002 $35. 99. I also used some Cool-it sleeves for the AC lines and other wiring I wanted to protect. Under the truck the down tube is wrapped to the first joint. To help insulate the cab from both heat and sound, I took to FlowMaster heat shields which are aluminum, and applied two layers of header wrap, one layer of sound insulation (900-blip12406-b from Jeggs), and one final layer of heat barrier. They are mounted over both mufflers and work very well. The cab floor is stays cool and the sound level is drastically reduced.

To protect the inter cooler plumbing from picking up unwanted heat, I wrapped them in Thermo-Tec Cool-It 14500 $45. 00 each. The lace on material works great and allows very easy removal. I also used the same material to insulate the large rubber hose from the air box to the turbo.

 

[moparguy]

Great report. Always good to see someone step outside the box and try new ideas.



This project reminds me of Smokey Yumick (?) and his heat special engine. As I recall his goal was to run the engine at very high temps to improve efficiency. I believe he used propane for fuel and got some outrageous mileage and power returns for his efforts. Don't remember what became of his work however.



Let us know how the fuel mileage turns out.



Good Luck, RJR

 

[RowJ]

Y-Knot

Excellent report!

I have played with turbine wrap and exhaust wrap also. And can confirm all you say.

It's also important to remember what you said in your beginning comments that your EGT's were no problem due to larger Turbo housing. For those struggling with high EGT's, I would not recommend playing with a wrap... it will raise temps.

When I added a PM3 I ran into this problem and lowered my EGT's 100* by removing the turbine/manifold wrap.

But for those with big turbos and slow spoolup. . it will help.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Y-NOT, now that you have had this on for a while, how do you like it and is there anything you had to change or would do different? Thanks

 

[Kennywould]

I just wanted to pass along a few very simple and realitivly low cost ways to improve performance and comfort of your Cummins Turbo Diesel trucks.



Nice job Knot, like your thinking and the workmanship

 

[Mhannink]

It sounds good, but in the real world of things the air is actually picking up heat from the engine and the close proximity to the bottom radiator hose. By insulating the tubbing it show a drop in the intake air temperature, so there has to be some sort of radiant heat gain present.

The next question about heat. Yes you do want to get excess heat out of the engine, that is why we have so many cooler in the front. But the heat generated in the exhaust system, is the heat (energy) used to power the turbocharger. If you lose heat between the engine block and turbo exhaust side inlet, you are loosing energy. That extra heat (energy) is very noticeable after the insulation is applied, the turbo response's faster and wines up further. Also the faster the exhaust gases move the better scavaging. Under hood temperatures are far lower with the add insulation, the heat is more confined to the exhaust system, rather then being spread thru out the engine compartment.

The reason the air box, intake hose, and most of the blankets were used was to keep the heat out of the incoming air. The cooler air is being drawn in from the right side, there it is filtered and sucked into the turbo. The added insulation to that system, allows that cooler air to stay cool and not pick up the heat thru radiant or heat soaking. Same holds true for the rest of the charged air intake system, the inter-cooler removes alot of the heat that is picked up by the turbo, and the insulation is there to keep any heat from getting back in.

On cool-down it's different. With the insulation in place the exhaust runs hotter then before, I picked up almost 75 degrees at idle. So far I have not increased the cool down time, which is 2 minuets. But I haven't had enough time with the new set-up to learn all it's wants.

I will admit, I am still learning much about this new system, but there is know doubt that there is real and foreseeable power gains. This is only stage I for me, I fully intend to learn and continue on with more.

on your intake temps, i assume you have been watching those pre and post heat wrap? that is a positive quantified number? im sorry but im a little skeptical of it based on theory alone. is it during peak power or cruising that you see the gains from wraping the ic pipes?



i am starting a similar project and was reading your post, im not seeing the increase in egts, nor the longer cool down times, i see yours is a blanket, i am using a wrap that fits tight to the manifold, would that make a difference do you think? i am seeing some of the performance gains you mentioned, so i think its doing something, only had it on a couple days so its hard for me to say just yet how its doing.

Mopar guy I don't have a ATS manifold just transmission, my exhaust manifold is stock. I do not believe there will be a problem, the temperature at say idle is roughly 75 degrees more. While running down the road, say on the interstate, I see about 100-125 more degrees then before at the same speed. These are my pre-turbo temps, the post turbo temps are slightly higher then before the insulation, but not as much as the pre turbo temps. The turbo is staying up on boost much better, and the response is much better, it comes on right now. I think this is the way to go, at least for me. The larger turbo really lacked the low end punch I was use to, this does not compensate fully for that lack of low end, or increased lag. But it does go a very long way to even me back up to where it use to be. The truck runs much better now, I have taken it out several times and have continued to be impressed. I think the added efficiency as really help, the faster and hotter gases bring more energy to the turbo. On the low side of the rpm scale, the added temps help with faster response and quick boost. At the higher rpms I see higher boost numbers, for the same temps, the truck is much more responsive in that range. I have no ideal about mileage yet, but I would expect some gain.

Also I did not wrap the exhaust manifold, instead I made a cover out of a high heat material used for header blankets. This cover lays over the top of the manifold and hangs down 4" around the sides. Since the exhaust manifold is cast, I went with the blanket. The intent was to retain some extra heat with in the manifold, and keep as much heat out of the engine compartment as possible. That cover was very easy to make, I ordered a Thermo-Tec Cool-it header blanket,893-14003 from Jeggs for $75. 99. For the turbo, I ordered a Cool-it turbo wrap kit, 893-15002 from Jeggs for 91. 99 and a sheet of aluminized heat barrier,893-14001 for $75. 99. To do the turbo, you fashion a cover from the kits matterials that wraps around the exhaust side turbine. I then made three separt covers, one for the turbo elbow, one for the downtube, and one that covered the area where the Pac-brake is. All these covers were had useing the aluminized heat barrier as the outer most layer, what you wouls see from the outside. A several layers of header warp that was lay ed length wise on the covers and attached. The cover were held in place with stainless snap straps,893-13001,$19. 99.

I wanted the covers to be made so I can easily take them off if repairs are necessary. The snap straps do a fine job and look good also. No area has an exposed portion of header wrap, it is all contained under the heat barrier. This gives a very clean look, and protects against the elements. The header wrap I used was both 1" wide x 50' 893-11001 $23. 99 and 2" wide x 50' 893-11002 $35. 99. I also used some Cool-it sleeves for the AC lines and other wiring I wanted to protect. Under the truck the down tube is wrapped to the first joint. To help insulate the cab from both heat and sound, I took to FlowMaster heat shields which are aluminum, and applied two layers of header wrap, one layer of sound insulation (900-blip12406-b from Jeggs), and one final layer of heat barrier. They are mounted over both mufflers and work very well. The cab floor is stays cool and the sound level is drastically reduced.

To protect the inter cooler plumbing from picking up unwanted heat, I wrapped them in Thermo-Tec Cool-It 14500 $45. 00 each. The lace on material works great and allows very easy removal. I also used the same material to insulate the large rubber hose from the air box to the turbo.

i think higher temps would actually help the manifold, heat isnt the problem, its cooling, the isulating wrap will slow the cooling of the manifold when the engine is off, that slower cool rate means less stress that means less cracking.

Y-NOT, now that you have had this on for a while, how do you like it and is there anything you had to change or would do different? Thanks

yeah, what he said. in all seriousness do you have anymore feed back as to the pros/cons of all that work?

 

[ENafziger]

Unfortunately, a lot of these guys aren't members here anymore... Git-R-Done, Hohn, Y-knot, etc.

--Eric

 

[Mhannink]

damn, i was hoping they were still around and could provide feed back.