Diesel-nut

My old man bought this truck a few weeks back and I noticed the other day it had an antifreeze leak so I did some lookin and found the leak was under the t-stat area. Its the head gasket! Ugh! So the head is coming off tomorrow and the injector pump along with it cause its leaking fuel, possibly the reason I'm getting bad mileage. So I'm thinking of putting in higher horse fuel sticks. This truck will do a lot of pullin so I want it to be reliable but it would be nice to have the extra ponies. How high should I go on the injectors. Stock right now at 175 so I was thinking about 80 hp, should I go more? I dont want the mileage to go to hell though. What are your thoughts?

aksparkey01

just make it like a 97 5spd 215 injectors and ive heard that 191 dvs flow really good with stock injectors. while the head is off put 60# hd valve springs in, then you can run the 4k gsk. maby a #10 plate in the pump. and of course some guages. i think you will be content with that. for the moment

Diesel-nut

What are the dvs? I'm new to some of these acronyms so bear with me. I can see how these engines could be a money pit in hot rodding them. I would probably do more to this truck if it was mine but the old man doesnt like to get too carried away in this kinda thing unfortunately.

killed300ex

dv= delivery valves they are on top of the injection pump take the lines off the pump and the barrels then the delivery valves are right there. If you plan on towing with it alot becarefull how much you do to it as your egts will go sky high so guages to watch everything is a must. Id hold off on the injectors do a fuel plate gsk and a boost elbow. I ran this setup and tow 14k every weekend during the summer had plenty of power to do it but egts were a problem whenever you hit a hill id have to let off just to keep them in check.
Evan

BigErksG2

i agree, i would go with a fuel plate and 3kgsk. the 4kgsk are supposedly too touchy with a manual from what i hear, your old man might not like that but these 2 simple mods will make it a completely different truck.

thoscos

Just a fuel plate & 3gsk will give you quite a bit of power from stuck. If you add to much you'll also need a new clutch, $$$. The plate and gsk will give you the most bang for the buck. I would suggest adding an EGT gauge as a minimum. You could replace the muffler with a straight pipe leaving the cat. That should drop you egt's a little and the exhaust note will not be much louder w/out the muffler. If you remove both the cat & muffler then the exhaust note will be loud.

Diesel-nut

So how many more hp will doing the fuel plate and the higher rpm governing spring give me? And what thickness of gasket should I go with? I suppose that will be determined after I resurface the head? My dad is willing to go with the higher horse injectors so I might get those any way. I suppose you'll tell me that getting a pyro gauge is a must then. I wish the stuff to supe these babies up didn't cost so much then i could do a lot more with this beast.

sewman

You don' need to buy a plate just slide yours foward alittle,get the 3k springs & you won't have to change the valve springs which is almost a waste of $$ cuz you don't get any big power past 3200 anyways(which is when you need the 50lb valve springs) then you have some $$left f/guages

thoscos

Diesel-nut,

You would not need the 60# valve springs unless you plan to rev that motor clean into red line territory.

The 4gsk is for those who want max rev potential. Basically a overkill for those who do not race.

The 3gsk will let you rev up to 3600rpm when adjusted properly. Mine will. But I make sure not to got past red line. The purpose for most all who install these springs is to be able to fuel with full power up to red line where as a stock engine will start defueling at about 2300rpm and no usable power at read line.

this link: http://www.tstproducts.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=119
has info on the plate options and approximate power ratings.

For free power.... you could just slide your stock plate forward as Sewman mentioned and turn the stock governor springs in 3 clicks each but the after market plates and springs like the ones TST sells are better tuned for performance than the stock ones.

Between plate or injectors.. I would put a plate in first. Its cheap compared to injectors and will really wake up a stock motor. Try that out and then put injectors in if your not happy with just a plate. Down fall is, when you start adding power you get lots of heat and if your going to be towing a lot just a plate could easily max your egt's and injectors wont help that any. Then theres always the clutch., just a plate can max the holding power of the clutch. Then again injectors may put it over then edge and now your into a new $900 clutch.

Just some examples: My neighbor has a '97 5 spd truck. All he did was put in a #11 plate and 3gsk. now his new stock clutch is slipping. I had a '95 5 spd truck once and added just a #10 plate and 3gsk and the stock clutch did not hold.

As for head gasket I don't know. I've never blown one (although my '95 I had did just after I sold it. Maybe it as driving style that blew it (rpm's)). I'm sure the Cummins dealer can suggest a thickness.

Hope this info helps with your project.

Regards

Diesel-nut

Ok, I appreciate all the info you guys have givin me. I need to have the injector pump redone and so I'll have the injectors checked out too. Is there any trick to getting the head back on without destroying the gasket? Kinda tight quarters in there under the hood.

sewman

Get a Haynes manual it will explain it all in great detail & it's great for future reference too.

OlBlue

While the head is off, do the 60lb springs. You just might want an exhaust brake even if you don't spin the engine to 4k rpm.

If you're even slightly good with a small hand grinder, pull the valves (keep them in order of where they go) and open up cylinders #1 and #6 at least to match cylinders #2 through #5. You'll see it when the valves are out. Just go slow and don't hit a valve seat.

Then, if budget will allows and after the grinder (after in case you accidentally knick a seat), have a 3 angle valve job done.

Allow yourself lots of time and enjoy.

Diesel-nut

Thanks for the advice ol'blue but I doubt I'll have a chance to do that stuff to it. I was planning on doing the kdp thing. What is involved with tabbing it? The injector pump is off and the head is off so everything is relatively easy to get to right now and the truck can afford to be down for a little while. And by the way does the clutch fan have left or right hand threads???

Troutstrannysvc

Right handed threads IIRC

(As in right to beat it loose)

Diesel-nut

I got the fan clutch off and its not right hand threads, its left. I decided to do the kdp, so in the pic is this it?[IMG][/IMG]