FireMarshalBill

Decided to stop hijacking boiler-rat's thread and start my own .

Bushy.... answer your question from the other post, i will use the truck 50/50 highway and town. Will occasionally pull a trailer with a CJ7 on it.... most likely to the mountains of Colorado or New Mexico. Also, send my turbo to who to have it done up right? What are we talking in savings?

Being very "green" at all this bombing (mainly absorbing all i can off here and TDR) i'd like to have some more input from ya'll. The truck was a literal dog on my trip to New Mexico pulling the Jeep this past summer. I aim to see that it won't happen again .

I've definitely been bitten by the bug....... the ole pocket book is just not up to the task at the moment..... but i can plan anyway.

I have done nothing to her yet with the exception of ordering gauges and getting a buddy to fab up an old smoky mount for a BHAF. Still need to get all that installed. Figured i would install the pyro the same time i do the turbo housing upgrade (have 21cm now) . Tweak the timing and give the pump a turn or two. Then save up for 4" exhaust, give 'er a run on a dyno and then who knows what?

I'd be happy to glean whatever information from ya'll that you feel like sharing. Thanks.

jiMMyCTD

sounds like my curent set up minus my POD's. My truckpulls hard in OD up mountains grades . the real test was doing 20mph behind a big rig on 80 going towards reno on the big grade. i was in 2nd and had an opening and went for it. pulled better than i thought through the gears. This is with my fj40 on my trailer *bout 6k total*.

jiMMy

wannadiesel

Sounds like a plan to me!

Bushy works for PDR, they are a great outfit and can set you up right. I don't think you need a turbo upgrade yet, that's not necessary until you put in bigger injectors. The housing swap and a pump tweak will leave you hungry for more...

Nuttymopar

Sounds like Wanna covered it rather well. If you do tow a lot with it, I hear the 16 cm2 turbo would be best for that application. I don't tow and have a 16 and it works great. Though I would like to feel what a 14 feels like since I do race around a lot instead. Got to love that boost and the 'seat of your pants' feeling .

Tweaking your pump and advancing your timing will help a lot in regards to towing, once that BHAF is on.

edwinsmith

What are POD's

jiMMyCTD

lucas prince of darkness injectors. FUEL for the fire. hehe. jiMMy

wannadiesel

Big ol' smoky injectors. Once you get them you soot people without meaning to. POD's are stinky, hazy, smoky, and thirsty - God how I love 'em!

Den

My 91.5 was a real dog. I checked all the linkages and they needed to be adjusted. Then I gave it 2 turns on the full throttle stop and it woke it up big time compared to how it was. That might be a good start before you get going with the other mods/goodies.

I would often wonder it the turbo was even doing anything before that


Den

FireMarshalBill

Thanks for all the input...... i can't wait to get started.

Den, I know what you're saying..... sometimes i wonder if my turbo is even spooling up .

jimmyCTD i see in your sig line that our setups would be quite similar. POD's will probably be on the list for me soon after the 4" exhaust .

wannadiesel i'm only going to shoot for the housing swap for now due to funds being limited. The turbo will be later down the list. Think it would be better to shoot for PODs before the turbo swap or vice versa?

Nuttymopar... i will be towing on occasion. Wanna sell me your 16cm so you can try out a 14 ?

Another thing i need to address is my exhaust manifold. It has shrunk pretty good, hadn't bent any bolts yet but i got a couple gaskets that are blown out on the side. Should i be thinking the 3-piece from Piers for a replacement?

jiMMyCTD

my POD's work fine with teh stock turbo.

wannadiesel

The ATS manifold is definitely the way to go. A new stock one will crack eventually anyway.

Definitely do the turbine housing swap before the POD's. You won't need more air than that until you change injectors. Once you add big injectors you will want to upgrade the compressor side of the turbo either by sending it to PDR or getting a kit from HTT.

Dan Brooks

With a BHAF, 16cm housing, and mild pump tweaks (one turn fuel screw, 1/4 turn down on the starwheel, rotated the AFC 90*, and backed the smoke screw out 1 1/2 turns to control smoke), my truck pulls my Jeep/trailer great (~12k pounds total).

Even with a small cabover added (~14k total) it had plenty of power, but EGTs became an issue on long, steep climbs and I had to keep my foot out of it. I've since installed a 4" exhaust system and that brought the EGTs down significantly with the Jeep/trailer combo. I haven't had the camper on the truck since then but I'm confident EGTs won't be as much of an issue now.

The 16cm housing made a noticable difference, as did the pump tweaks, but one of the biggest improvements I've seen was replacing the lousy factory torque converter with a tighter aftermarket unit. It really lets the engine work in it's powerband instead of just heating up the transmission.

cLAYH

I second that on the torque convertor upgrade. I did mine last summer, saw about a 1-2MPG improvement and increased performance about as much a upgrading the turbo housing did. Will help keep the oil temps downs as well which will extend the life of your tranny.

jiMMyCTD

argggg, i need to get me teh dtt hook up. i dont do auto trany's at all do labor will have to be added in. poopy for sure.

jiMMy

Bushy

Hey Bill, my apologies for being late in getting onto this thread.....

'Wanna' is correct, I do work for/at PDR and I'm a fan of the way he does his business, it's all "old school" value's and, he's turned down more than one sale to me in favour of just showing me how to maximize the settings/parts I already have....having said that.... I would echo much of what has been noted since you're question at the top of this thread...

Open up your "air in"; have the exhaust housing changed out and I'd still suggest the 16cm personally (keep in mind you can "tune" some of the responsiveness you'll get from the 16cm as well, the pump can be made to "help" you spin the turbo if you feel it is a tad slow)- keep in mind that the 16cm housing can move air nearly as well as an 18.5cm housing at the top end as noted by Joe Donnelly and based on his experience as published..make sure that you let your EGT drop below 300*F before you shutdown as repeated shutdown over that will eventually 'coke' your turbo bearing;

carefully go over ALL your clamps/hoses and even your intercooler etc... they may look "ok" on the surface but you'd be shocked at how often there is something giving out or just plain loose;

Have your timing tweaked up to about 16 - 17* advance, this will improve your throttle response and ease any smoke/haze; (if you use a pump shop to set your timing then have them set it to 1.7mm plunger lift (if that is the method they use) **note my signature shows my timing at 16* advance but it is higher than that... I couldn't get it changed without loosing most of my signature in the process for some reason, and....very high timing can raise cylinder pressures significantly so don't follow my example and keep your's in reason...

for now, your stock exhaust manifold can be removed and some porting/relief work done for nothing except the cost of gaskets since your going to change the exhaust housing anyway...when I had my manifold off to try out some different turbochargers I took the time to port and polish the runners, in and out, as well as open up the two bolt holes that are tighter than the rest....you'll find that at higher boost levels you'll get gasket creep due to heating/cooling....it's unavoidable with the stock manifold but you can help your case out a bit by doing these things... I feel I "lost" roughly 60-75*F on my EGT's by doing some work on the manifold inlets/outlet, and the 16cm housing inlet that I am still using today;

when you have some funds you can have your own compressor redone by any reputable shop, including the folks I work for among others,... in one case you'll have a brand new turbo if you buy it outright, in the other you'll have your own unit inspected and reworked then sent back....the costs will vary depending on what you want but usually they are quite reasonable;

raise the governed limit on your pump to 2900 - 3000 RPM, this will allow you to pull up higher into the RPM band and allow you to retain more speed between your shifts.... the convertors on these trucks don't really work worth a spit until you enter the higher RPM range to begin with;

use the starwheel/AFC assembly/smoke screw/high idle (governor screw) to start with and leave the full fuel screw as it is for the initial period... the full fuel screw adds fuel to the entire RPM band but a larger portion of it is sent to the low/mid range than the upper end and can really raise the EGT's quick....if you don't like the results of the other adjustments, you can make changes from there....

do a reset on your valves...you can set them a tad snug too...the cam's in these early trucks have a decent grind on the exhaust side but need some help on the intake side so you can use about 1-2 thou tighter...recheck in 10K miles for safety and if they are right were you set them your good to go another 35-40K before you re-check;

As for the aftermarket hybrid turbo idea, well, you can have your own unit reworked as mentioned, no question about it....when the shop does this for you, they inspect, machine, and do a zero balance on the new assembly so you know it's good to go.
Many fella's have had just the machining done and then made the pinwheel changes themselves...personally I'm not that confident in doing so, besides if it goes fubar on me I'm out on the branch by myself

The rest is basic, good oil, filters etc and you can expect great reliability/performance from these ole girls....oh....keep the brakes tweaked too... the backs are real boogers for not staying up to the task and needing adjustment. In my experience I check tweak mine twice a year minimum.
Pay attention to the heavy connections for the manifold heaters and the battery too...it may sound obvious but they also need to be snug for proper function;

OH... do what it takes to install gauges...this is a "well beat horse", but, it can and, will tell you if you are too far out on the limb OR if something is going sideways on you as you progress..

bob....

edit: hey, I finally got my sig change to take.....bonus !!!!!!