you guys are making me jeL!

 

I painted the gauge housing flat black. Really made a difference but they're still bright enough to make things easy to read.

 

The flat black paint is a nice touch, Jim.

 

Finally got around to installing some of my new upgrades to the turbo.

The turbo itself had almost no wear inside. No play. I was going to replace all the bushings and such, but then realized I was going to need specialized tools, as the e clips inside are so tiny. Not having to buy more tools, I just replaced a few seals, and installed the new wheel and housing. All went well
except for finding a new air filter. No one has them in stock anywhere around here.

BTW,

The new housing and turbo wheel made no apparent difference in performance. I can only assume that is because I haven't yet done anything regarding fuel improvements.

 

You have to have fuel to go with the air! pull a spark plug and see if it is running lean.

 

I am thinking the flat black is absorbing enough light to not be too bright.

 

What turbine housing are you using?
I am thinking 14cm and 60mm on the compressor for mine as I rarely tow anything.

 

lol
Yeah, I'll get right on that....fuel screw turned in but won't go any further. I guess that's why they sold me that new fuel pin, eh ?

 

16cm and 60 mm wheel.
Excellent throttle response.
With the 14 you will need to pay close attention to egt

 

When towing with non i/c I have found that running the VGT turbo at a virtual "9" cm is lower EGT and more boost than at a more open / "larger" housing setting say, like a 16+. The instant the housing opens and drive pressure & boost drops a bit under full load, the EGTs go up. Popular opinions and experience says the opposite would happen, however.

I had great EGTs and good full load towing power from the HE351CW 9cm housing turbo with 60mm compressor as well. This was with a fancy NOS first gen style bank$ intercooler though.

edit: now that I think about it, I think one reason I didn't get high EGT with small 9CM and high boost was because it only had a small 53mm compressor wheel. Which means that the drive pressure would be a lot lower, which probably helped the EGTs. Not apples to apples. the new HE300VG turbos are a totally new design, with an emphasis on efficiency so who knows.

 

Took the Dodge to the Guns and Roses concert in San Diego last night.

Instruments aren't too bright to drive but am going to use the blue caps I think.

It was the first time my truck didn't seem loud when I drove....


Still can hear anything....

 

I m a habitual gauge watcher so it would be nothing new.
16cm would probably be better and cheaper. but I still may go with the 14. we will see.

 

Went out to put new shiny extended ET lug nuts on the truck and sheared 4 out of the 8 studs on the right rear removing the old ones. Apparently the previous owner has never heard of a Torque Wrench or a Torque spec.

Now I guess I get to tear the drum off....

 

Always something.

 

Just be grateful they didn't self shear in a high speed curve.