where did you get your "stiff afc spring"?

 

I wound my own....

At 15 psi boost or less the pin doesn't even move - well less than 1/8" -
but at 25 psi it's 3/4 down and all the way at something under 35.
I say 'something under' because it's very hard to control the boost up there. All I'm sure of is that it's over 32 and under 35.
I'ts helped my low end smoke and with the valet on - not letting boost get thur - I can't even hit 30 psi.
And I've got my hat ground so the pin rides higher and I'm definitely not on the ramp at low boost.

 

I have a valet to my pin and my pin sits at it's "base circle" but I still roll smoke. I doubt it will make much change with big injectors and a cranked power screw.

 

I use an M&H M2. Smoke screw all the way up and star wheel set to let it drop in the deep notch above 15psi at sea level. Smokes under heavy load at higher altitudes though.
Just pulled a 7K trailer across AK. Held 55mph except when the road was too rough. EGT never got over 1,000° even on a long hill that held me in 4th gear and 20psi boost for 2 miles. I still had reserve to pass fords.

 

Under the round cap on top of the AFC is the smoke screw. The star wheel is inside the AFC housing under the spring that pushed the fuel pin diaphragm up.
http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/more_power/Power_ve.htm

 

Giles put it in there when he built it. Not sure where he gets his parts.

 

Ok, I have been confused the whole time. I have been adjusting the smoke screw, not the star wheel. I thought that little T25 screw was the star wheel cause it looks like a star. I have not touched the actual star wheel (yet)

 

Yeah i did the same thing for about a week. When i read more about the IP in the sticky i realized the correct terms for each part. That could explain all your extra smoke...

 

Have you had your injectors checked? If they arent atomizing well, all the tuning in the world is useless.

 

Welcome to club You are member 8,973,481,003.
A handy tip? Loosen the smoke screw lock nut before taking the top off the AFC. I have a good grip but it wasn't that good. Once the top is off you can see to back off the smoke screw to flush on the inside. That's were you can leave it. The star wheel is a turn and try, repeat as necessary operation. Start with 2 turns ccw.

 

id try 4 turns up on the starwheel....after bottoming it out.

 

The smoke screw under the cap on top, all you have to do is loosen up the 13mm and get a T25 torx and bring it the little screw in the middle out as far as it will go.

the 13mm nut is just a jamnut to lock the screw itself in place so it never moves, the nut is ok to turn while you're adjusting the screw. It has nothing to do with adjustments, it's just a locknut. The torx head in the middle is the business.

Here's a picture from 1stgen545 i edited a long time ago when i was like 14.

John, DO EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I SAY TO DO IN THE TOP TEXT BOX!

 

Roughly the same issue here.
I've turned my fuel screw in 1-1/2 turns,adjusted the idle acordingly,backed the smoke screw out flush with the bottom of the AFC cover,and turned the star wheel CCW-now it's level with the top of the threaded "post" it's mounted to. I still smoke until my boost hits around 12lbs.
I've really got to push it to hit 25lbs of boost now.
I liked the power it had with the star wheel down 2 turns CW from stock (and the boost jumping to 26lbs was cool) but it's WAY too smokey for my liking. and even worse when pulling a little 4000lb trailer.

Maybe it's time for injectors,as best as I can tell mine have around 345,000km's on them.

 

According to my spring scale the stock spring only requires about 10 lbs to get to full compression. It don't take much boost to get the fuel pin moving.

 

Alright, so I put the smoke screw back to flush, but adjusted the star screw CW 1.5 turns. It helped some, but still smokes like a battleship at pearl harbor if I dump the throttle at 30 in 3rd gear.

I'm guessing the truck must really be lugging at 30 mph in 3rd gear. I have no tach though to confirm that.