anyone read or tried the free hp modifications from feb.2011 diesel power magazine.would it be safe to do with stock tranny.how much would it change mpg under normal driving

 

Nothing's free..........something has to give something up for something else to gain from it.

 

When someone calls something free, it usually just means that it doesn´t cost you money, that´s as far as it goes, in the end there´s allways a price to pay.

Slev

 

Are you referring to the tweaks that you can do to a 12 valve? There are plenty of write-ups and posts here. But, any horsepower/torque increase will be hard on an automatic, if that's what you have. So, you can get some power out of a 12 valve for free, but you will have to baby the transmission.

 

thanks for replys,not gonna drive the old girl to hard,just thought a little extra every now and then would be nice.would like to start with easy mods and go from there.it is a automatic tranny

 

Can you give some details on what these free mods are? I don't read Diesel Power magazine.

 

Midnite

I think the only free hp out of a pumped 5.9 ! would be sliding the plate ahead and playing with the star wheel. ?

 

Like Hodge said the transmission is the weak point, my auto started it's way out after the "free" mods like sliding the Plate ahead, a #10 plate finished it off!

 

Free HP mods can end up costing lots of money when your pistons melt due to not having a pyro.
Unless you can find some for free it would be wise to spend some money on gauges.

 

Agreed, gauges should always be first!!

 

Well, we're all throwing out warnings that free hp is not really free--that there's always a cost. That's great advice and I certainly agree with it, but I have yet to see what *specific* mods are being talked about here.

Some mods, like exhaust and intake improvements, timing advance, and probably others--they can be safely done without much risk to the transmission, nor do they substantially increase the risk of melting a piston since they all serve to lower EGT. Then there's mods to the injection pump which is a whole different story as virtually everyone has already touched on.

Until the OP comes back and elaborates, there's really nothing we can contribute that isn't based on pure speculation, and it just seems like kind of a waste of time.

 

IIRC that issue talked about grinding the fuel plate to offer up more fuel.....free in the sense that if you had some tools already available it didn't cost you any money that you hadn't already spent previously.

Hence not free, but rather getting your value out of dollars spent in the past!!!!

 

You can adjust your star wheel & slide the plate or grind a new profile on your fuel plate plus put a set screw in the boost elbow, the combo can gain you about double you stock power but GAUGES are a must plus a gentle foot if you want your auto to live long at that level.