I just got the issue where they spent about 5k and ended up with over 1000 lb ft torque and 500 hp. That seems like an incredibly good deal to me. I used to hot rod cars and for about 5k you could buy a add on super charger that will boost you by about 100hp. But from my experience with cars you usually lose something in the drivability dept when you hop up an engine this much. My question is how would this truck run and drive on a daily basis? I use my truck for everything from a daily commute in stop and go traffic to towing about 8-10k lbs. It is my only vehicle. Would I hate driving this beast if I did the build up they did in the magazine?

 

Diesels truck with those mod's are a daily rig whether for work or play. I drive mine everyday and sometimes make 10-12hr cruises. The fuel mileage is as/or better than stock. The only issues are speeding tickets, short rear tire life and you need a stout tranny(auto's more so) to handle all that torque.

I think that the dyno numbers for that build-up where juiced-up abit for the article. On anyone's else’s truck, the parts that DD put into their build up probably would have only made about 450rwhp and the HX-40 turbo is almost to small for this application. A B1 turbo would have been a better choice or twins turbos. But the price would have been more than 5k and put it over what most people would try.

 

So your telling me there is no trade off in drivability even after such a radical increase in power? That is amazing and very intreging. Although it seems that if that really was the case why doesnt the manufaturor bump up the power them selves and put an end to the power wars of the big 3? What about cold weather operation? Anything at all as far as a trade off?

 

I seen that same article about 2 weeks before I got my truck. I'm having to do mine a step at a time, though. I called Diesel Dynamics and talked to the guy who owned that truck. I think his name was Kevin, but not sure. He is thier tech guy. I forgot to ask him about fuel mileage, but he did say it ran sweet. As far as dyno #'s, he did say that the comp they used is a prototype. Maybe that put the #'s up higher than most. 500 hp with bolt ons....SWEET!!

 

Why don't Dodge and Ford bump them up from the factory?

One word, EPA (ok, 3 words).


As far as driveability offroad or cold weather, you just have to be gentle on the go pedal.

Stock truck, you have to floor it to spin the tires.
BOMB'ed truck, you can spin 'em with half throttle.

Just remember you have the power there, and you'll be fine.


phox

 

can anyone send me a copy of the article?

 

The injector that I have is messy with the edge comp box on max settings (which its always is). I get lots of smoke on spool-up and when my foot's on the floor at wot. I havent installed my twins yet and this is info is with the HY-35 turbo. Cold weather operation, runs as good or better than stock. The truck smokes more when cold but that a small trade off. Once the engine warms up the smoke is gone. A bigger turbo like DD used helps on the top end, but the bottom-end is not quite as strong. Twins are the hot ticket and works well for towing. The twins that I've drove, they make singles feel o so sluggish. The best injectors are EDM's. DD makes a decent EDM but they smoke more and make less power than the mach injectors. If you do a search on them and find that Don makes probably the best injector going. The only downfall is that you have to make sure you have fuel at the injection pump to make power and you need gauges (egt's, boost, tranny temp, fuel pressure) as a minimum. My truck is about 400rwhp and my tranny is on borrowed time, another downfall. Once the upgrades are done you have a sports truck that you can actually use to tow with, haul with and play with.

 

Remember there is a BIG differance betwen a turbo and a super charger all thoe they both do the same thing in a differant way.

 

I'll speak to the question of modding a Dodge CTD and then going off-road regularly. I do that a lot in the Appalachians and the Great Basin at various times during the year.

It's a problem. The go-pedal is sensitive, the truck now has a lot of torque, and over rough terrain it's very difficult to keep your foot steady. Add in several hours of that kind of travel, and you see the issue. You can hit a rough spot, jostle a bit, accidently dig into the go-pedal, and snap your neck back. The more HP/torque in off-road situations, the more need there is for careful, steady calibration.

I installed a hand throttle some time ago. That helps a lot.

 

Thumper 549 I do understand the difference between a turbo and a super charger. I was only stating that as a refrence to hotrodding a gas engine. It would be substantially more expensive to add a turbocharger to a gas engine that didnt already have one. As compared to adding a supercharger. Especially one of the bolt on centrifigul ones. The only comparison was meant as there is no 5k dollar hot rod trick to add the kind of power that 4Wd and Off Road mag did to that cummins for a gas enigne. But my curiosity was knowing the kind of trade offs a typical gas engine has when putting that kind of power down, what are the trade offs, if any, for a diesel engine putting that kind of power out in a personal use size truck.

 

You won't find better bang-for the buck than a souped up Cummins. You'd be hard pressed to get 1000 lb-ft out of most American cars or gas trucks without a LOT of money-- 20 Grand or so.

But in the Cummins, all it takes is some Mach 3s, a fueling box, and an HX40. Total outlay: $2600. Not bad, eh?

Living with the power is going to cost you more money as far as clutch and tires and such.

The turbo diesel engine is the ONLY way to have that kind of power and be streetable. This is because it varies fueling and air (turbo) to determine power and to govern RPM.

A gas engine can only vary air intake. The rest of the engine is setup and not variable. So you have to live with huge cams, crappy mileage, etc etc.

A diesel liberates you from all that gas compromises. You CAN have your cake and eat it too! The only considerations with a diesel are smoke and exhaust temps. Even then, these won't punish you when driving conservatively.

The above combo of EDM 3s, fueling box, and turbo is VERY streetable with controllable smoke and temps.

I know it seems almost too good to be true, but it isn't.

Justin

 

I'm doing my offroad driving (up to trial competitions) with the following setup: DTT trans, DonM Mach3s, Edge Pulse, fuel system, gauges etc. I have to be careful with the go pedal offroad, but it ain't bad. if I turn down the responsiveness of the box to the lowest sublevel it's really controllable but still has enough git up and go for those steep inclines.
This is my daily driver.

AlpineRAM

 

Yes, just as HOHN said it, gas and diesel are two different animals, two completely ways they make power.
Diesels only use more fuel/power as the load increases, *but* that is only when the load increases. Just tooling down the freeway your still only using the same 30hp to push 70mph the same as when you're stock. Driving normal through town is pretty much the same too. That's why our mileage really doesn't change.

You do loose some drivability because of hop-ups. With the ability of delivering lots more fuel, the throttle can be a bit more sensitive, so driving in rain and especially snow you need to be a little cautious. Trannys can be a little aggressive when towing too.

 

You may get more soot (unburnt hydrocarbons) build-up in your oil over a stock injector. This more dependant of the type of injector (usually the bigger, more soot) . For my truck, the oil gets dirty fairly fast. I plan to install a centrifugal oil filter system to clean up the oil. A small price to pay for the extra smiles you that reap.