Questions about performance
 

My dad has a 2001 dually with the 24 valve engine. What is the best way to up the power some without hurting anything? He bought the truck new and it only has 53000 miles. We would just like to have a little more power. Thanks in advance for any replies.
Barry Franklin

First thing I would put a set of gauges in it, fuel pressure (a must)/egt's/boost. Second ensure your fuel system is up to providing the fuel required for the additional power. Third lots of programmer options. I have heard good things about Smarty, Edge, etc.

I put on an aftermarket intake (AEM), and a 4" exhaust. that helped things a bit. It is also gonna depend on how much he is gonna want to put into it. If I had the money, I would do a smarty. But as my truck sits I am pretty happy with the power level.

Does that help???

I agree with the above poster about gauges and lift pump before you do anything. The other question is which transmission is in it? If it is an automatic, you will want to keep the increase of power to about 65HP max. Unless you build up the transmission first before any extra power. You don't have to, but it's good insurance and a heck of a lot more reliable.

It's a five speed with 4:10 gears.......

Barry

Instrument the engine-- get the right guages first.

I prefer larger injectors over software upgrades, but injectors need the electronics to really shine.

So a small box like a quadzilla XZT and some smallish injectors (Mach 2) would be a great setup.

With 4.10 gears, egts will be less of a problem.

Generally you can get away with a simple timing box like the Edge EZ (not sure what they call it now) without having to worry about gauges, especially with 4.10 gears, but it's best to do the gauges from the outset.

The EZ is a pretty safe upgrade, but I would still recommend getting at least the fuel pressure gauge before anything else.

You can get by without EGT and Boost, but if you're doing one gauge, you might as well do them all at once and get it out of the way. Plus, it's always better to have more info on what's going on under the hood.

The advise you've already received is great. It all depends on what kinda HP your after for what you want to do and how much money you want to spend. But understand that the OEM fuel system is already sub par and adding HP will only make it worse. This is why there is so many threads regarding aftermarket fuel pumps and optimum fuel pressures. Gauges on a stock truck is a good idea and should be mandatory with any HP upgrades, but a fuel pressure gauge should be mandatory no matter if its stock or not.