i have a 99 24v. Completely stock. Just bought it 4 months ago. The truck has 240k miles on it. I was looking at a bunch of Banks upgrades; the high ram, exhaust brake & elbow, turbo & WG, etc. My question is do i need to make any additional upgrades to the engine, tranny, rear end etc. to handle the extra power? I just replaced the vp44 last week and id rather not ruin it this soon. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

I assume that you have an automatic transmission...
At 240k miles it will be in need of a rebuild anyway, so I would start there before upping the power.
There are a lot of good companies offereing rebuilds and modifications, and if you have a shop and a factory service manual you can do it yourself.
About the factory service manual: In my opinion this is the bees knee if you want to do anything on your truck yourself. Get it at https://www.techauthority.com

You will also want to monitor some parameters- so get some gauges. EGT, (exhaust gas temperature), Boost, and fuel pressure are needed.

About Banks performance parts: You will find that there are many more options to be found if you look around in this forum. A lot of them much cheaper and also much more efficient than Banks.
For example: High Ram intake- not really beneficial until you are way up in horsepower, like more than 600 hp. And then there are some better intake solutions.

With an exhaust brake you will have a lot of problems with the automatic transmission. You will need to talk to a transmission builder about the use of an exhaust brake.

My opinion is that you should get gauges, get the transmission built and get a good torque converter, and then get a smarty. (Because you get more power and you can check for codes, adjust your speedo for different tire sizes etc)
The next step would be injectors and a turbo.

HTH

AlpineRAM

 

You won't see much of a power upgrade with the enhancements that you listed. Unless you use add one of their electronic fueling boxes, any HP increase will be very small (if any).

Having said that, you may want to do some additional reading on the forums before you jump into upgrades. Banks is a good product, but there are more economical ways to accomplish those upgrades with better results. And before you start doing any upgrades, gauges are a MUST. Especially a fuel pressure gauge since you have a VP44.

 

oh yea. sorry forgot to mention it is a manual transmission. im kinda new in the diesel community. i traded my 98 chevy pickup 350 for this thing so im still learning. its quite a bit different

 

Alpine and Aggie give good advice. Follow their wisdom and you will get it right.

 

Well, so no auto- good (for the wallet if you don't go too crazy)

I would suggest that you search for 5th gear nut on this forum...

Sooooo let's see: You may need a clutch if you increase the power output but that's not too bad. (The one in there might already show a bit of wear)

If you intend to keep your performance upgrades cheap and realistic-

GET GAUGES!!!
Fuel pressure to avoid buying lots of VP44 injection pumps
EGT to avoid rebuilding engines.
Boost to be

You can find them in the DTR store. http://store.dieseltruckresource.com/gauges.html

Then get a smarty ( in the DTR webshop http://store.dieseltruckresource.com/smtufor98dod.html

Then you can go wild, buy injectors (I run DonM Mach injectors) a bigger turbo or even twins, and a better camshaft etc.
But always ask yourself -what do I want to do with the truck?
Do you need an exhaust brake or are you just fed up with the stock brake performance?
If it's the latter, search for GM brake cylinders on the forum. (Slightly bigger cylinders for the rear brakes, with the brakes adjusted correctly you will see a big improvement)


HTH

AlpineRAM

 

IMHO to keep that new VP$$ happy, Aftermarket lift pump and filtration. FASS, AIRDOG, etc. That would be my 1st step. Then guages. Then QUAD4x4 5th gear nut solution before it fails. Keep the rear drums adjusted religiously so you aren't always using your fronts for all the work as the rotors warp and are a PIA to replace. Then a clutch that will meet the your driving and power needs but just remember more power, equals more clutch and more clutch equals decrease in driving manners but there is always a livable balance for most folks.

 

OK about the 5th gear nut. i actually met with the previous owner when i got the truck. he kept all the receipts for all the work that was done. the clutch was replaced back in '08 i believe, with around 161k miles on it. he did mention that the 5th gear nut kept backing off and loosening. so he said that when they put the new clutch in they just put a small tac weld on it to keep it from backing off again. now being knowledgable in automotive, this sounds to me like a very bad idea, considering i wanna keep the truck for a long time and it could cause me some problems later on when i need to change the clutch again. BUT, again, i am new to diesels and some things do come across as strange to me. is it common to tac weld the 5th gear nut in place?

 

The weld on the 5th gear nut won't give you problems when changing the clutch. Only when you want to disassemble the gearbox. It's not the best method to weld the nut but it works.

Cheers

AlpineRAM

 

ok I was checking out the FASS system online today and i see that they offer a few different systems. Any suggestions on what would be best for my truck? i was thinking the platinum system with 95gph. i figure that would work for me for now but if i decide to upgrade again in the future i fear i may need the 150gph, so instead if spending the money twice, would it hurt to just go ahead and get the 150gph system with everything else being stock?

 

I would call them and ask for sure. The 95 I think will fuel up to a 600 hp truck. The 150 will fuel even more. It has a regulator in it to keep the pressure in check. It has return so if you aren't using the full flow it will just send it back to the tank so you could end up with fuel that has had several passes through the filtering system which would never hurt. They have been great to deal with. They aren't to far from where I live. You can get it from them or one of their dealers. Happy with mine and lifetime warranty still i think.

 

If you have a 4X4 truck this is a decent fix for the fifth gear blues. I have done a few of them.
http://fifthgearrepair.com/nv4500repair.html

I run a walbro 392 and an EFI adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I regulate my pressure at the VP44 to 28psi. I have about $150 into my el-cheapo fuel system. The fass/airdog are to pricey for what your getting.

Another good lift pump is the stock 12V pump, but you need to swap in a 12V camshaft.

I run an edge comp box and its wire tapped. How good shape is the front end in? There are a few threads of guys putting in upgraded steering linkage/brakes from later year trucks.

 

I had to deal with that already. They did the weld and broke 250 miles later. Had to have the shaft replaced. if already welded you can't do the quad 4x4 solution. Towing and accelerating it what kills it. Their site explains it all. The weld is a patch job and sometime will hold for a while. I was grossing over 20k when it broke the 1st and 2nd time. A little out of range of that tranny and at stock power it is the torque limit of it as well. When a rebuild it do look into quad4x4 solution with their touque king shaft, best but most expensive solution. Other wise a fully splinned shaft is good solution but less money. Depends on how many mile you will put on it and what your towinig. I still tow heavy but had it rebuilt with the fully splined shaft but have only put 11k on the truck since the rebuild 3 years ago.