97 GM Turbo Diesel-anyone modded one yet?

[moparzrule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by black86glhs What the heck.... is the HP gain free or do you have to buy stuff to really get it??!! Saying "one free mod....then saying you need to get this part or that and exhaust" is not free. Yes I understand that if you do a mod you get a good HP gain. The only problem with the Dodge's is keeping a transmission behind the Cummins...auto trans. I know people with 2004's and 2005's on their 2nd or 3rd trans. No, they don't beat the hell out of them and don't have a ton of miles on them. Definately the manual trans is the way to go.

The modification that gives the HP gain is completely free, but unless you want to melt the turbo and/or pistons than I suggest you do something like get gauges and a free flowing exhuast!!! EGT's will sore to 2000+ degrees in a matter of SECONDS with this mod being done on the stock exhaust system.
The stock clutch in a manual tranny can hold about 300 WHP if it's in good shape. This mod I'm talking about in a 96-98 manual tranny 12 valve truck gives you 350 WHP, with that the stock clutch cannot handle it.
I don't care about automatics because they suck, and yes dodge's have had weak auto tranny's since the beginning. I also don't care about 3rd gen rams either, dodge changed everything about them just about. They don't get as good of fuel mileage, they have weaker components, all in the name of luxury. Well thats not what the heck a cummins ram is about, it's sheer power and brute.

[black86glhs]

I was wondering if the temps were the issue. That thing sounded like it would be pounding the clutch after the mod.
Thank god for the aftermarket!!!
727 & 904 were the last decent trans from the chrysler group...IMHO.

[moparzrule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrbisig You can buy a kit to relocate the driver to the fender well. Also, that resistor that everyone is talking about can be changed. I know the hummers(military) have higher hp and torque numbers. There comp may be slightly higher, 22 or 23 to 1 I think. I believe most gm truck 6.5 applications ran 18 to 1. That resistor is part of the control in the driver. Different resistor, more power! Im not a diesel expert, just work next to one. james

Actually most had 21.3:1. I'm not aware of any 6.2/6.5 with under 20:1 compression from the factory. This is why they run 5-7 PSI boost instead of 17-20 like the cummins and powerstroke runs like 15-17 I think....I'm not too up to date on powerstrokes.

[moparzrule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by black86glhs I was wondering if the temps were the issue. That thing sounded like it would be pounding the clutch after the mod. Thank god for the aftermarket!!! 727 & 904 were the last decent trans from the chrysler group...IMHO.

Yeah, I had my 1500 degree pyrometer burried a few times with my 94'. Max sustained temp is 1300. It's OK to exceed 1300 degrees for 20 seconds, then it starts to melt things.
Most people don't understand how diesel's work, exactly the opposite of gas engines actually. More fuel=more power. More fuel=higher EGT's. You have to run more boost to achieve lower EGT's.
On my 94' I performed the torque plate mod and gained about 90 HP. But, a 94' has a smaller pump than a 96-98. The cummins community refers to the different pumps by the stock horsepower, my 94' had the ''175'' pump. The 96-98 manual trans trucks have the ''215'' pump, and the same mod I did to my truck equals about 150 HP gain on a 215 pump.
There are many different aftermarket sources for different torque plates, also called cam plates or fuel plates. Here's two-
http://www.piersdiesel.com/CamPlate.htm

http://www.citydiesel.net/torque-pla...cPath=22_26_49

But, these don't give your engine full fuel. Look at the 96-98 manual tranny, it shows 330 HP and 750 ft/lbs of torque with their number 10 plate. Thats a gain of 115 HP and 310 ft/lbs from one simple mod, but that one costs you $200 which is still way cheaper than an ECU box for a 98-up 24 valve cummins. Each plate has a different profile, the number 10 plate limits low end fuel and top end fueling some. Well, all you do for the mod I did is grind your stock plate flat and it tells your injection pump to give all that it's got all the time which on a 215 pump truck is about a peak of 150 HP and 400 ftlbs gained....FREE!!!
You may ask about reliability, well my 94' had 248K miles when I started modding it from bone stock. I went from 175 crank HP to 325 WHP/750 ft/lbs and revving 1000 RPM higher than it ever had before (thats a lot to a diesel). I sold it with 255K running better than ever.
Here's a list of mods and how much I paid-
grinding stock torque plate, 90 HP, free
3000 RPM governer spring kit, $100- Allows engine to rev higher
370 marine injectors, 70 HP gain, $200 used I paid, about $350 new
181 delivery valves (96-98 have this size from the factory), $100 used...about 20 HP gain
4'' mandrel bent exhuast, no muffler- $250
Gauges, boost+pyro- $200

So, I doubled my stock power output for $850. My stock clutch was still holding somehow, I believe it had been replaced before I got the truck and possibly with a stronger unit. I had no issues with slippage anyway, but a clutch is a large expense especially if you cannot install it yourself.

[black86glhs]

I'm not a diesel guy either, but know a little. An old timer told me how to give the Olds diesels a little more ass....add more fuel.
So, I doubled my stock power output for $850.
Now that is impressive!

[Douglas Dircks]

The fastest private owned diesel pick up is a 89 3500 regular cab dually 2wd running a 12 valve motor.

[xtrempickup]

i'm pretty sure the 6.5 diesel is a 19:1 compression from the factory and the duramax's at like 17:1

[moparzrule]

6.5's have 21.3:1 as I mentioned earlier, thats why they only run 5-7 PSI boost. N/A 6.2's have 22.5:1.

[KillerSundance]

on my dads '94 6.5 the stock computer allowed us to see 13lbs of boost once, but normaly would operate around 7-8 pulling on a flat surface. egt would be around 1000 degrees. after we instaled the Heath Diesel conmputer chip, we would normaly see about 10-12lbs pulling flat. this caused the exhaust temp to drop about 200 degrees, and we also got better fuel economy and much more power.

[2manymopars]

check out sixfiveturbodiesel.com

[cabech984]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moparzrule 6.5's have 21.3:1 as I mentioned earlier, thats why they only run 5-7 PSI boost. N/A 6.2's have 22.5:1.

Actually, the numbers vary by the RPO. I worked on HMMWV's in the military and the only compression ratio I remembered was 18:1. In our engine rebuilding shop while in Iraq, we could get the N/A's to pump out 180-190 HP on JP8 fuel and I think we had a 230-240hp TD 6.5L.

Here is something that I found on another site:

GM Diesel Truck Engine Swap - Project 6.5L - Diesel Power Magazine

They say that the 6.5L was anywhere between 18.0:1 to 20.2:1