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Diesel Performance Buyers Guide - Part 2
Getting It to the Ground
The modern light-truck diesel has become a serious powerhouse. Even stock, these engines are producing outputs that rival medium-duty trucks, and it’s had drivetrain engineers scrambling to keep up. In some cases, the stock drivetrain is just strong enough to handle the stock engine. When the aftermarket gurus start tweaking these engines for increases of 50 percent or more, the transmission that’s barely strong enough for the stock output folds up like a 79-cent suitcase. In the case of automatics, the chip or programmer may compensate for the upgrade in power by defueling during shifts, changing the shift points and torque converter lockup, or by increasing the firmness of the shifts. That may not be enough for some trannies. At some point, and that point comes sooner or later depending on the robustness of the stock tranny, you need to go a few steps further to beef the drivetrain. Here are some options in that area.
Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch for Duramax
Centerforce is legendary in the world of performance clutches. Its new Dual Friction unit for the 2002-2003 Duramax GM manual transmission trucks offers up to a 90 percent increase in holding capacity over the stock clutch. This is accomplished in two ways. First via the patented centrifugal action of the pressure plate that increases the clamping force as rpms increase. Second, the clutch disc uses two types of friction material: metallic composite. The disc has a full 360-degree composite lining on the pressure-plate side and segmented metallic lining on the flywheel side. This design increases the camping pressure on the flywheel side (the side that takes the most abuse), and the metallic material resists the extra heat generated there. For more info, contact Centerforce at 928-771-8422 or see www.centerforce.com.
Buy Centerforce Clutch Systems from www.4wheelparts.com.
BD Diesel Driven Transmissions
When you’ve toasted your automatic tranny after hopping up your big diesel, you’ll know what needs to be done. If you’re about to beef your diesel in a big way and you’re reading this, now you know what to do as well. BD supplies replacement automatics for many Ford, Dodge, and GM diesel applications rebuilt to far exceed stock specifications. This is accomplished in several ways according to the particular transmission. Slippage under load is the number-one enemy of automatics. BD eliminates this by increasing the amount of friction surfaces by 20 to 33 percent and increasing the hydraulic pressures to apply them more tightly. In some cases, specific mods are made to the valve body, front pump, or the oil circuit. If applicable, weak planetary gear sets are replaced with high-strength units and weak sprag clutches are replaced by heavy-duty roller units. You also can upgrade the often-fragile torque converters with upgraded pieces that feature billet housings, increased lockup clutches and billet aluminum stators. There also are super-strong replacement flex plates to complete the package. For more info, contact BD at 800-887-5030 or see www.dieselperformance.com.
Powermaster High Performance Diesel Starters
Nothing happens in the diesel performance world until after the starter has done its job. With compression ratios as high as 21:1, it takes a lot of grunt to spin a diesel over. On a good day, the average starter needs some 200 pound-feet to get the fires lit. On a bad day, say a cold day near freezing, it needs even more. The Powermaster starter offers some 260 pound-feet of torque, but does it at the same amp draw as the standard starter. That’s the starter equivalent of more power and better fuel economy. For more info, contact Powermaster at 865-688-5953 or see www.powermastermotorshports.com.
Buy Powermaster High Performance Diesel Starters from www.4wheelparts.com.
Knowing the Score
The average diesel truck is equipped with a couple of the most basic engine gauges and a sea of idiot lights. When working your truck hard, even in stock condition, things can go wrong, and the only indication is a blinking red or yellow light. Sometimes that light comes on after damage has already occurred. Most of us like to stave off trouble, and we like to see it coming. This is especially true when running a built engine that begins pushing the design parameters of the truck. To that end, a sensible array of gauges or monitoring devices for the critical parameters is a must. What are the critical values? Exhaust gas temps (EGTs), engine temp, boost, automatic transmission temp, and slippage are all vitally important, but there are other important values. In the old days, a gaggle of analog gauges was necessary to keep track of all this stuff. With today’s electronic diesels, you can tap into the engine readouts and monitor many items from one programmable LCD screen. If you like the 747 instrument panel look, you can still go with the traditional analog gauges. Anyway you do it, the more your truck is worked, or the more you’ve built it, the more the vital statistics need to be monitored.
BD X-Monitor
BD offers a fluorescent numeric display that will monitor EGT, boost, trans temp, exhaust brake backpressure, engine oil pressure, differential temp, or fuel pressure. The unit is equipped with an alarm that can be set to whatever value you choose. It will then give a flashing warning when that value is exceeded. It’s available in an A-pillar-mount style or for dash top of steering column mount. It’s suitable for GM, Ford, or Dodge diesel applications. For more info, contact BD at 800-887-5030 or see www.dieselperformance.com.
Exhausting Work
The exhaust system also might be suitable for the “Heavy Breathing” section because the exhaust system is what might be considered the engine’s “exhale.” It doesn’t matter how much the engine can inhale, if it can’t breathe out, it’s going to limit the power output. More air and fuel means a larger system is needed to handle the increased exhaust flow. That’s accomplished with larger-diameter pipes, free-flow mufflers, and mandrel-bent tubing. A restrictive exhaust will increase EGTs. On a stock engine, a low-restriction exhaust will drop a lot of EGT under a load and sometimes gains a boost for a small increase in power. When combined with other mods, the exhaust works in concert with the other stuff to increase the benefits or to make those benefits possible.
Gibson Turbo Back Exhaust for Cummins, Powerstroke, and Duramax
Gibson is a major player in the performance exhaust world. Recently, it introduced a line of big-bore turbo back systems to fit popular late-model diesels. The systems feature four-inch, mandrel-bent pipes of stainless or aluminized construction-your choice. All systems feature a five-inch, polished stainless-steel tip. For more information, contact Gibson at 951-372-1220 or see www.gibsonperformance.com.
Buy Gibson turbo exhaust systems from www.4wheelparts.com.
Edelbrock Diesel Exhaust System
Edelbrock is one of the holy grails of the performance industry. If you have a gas engine, its available product line is staggering. Recently, Edelbrock began offering exhaust systems for the most popular late-model diesel trucks. The systems are four-inches in diameter and mandrel bent for maximum flow. The new Edelbrock chambered muffler reduces backpressure and offers a healthy tone that’s not ear shattering. Downpipe back kits are made for 2001-2003 GM Duramax, 1998-2003 Dodge Cummins, and 1999-1903 Powerstrokes (including 2003 6.0L). On an otherwise stock 2002 7.3L Powerstroke, gains of 17 horses and 10 pound-feet of torque were observed. The system also features a limited lifetime warranty. For more information, contact Edelbrock at 800-416-8628 or www.edelbrock.com.
The Whole Shebang
Performance parts can be added piecemeal as a budget allows, or you can buy and install everything at once. Both are viable options if the products are chosen, so they work together. Most things do, but there are often manufacturer incompatibilities, and you could take one step forward and one step back. If you have the bucks, it’s often a wise choice to go with a package deal from a single manufacturer if such a thing is offered.
Banks Big Hoss Bundle for 6.0L and 7.3L Powerstrokes
If you want to drive into the shop with a 2003-2005 Powerstroke 6.0L cranking out 236 horses and drive out a short while later with 374 horsepower, the new Banks Big Hoss Bundle is for you. Ditto, if you want to get an extra 120 horsepower from a 1999-2003 7.3L Powerstroke. The Bundle contains every goodie Banks offers, including the six-level Six-Gun Tuner, Techni-Cooler intercooler, High Ram intake or Ram-Air filter, four-inch Monster stainless-steel exhaust system, and Banks’ DynaFact pyrometer and boost gauge setup. The Big Hoss system has a matched and balance approach that offers a huge power increase, but is designed to keep an engine in one piece at work or play. For more information, contact Banks at 800-601-8072 or see www.bankspower.com.
Buy Banks Big Hoss Bundles for 6.0L Powerstrokes and 7.3L Powerstrokes from www.4wheelparts.com.
Banks Big Hoss Bundle for LB7 Duramax
The Big Hoss Bundle for 2001-2004 LB7 Duramax truck just got an important edition for its new Techni-Cooler intercooler. The Bundle still comes with the Six-Gun Tuner, which offers six levels of performance plus several level of automatic thermal protection. The Bundle also comes with Bank’s four-inch Monster exhaust system with the famous Banks straight-thru muffler. Non-cat versions come with large-bore turbo outlet pipe. Banks claims a 155-horse/385-pound-feet increase in power and torque. The Duramax Bundle also includes the Dyna-Fact electronic pyrometer and boost gauge. For more information, contact Banks at 800-601-8072 or see www.bankspower.com.