6.5 in a snapon truck - just purchased - want to pep it up

[blueblood350]

I just purchased an ex-snapon truck. P30 chassis 6.5l non turbo with 135k on the motor. Not sure what the tranny is - it has no park just
R-N-D-3-2-1. to my surprise it actually moves pretty well. Its rated at 15,000 pounds and with about 600lbs of tools for my handyman business it weighs in at 11,100lbs. I am putting work benches, cabinets, on board air and a lot of tools in the truck and feel that i will come close to the 15,000lb ratting. at this weight i feel that the truck will be a bit slower. It currently does 60-65 comfortably and i can pass at 75 but don't like running it that fast for too long.

What can i do safely to add a little more (or a lot more) pep to its gitty-up. did they add a turbo to these motors from the factory? if they did, can i find a factory turbo setup and install it with little worry or without changing any of the internals? is there anything else that you guys are doing to these motors when not turbo'd to get more umph out of it?

One other thing to mention. the only ailment that seems to worry me is its running temp... It likes to run around 200.210 most of the time and climes close to the red zone from time to time when getting into the throttle when i need to climb a simple grade. i do this mostly around 20-30 mph on this little 2 lane road when i go from town to town..its about a mile long - not really bothered by it just keepin my eye on it. - what do you guys think?

let me know!!

 

[towcat]

welcome back
what year is the chassis? to better ID the trans, take a pic of the pan.
there's a chance it will be a thm700/4L60e or a 4L80E. pics pics pics
6.2's and 6.5's are notorious for weak cooling systems. there's two systems out there that can upgrade what you have. One is the GM upgrade, the other is Heath diesel. neither are cheap but Heath's is a little less.

 

[blueblood350]

thanks towcat! its great to be back! back as a diesel and more importantly, back as a chevy! haha.. So the year is 1994, its a Grumman body with a P30 Chassis, 6.5l non turbo, currently rated at 15,000lbs with potential for more. thats all i can give you for now.. pics later. Just so you know, there's nothing wrong with the tranny, it has a great shift, i was just curious about what it was and why there was no "P"ark only the ebrake! anyone wanna chime in on the pepin it up side?

 

[1320Cummins]

Sounds like you have an Allison in that truck. Most likely AT545. Like Towcat said, get some pics of the pan.

 

[Fatback]

to pep it up? ATT turbo and new injectors.... reset the pop the 2100ish.

 

[blueblood350]

What is the pop and where is it? what does it do?

 

[turbonator]

What is the pop and where is it? what does it do?

he means the pressure that your injectors open, thats pop-pressure

it gives better atomization... you would be good to find a banks turbo, it mounts on the pass side of engine, also you could try a center mount from a van, although you would need to fab up your own intake as the heads for the centre mount turbo are specific for that use....

put a k&n filter in, do a good dual snorkle cold air pick-up, and turn up the pump a little but invest in a pyrometer as more fuel runs hotter and you could burn holes in your pistons....

for your over-heating, verify your rad, make sure its clean with no bugs and stuff pluggin it up. you could also do the rear water cross-over mod to increase coolant circulation....