New to the 12 valves..

[02Cummins]

Hey all,
I have a few quick questions if anyone would like to reply. I'm familiar with the 24 valves, but I'm looking at getting a '97 3500, 5-speed. It's basically stock, with the addition of a 4 inch exhaust. I'm looking for more power as it's goin to be my tow rig. Anyone have any ideas on where I should start? Fuel plate? Injectors?

 

[rebel_horseman]

Gauges. Get the gauges because the fuel plates and injectors can heat up these trucks up fast. After that check out the drive train and make sure it's in good working order. The easiest power upgrade is the fuel plate. Talk to vendors to find out what profile is best for you. You'll probably want to upgrade the delivery valves while you're at it especially if you're going with a set of sticks. As far as the injectors go...you can go from mild to wild. Again, vendors can probably give you a better recommendation based on what you're going to do with the truck.

 

[nevrenufhp]

Since you have a 5 speed, you will pick up a bunch of power just by sliding the plate forward. If it's a tow rig, you will probably be just fine with the stock injectors. The turbo needs a little help, so will the clutch. Not too expensive though. Start with gauges! what's the power goal? Budget?

 

[02Cummins]

Can you slide the stock plate forward to pick up some ponies? I have no power goals, but would like to get some extra...maybe somewhere in the 400 range if possible. As for the budget, I'm a college student, so there is always the factor, but after doing some calculations, during the summer, I will have roughly $1800 left after truck payment, insurance, and fuel costs, and during the year I will have about $800 per month of extra cash. I'm planning on building a front bumper and headache rack for her, so that will take down the budget a little bit.

 

[nevrenufhp]

You sure can. It will give you right about 300-330hp. That's the beauty of the 96-98 5 speed rigs. They have a bigger pump and slightly bigger injectors. There's lots of free mods you can do to keep it all under control. Your clutch will probably start slipping if you do slide it. EGT gets up there pretty fast too. You can drill out the divider of the exhaust side in the turbo, that brings temps down real well, unless you're going to get bigger injectors. Just to get the feel of it, try sliding the plate full forward. You can do nearly any type of pulling you need with just the free mods.

 

[02Cummins]

Well thanks for the input! Do you know of any sites have show any more "free hp" mods, or do you know of anymore, because free is always nice.

 

[nevrenufhp]

It's listed in my signature

 

[02Cummins]

Alright, another question. I've been playing around at a couple forums and I see people's signatures with star wheel full forward and smoke screw all the way in. First off, what is the star wheel and smoke screw, and what does each do?

 

[rebel_horseman]

The smoke screw and star wheel typically applies to the rotary VE pumps found on 1st Gen trucks. The '94-'98 trucks use the P7100 pump. There may be similar things in the P7100 but I'm not familiar with them. Here's how they work.

The smoke screw basically controls the amount of boos that the AFC diaphragm sees. The more boots the harder the push on the diaphragm. Under it, there is a fuel pin that rests inside a spring which sits on top of the star wheel. The fuel pin is shaped to allow another pin to ride along side of it in a profile. As the boost builds this pin is pushed downwards. The farther down it goes the more fuel the pump sends to the injectors. If you crank on the fuel screw you will allow more boost to push on the diaphragm and therefore pin allowing more fuel to be dumped sooner. Likewise, the star wheel controls how much pre-load the diaphragm has resisting the boost. If you crank down on the diaphragm you reduce the pre-load. The more you reduce it, the easier it is for the boost pressure to force the diaphragm and fuel pin downward. The easier it is the more fuel that can be dumped sooner.

For many trucks with larger exhaust housings, adjusting these 2 things tends to increase the smoke show drastically and effects your fuel economy negatively since the smoke is unburned fuel. More smoke farting out the pipe means your injectors are getting carboned up pretty bad too.

 

[nevrenufhp]

The star wheel is under the 8mm allen plug. The more you spin it towards the front(the cogs spin towards the engine, but threads go forward) the more pre-boost power/ smoke you get. The housing itself can also be moved forward for fine tuning.

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