Steve, I agree with your concern for the new line up of diesels. I think that we could learn a little from the Germans about diesel performance, Especially with all the new emissions standards. I know that the restrictions on emissions over there are not what they are here, 'I guess it's not as warm as here.' They have years of experience, so maybe we should tap into the knowledge of those around us, and learn from each other. (a bit of positive thinking)
So what of diesels they put in semi trucks, will they be hit with this new wave of environmental Bull shit. They are on a similar platform as today's fleet trucks, especially with the trend being more torque and horsepower.
In my opinion I will give the big companies a brake, considering they are not the ones enforcing all these new emission standards. I would call it a learning curve! Not only for the engineers but for government to realize that we can't financially function under such laws. And if they don't... then say goodbye to the world as we know it in the automotive realm. In these next few years it might be a lag in the system for good trucks, but it will have to come back around to some reasonable standard.
It is sad how the new trucks tend to be more expensive, less reliable, and a higher cost of ownership. I just say have faith, there will be a 7.3 & 5.9 in the future for us to play with. If not we can just play with the old boys! maybe I should go into engineering and just make my own, or you could have your brother design one for us. lol. I do get your concern for these new trucks, I just don't think it can last for long. Ford will be under so much pressure to keep up there reputation that they won't put out inefficient vehicles for long.
Till then...
Trent
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Are diesels good anymore?
I started getting into diesels just as the first emission standards were taking effect. At that point, diesels were known for their bulletproof reliability, excellent fuel economy, and power. Well, the winds are changing in my opinion.
I'll start with ford. The 7.3L was the motor of motors. Ford had such a great reputation with this motor because of its durability, fuel economy, and awesome power. I would say this motor made the superduty Fords the truck of choice for many fleet owners. Emission standards kicked in and the 6.0L was the replacement. Ford might have stuck with the 7.3L if it wasn't for these new standards. The new motor was rushed through production without enough testing which resulted in widespread failure for the first couple of years. Just a few years later the 6.4L replaced the troubled 6.0L, and most of the bugs were worked out... well, except for fuel economy. Most people only get in the lower teens, compared to almost 20mpg's with the old 7.3. While the engine may be more 'green' I think any environmental advantage is lost when you compare the amount of fuel that is burned... Nevertheless, government people don't really have any reasoning skills so we the consumer have to pay the price at the pump. The newest 6.7 that will be debuting in a few months will hopefully regain some of Ford's lost ground. I have my fingers crossed. The new motor will have plenty of power and supposedly the fuel economy will be back up to 7.3L levels... However, one thing concerns me... and that is reliability. The motor has aluminum heads which might work or it might prove to be a weak link... and they are squeezing 390HP and 700+Ft.Lbs. of torque out of the motor. I think they are over powering the motor just a little... Another reason I'm nervous is because this motor was rushed through production extremely fast. Being Ford's first in house powerstroke, I can foresee there being some issues with the motor down the road... Only time will tell.
Cummins... many many people complain about the latest 6.7L. From the vast amount of time I've spent reading about all these problems, I conclude that the motor itself is great, in fact it might even have more potential than the previous 5.9L just because of the larger displacement. However, once again the stock setup with all the EPA equipment make the motor very temperamental and less fuel efficient. Someday I will probably own a 6.7L and the first thing I will do is remove all the EPA junk. The 6.7 is essentially an over-bored 5.9... from my understanding they needed to make it bigger in order to deliver the same power as the 5.9 since the EPA junk is so restrictive. For a personal hobby vehicle the 6.7L is great, because with a few deletes and mods it just as good as the 5.9, however if I was to buy a fleet of vehicle I would shy away from it.
Duramax... I've heard from several people that the duramax might just be the most reliable newer diesel out there. The first duramax engines were plagued with problems, similar to the newer Ford's and Cummins'. However, they have had a long time to work out these issues, and having started with a motor that is more EPA friendly, they haven't had to make quite as many drastic changes, giving them more time for refinement. Granted the new motors still suffer because of EPA equipment, but since the motor itself has essentially remained unchanged, they haven't had to go through all the new motor traumas that the others have had.
All this being said I have to ask myself a question. If I was buying a fleet of vehicles for a business, what would I buy? Well, I would sit down and determine what would be the most cost effective in the long run... Right now I would have to say I would probably not buy diesel trucks. The EPA has made it so a diesel is no longer the most reliable, cost effective option. First of all, the extra cost of a diesel is between $5K-10K, and this is probably reasonable considering the amount of research and development that is required to make these new motors that no one wants. Secondly, diesels are no longer significantly more fuel efficient than a gasser. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, I've heard several fleet owners say that the new gas motors stay out of the shop a lot more than the new diesels. The forth and last reason is maintenance costs. A diesel is going to cost a lot more to maintain than a gas motor. Now that a lot of the new diesels are requiring Urea, maintenance costs are going to be even more.
Don't get me wrong, I love diesels, and its very sad to watch them fade from their glory. However, aside from a hobby, it just doesn't seem like it would be efficient to own a diesel anymore, and all this can be blamed on the EPA standards. Perhaps someday the automakers can catch up to the standards, but for now its all so shaky. If I had to choose a fleet of trucks I would probably go with either Chevy or Ford Gassers. I know that either of these trucks would be good for a couple hundred thousand trouble free miles. I can't say the same for the new diesels.
I'll start with ford. The 7.3L was the motor of motors. Ford had such a great reputation with this motor because of its durability, fuel economy, and awesome power. I would say this motor made the superduty Fords the truck of choice for many fleet owners. Emission standards kicked in and the 6.0L was the replacement. Ford might have stuck with the 7.3L if it wasn't for these new standards. The new motor was rushed through production without enough testing which resulted in widespread failure for the first couple of years. Just a few years later the 6.4L replaced the troubled 6.0L, and most of the bugs were worked out... well, except for fuel economy. Most people only get in the lower teens, compared to almost 20mpg's with the old 7.3. While the engine may be more 'green' I think any environmental advantage is lost when you compare the amount of fuel that is burned... Nevertheless, government people don't really have any reasoning skills so we the consumer have to pay the price at the pump. The newest 6.7 that will be debuting in a few months will hopefully regain some of Ford's lost ground. I have my fingers crossed. The new motor will have plenty of power and supposedly the fuel economy will be back up to 7.3L levels... However, one thing concerns me... and that is reliability. The motor has aluminum heads which might work or it might prove to be a weak link... and they are squeezing 390HP and 700+Ft.Lbs. of torque out of the motor. I think they are over powering the motor just a little... Another reason I'm nervous is because this motor was rushed through production extremely fast. Being Ford's first in house powerstroke, I can foresee there being some issues with the motor down the road... Only time will tell.
Cummins... many many people complain about the latest 6.7L. From the vast amount of time I've spent reading about all these problems, I conclude that the motor itself is great, in fact it might even have more potential than the previous 5.9L just because of the larger displacement. However, once again the stock setup with all the EPA equipment make the motor very temperamental and less fuel efficient. Someday I will probably own a 6.7L and the first thing I will do is remove all the EPA junk. The 6.7 is essentially an over-bored 5.9... from my understanding they needed to make it bigger in order to deliver the same power as the 5.9 since the EPA junk is so restrictive. For a personal hobby vehicle the 6.7L is great, because with a few deletes and mods it just as good as the 5.9, however if I was to buy a fleet of vehicle I would shy away from it.
Duramax... I've heard from several people that the duramax might just be the most reliable newer diesel out there. The first duramax engines were plagued with problems, similar to the newer Ford's and Cummins'. However, they have had a long time to work out these issues, and having started with a motor that is more EPA friendly, they haven't had to make quite as many drastic changes, giving them more time for refinement. Granted the new motors still suffer because of EPA equipment, but since the motor itself has essentially remained unchanged, they haven't had to go through all the new motor traumas that the others have had.
All this being said I have to ask myself a question. If I was buying a fleet of vehicles for a business, what would I buy? Well, I would sit down and determine what would be the most cost effective in the long run... Right now I would have to say I would probably not buy diesel trucks. The EPA has made it so a diesel is no longer the most reliable, cost effective option. First of all, the extra cost of a diesel is between $5K-10K, and this is probably reasonable considering the amount of research and development that is required to make these new motors that no one wants. Secondly, diesels are no longer significantly more fuel efficient than a gasser. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, I've heard several fleet owners say that the new gas motors stay out of the shop a lot more than the new diesels. The forth and last reason is maintenance costs. A diesel is going to cost a lot more to maintain than a gas motor. Now that a lot of the new diesels are requiring Urea, maintenance costs are going to be even more.
Don't get me wrong, I love diesels, and its very sad to watch them fade from their glory. However, aside from a hobby, it just doesn't seem like it would be efficient to own a diesel anymore, and all this can be blamed on the EPA standards. Perhaps someday the automakers can catch up to the standards, but for now its all so shaky. If I had to choose a fleet of trucks I would probably go with either Chevy or Ford Gassers. I know that either of these trucks would be good for a couple hundred thousand trouble free miles. I can't say the same for the new diesels.
Airdog installation
Yesterday my airdog 150 arrived at around 11am. After a quick lunch I began sorting everything out. The kit is fabulous!! I bought a couple things before starting the install, such as black paint for the frame, blue thread sealer, dielectric grease, and hose clamps for all the fittings. I know you technically don't need hose clamps but I've blown more than one air compressor hose and a hose clamp always fixes the problem...
Everything went together really well and it was pretty easy except for the fact that it was 20 degrees outside, the wind was blowing at about 20 MPH, and the driveway was a sheet of ice where I was working, making for a really cold ass.
I mounted the bracket first, then connected the new hose to the vp44. I went ahead and took out the factory fuel filter because it was kinda in the way. Then I cut the hose and fabricated the end connections. Next I cut the tank fill up tube to install the fuel return line. Got all that taken care of and then ran the hose from there to the air dog... now for the part that everyone hates..
I really didn't want to drop the tank and since there is a nice sized gap between the bed and the tank because of the way my truck is put together, I was able to get away with just using a 90 degree drill attachment I bought at Home Depot. I also bought a 1" hole maker thingy... It called for 1 1/8", but they only had 1" and 1 1/4". A few rounds with the dremel and the hole was big enough... I brushed off as much of the shavings as I could but the hole part went in the tank on me... oh well, it floats right? I was hoping it would stick to the bit like wood often does.
After installing the draw tube and making all the connections I bolted the airdog in place and tightened all 3 hoses in place...
Now for the electrical stuff... They made this really easy... the wiring harness looks like a huge spider with like 5 or six really long wires coming off of a main box... you only need three of these wires, the rest are for other things you can plug up to the system such as a low fuel pressure warning light... all I had to do was simply unplug the old lift pump and plug in the new clip, run another connection to the pump and plug it in, and finally connect wires to the battery terminals.
I just let the pump run a few cycles and then hit the starter for about 20 seconds and she started coughing to life. Right away I could tell the idling was smooth; there was no doubt she was getting enough fuel... all the fuel line connections were ok but the breather connection on the filler tube was leaking... after repositioning the clamps and tightening them really tight the leak was no more.
I finished at about 5pm... So it took about 5 hours including 2 hardware store trips... not too bad.
I took her for a test drive on the interstate and sure enough everything's good as new. All my bucking symptoms are gone and the power is back where it was, it might be just a little better even. Now I can rest assured that my vp44 is getting enough pressure... and I've placed the first foundation stone on which to build more modifications... When I read about the vp44 before I got my truck I told myself that I wasn't going to do any big upgrades until I took care of the fuel pump... Now it's time to add power... time for a Smarty next!!!
Everything went together really well and it was pretty easy except for the fact that it was 20 degrees outside, the wind was blowing at about 20 MPH, and the driveway was a sheet of ice where I was working, making for a really cold ass.
I mounted the bracket first, then connected the new hose to the vp44. I went ahead and took out the factory fuel filter because it was kinda in the way. Then I cut the hose and fabricated the end connections. Next I cut the tank fill up tube to install the fuel return line. Got all that taken care of and then ran the hose from there to the air dog... now for the part that everyone hates..
I really didn't want to drop the tank and since there is a nice sized gap between the bed and the tank because of the way my truck is put together, I was able to get away with just using a 90 degree drill attachment I bought at Home Depot. I also bought a 1" hole maker thingy... It called for 1 1/8", but they only had 1" and 1 1/4". A few rounds with the dremel and the hole was big enough... I brushed off as much of the shavings as I could but the hole part went in the tank on me... oh well, it floats right? I was hoping it would stick to the bit like wood often does.
After installing the draw tube and making all the connections I bolted the airdog in place and tightened all 3 hoses in place...
Now for the electrical stuff... They made this really easy... the wiring harness looks like a huge spider with like 5 or six really long wires coming off of a main box... you only need three of these wires, the rest are for other things you can plug up to the system such as a low fuel pressure warning light... all I had to do was simply unplug the old lift pump and plug in the new clip, run another connection to the pump and plug it in, and finally connect wires to the battery terminals.
I just let the pump run a few cycles and then hit the starter for about 20 seconds and she started coughing to life. Right away I could tell the idling was smooth; there was no doubt she was getting enough fuel... all the fuel line connections were ok but the breather connection on the filler tube was leaking... after repositioning the clamps and tightening them really tight the leak was no more.
I finished at about 5pm... So it took about 5 hours including 2 hardware store trips... not too bad.
I took her for a test drive on the interstate and sure enough everything's good as new. All my bucking symptoms are gone and the power is back where it was, it might be just a little better even. Now I can rest assured that my vp44 is getting enough pressure... and I've placed the first foundation stone on which to build more modifications... When I read about the vp44 before I got my truck I told myself that I wasn't going to do any big upgrades until I took care of the fuel pump... Now it's time to add power... time for a Smarty next!!!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Stack Hardware Purchased
I spoke earlier of how I was going to put together a custom high flow exhaust system. After running the numbers for all the parts and shipping costs it came out to be more than just buying a regular system. I would have to pay close to $400 for all the parts and that would give me an aluminized/galvanized system. For only $310 Silverline sells a stainless stack kit, (minus the tips) and Xtremediesel.com has free shipping. The kit plumbs into your 4" pipe and changes over to five right before the split in the bed. This setup works perfectly with what I have so I went ahead and ordered one. It will be nice to have everything I need right in the kit... it is fun to put stuff together yourself but it is so time consuming getting everything together... Also, stainless is the best.
I can't wait until Spring break to install this and the airdog!!
Little disappointed because Xtremediesel.com says that both the airdog and stack kit won't be in stock until sometime in march... If this type of service is normal I might start shopping elsewhere.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Bucking Saga
So a couple weeks ago my truck started behaving strangely. First I would get intermitent dead pedal when starting out on a cold day...Then one day it started really acting up... on the highway when I would be getting up to speed on the ramp the whole thing would start bucking at about 45mph at high rpm before shifting into overdrive. Initially I thought this was the Transmission since it always seemed to happen around shift points. However, after further diagnosis and much time on forums I think the problem is in the fuel system. Also, when I'm travelling on the highway at 60mph and smash the gas it feels like the engine is choking out, this symptom would probably not be related to the tranny. When I first got the truck smashing the gas at 60 meant a thrashing back in the seat and a quick trip to 100... I think the reason it is bucking around shift points is because it is using more fuel being at a higher rpm...
I'm getting code p0230 which has to do with the lift pump circuitry... I'm not sure exactly what that means but given the amount of people that have problems with the lift pump, and given the fuel starved symtoms of the truck, I would have to reason that it's on its way out.
Also, when you hit the starter the lift pump is supposed to run for 25 seconds... I was hearing it yesterday when I was doing some diagnosis but she's quiet as baby Jesus today...
Anyways, not hearing the lift pump was the last straw. Running without a good lift pump screws up the injection pump and I want to put off spending 2k for as long as possible... I just hope she's not bad already. I ordered an airdog 150 today and I don't plan on running my truck until she's installed.
Been doing some in depth reading on forums about airdog installs and it appears as though you can go ahead and remove all the old lines, the fuel filter, and the factory lift pump; that sounds really good to me because I'm looking to do some cleaning up under the hood. The huge airdog fuel lines hook right up the the vp44.
I'm getting code p0230 which has to do with the lift pump circuitry... I'm not sure exactly what that means but given the amount of people that have problems with the lift pump, and given the fuel starved symtoms of the truck, I would have to reason that it's on its way out.
Also, when you hit the starter the lift pump is supposed to run for 25 seconds... I was hearing it yesterday when I was doing some diagnosis but she's quiet as baby Jesus today...
Anyways, not hearing the lift pump was the last straw. Running without a good lift pump screws up the injection pump and I want to put off spending 2k for as long as possible... I just hope she's not bad already. I ordered an airdog 150 today and I don't plan on running my truck until she's installed.
Been doing some in depth reading on forums about airdog installs and it appears as though you can go ahead and remove all the old lines, the fuel filter, and the factory lift pump; that sounds really good to me because I'm looking to do some cleaning up under the hood. The huge airdog fuel lines hook right up the the vp44.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sweet Fords
Steve I know you have showed me the new super duty trucks but I haven't seen this new F-150 Raptor SVT!!!
Now for one hell of a 7.3 Holy smokes!!!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
pieces coming together
Here is a set of 5"x32"chrome stacks I scored on ebay for a mere $38. Brand new these things run about $70-$100 each. So that takes care of the most expensive part of the upgrade.
Sure 5" won't be the largest stacks around, but in my opinion they are the right size for the job... I might have used 6"if I had unlimited resources but for the price I'll live with fivers...
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