89 Crew Cab Chevy k20 4x4 twin turbo Cummins swap Tons of Pics!

[FearNoMan78k10]

If you want or need any advice or help, I have my associates in diesel industrial technology,and worked as a tech for awhile until I broke my back in an accident, I'm not as sharp minded as most now especially,,,, but I built my 24 valve 1998.5 ram 2500 5.9L cummins  ( automatic ) by myself from the ground up and dynoed at 576 rwhp and 1158 torque at the wheels on 58 lbs of boost, stock displacement.. Single turbo ... At UTI ( universal technical institute ). The school made a special exception to let me dyno after the build was done. Half the school was outside the dyno room watching it was pretty crazy. Only students in the hot rod program can dyno vehicles and 99 percent of the time it's only to be used for school vehicles strictly. I'm not a professional by any means but was a diesel junkie and truly enjoy the cummins engines. I was accepted into a very elite program, the cummins diesel program where a select few were chosen to participate. 8-12 students was the class size, but my first love broke my heart and I dropped out after I graduated and never went to even the first day of class in the program. I am NOT saying this by any means to brag at all or boast. This is my history behind Diesel engines, cummins engines are my absolute favorite and I focused heavily on them throughout school even though we worked on Detroit, catipillar and even a few Mercedes Diesel engines as well as other manufacturers .... I lost most of myself mentally physically after my accident and a lot of know how for Diesel engines , but if you would like tips I can most certainly help you and make some suggestions... But don't ask me to help fabricate  :-) I am not skilled in that area,  AT ALL .... you are obviously extremely naturally talented , your fabricating blows me away... Oh and congratulations Eric on the 1st place trophy and magazine shoots!  Anyways I'd be happy to help you. Oh and p.s...... For every 1 lb of boost EXPECT 10 horsepower ,,,,up to 15 hp per pound of boost depending on fuel / air and timing. :-)  15 hp per pound is difficult to reach but it's obtainable....  I must seriously say your truck is the baddest most fabricated through and through ,,,cleanest most unique diesel I have ever seen.... Truly.... Impressive is an understatement.... Way to go on this build Eric you did a fantastic grade A job!

[eric28miller]

Wow thanks guys! : ) After a long day of work I can always get a smile from this forum I appreciate it.
That's quite a story you have! I could definitely use some help with tuning so feel free to shoot ideas!
Truck makes 70 lbs of boost on the street and it's getting plenty of fuel so I can't believe the numbers are so low, but a lot of people have told me that every dyno is different and the dyno operator plays a huge role.
The tach is an autometer, I talked to them and they said I have a bad one and need to send it in for warranty 

[bake74]

      I thought you said in your original post that he was only taking it to 3000 rpm on the dyno.  This alone will net you the small numbers.

[Irish_Alley]

but whats a cummins max out at?

[FearNoMan78k10]

Irish a stock cummins ? A mild modified cummins? Heavily modified?

[FearNoMan78k10]

Eric I'll get back with your post tomorrow it's late here and I'm falling asleep..... Your most welcome by the way.... We will see if we can't help you obtain bigger numbers, careful on that new engine Eric , you wouldn't want to spin a bearing and throw a rod....  Your engine hasn't even broken itself in yet, boost is 70 lbs but there is a lot of variables with a freshly built motor, no worries though, the power plant you have is well equipped,  was the dyno a diesel dyno? You must load the truck onto a diesel dyno that has heavy enough rollers to fully spool your turbos up too, that has a lot to do with it... Eric man , you did a heck of a job. I'll post up some questions/tips tomorrow for you to go through, process of elimination , that's all....  No worries,  just know to hit 500 hp on pump fuel alone is a major accomplishment for a Diesel engine  ( 5.9L cummins that is ) , so don't be too hard on yourself just yet , you'll see big numbers, just a matter of tweaking and tuning brother

[FearNoMan78k10]

      I thought you said in your original post that he was only taking it to 3000 rpm on the dyno.  This alone will net you the small numbers.

Bake is right, taking your cummins to 3000 on the dyno will only net you 65 percent IF THAT on your true rear wheel horsepower and torque, my advice, put more miles and tuning into the motor before a dyno run again, how many miles does the engine have? It's late and I don't  recall .... Careful running high rpms with that much boost if it's a new engine inside,,,,  it would be tragic to have anything let loose before it wears in a bit. A truck will get used to YOUR driving style, but it needs time.... And love... To get there and stay there ....

[Irish_Alley]

meant the rpms

[FearNoMan78k10]

Irish a stock cummins power in the 80's and 90's falls flat on its face after 2650 as far as hp goes, max torque is a thousand rpms lower that that   1st and 2nd gen ..... 3rd gen cummins go 3000 and then fall flat on their face hp wise... Horsepower is there in higher rpm but torque falls short severely. All the torque is made off of low rpm, say 1400 to 2100 is generally max torque for a stocker depending on the year..etc....  Lots of variables....

[FearNoMan78k10]

It's max rpm output is a low governed 3200rpm for 1998.5 to 2007 to give you an idea for those years, 12 valve 1st gen 5.9l were governed at 2700 rpm 89' to 1998. 24 valves took over in 1998.5 . 93 to 98 were a series, 89 to 93 a series, 1998.5 to 2002 a series, 03 to 07 a series , 2007.5 til now  6.7l and 5.9L .... Fueling started out with the p7100 pump moving to the vp44 pump and then high pressure common rail system,,, peak torque for most stock cummins were several hundred rpm off idle to mid 2000 rpm range,,, not very useful to take a stock cummins past mid 2 grand mark, power drops off

[eric28miller]

Yea I definitely need to spend more time driving and breaking it in, i've been babying it too much. I cringed when it was on the dyno.. I think a lot of it has to do with how the dyno operator loaded it. The turbo setup is for towing, so it makes 70lbs boost just before 3k rpm. I'll post a pic of the dyno sheet and the video later today.

[FearNoMan78k10]

I think you need to baby it,,,drive the truck with white gloves for the first 5000 miles Eric.... Drive it easy..... And it will help last you a long time.... What is your timing set at for intake and exhaust valves ?      Lol you should cringe when it's on the dyno and being ran that hard. That's really tough on a new fresh motor.....  I cringed when mine was thrown on the dyno too a bit. I was behind the driver seat with a couple hundred or more students watching me  lol that was a hoot for sure..... Well what is your axle gear ratio? I'm sure I could go through and re read your build posts and check myself but for ease of knowing I just wanted to ask ....talk to me about the specs and details on your exhaust , down pipe , etc... Your exhaust manifold? Your intake manifold?  Fuel line size? Fuel supply line size ? Pump specs?  Do you have a FASS ? Fuel air separation system? How big are the lines running from the tank pickup tube to the delivery tube / supply line?  How much is your fuel pressure at idle and WOT ( wide open throttle ) ? Half open throttle? I forgot... Do you have a waste gate ? Two waste gates ? If so what is the leg off spring pressure set at?  Some set ups do not have a waste gate ,,,, what is the air filter you are using and it's micron ( filtering rating ) ?   Also Eric.... After your engine has been broken in, you will see a increase in boost and your pistons rings will have seated much better thus creating more compression .... You know what that means.... More horsepower and torque :-).  What is your current injector setup?  Nozzle flow rate ?  Did you O-ring or fire ring the head? ( cylinder head )   ... What type of head gasket did you use ? Material it's made out of?  What does the truck weigh exactly ? How much boost at 1/4 throttle , 1/2 throttle , 3/4 throttle and full throttle ?   What is your EGT temps under the different throttle positions..? And what is it under a normal towing load?   What is your tire weight and size ?   I have forgotten the details on your truck! But I have read through each and every one of your posts! I just can't remember ! My memory isn't the best !    I know this is a lot of questions but just take your time! It may take me a minute to respond too so please have patience for me! Hope you have a great day!

[eric28miller]

yea I don't have enough time to answer all them questions lol but i know it's getting PLENTY of fuel, i'm leaning towards propane injection to clean up the unburnt fuel and a water methanol kit to cool down egt's. I pulled the camper up to the Volga city truck cruise this weekend and egt's hit 1500 a couple times climbing long steep grades.  Also had the problem of the new breather coming out of the front timing gear cover puking oil out while driving.. I'm wondering if my engine builder didn't set the aftermarket dipstick right and there was too much oil in the motor.. When I changed the oil it took just under 2 1/2 gallons to fill it to the full mark.  On the good side of things I got my tach working and she pulled the camper like there was nothing behind me! For braking I installed an inertia sensing brake controller which worked awesome. 

[HighTechRedneck]

I just wanted to say, I've been following this thread for a couple years now, and the final product looks amazing! It'd be awesome to see a video of it running and driving when you get a chance as well!

I remember you saying something about being able to adjust the fuel plate from inside the cab somehow, and I don't recall you ever saying how you did that? On your thread on 67-72 you said "AFC is deleted, I just have an adjustable fuel plate that I can control from inside the cab.", but how does that work, with a servo or something? How do you have that set up?

[eric28miller]

Hey guys, been awhile since i've popped in, wanted to share this really cool feature dieselarmy did of my rig:
http://www.dieselarmy.com/features/car-features/built-not-bought-eric-millers-88-chevy-crew-cab-with-a-12-valve/


Thanks "HighTechRedneck". Sorry i'm going to keep the adjustable pump a secret for now, might be building kits down the road..
I finally got the mudflaps installed, they look and work awesome! Good thing too, the tires were throwing massive rocks and destroying the paint..