Well new to me at least!

Some of you helped me out in my other thread when looking for one. Well I finally pulled the trigger and picked one up!

It's a 2002 4x4 QC LB auto. Single owner, garage kept majority of its life, never had a goose neck or 5th wheel (which is harder to find than you'd think up here). Came with a 2in leveling kit and 35's and a hypertech 'tuner' to fix the speedo. Other then that, she's all stock. I crawled under to check for any signs of a 53 and couldn't find anything, so I might have a mexican block, but I'm going to keep checking. I couldn't be happier! I originally wanted a manual, but the wife said, if I'm getting a new truck then she better at least be able to drive it. So rather then argue, I just said 'ok' and got lookin!

Anyways, wanted to start a thread here because, since it is stock and I'm planning on keeping this truck for the long haul, I wanted to do some mini write ups of the mods and what not I get done to her. As of now, here's the order I want to go in:

1. FUEL! and lots of it!

2. Gauges

3. Steering

4. Transmission

5. More power!

3 and 4 may get swapped around depending on what's needed more and my budget but that's the general order.

 

So to start, fuel... The stock injection pump was replaced by the dealer 50-60k miles ago so it should have some decent life left, and it looks like they moved the stock lift pump. I didn't track it down exactly, just looking fairly quickly, and couldn't find it mounted on the frame, did they do in tank LP's for 02's? I'd like to fatten up my fuel lines to 3/8s everywhere possible, also looking to go with the Fuel Boss, but not sure how that works if my LP is mounted in the back in tank if that's even a thing. Any ideas or experience with this? As of now I'm looking at getting the following for step 1.

FUEL BOSS ----- BIG LINE KIT ----- MOD FUEL MODULE

As far as fuel lines, the obvious is the big line kit from Vulcan but I figured I'd talk with Eric about getting lines replace as much stock line as possible. I also threw on the modified fuel module. I saw that as I was browsing their site and hadn't seen it before. Is that necessary at all? Keep in mind I'm just looking to have fuel flow as easily as possible through the truck. When more power rolls around I don't plan on going EXTREME, but would like lack of fuel to never be thought of again after this.

I'll leave at this for now but really looking forward to wrenching on this truck and getting her setup for the long haul!

I trust the gauge. Was more concerned of having my t valve too close to the vp and getting water hammer regardless of my needle valve.

I think I got it figured out.

Ill try and post a video later

My valve is alot closer than yours and it has not caused me any reading issues since install 5 or so years ago. Yours is not as close as mine. The location should be fine.

9 hours ago, notlimah said:

Well drive into work showed the following numbers.

19psi @ startup and idle - showed 0 deflection even under load with grids cycling.

20-21psi while driving - showed practically 0 deflection even while hard acceleration.

I'm really wondering if I'm really just getting that solid of numbers? I might crack the needle valve a TINY bit more to see if I can get the gauge more responsive and see if that changes my numbers.

 

I see very little variation in my readings as well and my numbers are very close to the ones you're seeing. 

So I managed to snap this video, it's not the best quality (shaky! My trucks not as smooth as I thought! ha!) but it at least shows my fuel pressure spread. I'm really surprised that my fuel pressure spread is as low as it is! Overall, I'm really happy with everything!

 

I have a question and will post it here rather than start anew... Why do fuel pressures vary? If two trucks are running Fass 150s.. why would one show 16ish and one 20ish? Is there an adjustment?

Was any of that run at WOT? I did not see but maybe a 1 psi drop.

40 minutes ago, dodgedieselnewbie said:

I have a question and will post it here rather than start anew... Why do fuel pressures vary? If two trucks are running Fass 150s.. why would one show 16ish and one 20ish? Is there an adjustment?

Could be multiple things.

-fuel line size

-using stock fuel filter as well

-return line size

-the spring in the FASS itself 

40 minutes ago, dripley said:

Was any of that run at WOT? I did not see but maybe a 1 psi drop.

No wot on that run, probably 1/2 a 3/4 throttle though. I'll do an official wot run soon

 

Okay.. all things being equal.. 1/2 line.. no stock filter... that leaves the spring.. right? I heard it can be stretched/adjusted.. changed?? I mean.. ultimately you want the highest pressure you can get/supply.. no?

Edited March 5, 20169 yr by dodgedieselnewbie

 I heard that to high a pressure can cause starting problems.

7 minutes ago, dodgedieselnewbie said:

Okay.. all things being equal.. 1/2 line.. no stock filter... that leaves the spring.. right? I heard it can be stretched/adjusted.. changed?? I mean.. ultimately you want the highest pressure you can get/supply.. no?

Not neccesarily. Like IBM said, you can see starting issues. You could also cause issues to your VP. It's not really a more the merrier type thing. You want the sweet spot of 15-20psi. More then 20 isn't needed and obviously under 14 and your overflow valve isn't working.

I'm not sure how much the return line matters in the overall psi, but maybe that could be a difference as well.

Late to the party....  As for needle valve... I open it up til the start up and shut down bleed time is really quick, and then listen for a buzz of the vp pulse hammering the gauge and tighten as required.

As for overpressure, I believe mopar man debunked that unless you have an old stock dodge vp with the plastic in it.  The new ones are steel.

I think my fass needs a new set of brushes and I would like to up the pressure.

Ah that's right, I forgot about the steel vs plastic. Good point!

One of the things liked about the ADII that bought is the adjustable pressure regulator. I did not want to mess with a spring and such. If I want a change just loosen the lock nut and adjust as necessary. Not sure why more of them dont come that way. I have mine set at 18.5 at idle and see for the most part a 2.5# drop at WOT. If I set the comp on 5 and hold my foot in it I can pull it down to about 15#'s. by then I am going faster than I need too.

 

I've seen the regulator FASS offers but I think it was around 140 bucks!

Mine is built into the the block that holds the filters and the pump. Very simple. 

Nice, sounds pretty conviniant!

Well I went out a recorded some fuel pressure videos. Here they are...

 

 

 

Overall I'm extremely happy with this setup. It idles around 19-19.5 and I couldn't get it to drop below 18 at WOT. So at worst its a 1.5 psi drop! I'll take that any day!
 

Looks good to me.

Me too.. is that a mechanical gauge?

Yea mechanical