MnTom

Easy way to check for leaks is to go get a can or two of 134A and the hose to put it in. Put one can in your A/C and then get a spray bottle and mix up some liquid dish soap and water. Mix it a bit rich on the soap. Go spray your A/C lines and look for bubbles. If it is a small leak you may not find it right away, but the place it is leaking will blow a bunch of bubbles. Keep in mind that the bubbles caused by a leak will all be the same size. If the bubbles are just random sized then it is not a leak.

If that's the case then you won't need to pull the pan or a main. If it was going to grenade you probably would have well before you got it. For a power upgrade like you want just remember KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Just play with the plate, timing, AFC and maybe some slightly larger injectors. That simple. Whose clutch do you have to put in there? Maybe contact them for advice since there is a high probability that they would know if you need to upgrade the hydros.

One other thing to do since the P-pump is virgin is to check and tab the KDP. 2 1/2 hours start to finish in the truck with hand tools. This truck didn't stop upside down did it? That gets real hard on the engine real quick if it was still running. Oh, IF you didn't want injectors right away and did everything I did minus injectors it would put you at about 300HP. Mine was 299 hp and I can't remember the tq, but the injectors are an easy swap any time and mine gave me 66 hp and put my tq at 833#. To pull the injectors just pull the fuel lines (keep them bundled), pull the return line, cut a piece of 3/4" tubing (PVC, electrical conduit, etc.) 1 7/8" long. Slip the tubing over an injector and remove a wheel nut. Take the wheel nut and screw it on to the injector (yes, it does fit). Tighten the nut and it will pop the injector right out!

You may get by just fine without a plate, but like ISX said, not everybody could drive it. The way mine is set up is just like I told you before. I have a fair amount of power plus the torque to do pull about anything I could hook to. Far as timing, don't go crazy, keep it at 16* or s max and you won't have a problem. My truck does not even get plugged it until the temp goes below zero and it starts fine. Here is what increasing the timing will do: Decrease exhaust temperature Increase cylinder temperatures/pressures Increase fuel economy (yes, economy is better) Increase your output of NOx (a pollutant) Decrease your output of Hydrocarbons (a pollutant) Increase the amount of black smoke at peak torque Take a look at this page for more reading about timing: http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/FAQ/timing.htm

OK, What do you have on the truck for an air filter set up? Stock, aftermarket? Also, is there any kind of restriction in the exhaust that you can see? What kind of boost numbers are you seeing? Another possibility for you is a boost leak. When I have had one my EGTs become real difficult to maintain and the truck is smokier from the get go. Even in stock form there are some EGT issues, so in theory yes, a larger turbo can help. On your turbo, does the waste gate function? If not, then on a hard pull you can and will run into EGT issues.

Your HX35 turbo will support 350 to 400 HP without too much problem. You want to go higher, you need more air. Like I said, a decent set of injectors, a reground fuel plate (since there will be other drivers), timing bumped up, and tuning the AFC will get you right where you want to be and the only thing to buy are the injectors. You really don't need to change anything on the intake (other than putting a BHAF on) or the exhaust to do what you want.

That is not even a close comparison. The first semi I drove only had a 290hp Cummins in it. There is a thing called horse power to weight ratio. Even a 400hp semi at 80,000 pounds has one horse power per 200 pounds. My truck has 365 hp to the ground and I have a gross weight of about 17,000 pounds giving me about 46.5 pounds per horse power. With my truck I can tow my fifthwheel up a 6% grade here by my house at 60 mph in overdrive and pick up speed without the egts going wild. What Michael is saying is that with an eye on the egts you may not pull every hill at the speed limit. That has the POTENTIAL of saving you $1,000 or so if you don't expect to fly up every hill.

Welcome to our world!! I took my car on a drive this AM and could only do about 40 mph on a freeway for the first 60 miles due to the ice and snow. Coming home it was fine.

I would say above that. I worked on one that had most everything mine does plus laser cuts and timing about 21*. It also had the wrong turbo on it (he wanted a work truck and somebody put a pulling truck turbo on). He could black out ANY road you wanted without much problem. I put the stock DVs back in and he supplied a different turbo. I also dropped the timing back to about 15*. He needed to do something with the truck and I got it together and didn't have time to test drive it or tune the AFC (it was all screwed up), but he said he hooked to his trailer and grossed about 30K and said it pulled way better than before! Stick with the stock DVs and you will be fine.

Freeze plugs are pretty easy to replace if you can get to it. You just pry the old one out, clean things up a bit, and tap a new one in with a hammer.

Yep, other that a Dave Goerends transmission. Like I said, 350 or so hp is quite easy to get out of the 12v trucks.

Where is this happening at?

300 hp is actually pretty easy to achieve. All you need to do is bump the timing up a little (about 15*-16*), pull the fuel plate and grind it to a #100 (set it about 3/4 forward) if you want any kind fuel control (for other drivers), and put something like 300 injectors (RV275s with slightly larger holes) or 370s although the 370s may run a bit hot for a stock turbo and tune your AFC to suit what you have. Even with those mods you can put out a fair amount of smoke.

Hopefully not. I have an appointment 2 1/2 hours away in the morning. We are only supposed to get about 3" of snow overnight.

32* and RAIN here right now. Supposed to be like this until tomorrow.

If it were my truck I would use a pressure washer to clean the front of the engine and change the water pump. Then I would put the orange antifreeze in it and monitor the area that looks like it is leaking.

If you are going to use the green stuff MAKE SURE you flush out all the orange stuff. Otherwise you will have a coagulated mess. The two types do not play well together.

Oh, thanks...... Now I have a mental image that won't go away.........

I see where you mean..... I really don't know about that one. I don't know if the bolt goes into the water jacket or not.

Do you mean the right front corner of the head? That could be the thermostat housing leaking OR it could be the water pump is throwing water around. I had that happen and it sprayed the alternator and burned it out.

That does sound a lot like a water pump beginning to fail. Crawl under the truck and look up at the water pump. There is a weep hole that would have some tell tale seepage. You can also run your finger under the water pump (with the engine off of course) and see if your finger becomes wet. The water pump is quite easy to change, just two bolts hold it in.

What is being suggested is that you don't go crazy with the smarty and jack the timing way up.

Good deal. Now come back with something good!

Around here is is the Chevy drivers that seem to be the most aggressive. Don't know why, but it sure seems that way, just like the young girls in parking lots.

If it was causing a vibration it would start at a slow speed an increase in intensity as your speed increased.