Going Crazy with Quadzilla Install

[BigPimpin]

No, the Quad didn't come with one, and I don't think it was mentioned anywhere in any of their instructions. I actually emailed them and asked what it comes with and what I would need besides the extra fuel pressure sensor.

 

And thinking about it now, I may have read about the boost elbow many times before and thought they were talking about the intake air horn. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I actually saw a picture of it and realized that part of the turbo exists. And on top of that, it wasn't until I started talking to you guys that I realized I might actually need one. I'm telling you, I feel like an idiot not knowing about any of this. I just automatically thought the turbo was giving you all that it had to give.

 

One of the main reasons I bought the Quad was because I wanted more power from a dead stop like at a stop light or getting onto the highway. I had briefly thought about getting a Wicked Wheel because I thought my problem was that my turbo wasn't spooling fast enough and was hoping to get better performance out of city driving.

 

I'm wondering now what kind of changes to expect from adding the boost elbow and wastegate.

 

 

[Me78569]

Big change by adding an elbow.  The hx35 is good to about 35psi or ~325 hp-350 hp. 

 

I would still check for boost leaks though.  a stock truck is more likely to have them than not after 16 year.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Me78569

[dripley]

I am really surprised that Quadzilla does not even mention the use of a boost elbow. Seems it would benefit their product.

 

I agree with @Me78569 on the boost leaks. You probably have them after all these years. I know I do. Small ones but they add up.

 

Just want to be sure I read right. You would benefit from a boost elbow but you already have a waste gate if you are thinking you need one.

 

 this is a great place for learning. Lord know I have done my share while being here. It is a great place..

[Spike48]

Having installed the Quadzilla just today I noted a couple shortcoming in the instructions:

1.  No mention of the boost elbow by Quadzilla but I had already installed one in anticipation of installing the Quad.

2.  Data link location: The instructions state "On 1998.5-2000 trucks the Data Link is a small gray triangle shaped plug located near the driver’s side motor mount."  Not true, in my case on a 1999 vehicle it is actually located at the front of the engine on the drivers side.

 

Other than the two points I noted above everything else went very smoothly and I am quite happy with the installation.
 

[Mopar1973Man]

I think this "boost elbow" issue should be brought up to Spencer. I think if you buy a Quadzilla Adrenaline you should be provided all the bit and pieces for full install to make it work. 

[BigPimpin]

Yeah, I'm going to go through it once we get rid of this rain. Hopefully I can get it all worked out by the end of the week. I was hoping for a big improvement with the tuner, but I really haven't noticed much difference from the Smarty except that it cleared up the smoke some.

 

The boost elbow would have been nice. Even a mention of it would have helped. The main reason I registered to this site was because I noticed all the info on the Quad when I was researching it before I pulled the trigger on buying it. I was actually planning on buying the Edge Attitude, but I was on the fence about it because of mixed reviews. My next option was the FMS from blue chip diesel, but they're out of them, and price was a big issue on that one.

 

I made a couple of videos with my truck running no tune, and then again with the Smarty in anticipation of comparing them to the Quad. But it doesn't seem like it makes any difference since my turbo wasn't up to par. I'll probably still make one once the turbo is fixed/upgraded, but I'm kind of over it now.

 

Also, my only complaints about the instructions, besides the boost elbow of course, is that there are no pictures of every location of connections, and the fuel pressure gauge just said something to the effect of install it as close to the VP44 as possible.

 

The only other thing is I would have liked to have the stealth plate for the VP44 wire tap, but I didn't know about it until after I ordered and it had already shipped. I didn't want to order it later and have to wait for it to come in to install the Quad. It doesn't seem like it's worth $70 either. How hard would it be for someone like Quadzilla to provide one with the tuner.

 

[Me78569]

9 minutes ago, BigPimpin said:

 

The only other thing is I would have liked to have the stealth plate for the VP44 wire tap, but I didn't know about it until after I ordered and it had already shipped. I didn't want to order it later and have to wait for it to come in to install the Quad. It doesn't seem like it's worth $70 either. How hard would it be for someone like Quadzilla to provide one with the tuner.

 

 

 

It would increase the cost of the unit even more.  I am sure they have to do a value assesment on what they package it with.    The positap works well so I don't see a need for them to include it.

 

 

As for power vs the smarty, any wiretap box will outfuel the smarty by 3 fold so there will be a huge bump in power.  

 

 

The boost elbow is something I forget to think about these days.  

[BigPimpin]

I see that. I was happy with the set up that the Quad had with its wiring harness, but the wire tap it uses now seems a little less polished than the rest of it. It seems like they put a lot of effort into making the thing presentable and not like someone made it in their garage, so I think that last piece would really step it up on that front. I'm sure it would up the price too, but if it were an option, I think I would have went for it.

[Me78569]

It came with a positap correct?  

[xxTJRocksxx]

9 minutes ago, BigPimpin said:

I see that. I was happy with the set up that the Quad had with its wiring harness, but the wire tap it uses now seems a little less polished than the rest of it. It seems like they put a lot of effort into making the thing presentable and not like someone made it in their garage, so I think that last piece would really step it up on that front. I'm sure it would up the price too, but if it were an option, I think I would have went for it.

The positap is not a bad way to install the quad, it saves Quadzilla from having to give instructions to install a stealth type cover. Last thing you want as a manufacturer is to have your customers damage their equipment installing your product, so that being said they kept it simple.

The positap works pretty well too, it doesn't need to carry much current just the solenoid signal.

[BigPimpin]

Yes, it came with the positap. I liked that better than what I saw on some of the install videos. But I would have bought the stealth cover if I had noticed it when I ordered the Quad. I like that it's cleaner and doesn't damage anything. I know puncturing the wire isn't a big deal, but why not just make it all clean with no intrusion whatsoever.

[TFaoro]

28 minutes ago, BigPimpin said:

Yes, it came with the positap. I liked that better than what I saw on some of the install videos. But I would have bought the stealth cover if I had noticed it when I ordered the Quad. I like that it's cleaner and doesn't damage anything. I know puncturing the wire isn't a big deal, but why not just make it all clean with no intrusion whatsoever.

There is still intrusion with the stealth cover, but you just don't see it and it can't really corrode. 

I 100% agree they should throw it in there as an option when you're buying the new unit. If the user wants to purchase it, great. If they want to just use the posi-tap, great. An instructional video on how to install it would be a piece of cake and prevent the user from damaging their equipment. 

 

As for not feeling a power increase, @BigPimpin it sounds like you don't have the wiretap connected. The quad should fuel at least double what the smarty did! It's a big difference, and I think you need to troubleshoot whether the wiretap is connected completely or not. 

[BigPimpin]

I wonder if you're right. Because I was expecting a major noticeable difference, but I'm just not getting it. I put it on level 10 earlier, and it had very little difference from 8, which is what I was running it on. I think I need to take a look at it and double check that I connected that thing on there right. 

 

Thanks for for mentioning it. I'm starting to get the feeling that I didn't twist the green wire in correctly. And it did say something about winding it back a few turns so when you screw it on it will adjust properly, but I couldn't really make sense of that.  

[TFaoro]

1 minute ago, BigPimpin said:

I wonder if you're right. Because I was expecting a major noticeable difference, but I'm just not getting it. I put it on level 10 earlier, and it had very little difference from 8, which is what I was running it on. I think I need to take a look at it and double check that I connected that thing on there right. 

 

Thanks for for mentioning it. I'm starting to get the feeling that I didn't twist the green wire in correctly. And it did say something about winding it back a few turns so when you screw it on it will adjust properly, but I couldn't really make sense of that.  

Try the difference between level 3 and level 10. That'll tell you positively if wiretap is working. 8 to 10 you might not notice much of a difference. 

 

 that's why I hate wiretaps! Before I bought a stealth cover (new vp is why I bought it) I tapped mine by cutting the wire in half, stripping both sides, twisting a 6in piece of wire in with one of the pump wires, and connecting the three with a heat-shrink butt connector. Then I put a spade style connector on the 6in piece and connected it to the programmer. I had zero issues with that, but when the VP died I decided to pony up for the stealth cover. 

[BigPimpin]

Yeah I definitely would have bought the stealth if I would have realized it at the time. The timer itself was a big expense for me because my truck isn't a daily driver, and to be honest, it did everything I needed it to. But I knew I should have gauges, and I really wanted better power at take off and up through 4th gear so I started looking heavily at the Black Friday deals. I kept saying if I could get an Edge for 800, is do it. But even then I was hesitant. Then I found all this info on the Qaud, and not only did the price sell me, but when people were mentioning that it cleaned up the smoke but still gave the power I jumped on it. I definitely would have bought the cover though, even for the price. 

 

I know something is wrong because I went through the power levels yesterday and there was very little change. I left it in 8 because I was thinking that  maybe at 10 it would just be radically different or something. But when I put it in 10 earlier, not much difference at all. I think you're right. I need to get back in there and fix it. 

 

Its such an easy install that I've been sitting here thinking there's no way I could mess it up. But now I'm having my doubts. 

 

 

[dripley]

I got the stealth cover from Blue Chip when I bought my pump. The only thing I did not like was knowing how tight to tighten the screw, because you can go to far. I suppose you would just tighten it until you see 12v on it. Was not that smart back then. I was just starting to learn idiosyncrasies of the 24 valve at that time.

[Me78569]

@dripley

 

Yea the Stealth plate is not without it's issues.  I would almost say the positap is "better" for a first timer to install than a stealth plate.  Mainly considering how excited most people get while installing this stuff.  It is VERY easy to over tighten the plate and cause issues.  

 

[TFaoro]

If the install instructions say what this PDF does, I don't see how you can mess it up. 

http://www.4wheelparts.com/aux_incl/pdf.ashx?pdf=BDD_1050201_INS_1.pdf&line=BDD

 

[dripley]

4 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

If the install instructions say what this PDF does, I don't see how you can mess it up. 

http://www.4wheelparts.com/aux_incl/pdf.ashx?pdf=BDD_1050201_INS_1.pdf&line=BDD

 

Mine was a Blue chip product and not BD. It is plastic like the BD but white in color. When I installed it I thought you would feel it snug up but since it it cutting it's own threads I never could tell a difference. It was not till later I thought about checking the voltage while tightening. Looks like BD has it covered well. 

[Me78569]

PLastic housing and an excited installer can lead to issues pretty easy.