So I guess it's time for an update and first impressions on the compound set up.
This weekend was our 1 year anniversary and we decided to take a 2-hour drive in the hill country to an old German town to celebrate Oktoberfest. The drive was very scenic and had many ups and downs with turns as well as uphill straight roads. To begin with, I have an oil leak somewhere and it has already marked up my driveway. It's not that big of a deal, except that it's annoying and looks bad. I suspect it's from the remote oil filter or new hydraulic lines. They just need to be tightened up. On the initial startup, I noticed the engine turns longer than usual before starting. It's common for diesel engines with advanced timing, and it's not that big of a deal unless you live in a really cold area. The second thing I noticed is the large blinding amounts of black smoke ( think 1800s era freight train). The smoke clears up depending on what rpm range you're in, but I suspect the cars behind me will hate me. The third and more important thing is the power Big Red now has on tap. It's much more responsive, goes faster and seems to be more powerful than my brand new Tacoma. I was able to pass many vehicles on the road with ease. On some parts of the trip I did 80mph, I suspected I could have gone faster, but it feels unsafe at that speed. I had the AC on for part of the trip during the uphill climb. The AC blew cold air, didn't bog the engine down and best of all kept everything below 1200* on the pyrometer. The boost is strong, but I'm not sure how accurate the gauge is. It rests at 2psi on idle and the highest I got it was 40psi. It cruises at around 12psi. Though the gauge seems to make it sound low, the seat of the pants feel will tell you it has a lot of power and more can be accessed if I play around with the pump. I deleted the airbox and installed a K&N filter. Now I have space in the engine bay for whatever else I can think of adding.
There are some bad things that need to be addressed, but they are minuscule compared to the power gains. My electric fan no longer comes on when the temps hit 200, but only comes on when the AC is on. The passenger window is temperamental and the pyrometer gauge jumps around depending on how loud the bass thumps. Another annoying thing is if I gun it, some smoke comes into the cab.This sucks in general, but especially if I have the AC on or am dressed for a meeting.
Driving by the numbers. At 75mph I have about 12psi and between 900 and 1050* on flat surfaces. At that speed on an incline, I'm at 15 to 20 psi and between 1050 and 1200 *. I also managed to cruise at 800* while maintaining 65-70 mph. Right now this is telling me I don't need to regear anything. I'm not sure what the MPGs will look like, I suspect it will be slightly lower because I have so much black smoke which tells me there's unburnt fuel. I'm going to be tweaking the pump a bit, but this would be the perfect combination if it wasn't for the excessive black smoke.
I'm sure more will come to me, but for now, enjoy the pics.
The secret to happiness, make a fool of yourself every so often and enjoy the little things in life.
Couldn't resist the photo op. Many jeep guys parked near me when we were at the festival. Big Red dwarfed them in comparison.
Maybe a larger methanol reservoir in the free up space? I didn't use the methanol pump at all on this trip, so I probably won't need it.
Maybe I'll install a larger intercooler if I find one with the correct dimensions.