New Soot Trap & More

It’s that time of the year again when owner operators get together to snowmobile with each other. The dates for this year’s annual Snowmobile Conference are March 2nd through March 6th, 2017. We will be riding at Bear Lake, Utah, which is in the northeast corner of the state – in fact, the lake actually extends into the state of Idaho. We will be staying at the World Mark Condominiums in Garden City, Utah. To make your reservations, call 800-867-2095 (ask for Lori). If all the rooms are gone, please call us at 724-360-4080 and we will do our best to find you a motel room or a rental home in the area.

If you love power, speed, climbing mountains and just hanging out with other like-minded owner operators, you will want to join us for this fun-filled four-day event. The Ski-Doo and Polaris snowmobile dealer from Ogden, Utah, will be there for one day with new demo sleds for us to try, and I have been told that some of them will be turbocharged. A turbocharged 800cc sled will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2 seconds. Come out and join us – you will not be disappointed!

Our technical director and service manager John Walko is currently building a soot separator for all EGR engines, from 2003 to the present. Our goal is to remove the soot from the EGR gases entering the intake manifold and allowing only the gases to enter the combustion chamber. By doing this, the EGR system will work longer before needing to be cleaned. The soot that is hard on the cross-hatch of the cylinder liners will be caught in a trap, and all you will have to do is remove one clamp and dump the soot into a trash can.

With this soot trap installed on the EGR system, there will be no accelerated wear of the diesel engine. The first one is getting mounted on a DD15 Detroit, and the second will be on an ISX Cummins. We will keep you informed as to how it works in the months moving forward. The first test separator was tested using talcum powder, and it removed about 80% of the powder from the air flow. The Walko family already has a patent on this product, so look for it soon.

In our continued search for fuel mileage, we have found a treatment called WPC, which is a micro peening of the surface of gears to hold more oil. The micro peening would look very similar to the surface of a golf ball if you were to magnify it with a 1,000-power microscope. The purpose of micro peening is to keep metal from touching metal, and to eliminate internal drag and wear. The micro peened surface holds oil similar to the cross-hatch of a cylinder wall. When the cross-hatch is gone from the cylinder wall, the engine will consume oil. So, think about the gears in the transmission and differentials (especially when accelerating or climbing a hill) – as the teeth mesh, the force generated is greater than the film thickness of the oil, so accelerated wear and internal friction occurs. We have an 18-speed transmission already done with the WPC peening process and would love to have a test truck try it out for us and give us some feedback. The only stipulation is that the owner must be a fuel-conscience operator. Call us if interested.

Our current leader in fuel mileage is Steve Kron. Steve runs an International with a 12.7 Detroit with our Full Tilt exhaust manifold, the Pittsburgh Power variable geometry turbo system, and our 3-position power switch. When he is empty, he can cut the horsepower back to around 300, and when he’s hauling heavy, still have 600 horsepower at his fingertips. Steve’s average is 9.6 miles-per-gallon.

Adam Strafford was recently in with his Western Star powered by a DD4 Detroit and we installed the variable geometry turbocharger and the 3-position power switch on his truck. Not only has he gained 7/10th miles-per-gallon in fuel savings, but now he also has the ability to run on a low power setting, the stock power setting, or on the high-performance setting, which gives him up to 750 available horses.

Next, we want to try this system on a DD4 Detroit that has the Pittsburgh Power computer, along with the Full Tilt exhaust manifold, and install our variable geometry turbocharger and the 3-position power switch. Think about this – there would be a total of 27 power settings to choose from. The power box has nine settings and, coupled with the 3-position switch, there would be nine settings in each position, or 27 total. Talk about putting control into the owner operator’s hands. Now, think about this: if this truck was equipped with the 2:64 rear gears, a double-over 13- or 18-speed, and had 27 power settings, it would truly be “unlimited” in regards to speed and power!

Our remote tuning and troubleshooting program is doing great. If you would like more power from your Caterpillar, Cummins or Detroit, give us a call and we’ll tell you the closest tuning site near you. The next site we are adding soon will be on Interstate 80 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Figuring out how to make these newer engines more productive, more reliable, and more efficient has been a great challenge this year, but we have made big progress. We look forward to continuing this journey with you in 2017. If you have any questions, I can be reached at Pittsburgh Power at 724-360-4080. To see all our available products and services, visit us online at www.pittsburghpower.com today.