January 2004 - Performance Zone
January 2004 - Performance Zone
Two beautiful white wolves, painted high on the sides of a high rise double bunk extended hood Pete painted dark blue, have been cruising the highways between Grand Rapids, Michigan and Salt Lake City, Utah for 900,000 miles. But the two wolves are hungry. Having been stuck in the right lane with an underpowered 12.7 liter Detroit with 430 horsepower, these wolves have had to watch the Cats go by in the hammer lane for a long time. It seems there are Cats everywhere, but none for the hungry wolves to eat. The Detroit wolves were forced to breath through dual Vortox stainless air cleaners, and just couldn’t get rid of their exhaust fast enough because of ultra-quiet, choking mufflers. The beautiful wolves had never had the pleasure of hearing the sweet melody of their own free-flowing exhaust.
Well, the time has come for the Detroit’s to have some serious power! Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh performed a drastic upgrade on the two wolves’ ride. With nearly one million miles on the odometer, many of the components needed attention so the radiator, engine, transmission, and drive shaft were removed from the chassis. The drive shaft was balanced and straightened, and new universal joints and carrier bearings were installed. A new Eaton clutch and resurfaced flywheel were added to harness the increased horsepower and torque. To keep the newly modified Detroit cool, a new high-tech radiator core was installed utilizing the original top and bottom tanks. Now let’s see what drastic changes the engine underwent.
The tired 12.7 Detroit Diesel received ceramic and Teflon coated pistons, a ceramic coated head and a high flow turbo. The turbo features a polished compressor housing (on the inside) for better air flow and an insulated turbine housing with a turbo boot to aid in turbo response without restricting exhaust flow. Horsepower was derived from the Pittsburgh Power Performance Computer and high flow injectors from Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh. All of the stock parts normally changed during a rebuild were replaced or rebuilt. The exhaust manifold and turbine housing were Jet Hot coated and all of the exhaust ports were ground to gasket match and ceramic coated. 4-State Trucks in Joplin, Missouri provided the miter cut 7-inch exhaust by Dyna-Flex. This system, which utilizes a straight through resonator (California legal) with dual straight stacks with baffles installed so as to have a 5-inch diameter hole straight through the center, allows the engine’s exhaust system to have no restrictions (and still be quiet). Finally, the wolves get to hear the melody of free-flowing exhaust.
Another cool new product that this truck took advantage of is a mercury-filled balancer. Mounted on the front of the crankshaft just behind the vibration damper, this product was designed to keep the engine balanced regardless of what RPM it is turning. The balancer is a joint effort of Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh and Balance Masters in California. Currently, there are two balancers in use today – one on my T-600’s NTC 840 CPL Cummins producing 500 horsepower and one on Richard Baker’s NTC, also producing 500 horses.
The results of the completed makeover of Marvin Veenastra’s Detroit Diesel are amazing. The horsepower is now estimated between 725 and 800, while producing 45 psi of turbo boost effortlessly. The truck has not been dyno tested yet so the exact horsepower is unknown. The exhaust back pressure is six inches of water column (the OEM’s are allowing sixty inches of water column on the new trucks). I prefer straight through flow exhaust systems because they create no back pressure and lower exhaust gas temperatures. This truck is powerful yet surprisingly quiet – the straight through baffle system even removes the Jake Brake noise.
At Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh, we do not get to pull loaded trailers, so we have to judge the performance of the trucks we build by bobtailing up the steep hills on Route 28. This 12.7 liter Detroit accelerates as though it’s a 427 cubic inch, 435 horsepower, 1967 Corvette. This truck puts you back in the seat and keeps you there until you ease off the accelerator. Power is a wonderfully addictive feeling that will stand the hair on your arms up. If you have never had the opportunity to drive a truck with a high performance diesel engine, you are missing one of the pleasures of living. The wolves, and their owner, can now ride with pride in the hammer lane – and give all those fast Cats a run for their money!
But high performance isn’t just for the trucks running up and down the road. I never thought horsepower and torque was much of a concern for farmers, working with various types of equipment, out in the fields. Well, I was wrong. Farmers love power too – and not just in their truck, but in their farm equipment as well. The John Deere 6950 Forage Harvester is powered by a Cummins N-14 Celect engine, which produces 540 horsepower. These machines cut and grind corn stalks and propel them into dump trucks running beside them. The harvester cruises at a speed of 3.5 to 3.7 miles per hour, so the scenery doesn’t change very fast in front of these machines. Now, with the installation of a Pittsburgh Power Performance Computer, these harvesters can cruise at a whopping speed of 4.2 mph. Now that might not sound like much of an increase to you, but to a farmer, that’s several more acres of ground covered per day.
For more information about increasing the horsepower, performance and/or efficiency of your truck (or harvester), please call Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh in Cheswick, PA at (724) 274-4080 or visit them online at www.dieselinjection.net.
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2004 10-4 Magazine and Tenfourmagazine.com
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