GMx turbo upgrades for towing heavy, worth it?

[Turbine Doc]

Nice to be seen and recognized still

 

[Will L.]

Hey, there’s a friendly name!
Good to heard from you.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Been awhile.

 

[MrMarty51]

"Big" Towing turbo's like the ATT will not spool, build boost, until around 2000 RPM. With the fan locked in, AC on, and hot weather it's real struggle to get up to 2000 RPM from a stoplight with the OEM converter. The Clutch in the lockup section of the converter is also weak and won't "lug" locked up down to 35 MPH without slipping.

So I ordered a triple disc Yank 2400 RPM high stall converter. It got put in Patch as I never got around to dropping it in the 1995 burb. Watch how from a full stop I get 2000 RPM on the tach near instantly. It then keeps the engine at high RPM wringing the most power out of it. This is with a small 6.2 IP so no smoke to speak of and less power than I would have liked.

In depth

Let the insanity begin! Time to Yank it.

:D

www.thetruckstop.us

I always love watching that video.

 

[Turbine Doc]

If you have been following my posting last couple of days, you might have picked up on that I have left the "flat-lands" and have ventured North via I-10 from MS to I-65 in Mobile AL, to I-85 Montgomery to Atlanta, then I-295, to US-23N into NC bound for Swannanoa NC where I am at present on a mission trip to help with some post flooding repairs Sept/Oct. 2024 ....grrrr. don't get me started on travesty still home without power & water here.

Anyway these mountains put a bit of a scare into me today, I was pulling hard making good time passing others struggling, 14 PSI then all of a sudden midway up mountain truck all but died on me, EGTs that had been at 900F-ish at 1200 in blink of eye and climbing fast, I pulled into slow lane to stabilize at 1100F EGT running at 45-50 where I was at 60-70 before, black smoke.... low boost....craaaap.

Did I blow a boost host or coupling clamp ??? I sort of limped to top of mountain EGT temps back down to normal, coolant never got over 195F, oill pressure good, and at bottom of hill I got boost & acceleration back......Heyyyy I've been here before but I didn't have my MT2500 scanner connected, but I remember this event before I experienced in my Burb. Tier 1 defense for 6.5 in high IAT situation is dump boost/open waste-gate....well no WG on mine both vehicles have ATT now, and turbo master when I still was running GM-8s.

Tier2 defense if tier1 did not work, limp fuel to 55mm max, you have to have scanner plugged in to see it, no codes reported during said "limpimg", and when you shut down and restart "limp" resets to normal max mm fuel setting in your program. So now inspite of the lag I felt in intercooler I'm thinking maybe I might want to put it back in, or install the water mist kit I bought but never installed.

A couple of questions for those of you running high boost sutained 12+psi, how are you getting around high IAT defue/ limpl, and does anyone here know what that limit max IAT actually is, I think I remember 285F/

How high of a IAT/Charge air temp can one run without doing harm to the engine? There must be a design threshold otherwise engines designed from factory to run high boost would not have an intercooler from factory?

With IDI how much boost really is hurtful to the engine, vs. DI ? I'm takling about long hauls, not brief excursions to high boost. When I was with the GM-8 because of high drive/backpressure I self limited to 12psi, even though with a TM it could bury my 0-15psi Banks gauge?

On lowlands high speed drives and heavy towing with ATT it has never been an issue, but a big load in mountains, or running hard to climb the hill, required a different mind set for me.

When I got to my destination nothing found that could point to engine issue, it never dawned on me having full time IAT monitoring might be worthwhile to keep her in the green, I will be adding that monitor in the future.

 

[Big T]

If you have been following my posting last couple of days, you might have picked up on that I have left the "flat-lands" and have ventured North via I-10 from MS to I-65 in Mobile AL, to I-85 Montgomery to Atlanta, then I-295, to US-23N into NC bound for Swannanoa NC where I am at present on a mission trip to help with some post flooding repairs Sept/Oct. 2024 ....grrrr. don't get me started on travesty still home without power & water here.

Anyway these mountains put a bit of a scare into me today, I was pulling hard making good time passing others struggling, 14 PSI then all of a sudden midway up mountain truck all but died on me, EGTs that had been at 900F-ish at 1200 in blink of eye and climbing fast, I pulled into slow lane to stabilize at 1100F EGT running at 45-50 where I was at 60-70 before, black smoke.... low boost....craaaap.

Did I blow a boost host or coupling clamp ??? I sort of limped to top of mountain EGT temps back down to normal, coolant never got over 195F, oill pressure good, and at bottom of hill I got boost & acceleration back......Heyyyy I've been here before but I didn't have my MT2500 scanner connected, but I remember this event before I experienced in my Burb. Tier 1 defense for 6.5 in high IAT situation is dump boost/open waste-gate....well no WG on mine both vehicles have ATT now, and turbo master when I still was running GM-8s.

Tier2 defense if tier1 did not work, limp fuel to 55mm max, you have to have scanner plugged in to see it, no codes reported during said "limpimg", and when you shut down and restart "limp" resets to normal max mm fuel setting in your program. So now inspite of the lag I felt in intercooler I'm thinking maybe I might want to put it back in, or install the water mist kit I bought but never installed.

A couple of questions for those of you running high boost sutained 12+psi, how are you getting around high IAT defue/ limpl, and does anyone here know what that limit max IAT actually is, I think I remember 285F/

How high of a IAT/Charge air temp can one run without doing harm to the engine? There must be a design threshold otherwise engines designed from factory to run high boost would not have an intercooler from factory?

With IDI how much boost really is hurtful to the engine, vs. DI ? I'm takling about long hauls, not brief excursions to high boost. When I was with the GM-8 because of high drive/backpressure I self limited to 12psi, even though with a TM it could bury my 0-15psi Banks gauge?

On lowlands high speed drives and heavy towing with ATT it has never been an issue, but a big load in mountains, or running hard to climb the hill, required a different mind set for me.

When I got to my destination nothing found that could point to engine issue, it never dawned on me having full time IAT monitoring might be worthwhile to keep her in the green, I will be adding that monitor in the future.

I have the ATT. Hauling on flat level ground I think I saw boost at 4 to 6 psi. Hauling up a grade I saw 12 to 14 psi and 1200 on the pyrometer. Only the first grade south of Vegas did I have to pull over because ECT hit 210.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I've got a dual IAT gauge. Was going to have pre and post turbo. Never got around to the pre. I have an aftermarket tune and have never been limited by high IATs. Don't remember what my max IAT was but probably in the high 200s low 300s. Also probably helps not having hot weather too.

 

[MrMarty51]

I was running the GM8 turbo when I first got My truck.
I can remember reading something about not exceeding 1200 or 1250 degrees F.
I could not hardly keep the EGT less than that even pulling my small trailer or dragging along the boat.
I remember throwing out a question about maximum EGTs and @WarWagon replied something about not to worry even up to 1500 or maybe it was 1550 degrees F so after that I never give it another though. I think the highest EGT ever reached was about 1300*F.
ATT I’m running came from War Wagon, and now I have not had an opportunity to drag a good load along.

 

[Turbine Doc]

Thank for replies, I'm not sure which PCM I'm running or tune in it, I have multiple PCMs with different tunes, I'll have to check it out when I get home.

I opted on side of caution not wanting to "beat up my truck" with miles more to go, plus being 8 hours away from home, and 6 hours to go to Mom's house in VA this weekend, then 17 hours (down hill) relatively after that back to MS mostly I-85.

When I built the"project engine" now nearing 40K in the truck, I did use ARP studs throughout for hopefully a little better strength and ability to sustain higher boost pressures.