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6.5L turbo diesel ideas and mods

T

theiceman2713

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winthrop maine
hi im new to diesel. just bought a 94 chevy 1500 4x4 with a 6.5L turbo diesel and a 3 speed automatic tranny with overdrive. this thread isnt model/engine specific i just threw it out there.

but i was doing alot of reading and decided to post a few questions. the first being coolant flush's, best brands of coolant flush kits. and then the best coolants.

the second thing i wanted to do was to wrap my exhaust, turbo, and intake piping with that heat wrap stuff, header wrap i think its called. anyone done this? any noticeable gains?

also my truck has 227k miles on it and i dont know when things like the injectors and glow plugs were last replaced. at this mileage point or in the near future say 250k, what do people usually do? both to make it more reliable and long lasting, and to improve performance and get back any lost power.

third being the idea of mounting up a front mount intercooler and where it could or should go. anyone done it? any gains? i know they work on small gas powered cars.

i also plan on doing the duramax 21"fan with a severe duty clutch.

any other suggestions and ideas are welcomed.
 
Welcome and congrats on the new addition to the family.

K-47 Air Intake box up front (carparts.com for 'recycled parts locals that have them)
4" exhaust kit out the rear. Pick a site sponsor or go direct to Diamond Eye
2.5" Cross over exhaust pipe in the middle.
Get the injectors (Bosch) and GPs (Bosch Duraterms) done while you've got the exhaust out, especially if you're unsure as to when the injectors were last swapped out.
Many will advise to "Go Green" with the coolant and add Water Wetter. I'm ok with the Orange stuff. So long as you ensure the mixture is sufficient for your winters, you will be fine either way.
Anyway, those are my recommendations.
Once you've satisfied yourself its going to stop and the other preventative / scheduled maint. stuff is up to snuff, you can start playing around with Turbo's, Tunes, etc.

While you're waiting for parts, fill out your signature here so you don't have to retype your vehicle info over and over and guys don't have to guess.
Again, Welcome
 
Yup, maintenence first. Then A Team Turbo w/ Tune. The list of supporting mods and maintenence items should keep you busy for awhile.
 
yeah, i plan on doing an oil change with a filter first, then coolant flush and refill. then hopefully i will have new injectors glow plugs and two new batteries all at once, ill have the injectors/glow plugs done at a shop nearby.
 
Wrapping keeps the underhood temps down. In Maine the rust factor makes it more trouble than it is worth. You need to paint the parts with the high temp paint and seal the wrap with the paint. You don't gain anything till you get a better turbo. I have wrapped both of mine manifolds, turbo, and downpipe past the 1st bend in the floorpan.
 
Welcome
Pull the stack apart and clean between. If you are going ATT in place of gm turbo you shouldn't need an inter cooler, read up on it in th threads.
Wrapping the exhaust causes rusting out much more rapid. I did it to a set of camaro headers here in Vegas and they rusted out here in a few years.
 
If your doing a coolant flush and are contemplating switching colors do a thorough flush as they don't like each other very well. No matter which color you choose use distilled water and not tap water. relatively cheap and your rad will thank you.
 
First thing I would do is change all the fluids. Start a fresh maintenance record. Next check the filters. While you have the intake loose, check the turbo inlet for oil residue. If you have alot of oil there and in the tube that goes from the intake to the passenger side valve cover, replace the CDR valve. Parts stores will list this as a PCV valve, even though it is sometimes the opposite. Seeing you have a 1500, the 8th digit of your VIN is "s", this means you have an EGR, among other things. Take the upper intake manifold off and you will probably want to take the lower one off too when you see how gunked up it is in there. Make sure you've got your pmd out of the engine bay. Check your glows, check for fuel leaks, clean all your grounds, make sure your battery cables aren't corroded to hell. If all this is good, you have no codes, no excessive white smoke in the mornings, and it doesn't make any wrong sounds in the engine, (trust me when I say these engines are loud and clanky, but you will know what wrong means.) I think you should be ok. Hell, mines still running at 263k. Oh yea, get some boost and egt gauges just so you know what's goin on.
 
For batteries, do a load test one at a time.

We usually do not replace batteries just for the sake of replacing them.
If you do replace, buy 2 batteries at the same time.

I don't think there is a thing as the best coolant flush kit.
There is a description here on how to do it properly in the technical library.
 
I too would not wrap anything in heat wrap unless you have too. It will hold in the salt big time.
 
Husker6.5 said:
Unless, of course, you're running a stainless steel exhaust system, in which case it won't matter much.
Click to expand...

Very true, but on the intake side, turbo parts and manifolds that will either be cast steel or aluminum it would be best not too.
 
I would also advise timing chain and gears at that mileage. When doing the timing chain and gears I would install a Fluidamper, unless your harmonic balancer is fairly new.

I always Use Amsoil 5w30 Diesel oil and install an Amsoil or FS2500 bypass oil filter.

I would inspect the engine oil cooler lines and swap them for a Lubrication Specialist, Leroydiesel.com or find out what their kits are and have one made.

I install a T in the return line from the engine oil cooler to feed the bypass filters. I mount the bypass filters next to the drivers side battery or on top of the drivers side inner fender. I make the mounts so I can remove the whole filter and assembly for changing. - Saves a lot of oil mess.

I also like to install a remote transmission filter. - where the turbo muffler is on the newer vehicles. I mount it off the radiator support and use a Baldwin BT8439 MPG. I supply from the return line from the transmission cooler in the Radiator. I run from the radiator to the filter and from the filter to the transmission.

On the 94, I would also do the dual lift pump relay upgrade.

I would either do feed the beast or just change the fuel lines under the intake if they have never been changed yet.

IN Maine, or any other state that isn't bone dry, I would go with a Stainless exhaust - with stainless hardware. I keep my vehicles forever and really do not like installing an exhaust every 3 to 5 years.

Stainless is cheap by the time you are on your second system.

The fan swap is an excellent mod.

I got rid of the orange coolant years ago. Nasty stuff. I use Amsoil coolant just because I use Amsoil synthetic oil and that's when I remember to buy anti-freeze.

Use lots of Never-seez / Anti-seize everywhere. I also use copper coat/ high temp copper anti seize on hot spots or conductive electricAL CONNECTIONS. I also use dielectric grease on connections where I do not want any threat continuity.

Another mod I do is upgrading the Alternator wire. The OEM wire is undersized. I usually add another OEM wire to the other battery.

The Battery cable upgrade is also a great investment. You can make your own but the kit is easier. To be purchased from Raceday mechanic, I think.


Paveltolz said:
Welcome and congrats on the new addition to the family.

K-47 Air Intake box up front (carparts.com for 'recycled parts locals that have them)
4" exhaust kit out the rear. Pick a site sponsor or go direct to Diamond Eye
2.5" Cross over exhaust pipe in the middle.
Get the injectors (Bosch) and GPs (Bosch Duraterms) done while you've got the exhaust out, especially if you're unsure as to when the injectors were last swapped out.
Many will advise to "Go Green" with the coolant and add Water Wetter. I'm ok with the Orange stuff. So long as you ensure the mixture is sufficient for your winters, you will be fine either way.
Anyway, those are my recommendations.
Once you've satisfied yourself its going to stop and the other preventative / scheduled maint. stuff is up to snuff, you can start playing around with Turbo's, Tunes, etc.

While you're waiting for parts, fill out your signature here so you don't have to retype your vehicle info over and over and guys don't have to guess.
Again, Welcome
Click to expand...
 
Get good quality batteries, if you need them. I prefer the dual post batteries of the highest cold cranking amps available. Do the battery bolt mod. - I use a stainless allen screw. 3/8 -16 tpi. I use a special sized metric stainless washer - I get from Fastenal to fill the area that holds in the OEM battery bolts. 3 of these washers fills it up perfectly and you do not have to cut the rubber off to get at the nuts with a wrench.

I use baking soda liberally on the battery box before I install a battery. It helps reduce the corrosion you often find under a battery.

Invest in a battery load tester. As stated disconnect both ground cable & test each battery on it's own. I picked up a very nice load tester for about $40 shipped on Ebay. It is a great tool to have and helps with diagnostics more than many realize. If I am having issues, Load testing is something I do right after checking the oil, coolant, fuel flow/lift pump. If the battery passes the load test, you can repeat the load test at the end of the cables to test your cables and connections.

Grounds! Go through your electrical connections. I probably create ground loops the way I do it, but it has never caused me an issue. I add a ground to the battery box bolt on the passenger side, I continue from there to the frame ground by the starter with one piece of wire. I add an eyelet the proper distance from the end and continue on so I have fewer actual connections that can go south. I also prefer to solder most of my connections. Heat shrink connections and use Kopper coat on everything ground related. I also add a ground from the battery to the stud at the back of the engine near the firewall on the passenger side. I have seen these studs loose continuity to the block. The added ground wire insures that, at least the stud will always be grounded.
I also add a ground from the heater blower motor to the dash bolt just a few inches away. The wiring to the blower motor is also under sized. The connection to the blower is a frequent source of melt down.

Use mostly GM or AC Delco parts unless you are doing an upgrade. Never use OEM oil cooler lines. The after market OEM style lift pumps, OPS and cheap electrical parts do not have a great record for longevity. I don't enjoy working on the vehicles enough to do it more frequently than I have to. Quality parts can be a good investment.

If you need a new OEM style Lift pump get one for a 1993. They have slightly higher output.

I use #10 stranded wire for the added grounds.

JMJNet said:
For batteries, do a load test one at a time.

We usually do not replace batteries just for the sake of replacing them.
If you do replace, buy 2 batteries at the same time.

I don't think there is a thing as the best coolant flush kit.
There is a description here on how to do it properly in the technical library.
Click to expand...
 
One upgrade I would like to do on everything but the Tahoe is to change the steering knuckle to use the newer style rotors that you can take off without removing the bearing assembly. I ruined 2 bearing assemblies trying to get them out after some NO Never-seezing sucker that I paid, and told to use anti-seize installed the bearings dry. I'm not bitter about that though. Not much anyway.
There are a couple of good threads on the subject here. Every time I've needed to work on the front end, it's been to much of an emergency to take the time and do it like I want to.

I just looked back and saw you have a 1500 series, so this does not apply to you
 
jrsavoie said:
One upgrade I would like to do on everything but the Tahoe is to change the steering knuckle to use the newer style rotors that you can take off without removing the bearing assembly. I ruined 2 bearing assemblies trying to get them out after some NO Never-seezing sucker that I paid, and told to use anti-seize installed the bearings dry. I'm not bitter about that though. Not much anyway.
There are a couple of good threads on the subject here. Every time I've needed to work on the front end, it's been to much of an emergency to take the time and do it like I want to.

I just looked back and saw you have a 1500 series, so this does not apply to you
Click to expand...

I also want to do the upgrade to the GMT-800 style steering knuckles, rotors, dual piston calipers and larger brake pads. I'm really looking at the improved brake performance, though the easier bearing removal is a benefit.

I went an priced up everything to do this mod and it will easily run $850 to $900 without the machining cost for the threaded rod to connect the tie rods to the knuckles. I figured that I would amass the parts over time and do it once my current hardware (i.e. rotors and pads) are worn.
 
my favorite mod is the battery bolt mod. Jeff (jrsavoie, posted above^) was kind enough to even give me a call when I was at fastenal! I got all the right ones picked out, and now I get good cranking, a spot to add electrical connections, and it wont strip out the battery side terminal. I did go with jeff's preferred choice in hardware, the knurled allen head stainless steel bolt and flanged stainless nut. looks good, wont corrode.

I put the fluidampr on as well when its upgrade time, costs a little more, but its a USA made lifetime piece, so IMO its worth it.
 
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