newb

[0rion]

just bought an 06 LBZ truck a week or so ago. Look forward to adding some mods and tuning it. Coming over from the gas world....not really leaving the gas world, just adding diesel to it. Have a heads/cam 98 f-body that's went 11.8@115mph staying conservative on the tune.


picture of my truck

 

[Unit453]

Nice..!

Welcome to our world. Make yourself at home. There's plenty of Ohio members here and plenty that we gotta do to your truck!

 

[0rion]

thanks for the welcome. I really want to learn how to tune these trucks. There's just not a ton of detailed info out there like there is for the gas burners. I'm no pro tuner by any means but I know my way around the LSx engines fairly well. Doesn't look like much of that knowledge carries over though. I'm really going to stay fairly conservative at least until my 12 month 12k mile bumper to bumper expires. Dealers like to look for any reason at all to deny warranty work these days.

 

[Unit453]

This is true.

I take it you're looking to tune it yourself with EFI Live? There are several guys here who do tuning and also sponsors who do custom tuning. I'm sure all of them would be willing to help get you started.

I never really cared much for power and performance. I'm content with an 80-90 h.p. tune. I never wanted tire shredding torque.

 

[0rion]

This is true.

I take it you're looking to tune it yourself with EFI Live? There are several guys here who do tuning and also sponsors who do custom tuning. I'm sure all of them would be willing to help get you started.

I never really cared much for power and performance. I'm content with an 80-90 h.p. tune. I never wanted tire shredding torque.

yeah, I have a spot open on my efilive cable already. I also use hptuners for the cars. I'm looking to stay pretty conservative really....50hp would be good starting point for me. More importantly I want to learn the theory behind diesel tuning. For the LSx cars we use air fuel ratio to check your fueling and lean is mean.....from my limited reading so far it seems you want to throw fuel at a diesel. What I don't understand is how you determine what's safe...I'm guessing EGT's and what range you want those in. I also don't know what kinda timing these trucks like. Just have a lot of reading and question asking to do really.

 

[Unit453]

More importantly I want to learn the theory behind diesel tuning.

Fueling and timing. But too much will blow holes in your pistons. Tuning these things is like a fine art. Some people are better than others. We have guys here who've tuned the first 1000 h.p. Duramax on the planet. Some of these guys can create a can of whoop-ass in a tune.

What a lot of people do is tune it with a hand held programmer. Then load up EFI and suck the tune out. That way, you can see just exactly what they do and kinda tweak it and use it for maybe a starting point.

You came to the right place my friend.

 

[0rion]

I have no doubt I'll get it figured out with the help of you guys. I'm a supermod at LS1.com so I've been around the boards for a looong time and know just how important they are to the hobby and how much knowledge is passed around on them. Looking forward to it really.....it's so new and different that it's refreshing.
Another thing that's new and different is the cost of maintenance on these rides. One of the first things I do when I buy a used vehicle is swap fluids and filters so I have a base starting point from there forward. About had a heart attack just buying oil, filter, and fuel filter the other day.

 

[NVW]

Welcome to the site, the best there is!!

 

[Dieseldad97]

Nice truck. Welcome to the site!

 

[BoostN]

We have plenty of members running here with EFILive.

Since you're using EFILive for you truck, me (or others) would be glad to help you out with a tune.

If you go to the link to the EFILive section you'll see some tutorials I made to help get you started on pulling your stock tune and getting ready to begin the tuning process.

I'll be happy to help you in any way I can. Post threads on what your having problems with and we'll be there with an answer.

Welcome to the site.

 

[btfarm]

Hey Orion! :welcome5: to The Truck Stop!
I believe you'll find our site to be as friendly as you'll ever find. Glad to see you here.
Nice truck there!:thumbsup: We're pretty good at spending your money for you.
If you want to get a good baseline on your fluids, let me suggest doing your front (2qt) and rear (4qt) differentials. That's pretty important if they've never been done and if nothing else more than those, at least put a new Allison spin on filter on it (save the magnet!). We've got all the knowledge here so you know you will be covered for any questions.

 

[CtChevy427]

Welcome to The Truck Stop!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[0rion]

We have plenty of members running here with EFILive.

Since you're using EFILive for you truck, me (or others) would be glad to help you out with a tune.

If you go to the link to the EFILive section you'll see some tutorials I made to help get you started on pulling your stock tune and getting ready to begin the tuning process.

I'll be happy to help you in any way I can. Post threads on what your having problems with and we'll be there with an answer.

Welcome to the site.

I just finished reading a couple of your posts...one where you were saying that most of your power will be found in the Timing B table and Main Injection Pulse table. I guess my first question would be what pids are you logging after adjustments to verify the tune is safe? Is there a stock pid for EGT's or will I need to get a pyrometer, gauge, and log it as a thermocouple input in efi to get my egt's? What's the safe range for EGT's?
Ok more than 1 question there.

 

[Unit453]

Also, you really should consider running synthetics like Amsoil. Our trucks like synthetics and Ashton (Wrecker) is our resident fluids expert and can steer you in the right direction. He's helped many of us with maintenance items on our trucks. I'm currently running Amsoil oil, and tranny fluid. And today, I just ordered $150 worth of differential fluids and air filters. Its a simple piece of mind.

Since you're new to diesels, we'll break it down one thread at a time though. Didn't mean to jack this one.

 

[BIGR]

Welcome to The Truck Stop. Nice looking truck that you have.

 

[0rion]

Welcome to the site, the best there is!!

Nice truck. Welcome to the site!

Welcome to The Truck Stop!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Orion! :welcome5: to The Truck Stop!
I believe you'll find our site to be as friendly as you'll ever find. Glad to see you here.
Nice truck there!:thumbsup: We're pretty good at spending your money for you.
If you want to get a good baseline on your fluids, let me suggest doing your front (2qt) and rear (4qt) differentials. That's pretty important if they've never been done and if nothing else more than those, at least put a new Allison spin on filter on it (save the magnet!). We've got all the knowledge here so you know you will be covered for any questions.

thanks for the welcome guys..... btfarm, the diff's and tranny are next on my list. The truck has 56k on it so it's getting due for some of that stuff anyhow. I just like to have a base to start with. It looks like the pan has a drain on it ( glanced it over while I was under there doing the oil) which will make changing that fluid and the inner filter much easier than my car which doesn't have a drain on it.

 

[Unit453]

What's the safe range for EGT's?

1350 is factory redline. Plus or minus a few degrees. 1600 is hot. You can hit 1600 in one quick 0-100 romp and it's not gonna kill anything. You maintain 1600 degrees pulling 15k lbs and you're gonna start to melt things.

If you're definitely gonna get into tuning, you're gonna need the basics first.

1) Exhaust. Any 4" system with help your truck breathe, much like F-Bodies, or my preference, B-Bodies. Get a good 4" turbo back system and lose the cat. I run an MBRP 4" turbo back. You will not gain anything with a 5" that a 4" will give you, other than bragging rights.

2) If you're messing with tuning, get some gauges. I run Auto Meter Cobalt series and couldn't be happier.

3) Leave your intake alone. It flows plenty and nothing out filters it. That stock intake with the Donaldson filter can provide enough air flow to support up to 500 rwhp. Any more than that and your motor will be starting to starve for air and be dumping black smoke.

While intakes do provide more air flow than stock, the engine at stock and near stock levels (500h.p. and less) the motor simply cant use the additional air. So in short, save your money.

 

[BoostN]

I just finished reading a couple of your posts...one where you were saying that most of your power will be found in the Timing B table and Main Injection Pulse table. I guess my first question would be what pids are you logging after adjustments to verify the tune is safe? Is there a stock pid for EGT's or will I need to get a pyrometer, gauge, and log it as a thermocouple input in efi to get my egt's? What's the safe range for EGT's?
Ok more than 1 question there.

First. You want Boost/EGT gauges before you make you own tunes. To get you started, check out the file "90HPTUNELOAD" in the tune library located here: http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/downloads.php?

That will be safe for you truck as it sets with no gauges or upgraded trans. No stock PID for egts. If you want to log EGT's via EFILive you'll need the thermocouple to plug in. That's not really necessary if you have a mechanical gauge and you can keep a glace on it as your running the tune.

I would start out with the recommend tune and then play around once you get the gauges.

 

[0rion]

Also, you really should consider running synthetics like Amsoil. Our trucks like synthetics and Ashton (Wrecker) is our resident fluids expert and can steer you in the right direction. He's helped many of us with maintenance items on our trucks. I'm currently running Amsoil oil, and tranny fluid. And today, I just ordered $150 worth of differential fluids and air filters. Its a simple piece of mind.

Since you're new to diesels, we'll break it down one thread at a time though. Didn't mean to jack this one.

I just put dino in it yesterday and I'll decide at some point whether I want to run synthetics or not. The reason I say that is I keep pretty short OCI's (3k miles on my gassers) and I plan on having a UOA done on the dino oil and see what it looks like after 3k in this one. I just have never been a fan of the long OCI's. I realize it's old school and hard headed but I can't get past the fact that your oil is only as good as your filters and you're sucking in the same amount of dirt regardless of the oil.
I'll start some regular threads now so we're not using this section for more than the introduction.

 

[0rion]

1350 is factory redline. Plus or minus a few degrees. 1600 is hot. You can hit 1600 in one quick 0-100 romp and it's not gonna kill anything. You maintain 1600 degrees pulling 15k lbs and you're gonna start to melt things.

If you're definitely gonna get into tuning, you're gonna need the basics first.

1) Exhaust. Any 4" system with help your truck breathe, much like F-Bodies, or my preference, B-Bodies. Get a good 4" turbo back system and lose the cat. I run an MBRP 4" turbo back. You will not gain with a 5" that a 4" will give you, other than bragging rights.

2) If you're messing with tuning, get some gauges. I run Auto Meter Cobalt series and couldn't be happier.

3) Leave your intake alone. It flows plenty and nothing out filters it. That stock intake with the Donaldson filter can provide enough air flow to support up to 500 rwhp. Any more than that and you're motor will be starting to starve for air and be dumping black smoke.

While intakes do provide more air flow than stock, the engine at stock and near stock levels (500h.p. and less) the motor simply cant use the additional air. So in short, save your money.

First. You want Boost/EGT gauges before you make you own tunes. To get you started, check out the file "90HPTUNELOAD" in the tune library located here: http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/downloads.php?

That will be safe for you truck as it sets with no gauges or upgraded trans. No stock PID for egts. If you want to log EGT's via EFILive you'll need the thermocouple to plug in. That's not really necessary if you have a mechanical gauge and you can keep a glace on it as your running the tune.

I would start out with the recommend tune and then play around once you get the gauges.

yeah, I'm gonna like this forum. More helpful info in my intro thread than I've read in 2 days on other boards doing searches.