Pittsburg Power:

Once a year, budget allowing, I try to make improvements to my mpg's. I am pretty much an outlier on the curve because my mpg's are already high. My 13 week average at the start of Summer was 9.0, which was low by my standards, but the weather has just been awful. Usually by the end of summer that average is in the upper 9's. I hoping this year to break 10 mpg on the 13 week average.

This year I had a talk with Mr. Haney about manifold / turbo / muffler. We talked about what I was trying for, better mpg - not more HP. I ended up ordering the small turbo. This turbo was installed on friday and I have driven it enough to know that it will work for me, I just need a few weeks to figure out if there has been an improvement. I have a regular trip that I make twice a week, and I know from prior experience that there is a 5-10% variation that occurs trip to trip due to weather, traffic and how loud I have the stereo on. (somewhere the FMSCA is working on banning hard rock as being distracting)

I also changed out the manifold, even though Mr. Haney tried to talk me out of it. I understood his point about the choke point being the entry into the turbo, and that non turbulent flow was the key to improvement. It may prove out that the narrower pipe of the stock manifold would have been a better match for the turbo than the much larger Full Tilt that went in. The thing is that the Century requires a low mount (150-1914) manifold, and Full Tilt is the only company that makes one, so if I was going to try a new manifold I had only had one choice. It also just seemed to me that the nice new turbo required a bright and shiny mount.

When the turbo was installed, it was found that the flex tube was falling apart, which explained why the new muffler was so noisy. The company shop had put the muffler in for me, and I'm guessing that it had started to go before the new muffler, as things were getting a little louder before. It meant the data I had taken after the new muffler and before the manifold / turbo was suspect. In a way it was a relief because I had wanted to not increase the sound level, especially on the jakes. With the new flex in the sound level dropped back to the old levels.

I've attached a thumbnail showing the end of the manifolds. The upper one is the stock and the lower is the Full Tilt. As you can see the hole for the Full Tilt is the same size and the carbon deposit on the OEM. I'm hoping to see some improvement in flow with that mismatch out of the way.

 

Most MPG adds have to estimated at the ROI (Return On Investment).

Would spending $700 on your wheel bearings to gain 1/2 mpg have better ROI than spending $2600 for turbocharger and manifold that gets you 1/2 mpg?

Has anybody thought about have the turbocharger micro-polished and the bearings replaced with ceramic bearings to help that out and also make the turbo almost bullet proof? The tractor pullers are having the turbochargers and even the injectors done with MicroBlue Racing micro-polishing and coating.

Here is MicroBlue Racing's website: http://www.microblueracing.com/

 

This is an interesting topic. Does this micro blue have any downsides? Flaking, chipping etc that might cause damage? And how much are we talking about to have all bearing done? Do enjoy the discussion. If you think you know it all then it's time to hang it up. Learn everyday.

 

Yup that's exactly what I was talking about, they have conveniently forgotten to mention that little fact on their web site, in their literature, video, etc and they sure didnt mention it during the phone call to sales. Not until I had actually removed the stock part did I realize the problem.

Until I pony up the big bucks to do the EGR delete, its completely worthless.

 

You might consider getting rid of that flex pipe all together, and have a custom smooth pipe bent for your application.

Flex pipe is one hell of a restriction in itself. Think about it for a minute, you have all those little ribs that make up the pipe. Each creating turbulence and adding resistance (friction loss).

If I recall correctly the reasoning for using flex pipe to begin with is anti vibrational????

 

A solid pipe wouldn't work out for replacing the flex pipe. The exhaust pipe and muffler are bolted to the frame, while the engine floats on the engine mounts. If it was rigid, then something would break. With my luck it would be the 2k turbo. I have to say, as the flex broke more, my mpgs went up.

 

Answered your question in the 10 mpg truck thread.

 

Not to get off topic, but what if someone were to stack a PP Box on top of a PDI tune? I've got a 2010 389 Pete with PDI's DPF and EGR delete, and it runs real good, but I was thinking of a Power Box for COMPETITION USE ONLY as I do use the truck for sled pulling. would not be using it on a daily basis. any thoughts?? could use the extra edge
thanks

 

You would be better off to buy another ECM and have a competition tune put in it by PDI, going with a pp box would be a step backwards in my opinion.

 

I have found the box to help in the top rpms, when using it with a tuned ecm. With a tuned ecm with advanced timing it gives you more power and the egt's stay down if you have enough boost.