My friends Step Dad is a big mouth Rich Jerk and I want to shut his know it all mouth up. I bought my longtime friends Hemi truck about 2 months ago and the thing just hauls *** and I love it. Recently his step Dad has been asking me how the truck has been running and joking about how one time him and his step son raced and he blew the Hemi truck away by block lengths not car lengths with his 2011 BMW X5 that features a 350hp 4.8. He says he raced from a 40mph roll and we all know the Hemi doesn't kick down till 34 or 35mph so that 8 speed BMW had a great chance. Long story short, he bet me $200 and a tank of gas if I beat him and that it'd be the easiest $200 he ever made, and I told him only if its a dead stop full quarter mile race at a real track, none of that rolling race crap like teenagers do.

So anyway I took my truck out for a romp today to test its performance out with my Gtech, I weighed my truck fresh at a local junk yard to get the most acurate results with the Gtech and the truck with me in it and 3/4 tank weighs 5340.

Now for the Gtech numbers:

289 Horsepower to the wheels

7.25 Seconds 0-60

15.2 Quarter Mile

It was kind of wet out today so I launched in 4 wheel drive and shifted out of it at 30mph into 2wd so I think they may have effected the results along with all the humidity in the air from the rain.

My truck is a 2004 SLT 4x4 "Ramble Bee" Ram Single cab with the 6 ft bed with 20 inch alloy rims, K&N Air Intake & Filter with the muffler backing blown off, loud & rumbles but sounds great.

Now I want to shave a half second off of my time to ensure a win against my friends step dad, and am wondering where the best places to start for performance.

 

A half second is a tough situation, and the only quick mod I know that might....and this might is a mighty big one, would be to get some 4.56 gears. Best bang for your buck and the only single mod I know of that might get you what you want, other than going into the motor, because none of the bolt-ons by themselves will even get close to losing 1/2 second. You may have opened your mouth too much, since that Beemer has more HP than you do and a lot less weight. Some BMW's are extremely quick and fast. Good luck One other thing, a 15.2 second quarter isn't hauling ***. Many vehicles can run that time and some much less, and I seriously doubt that GTECH is that accurate compared to real world numbers at the strip, so you might not even be that fast

 

One last thing, after reading your post again you state that these two vehicles have already raced and the BMW won big. Wanting to shut someone up and making a stupid decision based upon those emotions are two different things. You probably just gave this guy the easiest 200.00 he ever made as he stated and still wont shut him up. You have a basically stock truck he is definitely going to trounce you in that car. If I were you I'd try to get out of that bet, and next time use your head and not your emotions to pick your races. Remember rich guys BUY vehicles that will haul *** and don't even have to mod them to do it. That's one advantage of being rich

 

First off his model of Beamer isn't more powerful, It has 355 Hp, 360ft lbs of torque 10 more Horsepower than my Ram and 15 ft lbs less Torque than my Ram in stock trim (my K&N intake is dyno rated at 11hp gain, so I have the horsepower numbers back in my favor) and we all know that TORQUE moves vehicles. Second of all, his BMW X5 is a SUV and weighs in at 4900lbs without a driver, I would say the math is starting to make this race look like a good one. I think I have more than a fighting chance, but I want a half seconds worth of performance goodies to make up for any driver error. Even if I have to spend a grand or so, its worth it to shut this dude up.

The only real advantage is that he has a 6 speed transmission over my Dodges 5 speed, so I'm looking for a few mods to cancel out that advantage. Now can we get back on topic for mods, good proven tuners & bigger throttle body??? anything?. If you met this guy you'd want to stomp his $60,000 Beamer and his face too!. I have money to throw around, thats not a problem..what are the best mods?.

Plus my buddy raced him in 2nd gear from 40mph, probably the worst place in the powerband to race a hemi truck, I'd have done first gear 30mph and ran it out to 50, but honestly 0-quarter mile is where I think I'll have my biggest advantage...4x4 take off and shift out of it at 25mph, thats better than any traction control the Beamer could dream of. I paid $3000 for this truck and you can bet your *** it won't take me $57,000 to buy a half seconds worth of performance gear just to ensure a win.

I'm thinking about a bigger throttle body and sct tuner to start off with. I'd even go as far as to NOS it in 2nd gear, I'm a cheater so what lol. This is a guy who screwed me out of $300 when I rebuilt his daughters motor for her car, his cheapness is such that $200 means more to him than it does to me. I want to win.

I disagree about 15.2 being slow for a 4x4 truck that weighs in at 5300 lbs, 90% of the vehicles in traffic can't even hang with me when I'm passing and its only 4 tenths slower than a Ford Eco Boost Twin Turbo Truck. The other day a 70s Corvette tried to race me from the stop lights and I smoked him by 5+ car lengths, also a few 90s camaros & mustangs have fell victim as well. Google Gtech acuracy in regards to wheel hp & quarter mile times, its very acurate as long as your weight you type in is acurate...(hence my junk yard scale weigh)

 

Bragging rights aside - Corvettes Mustangs Camaros etc - as stated, you REALLY must find out what your axle ratio is that you have now.
If 3:90 - 4:56 is a must have bolt in mod.
Then without telling this dude before you turn up, strip out any excess weight you have in there. Tailgate, spare wheel window washer bottle etc that will save you a further 150lbs or so. Run a quarter of a tank of fuel or less, another big saving. Just enough to get you to, from and along the track for a few runs.
Make sure you run that truck cool. Put in a 180 tstat and make sure you don't run the engine at the track before your race, so the engine temp is cool. Pump up your front tyres for less rolling resistance. Its a bit more tricky for the rears as you want to keep traction, so higher pressures in the rears may loose you that.
All simple easy stuff which will help loose weight on that truck. Doesn't matter how small..... It all adds up
Also, re-set your pcm before your run. This will clear out any of the "easy driving" its learned, from your daily drives..... Then cut a good light
Good luck and post up how you do.
Al.

 

Thanks man I appreciate the post!

I have 3.55s in the truck.

 

If you have 3:55's in the back......4:56 will REALLY wake that thing up for sure!
Your trouble then will be.....getting traction and not smoking those tyres lol.
Seriously, it will greatly improve your chances. But, as yours is a 4x4 it's not cheap. As you need to do both front and rear diff's.
I live here in the UK so can't advise you on your costs. Someone will chime in here.
Failing that, a nitrous kit might be cheaper than a full 4:56 instal.
That's good for at least 3/4 sec on a truck like yours in the 1/4.
Don't disclose it, and he won't know what hit him lol
Al.

 

First off the 2011 X5 didn't come with a 4.8L V8, here are the options:

3.0L 6-cyl. Turbo AWD 8-speed Automatic
4.4L V8 Twin-turbo AWD 8-speed Automatic (This is the M edition and will stomp you into the ground no matter what you do)

They have the x50 trim which has the 4.4L V8 as well which has 400HP, which you won't be able to match without some major work.

The 3.0L I6 runs a 0-60 mph 6.0 Quarter Mile 14.4

The 4.4L V8 runs like 1-2 seconds faster give or take in both 0-60 and 1/4 Mile. depending if it's the X5 M or not.

They are AWD so from a Stop it will pretty much pull at least a car length on you in under 120 feet.

I think you're **** out of luck trying to match up a Dodge Ram and a BMW X5...

If you really want to beat him while in a dodge ram, do yourself a favor and go get a Cummins Diesel, programmer, at least 3.91 or higher gears, along with an exhaust, intercooler, and larger turbo....

Then you might have a shot.

Fact of the matter is, that transmission is geared drastically different to accommodate the AWD, as well as keep their "BMW Heritage" of being the "Ultimate Driving Machine"... those SUVs are certified for the Autobahn in Europe. I hate to burst your bubble but, there's no way in hell you're going to win this with a 5.7L Hemi and 3.55 Gears.

Your truck will do at best a 15-17 second 1/4 mile.... the RAM SRT-10 does a 12.9 second 1/4 Mile

You'd have to put the following in just to come close to keeping up with that X5:

• 260 Comp Cams
• Upgraded Throttle Body + Port & Polish
• 5-Angle Valve Job on Heads
• High Stall Torque Converter
• 3.91 or 4.10 Gears
• Built Block (Pistons, Rods, Bearings, Crank, etc.)
• Supercharger or Turbo Kit (w/ Intercooler)
• High Capacity Fuel Pump
• Bigger Injectors
• Meth/Alcohol Injection System

Plus all supporting mods to accommodate the massive increase in HP.

Your other option is to put in a crate motor from somewhere... here are your options:

- 6.1L SRT-8 Hemi
- 7.0L Hemi
- 7.2L Hemi

those are from http://www.bpeusa.com/G3HemiCrateEngines.asp

They will prolly take a whole bunch of modification and fab work to install and make them fit and function properly, but it's do-able... You'll also need a bunch of custom tuning work...

I wish you luck, and without doing the work I've mentioned you'll soon be $200 and a tank of gas poorer.

If I was you, I'd tell that guy to f**k off and get a life. You're driving a Truck, not a Sport Model SUV...

 

Gears will be the biggest bang. A converter also goes a long way to getting you right into the powerband. I have an 03 quad cab. I put a Dana 60 out of an SRT truck to get the brakes and 4.56 gears (plus the things are pretty much indestructible). I run the Superchips canned tune (91), half the stock exhaust system, stock cam but a 2800 stall converter. I did some runs with my tuner. While I don't completely trust the 1/4 mile times, I figure the 0-60 is pretty accurate. These runs also came with a helluva lot of wheelspin. With 4wd you won't have this issue (though it will cost you twice as much to do gears). 14.77 is iffy, but it shows me getting to 60 in about 6 sec flat, which to me is impressive for a 5300lb (without my big 240lb *** in it).

 

Izero is right. You must get the low down on what engine this thing is using as there are 4.
Available Engines:
400-hp, 4.4-liter V-8 (premium)
300-hp, 3.0-liter I-6 (premium)
265-hp, 3.0-liter I-6 (diesel)

And if it's the X5 M.......Available 555-hp X5 M your fresh outta luck no matter what you do to that truck bar a Nelson power plant

The 400 ponies car is do-able, if the guy can't drive and you get 4:56's and nitrous.
Al