So I finally made up my mind for a tuner and went for the Banks Ottomind w/ Power PDA!!! I have been dealing with this choice for about 4-5 months now. Let me know what you guys think about my choice. Oh, I also removed my silencer ring today!! But didn't take out the baffels. Not sure on how to remove it besides the dremel. Any ideas??

Give a fellow some input !!!!

 

banks is good, but you can get an edge, tst, or smarty that will give more power for less.

as far as the baffels, just dremel off the outer lips and take a hammer and wack the X and it will slip right out

 

The reason I went with the Banks was for the safety features. Did I miss anything on this? I alson like the PDA display. My second choice would be TST followed by SMARTY than the EDGE setup. What do you think?

 

both TST and Edge have safety features for boost and EGT control.

the main reason I like TST over other boxes is that it does not raise rail pressure to increase power, unless you tell it to. increaseing rail pressure too muchcan cause the injectors to crack, popping the rail relief valve($200 unless you cap it) or worse damaging the CP3.

 

How is the TST reguarding fuel economy. I hear it wastes fuel which is the black smoke. Would serperate gauges be needed w/ this set up?

 

you can keep the settings low and you will not have any smoke at all. I have mine set at 4/3 and the only smoke I see is right as I shift and the turbo is just catching back up. after the turbo catches back up no smoke at all, just the initial puff. all smoke is gone after 15psi under mid to heavy throttle.

now crank it to 7/7 or higher and it'll look like a skeeter sprayer has been in the area

in terms of fuel economy the newer boxes have 4 different programmings, one strictly for economy, the standard, early twins and late twins. I only have the standard programming and at 4/1 I can average 19.5mpg. Steve has a similar box, however he has the EGT readout on his, thats is the only difference between his and mine, he gets his best economy on 1 or 2, however that is the difference between the auto and manual.

one more thing that is nice about the TST is that is has the ability to grow with additional performance items that the others cannot. other boxes you have to send off to be re-programmed for larger turbo's, sticks, or pumps. the TST you can just increase the power and torque numbers to get ever increasing power without haveing to send it off.

now I'm not saying this is the box for you, but what I am saying is you can get more power for less money. Banks makes some bang up good stuff, however they are rather high when it comes to prices.

 

You are kinda making me regret the Banks now after hearing it from a real cummins driver and not a Banks salesperson. I may call for the TST just for kicks! What is the chance of cracking injectors realality wise? Is this something that happens offten?

 

in reality, it can happen. . .Ive only heard of a few cases of pressure boxes cracking injectors or causeing premature wear. could it happen to you. . .probably not and you may never have any problems while your truck runs like a raped ape for 300,000 miles.

I am only relaying info I have gathered from other sites and believe me I did extensive research on the pros and cons of all these boxes. for a while the quadzilla box was on the top of my list since it does timeing and duration on all settings, and only gives a bump in pressure on the highest setting. TST to me was a bit expensive untill I ran across someone that was selling one for a good price. I have yet to regret it and I bet you wont either