OK SO everyone is changing Intake and exhaust. This seems to be the first cheapest step in providing more power...OR DOES IT?
Does anyone have any real word numbers before and after an intake or exhaust modification/replacement.
Other than seat of your pants or noise levels, I mean real dyno numbers.

Does the diesel engine suffer from the same low end torque loss that a gas engine does by increasing the exhaust? Is it so minimal that it doesnt really matter for the increases involved?

OR is the whole idea to make the thing just breath better and keep cooler, if such is the case would there be a huge advantage to being able to cool the air coming into the engine (several degrees worth of cooling)?

If nothing else can someone steer me to a great place for info about this stuff, I have read quite a bit but there have not been a lot of proof behind any statements.

 

yes it suffers on both ends... open one up but not the other and the loss is minimized. I am talking about part throttle, not WOT... WOT, the numbers are probably better than stock. but who drives WOT all the time. I lost mileage with both mods in place, added an aero 4040 where the cat was and it brought my mileage back some, made the low end much better and the tranny didnt want to downshift so much.

 

I read an article in one of the diesel magazines (sorry, don't remember which one) where they tested different aftermarket air intakes on stock diesel engines, with a dyno run before and after. They found that the aftermarket air intakes had no effect on torque or horsepower, at least with a stock engine. They did guess that if you had other engine mods the additional air flow may help make more power, but apparently the stock air intakes are not a limiting factor if you have no other mods.

 

I can add this... I currently have my stock airbox in place, it wont be there by noon tomorrow... it sucks. the afe with my exhaust setup rocks for everyday driving and is pretty good for WOT. I admit when I had the afe & magnaflow only installed, it spooled the turbo hella quick and part throttle low end torque was lost... it reved like there was no tomorrow, the turbo barked alot and mileage was at it's worst. but it was quick...

 

TDR had a excellent write up on the latest issue. It might be on thier main page. www.turbodieselregister.com

 

So would I be overstepping by saying unless I plan to either run a programmer or do more serious mods (injectors, etc.) the CAI and replacement exhaust makes more noise than horsepower?

I dont plan on really drag racing the thing (at least not yet). I am more after a quality rig (which I already have obviously) that is going to serve its purpose well for a long time (mainly running around and now pulling the new 5th wheel trailer, and occasionally show a ford or chevy what they are missing---grin---).

This helps me decide where to spend money on the truck, I think I will skip the intake and exhaust for now in favor of airbags for the rear to aid in the towing, with an on board compressor and tank, and maybe the exhaust brake, and well since would have air, gotta have air horns....damn thousand dollars here, thousand dollars there, before you know it you are talking about real money.

 

Just replace your filter w/ a good drop in dry filter (Amsoil) and replace your stock muffler w/ an aftermarket one and save money and you'll get just as good hp and air flow compared to a complete exhuast and CAI system. May cost you between $150-$175 compared to $800-$1,000.

 

you also have to think of the engine and performance when towing huge items...

if the exhaust is unable to move the heat away from the manifold and turbo, the turbo will seize over time.

so yes, breathing better is a big +

now you can go with a stock like exhaust, just sizeit to the next one...3" to 4", 4" to 5" etc.

personallyI removed my K&n filter from my 93. the oem paper unit works better for me.

very very few aftermarket mods for mine, soI try the less expensive ways.

rear air bags are great. my father in law added them to his 04 3500ctd. he now pulls a 5th wheel 35'toy haulerwith arail in the back with no sag.

 

Well the trailer we bought it not too huge. It is a 27ft 5th wheel with a GVWR of about 8k lbs. Towing it home (about a 3 hour drive) was not too difficult, it still had plenty of power left when the go pedal was needed. The overhead (as inaccurate as it may be) showed about 18.5-19mpg (empty) on the trip to get it and about 14mpg pulling it home.
I have only got about 1500 miles on the truck now, so that may get better, but considering I switched from a 2wd Dakota which at best got 16.5-17mpg on the freeway, EMPTY....and woulda crapped its pants with 7k lbs behind it (not that I woulda tried it) I dont feel too bad so far about trading it in for the Cummins powered 2500 4x4.

 

well I put back in the AFE intake kit this morning and can only say once again "wow"... breaths better, revs better and egt's drop much quicker...