Just bought a 2004 dodge turbo cummins.I'm looking for the bestproductsto spend my money on. My goal is to get the best fuel mileage that I can. Hourse power is aplus but the truck has plenty for what I use it for. Are cold air intakes worth the extra money over aftermarket air filters? I've heard upgrading injectors is worth the money? I dontwant anything to void my warrenty.

 

The first thing I would do is chip it. That will get your fuel mileage.

 

Cold air intakes are all hype and nothing more. A turbo spinning many thousands of rpms compressing the air heats it up hot regardless what the intake does to it . Intercoolers cool your air and even the best of them can only get it close to what the outside ambient temp is. If you want colder air though a better intercooler might be money better spent than spending it on an intake. But letting the engine breathe easier is always a good thing as is improving the filtration. Here's the homemade intake I run: http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/d...d.php?t=129265 There are guys who have made some nice ones out of pvc pipes painted with black krylon etc that perform just as well for even cheaper.

If you want easy fuel economy gains get yourself a mild chip. That's it for easy gains all the rest is hype and lies dont believe any of it. The quadzilla xzt towing chip has given me decent results. But there are many different chips out there you just have to take the time to look. My xzt was $200 used and I thought that was good bang for the buck. I've also got some proven fuel economy mods that really do help but they weren't cheap on the other hand I'm never getting rid of the truck so it's money well spent. I went overboard on exhaust and it sure does look and sound good but there are/were cheaper alternatives out there. I would probably install a 51" nelson muffler retaining the stock pipes if I had it to do over again for a lot less money and probably the same benefit. On injectors sounds like your stockers will be more than enough I'd leave that one alone. Have fun with the truck!!

 

Dieseljunky...cold air intake serve more than 1 function... the amount of air they can flow will determine how fast your egt's rise plus your not trying to compress hot air... they are 100 % worth it. Depending on which one you have, you may or maynot get a bump in mileage, you will get a faster spooling turbo.

At one point during my modding, I had a cat delete/30" magnaflow setup... every time I used the AFE Stage 2 kit, mpg dropped. turbo spoolup times dropped significantly, egt's dropped vs the stock airbox and when cooling down, egt's dropped very fast. when I put the stock airbox back in for mpg purposes (long trips, no towing) mpg would go back up about 1 mpg and egt's would take a long time to drop during cool down.

Colder air is not the main goal with the CAI on a diesel, flow is. The other thing to mention is the intake temp yields the most power when it's between 100-110 deg IMO based on my butt dyno and reading the IAT temp on the Attitude monitor when I had my edge. Go colder or hotter and you can feel the power drop off.

to the origianl poster... Welcome to DF...

cheep mods include the Rokktech timing sensor ($70) that will get you about 1~1.5 mpg, or an Edge EZ will do the same but also give you more power options. these are a good place to start. My setup... ATS intake manifold, AFE stage 2 w/PG7 filter, Aero 4040 where the cat used to be, 30" magnaflow muffler, TST powermaxCR49, I have great results with it and the only thing I'd change now would be a the turbo & head studs... to something that would get me into the upper 40's low 50's for boost.

http://www.rokktech.com/_mgxroot/page_10437.html

 

First and foremost is gauges.

 

I agree with Steve. The ability for the element to flow more volume than the stocker does influence EGT's for me. The reason that I got into the CAI thing is not to have to pay $20+ to replace my stock paper filter every 7-10k miles.
And Like Steve, the higher air temps yield the best mileage for me as well.
Cheers
Mike
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Iwent to a K/N drop in filter, will that help lower EGT's and raise flow?

 

Chris,
The first thing I would do is add gauges to monitoe the performance.
Ask about CAI, and your goiung to get a lot of different opinions as to what is the best,
Personally, I had a Airraid dropin filter and got rid of it for a Amsoil dry type filter.
The only other change to my truck was the MBRP muffler.
Between the two, I noticed a drop in EGTs by 50 *.
Hope this helps.

 

Thats a cool looking home made intake Dieseljunky. I do know air valume is the main reason forchanging any intake. A 6in. filterand pipe would definitely help. From whatI'vefound so far no one makes one that big. I want to stay away from chips. Thats the fastest way to void a warrenty. Gauges are a must for any diesel. The easist was to figureH/P on a cummins is fuel psi + boost psi+exhaust temp. Unless you have a dyno. Exhaust mods will come soon but I'd like to keep it quiet.

 

Chips won't void your warranty.... unless it causes a problem and the dealer finds out....

Thanks to the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act...

https://dodgeforum.com/m_542249/tm.htm

Merry Christmas!!! :-)