Fuel and milage upgrades

I am very new to the diesel world

Looking for the main avenues to research regarding fuel milage, power, and reliability.

I have a 2001 2500 manual 5 speed. This truck is bone stock. I bought it to pull my 10k rated 18ft trailer that has my 3650lb rock crawler loaded on it.

I get a 18 mpg average without trailer and 15 mpg average with.

Names of good products to check out or bad ones to steer clear of would be appreciated as well.

Welcome to the site Mr. Stubs,
I believe reading the New Guy Info thread will show you some things to consider first,

http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187615

Yep, been there, read that, thanks though.

Everyone tells me to either chip, straight pipe or lift pump it.

Thats fine but.... is this good info from my tire kicking friends?

If it is what are good brands to look at? These are the things that I am researching. It is hard to research without a base knowledge to start from.

If it were me I would do a fuel pressure gauge first then 4" exhaust I have a Magnaflow & then a cold air intake I have a K/N with a Amsoil filter chips are your choice I would get one with boost fooling. I ran a Quadzilla Xzillaraider the pump tap came loose & melted the VP44 injection pump wires so I went with a Superchips programer & added 50 hp injectors I have run the setup in my signature for 125,000 miles with no issues. When I tow I return to the stock tune & my EGT's are manageable My Gross weight is about 26,000 lbs. Truck Trailer Tractor.

Hope this helps ya
Have a Great Fourth!

Decent tuner (pretty much anything with a mileage tune) with boost fooler, 50hp injectors, a 62 or 63mm turbo (will require a better clutch), better air filter, straight pipe from the turbo back, 33" tires, should put you well into 20's. Minus the tires, you should be able to do it for less than a grand. And not only will it get good mileage, it'll be fun as hell with either of those chargers on it. If you don't want any more real power, you can just take the turbos out of that list, but you'll still want better clutch.

Oh, and get a lift pump (fass/airdog/raptor) just to keep your vp44 alive. Even on stock trucks, the stock lift pumps like to die, and take the $1500 vp44 with it.

If you are not real interested in power, just stick with the basics, air intake and exhaust systems. As for tuners, most if not all have a mileage and tow tune. I would skip the injectors and turbo and see how you like how the truck does with the basics. You can always add more later if you want.

before doing anything you need to run a bigger lift pump. Fass or Airdog are my two top choices but there are others. I have 150 gph fass but you prolly wont need anything that much. A good air intake and open the exhaust up 4" should be plenty but 5" will keep egts cooler. Injectors can definitely help with mpg but with the price of injectors you may want to wait for now. I would also do a good programmer. I have the quadzilla adrenaline with pulse(pulse is a monitor for in cab to monitor everything and change settings on the fly). Very good programmer especially for stuff like your wanting. Alot of people says it surges(or bucks) and it does but only when i have mine on the most aggressive tune and am letting her eat. so i guess all in all i would do...
1. Lift pump(no other way around it....otherwise the vp will die quick!)
2. Air intake or cold air system
3.Exhaust system(100000s to choose from i personally am running a mbrp and its ok but wouldnt be my choice again i dont think)
4.Programmer of some sort(remember what you pay for is what you get, my .02 is edge juice or quad adr.)
5. Then from there i would start checking out turbos and injectors cuz thats the real money

hope this helps

Mr Stubs, welcome to the darkside! I've had my 02 CTD for 8 years now and love it.

After reading your post the first thing I would do is to install gauges, a Boost, Pyro, and Fuel pressure. The FP gauge is a must with the VP44 powered trucks. I would do the Intake and Exhaust second, I have a 5 inch straight pipe on my truck and I use an Amsoil Nanofiber BHAF for an intake. You also want to do an aftermarket Lift pump setup, I like Airdog more over FASS. Since you have the 5 spd you want to take care of the 5th gear nut if it hasn't been addressed yet.

A good suggestion I have is to re-locate or remove the oil puke bottle on the front of the engine. Oil in the bottle will splash out and get into the fan and radiator. This causes the radiator to plug up with crud and not cool the engine as well.

Lift pump and psi gauge should be #1 on the list of things to do. Fass is my top choice as far as gauges stay away from glowshift,auto meter and isspro are good. Edge or quad is good tuner wise(be warned that a manual can only take about 100hp). As far as intake put on bhaf it's just as good as any other brands plus its relatively cheap. You can get by with 4in exhaust that's plenty if you aren't going to be doing a lot of mods.

I keep seeing from you all to upgrade to a CAI which I don't quite get. I have a friend that supplied Airraid with new 2500's and 3500's for their testing some years back. He is a manager for a local dealer (Airraid is located here in AZ). The before and after CAI dynos yielded the same exact results on the Cummins.

A new intake won't do anything until the turbo actually tries to draw more air. If you switch intakes with a stock motor/fuel/turbo, you won't see any difference. And most CAI's won't do anything to that point either, as they're still to restrictive. Get a single filter from air raid or AFE, and delete the filter box, leaving just the new filter in it's place. Don't get a BHAF if you plan on making more than 400hp, the paper is very restrictive.

Hey Mike, I mean to make an argument for the BHAF this spring when I go to Bean's Diesel get together this spring to dyno.

Is your's paper? It might just be a big filter LOL I have a "BHAF" that flows enough for 2000hp, but looks like any other filter.

Yup, mine's the old Napa 2790, 12" long & 11" dia.
Once on a run at the test hill, I disconnected it and did not improve the speed at the marker but did see a bit quicker boost before the waste gate opened.

Originally Posted by Clunk

Yup, mine's the old Napa 2790, 12" long & 11" dia.
Once on a run at the test hill, I disconnected it and did not improve the speed at the marker but did see a bit quicker boost before the waste gate opened.

What size charger you running? I could just be blind and tired, but I don't see it in your sig LOL I noticed the power difference with my 63, which I'm guessing was around 450hp at the time.

EDIT: didn't see this before, but when you go to Beans, get some good pictures of his drag truck, or videos if he dyno's it, which I'm sure he will. it's pretty much like porn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJZkUnEmWOA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYAWCNhG4zk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ythWMAyENs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbgu-2smCc

It's a 62-65-.70A/R

Looks like they have a hard time hooking up that little Chevy.

It was originally a gas truck, can't remember what motor though. But being the 6bt has a tiny bit more torque, they can't keep the front down lol. They're getting it better and better. Last video I saw they had it leaving fairly straight.

What do you have for injectors? I'd put you anywhere between 350 and 450 with a 62, maybe on the lower half with the 65/.7 housing. I'll bet that thing is fun to drive though.

Yeah, it looks like the rear end housing is moving around too in 2nd gear.
I installed some Injector Parts 200hp nozzles on my stock injector bodies. I set the pop 4750psi/ the high side of stock 4500psi +or- 250 at home. It slipped the Centerforce clutch but doesn't slip the ceramic/Kevlar single disc that's in it now.
I have 100's & 50's I run with the 60-60-14cm hybrid turbo when the high fuel prices get to me..

You have a pop tester?

Yup, an OTC Nozlrater II. Got it from eBay a few years ago.
An Instrument Tech where I worked calibrated the gauge for 4500 psi with a Dead Weight calibrator and as far as I know, earth's gravity was in spec that day....lol