Intercooler with .84 housing thoughts - Diesel Forum

Glen5241 · 07-01-2008, 10:03 PM

It was recommended to me to add an intercooler and the .84 ar housing to my truck for towing applications. I will be towing a 34' 5th wheel toy hauler. I towed my buddy's 36' for a short distance and found the egt's to run 1100 continuously. A local turbo specialty shop recommended adding an intercooler and changing the turbine housing to a .84 a/r. He said the housing would help with better boost at lower rpm's while aiding the temp issue and then the IC would reduce egt's around 200. He would also get rid out the EBPV while he is in there. What are your thoughts on the .84 housing and will this actually help the temp issue or make it worse? I know the IC should help a lot, what can I expect regarding temp reduction? He would like to use the ATS IC. I will also be installing an ATS 5-Star converter. Any and all thoughts would be greatfully accepted.

caryt · 07-02-2008, 08:41 AM

I had a ATS IC and it worked well, you should see 150-200*. FYI you can run all day at 1200*.

I wouldn't get a .84, get a set of tranie savers from Bean..way better bang for the buck!

I'd add a BD brake for hauling a big 5th wheel!!! I had one and brakeing downhills is great 90% of the time I never had to use the brakes just the BD.

ATS TQ..nope talk to Dale and get one of his TQ's..

Cary

js4x4stroke · 07-02-2008, 10:26 PM

I installed the .84 turbo housing on my '97 and loved it for around town driving, but my egt's climbed too fast while towing so I installed a SD intercooler. Now I can tow all day without going over 1200. If I did more towing I would have gone with the 1.00 housing instead.

Garbage_Mechanic · 07-02-2008, 10:32 PM

To add to Cary's comment, if you get injectors send yours to Bean and have him build yours, you will never find better cores than your 50,000 mile ones!

Glen5241 · 07-03-2008, 12:12 AM

I talked with the shop that suggested the .84 housing and the ATS intercooler. He spent a lot of time explaining his recommendation. He said the oem housing is a 1.00 as it is an automatic tranny. The manual trannies had a 1.15 housing. This is the reason the .84 housing was developed, so the people with autos could drop down to increase pressure at lower rpms. With the addition of the IC, there should be plenty of volume to supply higher rpms. He has been doing these same upgrades for many years and said he is very confident in the combo. If I do not like the performance, he will change whatever is necessary to get the truck performing how I want. He is also going to change the ebpv pedestal and eliminate the butterfly completely. As for the TC, I have read a lot of positive things about the ATS. The truck is not raced or driven hard, obviously, just used for towing the trailers. A friend has a Precision TC and is happy with it. Seems that there are always pros and cons to everything and also positive experiences as well and negative. Sometimes one must make a choice and deal with the results later. Thanks for all of the input. I am still looking for more thoughts.
Glen

PSDfreak · 07-03-2008, 01:04 AM

Hey Glen...I assume you are talking with a shop in Chico...I have dealt with a few...out of curiousity who are you talking with???

ps. We never met up for that beer at the grad

Greasy_Dually · 07-03-2008, 05:42 AM

I'm pretty sure all the OBS PS came with a 1.15 housing regardless. General consensus seems that .84 will help you at much lower RPMs and hurt you at higher. So if you need to drop into a lower gear for a hill you won't do as well. A 1.0 is a compromise between faster boost, without harming the top end too much.

Just my opinion but banks ic looks to me like it would be worth the extra money over the ats.

caryt · 07-03-2008, 09:00 AM

The shop doesn't know what they are talking about all OBS have the same turbo housings. The addition of a IC will not change the volume of air at all and with a .84 you will not have the top end power you had before. Talk to Bean and get a expert's opinion on how to make the engine perform for your needs and $$.

Glen5241 · 07-15-2008, 05:19 PM

Talked to Bean's today. They recommended an IC and don't change the turbine housing, go with their Dominator turbo replacement. They said the torque converter would probably not help much. Hell, too many different opinions. For Bean's, a $1200 turbo sale would be better than a $150 housing sale. I don't use the truck that much any more, just for towing. I don't mind spending some dollars to build it up reasonably, but I don't want to go way overboard. Granted, it is still cheaper than a new truck but where is the line??? After talking with the local shop, it looks like the 1.0 housing is where we will start along with the IC and the removal of the EBPV. My buddy installed a Precision torque converter and is very happy with how it works in his 2002. I guess time will give the results. At least the shop said they will change parts as needed if I am not happy with any of the results. They do stand by their work.

realbadlarry · 07-15-2008, 11:00 PM

Did you call Dale at Tymar yet????? Call him before you spend your $$$$$$$$$$. I have to agree that the 1.0 or .84 is going to flow LESS volume, so less cool air. The D66 flows more air everywhere so It should in theory lower EGTs while being able to make more power. Haven't heard of anyone with a D66 that is not happy with it. Dale will ask you , "how fast do you need to go"? You can slow down 5mph and save your money and still get there, or spend $$$$$$$$$$$ and go 5-8mph faster. I would call Dale and talk to him and get his view of the diesel world, it couldn't hurt.

Greasy_Dually · 07-16-2008, 05:19 AM

If you are doing a new TC spend the extra 100 bucks and order a transgo tugger kit to go with it, you'll be glad you did.

Glen5241 · 07-16-2008, 08:59 PM

Here is what I found going to and coming back from our trip to the Oregon dunes. Wasn't pulling a lot, around 5K lbs. Truck weighed 8k lbs. Climbing most of the hills, it pulled fairly well, ran 1100* at 2k rpm. When the speed started to drop off and rpm's dropped below 1800, egt went way up. Shut off OD and rpm went up, boost went up and egt went down. For most of the grades it worked fairly well this way. Still could run egt's way over if I got greedy trying to go too fast. Coming over the Ashland summit, had to drop to 2nd and just loaf along and kept egt around 1150*. This is how the turbo guy came up with the smaller A/R housing. He said it would help the low speed boost which would help with efficiency. I did see what he was talking about with more boost pressure helping to reduce the egt's. This was only towing 5k. When the 5th wheel gets here, it should weigh in around 12k loaded, or maybe a little more. I am right at specified GCVW. I did speak with Dale and he said to just put the IC on and see how it does. Didn't suggest any tranny work or turbo work. So, I have lots of various opinions. Obviously, an IC is a must, but from there, flip the coin. My choices, add nothing else and see what happens, change turbine housing and TC, change turbo and TC. I have to way overall costs and also getting a good price for doing everything at the same time. The owner of the shop will stand by his work, if I don't like the results, he will work on it until we are both satisfied. So my adventure continues. Thanks for listening and a lot of thanks for the advice.

Big_Dan97 · 07-17-2008, 05:17 PM

I think 1.0 housing, IC, Beans Trannysavers, shift kit, and an upsized tranny cooler and youd be set

realbadlarry · 07-17-2008, 07:05 PM

I'm in your boat as well, a 13k tag trailer and the cajon pass and whitewater grade (small hill, lots of headwind). I am going to do the hypermax IC, a D66 and stage 1s with either wildman or tipton tunes. Then I have to worry about a trans and a hpop. It never stops, For now, I slow down and get there, but it would be nice to be able to pull 3rd and not have to drop to 2nd. I pulled Cajon with an 05 dodge and had to drop it into 2nd as well, I guess big trailers are just big. Physics sucks don't it.

Glen5241 · 07-17-2008, 08:17 PM

It's a funny thing this mod stuff. I have heard that the HyperMax coolers are one of the best out but then I have also been told they are not the best for quality of build. Then I hear/read ATS coolers suck but keep reading and lots of people are extremely happy with how ATS turned out in their truck. I suppose that is why so many companies are in business, different strokes for different p'strokes. Someone out there please give me a little background on this towing/egt issue. Some people want to go bigger injectors such as the tranny savers and then add a higher flowing turbo, doesn't this create more egt problems to control? More air/boost available allows more fuel to burn, thus higher egt's? Am I correct? This is where the IC comes to the front, it seems to be the critical component in all of the cooling stuff. I don't need the fastest, highest hp, highest torque towing monster, I just need my rig to be a solid performer. Good economy, if there is such a thing, good towing with both lighter and heavier loads, reasonable performance on towing grades and decent speed on the grades as well as the flats. I don't tow much over 60-65 mph anyway. If I have to slow down on the grades so be it, I just want to try and control the egt's. Thanks again for the ideas on what all are looking at doing or have done. Makes for very good discussion. As for tranny work, someone suggested the Transgo Tugger kit. Anyone out there using it?