How to build a Build Thread (Cummins Content)

volvoclearinghouse wrote: In reply to wheelsmithy: Amazing you'd get that reaction in Tennessee.

Reactions have been 99.9% positive, I just thought it was funny that even this victim of a woman felt compelled to engage in conversation. My take on projects is that there is no bad attention: If you can get someone out of his or her own head even just for a minute, it is a good thing.

BTW, speaking of it being a small world, my parents grew up in Glen Burnie. I'm a big fan of MD, especially the eastern shore. Growing up, all these southerners called me a Yakkee. It did absolutely no good to try to explain the Mason/Dixon line to them. My point is, you guys are damn near as redneck as we are-no surprise they like your diesel. I mean all this in the most reverential of ways.

I put Old Bay in my bloody maries.

Small world, indeed. We're not from MD, recently moved here, and we moved to a pretty red-neck part of Maryland on purpose (Westminster, since you're familiar with the state). I think half of Westminster drives a Powerstroke, Cummins, or Duramax powered rig.

Maryland has a very interesting history with regard to the whole North/ South thing. We were in Frederick a couple of weeks ago with my parents and reading about the history of that town back in the 1860's. The way Lincoln handled Maryland during the War between the States was fairly, um, heavy handed. If some other country tried some of the stuff he did back then, today, it'd be the sort of thing that would cause the U.S. to wag their finger, declare sanctions, or send in troops.

Anyway, apart from Baltimore city, PG and Montgomery counties, Maryland's voting block is fairly solidly red- in many senses of the word.

Next time someone says how horrible of a person you are for driving a diesel, explain how much less environmentally detrimental it is than their dang prius.

....and the starter's shot. I pulled it just now, off to the armature shop after work tomorrow.

...And a retarded video of the truck doing truck-like things. By that non-PC word, I mean it appears to be in slow-mo. For some reason, one of the tail lights stopped working after this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nh3j8ekp7ax0dl/shed%20fun.mp4?dl=0

Love the video! Always wanted to crash a vehicle into a building, but I've never had both crappy enough vehicles or crappy enough buildings to do that with.

Tiny update on a beaut of a day...Starter's back in, works great, cost a bill for the armature shop to rebuild.

I tried an internet fix for the OD problem. It said to ground a certain wire from the transmission to turn it on/off. Suffice to say, this was a dead end. Did not work. I had no OD weather this wire was grounded or not. So I returned it to stock. I've heard of a rheostat retrofit that allows you to adjust the RPM/Load at which it kicks on. Maybe another day.

chiodos wrote: Awesome truck! My uncle had a mint d250 4x4 that I fell in love with. I think this needs a bit more mad max wink wink

I'm hoping you don't mean the homosexuality bit a la Toe cutter.

Love the truck and project!

Do you have one of those early Holsets with the massive a/r turbine housing? You kinda make it sound so. If so, can i buy it after you take it off?

If some other country tried some of the stuff he did back then, today, it'd be the sort of thing that would cause the U.S. to wag their finger, declare sanctions, or send in troops.

The United States as a whole is pretty much immune to cognitive dissonance, otherwise we'd have nuked ourselves in indignance long ago.

Vigo wrote: can i buy it after you take it off? <blockquote

Let me get back to you on that. Definitely as Holset, and BIG.

Neat, thanks. The early huge a/r turbine housing sucks for an actual cummins truck but i would be using it as the larger turbo in a compound setup on a small-displacement gas engine, so it seems like it would be pretty great for that.

I once drove a REALLY nice 1st gen cummins/5psd/4wd standard cab long bed and it is to date the coolest Ram i've ever driven, which includes SRT10. Even a beater one is still entertaining and useful.

...I'm the brother and former owner...it has the holset HC1 with the 21cm^3 exhaust side housing. Most think of it as the "worst" turbo for the cummins because it has a (relatively) lot of lag, but doesn't really get hot when towing. Since it is an auto, any lag is fairly hidden most of the time. I had purchased a WHC1 with a 12cm^3 exhaust housing (off a 1994), but never had time to put it on. Supposed to be a nice little bump in boost as long as you don't go crazy turning the fuel up (much past that it would run hot EGT's and overpower the transmission). Hopefully Joel will have more time that I did to tinker with it...

I like this truck. And I have nothing else to add, other than this:

This is a wicked truck. I always wanted one of these 80s Rams, they're not trying to make waves or scream at people. They're just honest good trucks.

Mini-update: Rockauto order placed. AC delete belt and tensioner, Radiator hoses, Water pump, and Gaskets. Killer Dowell Pin, I'm coming for you. Also, researching low/no dollar upgrades. Brake light out again.

...I'm the brother and former owner...it has the holset HC1 with the 21cm^3 exhaust side housing. Most think of it as the "worst" turbo for the cummins because it has a (relatively) lot of lag, but doesn't really get hot when towing. Since it is an auto, any lag is fairly hidden most of the time. I had purchased a WHC1 with a 12cm^3 exhaust housing (off a 1994), but never had time to put it on. Supposed to be a nice little bump in boost as long as you don't go crazy turning the fuel up (much past that it would run hot EGT's and overpower the transmission). Hopefully Joel will have more time that I did to tinker with it... ...I'm the brother and former owner...it has the holset HC1 with the 21cm^3 exhaust side housing. Most think of it as the "worst" turbo for the cummins because it has a (relatively) lot of lag, but doesn't really get hot when towing. Since it is an auto, any lag is fairly hidden most of the time. I had purchased a WHC1 with a 12cm^3 exhaust housing (off a 1994), but never had time to put it on. Supposed to be a nice little bump in boost as long as you don't go crazy turning the fuel up (much past that it would run hot EGT's and overpower the transmission). Hopefully Joel will have more time that I did to tinker with it...

Yeah, that's the one i'm after. I really just need the housing in case the plan was to just swap the smaller housing onto the better turbo.

Also, having driven an auto cummins truck with the 21cm housing after rebuilding the trans.. i felt the lag was anything BUT hidden! The smaller housing is probably a massive drivability upgrade. Not sure how it could affect total boost unless it changes how much of the wastegate puck surface is exposed to pressure in the turbine housing or something like that. OR if the 21cm housing is so big that the stock engine never spools it enough to open the wastegate. What's stock boost on this truck? If i remember correctly from the turbo dodge world where a lot of people use Holsets, the stock wastegate actuator opens at around 18psi.

In reply to Vigo:

I believe stock boost is between 14 and 18 psi with the 21cm housing. The "general" rule of thumb that I was always told on these 12V Cummins was that they would make about 10hp for every psi of boost. Stock truck is "rated" at 140hp and 400 ft-lbs. It is really dependent on the fuel settings. The stock 18(??) and 21 housings in the 1st generation trucks didn't have wastegates, the boost is only controlled by how much fuel is fed to it. The 2nd generation 12cm and newer all had wastegates. I think the theory was that the mechanical pumps (1st gen) couldn't really pump that much fuelto overboost the large housing turbos?? When they reduced the housing on the 2nd gen to better the drivability, it was easy to overheat/overboost, so they added the wastegate. (for reference I think some 3rd generation have 9cm for even faster spoooling, but get really hot if you are towing...unless you ahve the newer fule control and boost control).

My understanding is that if you left the fuel alone and bolted on the 12cm housing (onto a 1st gen), you would gain a few psi (maybe around 4 total) of boost with no other changes. Seems like it was something like 2 psi per housing size 21 to 18, 18 to 16, etc...but please don't hold me to that it has been a long time since I looked at all that. You could get a few more psi of boost after the housing change by cranking up the fuel pressure/changing the delivery (which on this truck is a few wrench turns away). When I was messing around with it, it was believed that the "best" single housing was a 14cm non-waste gated (hard to find and kind of expensive when you do), as it was small enough to reduce lag, but big enough to stay cool (enough) when you started turning the fuel up.
(IMHO) The transmisssions (autos in particular) in these don't hold up real well unless you put a lot of money in them or keep the mods relatively mild...so i was always going to keep it mild, so I bought the waste gated 12cm off a 1994 RAM and was just going to weld the waste gate shut. Again, on a diesel, the boost is really controlled by how much fuel you throw at it. I thought it would be fine especially if I spent a little time hand porting the turbo (and matching the intake as much as possible). Work and life started happening and the truck stated getting worse and worse, but I couldn't part with it...until my brother offered to pick it up. The rest is in his build thread...

Ah, i had forgotten that the really early cummins turbos had no wastegates! With that in mind your comments make complete sense! derp..

I built transmissions for a couple of years. I think the 518 is ok for a mild early cummins unless you are trying to put full torque through 4th gear in which case you would need to spend some money. If one could remember to shift out of 4th before giving it the beans or built a circuit with a pressure switch to turn off 4th gear when in high boost, i think a good stock-hard-parts rebuild would hold a pretty good amount of torque.

You guys know stuff!
I really don't need any more power in this truck, but since TDM already did the research, and bought the parts, I figure what the heck. The one thing I really do not want to do is blow this transmission all over the ground. Changing the fluid is high on the list as soon as I get the Killer Dowel Pin fixed.(!!)

Vigo, be patient. You have first dibs on the original turbo, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the day it comes out. Right now, I've got a bathroom to remodel. Once the new one goes on, I'll want to do a couple of months shakedown to confirm all is well before parting with the old one. I appreciate the dialogue, as clearly you and my Bro know much more about turbos and such than I do. I will get back when/if this thing is available.

My projects move slowly so in all likelihood i'll still be looking by then.

I'm interested in the build itself anyway so don't get the impression i'm only posting to badger you for used parts!

I just missed out on a cheap cummins truck a week ago.. sigh..

In reply to Vigo:

Not at all. If anything, I'd love to somehow contribute to some awesome compound turbo awesomness. BTW, I checked out your fleet. Way cool. I will let you know when/if the turbo is ready.

I'm sure several here have been on the edges of their proverbial seats, so here is an update:

One request, please. I just replaced my ailing digital camera, and these new photos are from the new one. I had an option to go 32 bit, or 64. As 64 was the default, that is what I went with, so, if these upload slowly, or any of you have advice, please let 'er rip. Without further ado-

I read requests for more MAD MAX:

Check out those sweet louvers I made with some metal roofing tools from work, and an angle grinder.

I'm experiencing some technical difficulties, so will get back to this soon.

Approved, way cool louvers

more pics of the Starlet!!

DirtyDiesel wrote: more pics of the Starlet!!

Would you settle for a build thread?...(allows suspense to build)

In the meantime, here's some more pics of the truck...

Sweet spare tire mount.

And, ok, as the whole reason behind this truck is to help bring the Starlet back to life (and NOT because I'm trying to flesh out my lousy build thread), here's a build thread .

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/83-starlet-avoid-the-noid-content/102299/page1/