Good Day one and All. I'm just back from a nice 10 day camping fishing trip which was the first time I towed my trailer since making all the mods to my truck. Trailer is approx 6500 lbs loaded (see pic)

The trip was 450 kms (270 miles) each way from London to Point Au Baril (north of Parry Sound for those from Ontario). No severe grades but there is some extended climbs (several kms long) and some short steeper ones. This is all multy lane highway/freeway.

On the trip there the outside temps were 75F. Going across the 401 I had a slight cross/tailwind that turned into an almost direct head wind when I headed north on the 400.

I discovered that the little code reader I bought also provides some live data including coolant temp and air intake temp. So with that and my gauges (Boost, Pyro and Tranny), here are some numbers. The code reader gives temps in degrees C but I've converted them to F

On the trip there I only monitored temps while travelling east on the 401 with the slight cross/tailwind.

Crusing at 100-110 km/h (60-65 mph)

EGT= 600 to 700 F (occasionally up to but never over 800)
Tranny = 170 to 180 F (never over 180)
Boost = 5-6 psi cruising flat, spike to 15 psi on inclines when in 3rd or 4th with TCC unlocked.
IAT = 32*C (89.6F) crusing flat, spike to 41*C(105.8F) on inclines when in 3rd or 4th with TCC unlocked, quickly drop back to 32 (89.6) when off the pedal.
ECT = 88*C (190.4F) on the flat, spike to 90*C (194F) on the hills but would recover back to 88 (190.4) in good time.

**Metric ECT gauges in these truck suck as far as the calibrations however temps on the scanner would closely match what the gauge on the truck would read**

On the trip home I had a nice tail/crosswind while travelling southbound on the 400 which turned into a pretty nasty (60 km/h or 40 mp/h) cross/headwind when heading westbound on the 401. Outside temps were again 75*F.

I monitored while travelling wb on the 401 into the headwind again crusing at 100 to 110 km/h (60 to 65 mp/h) closer to 100/60 because of the headwind.

EGT = 700 to 800 F mostly steady at 800 but never over
Tranny = 180 F steady but not over
Boost = 5-6 psi on flat, again spike to 15 psi when on the hills
IAT = 36*C (96.8F) on flat, spike to 41 (105.8F) on hills
ECT = 92 to 98*C (197.6 to 208.4 F) obviously lower on the flats and spike on the hills.

As you can see, the headwind really took it's toll but numbers remained acceptable.

Mileage for the trip was 13.25 mpg (imperial) or 11.04 mpg (US)

So.......

I'm quite pleased with the results of my modifications. I would have liked to see ECTs a little lower but I know that last year making the same trip my ECTs were over 100F and stayed there for a long time.

Before the mods I know on several occasions I would step on the pedal on some of the hills and I wasn't getting anymore power. I did have a boost gauge previously and I know in those occasions I was reading 0 boost.

This trip I was able to accelerate on the hills, the only thing holding my back was my desire to maintain good gas mileage. On many of the hills I was able to stay in OD with the TCC locked and maintain my speed with only slight acceleration.

So there you have it. A modification success story. :D

Before my next trip I will be installing a set of Timbrens on the rear to help with the bounce. As you can see by the pic, she is sagging a little in the rear and it is very noticeable when hitting bumps on the highway. I also finally got around to having my mandrel bent X-over pipe installed today. I went the easy route and paid the muffler shop $60 to do it for me.:)

Sorry for the long ramble. If anyone has any questions, fire away.

Dave

Good news Dave...........Glad to hear your Happy........no Problems.....what more cold you ask for?

Good Luck,
Louis

DAVE!!! You're back!! LOL... nice numbers, pal. I'm glad things seemed to run fine for you on your trip. You pulled a lot warmer into the wind; did you have the AC on?

A little extra power is a good thing, huh??

excellent numbers Dave! Hope you enjoyed your trip. Most of the numbers you saw are what I see riding empty as far as EGT and Boost are concerned. That intercooler really is doing a good job.

DAVE!!! You're back!! LOL... nice numbers, pal. I'm glad things seemed to run fine for you on your trip. You pulled a lot warmer into the wind; did you have the AC on?

A little extra power is a good thing, huh??


Definitely warmer into the wind, AC was not on. I would have liked to seen those numbers a little lower especially considering the outside temps were not that warm. What would my numbers be like if it was 90* outside into a headwind? It has me wondering whatelse I can do to lower the temps.

Dave
Extra power is a real good thing!

excellent numbers Dave! Hope you enjoyed your trip. Most of the numbers you saw are what I see riding empty as far as EGT and Boost are concerned. That intercooler really is doing a good job.

IC was doing it thing for sure. I was quite surprised to see the IAT numbers that low and with all the talk of guys going over 1000*F EGTs I was very happy with peaking at 800.

Dave

Try WMI yet? That should lower the IAT's a little more, correct?

100F on IAT is fine it's 200+ we are concerned with, some have postulated that 150F IAT is a good target for economy, as a little preheat to assist ignition isn't a bad thing with minimal loss of power.

Typical IAT on mine is 30F above ambient unless pulling hard foes to 40 ish over ambient, also a good reflash should not put you into so much fuel to have to worry much about seeing 1000F EGT.

You have put together a nice package.Nice stats ,except!The one thing iwould want to change if it were my truck would be the 208F temp. That is near 20% higher than 190 seen traveling under better conditions. Will surely be higher if you ever get into some 100F degree weather & a headwind. The remedy would be the Robert Shaw 180d egree thermostats & if the fan clutch is late engaging & temps up you need to retune the Severe duty fan clutch or go to Heaths new clutch & fan blade package.I'm anal about preventing the swings in temperature as it seems to me they are the root cause of block cracks. Prevention is always lower cost than the cure!!!

You have put together a nice package.Nice stats ,except!The one thing iwould want to change if it were my truck would be the 208F temp. That is near 20% higher than 190 seen traveling under better conditions. Will surely be higher if you ever get into some 100F degree weather & a headwind. The remedy would be the Robert Shaw 180d egree thermostats & if the fan clutch is late engaging & temps up you need to retune the Severe duty fan clutch or go to Heaths new clutch & fan blade package.I'm anal about preventing the swings in temperature as it seems to me they are the root cause of block cracks. Prevention is always lower cost than the cure!!!

I agree with you 100%. That is the only thing that has me concerned. I wondered about going to different t-stats to see if that would help cool things down. The SS severe duty fan clutch that I bought is supposed to engage sooner but to be honest, I'm not even sure when it was kicking in. I couldn't really hear it but with the windows down a bit and the radio on, there was lots of other noise.

Dave

I agree with you 100%. That is the only thing that has me concerned. I wondered about going to different t-stats to see if that would help cool things down. The SS severe duty fan clutch that I bought is supposed to engage sooner but to be honest, I'm not even sure when it was kicking in. I couldn't really hear it but with the windows down a bit and the radio on, there was lots of other noise.

Dave

Now THAT's not cool (literally)... when mine kicks in, even with my stock 6-blade fan, it's pretty obvious. Sounds like a big turbine in the front.

you will know windows up or down when the clutch kicks in, earlier this year when it started getting hot, I though my tranny was acting up I kept on hearing this horrendous hi rev drone, sounded like slipping clutchs then it would go away, plugged in the scanner, no issues observed, took me about 10 miles to remember the fan clutch kicking in & out, synchronized with momentary spike in engine calculated load/hp showning about 25hp more needed at spike when clutch kicked in,.

I don't believe the 25 Hp to drive the fan, but load is significant enough for the scanner to need to recalculate displayed load/Hp

Rising temps really only occurred on inclines heading into the wind. At the same time the TCC would either unlock in 4th or I would shift down to third. Noise level would go up from the increased revving and perhaps fan clutch engaging. I'll have to pay closer attention the next time I tow. I'm sure it was. The turbine noise that jifaire mentions sounds familiar.

Dave

I even get that sound not towing, give a close listen especially stop & go traffic on hot day

I even get that sound not towing, give a close listen especially stop & go traffic on hot day

Okay Tim. Thanks. I'll pay closer attention. I'm sure I've heard it and thinking about it more I've noticed what you describe by thinking the tranny is slipping and it sounds like the rpms are going up but they are not.

Dave

Yeah, that's the one. Hey, something I forgot to mention is the TCC lock thing... if your TCC is unlocking, your h2o temps will go up really fast. Us OBD-I guys can get around that with a lock-up switch, but you newer types are going to have to find a different solution. One of the things you can ask for is to have your reflash lock up in 4th continuously; then you can interrupt the line with an open switch for the few times you want it unlocked.

Pulling a load unlocked is a sure way to overheat (unless you have cool mods like you, in which case you just run warm.

Turbine Doc, You are the first person that has confirmed the statement that I was told by one of the dyno shops that I talked to about fan clutch engagement. I was doing research on using the electric fans and was told that the fan clutch would take 28 HP when it fully engaged. Sounded high to me but who am I to know. They have done a lot of HP/Torque studies so I believed them. Flex-A-Lite claimes a 14 HP gain over stock config with their fans installed..?? Anyway just thought I'd pass that on to you.

Hi Dave,

Good post, looks like you had a good trip. I just upgraded to the SSDiesel fan/clutch setup and I also thought that the fan clutch was not engaging because I did not get the loud noise that I used to get with my standard metal fan setup. However I believe that this fan is simply quieter then the old fan,, maybe because of the composite contruction. After a few drives with this one, I believe that I can now hear it kicking and my temps seem to drop down a bit as soon as I start hearing the noise, so I think it is working OK. BTW are you still planning a trip down to the Kingston area later this year? If so let me know I can give you some fishing spots to try.

Jcol,

We'll be at Murphy's Point PP from the 19th to the 24th. My son and I plan on coming out sometime before that to bring out the boat and leave it so we have it for our stay. I haven't got the balls yet to try and tow the trailer and the boat.

I'll PM you when I know when we might be coming out.

I didn't get the composite fan, just the clutch with my stock metal fan.

Have you towed your trailer any distance since installing it?

Dave

Yeah, that's the one. Hey, something I forgot to mention is the TCC lock thing... if your TCC is unlocking, your h2o temps will go up really fast. Us OBD-I guys can get around that with a lock-up switch, but you newer types are going to have to find a different solution. One of the things you can ask for is to have your reflash lock up in 4th continuously; then you can interrupt the line with an open switch for the few times you want it unlocked.

Pulling a load unlocked is a sure way to overheat (unless you have cool mods like you, in which case you just run warm.

That would explain a lot because when travelling with the wind the TCC rarely, if ever, unlocked. Even on the hills. Travelling into the wind the TCC was unlocking all the time.....man I hate wind! :)

In those extreme situations would I be better to be in 3rd with the TCC locked?

With Wester's I have the option to have my PCM re-flashed for free. I just have to be without my truck while I send it out and wait for it to come back. Maybe I'll send it out to have it reprogrammed for continual TCC lock up and have him add a little more power at the same time. :D

Dave

I have new GM composite fan waiting to be installed so I'll be able to make note of the difference in the pitch; as far as power to drive steel fan, what I see on scan tool is momentry bump in 25 ish Hp %Tq load as calculated by the scan tool, I've found the calculated data isn't true measure of power but is a good indicator of changes. That said I would surmise that once fan is engaged probably about 15 Hp is the fans load to remain spinning

I put the 21" Dmax fan on my SD clutch from the 20" steel.....I saw a little change while moving ............but a good 10* standing still w/ AC on ,in traffic................really made the difference.

Louis

I have the Kennendy fan clutch and Dmax fan and there is no problem telling by the noise when it is engaged

You guys gotta remember, Dave still has the stock fan (as do I). They don't make as much noise as the composite fan, or even the 2000 9-blade stock fan.

But you CAN hear them kick in - just gotta turn down the 'tunes!