Just wanted to check with you all, and see what you thought about this :) Figured this might help a few, did me :)

I just bought my '95 Chevy 2500 6.5L Turbo a couple days ago, and have begun toying with it. Thanks to dieselplace, I discovered that my turbo was not working (I'm new to turbo diesels, forgive me) and that it was due to a vacuum actuator not working. Instead of worrying about fixing this, or getting the turbo thingy that makes it stay at constant level (nearly $200), I took a bungy cord and attached it. See this pic:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/3984897153_127dc57d24.jpg
From here ^
To here
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2582/3984893193_fc79fb6cac.jpg


So... then I got to looking at that factory air box, and I didn't really like the design, and was taking a look at what ssdiesel supply had to offer, and didn't really see the need for that special elbo, when I could do something like this:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3984897597_dee34bc534.jpg

So here's what I did:
I bought a K&N Filter $45 - 3" filter
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3985656986_36cbed45bb.jpg

Removed the old air box by ripping it off the wheel cover, and then loosened the funky oval shaped factory elbow hose clamp.

I then took my new K&N Filter, and placed it inside this oval shaped thing. I began to tighten my hoseclamp until the rubbers got closer and closer, and then I kinda shaped the factory elbow to a circle, and just kept on tightening the elbow, being careful not to allow anything to get in the way.

If you're concerned about it not staying, you can buy a coupler, and put it inside the KN filter, this will prevent it from squashing. The coupler here cost $8. I decided to put one in mine. This is much cheaper than $200 for the air induction system at SS diesel. Try it... It worked great for me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3525/3985656514_4636e9c0bb.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3525/3985656514_4636e9c0bb.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2606/3984886435_3a4b8eda55.jpg

BTW, this is my first thread... let me know what you think :)

I'll update my sig soon :)

The heat will kill the bungy. You are now drawing in hot engine air with an air filter that does not filter very well.

Ok, vail... and as ssdiesel says concerning their air induction systems...

This kit increases airflow up to 50% over that stock airbox trying to suck air thru the fender! Sucking air thru the fender is severely restrictive, dirty, and pulls in no cooler air then our system, just with alot more restriction.

and also...
We have performed complete temperature testing before we started to market this new filter set-up. We installed a temp probe from a calibrated industrial pyrometer into the IAT sensor hole on the manifold and made some good hard runs. This was done before the weather turned cold with a prototype filter. It showed no significant temp rise over sucking thru that restrictive air box. Reason being, the fender has multiple openings drawing in underhood air anyways! Some early years had a plastic snorkel that ran thru the fender to draw air from the front of the vehicle, but just about everyone who ever owned one with it, took it off as it choked the turbo the first week they owned the truck!
The added benefit of no restriction more then outweighs the negitive effects of drawing underhood air. Look at most muclecars. One of the first things hot rodders do is open up the air filter with something like a K&N, drawing air from under the hood almost in every case. You know that builds hp!
You will notice an immediate difference in turbo spool-up and hear that baby scream with this new Induction System.

Quoted from... ssdieselsupply.com/product_65_SSDiesel_Performance_Air_Induction_Kit_ 9296_992000.html

All I'm trying to say is... don't buy this product, unless this just won't work for you...

The bungy has held up so far... but it's far cheaper to replace the bungy every few months than to buy a $110 spring and bolt, and far easier than making your own

Get a boost and EGT gauge, with a make shift WG controller like that you are likely to over boost really fast like.

horsehaulin: should be ok, right? The wastegate rod shouldn't be able to move w/ your hand when the vacuum pump is working, right? I can move the rod w/ my hand, without much effort. Hopefully will be ok, until I can get some gauges installed.

Thanks for the input.

The 6.5 in not as forgiving as a Duramax, Cummins or a 7.3 Powerstroke. In fact they are really picky about the boost. 15PSI is the max you will ever want out of a stock charger. The intake is ok for the time being, I ran one like that for about a year before I installed a ATA intercooler.

Ok... so I should be ok for now, until I can get a gauge.

Not sure where you are checking... but TurboMasters cost around $100 at kennedydiesel or heathdiesel... Something to check into and its much better and more reliable then the bungie...

HAHAHAHAHA I just laughed so hard, seriously man?!?? Come on, I'm as shadetree as anyone else, but a bungee cord for a wastegate controller is really pushing things...

If you want to up your airflow to the turbo and see some benefit doing it, you need to run outside, like under the bumper or something. That air filter is just a gimmick as it sits

That is the best engineering invention of the century!!!! Bungee cord. LOL!!!

LOL.. Glad ya'll like it. I figured it would serve the purpose, 'til I could afford a turbo master.

If you do some reading in the FAQ's it will show you how to build your own turbo master for under $5. Do you really think a bunge cord is a reliable method to control boost? Please post pics of your blown motor when it happens. K&n is a poor choice for a filter for a turbo diesel.

Why is K & N a poor choice? What should I get? I'll let ya'll know what my boost is when I get the boost gauge... having been running it much w/out the gauge. Doesn't cut out or anything though, no loss of power, obviously I'm not getting too much boost. I'm still showing black smoke (when I lay into it), so that must be some what of a good sign, huh?

also have a question... everything seems to be working great right now... is there anything I need to do to prevent problems? FSD, what is that, anyway?

The heat will kill the bungy. You are now drawing in hot engine air with an air filter that does not filter very well.


And we have a winner. K&N's let in more air alright, but they also let in more dirt as well. i had a K&N in my stock airbox, and it let in plenty of air. I used it until i went to go clean it and found dirt stuck to the oil vapor from the CDR. I switched back to a paper filter, and there's no dirt stuck there anymore. My truck can breathe fine with the stock paper filter, and thats with Heath's GL4 which we all know requires more boost which means more air. Your truck will breathe fine through the stock airbox. If you want an intake, upgrade to the 97+ round filter style intake. that's what i did, and it does seem to breathe better over the old style rectangular air filter setup.

i prefer running an AFE airbox. i ordered one for my 97 and it was about 360 dollars. you shelling out a hundred bucks for a turbo master is a lot cheaper then shelling out the money for a new motor.

I can't find the thread, but a member here did a study on IATs with and without the top of the filter box (round type) and found a significant rise in IAT's just by removing the filter top, imagine how much hot air you are sucking in with no box at all, alot of airflow does no good if it is all hot as hell!

I believe S&B filter outperform the K&N.
Man, you're like playing poker he :D, like a bungie cord without boost gauge as a wastegate controler :rolleyes:

WOW. I would Never trust a rubber bungy with all the heat under the hood to control boost pressure. Especially when the bungy looks like its touching the turbo. Turbos make alot of heat. And the lack of an airbox will cause hotter air to be taken into your intake. You are not drawing air from outside the engine compartment so as the engine heat builds your air charge will be less dense. At least put a metal box around the cone with a snorkel that extends to the bottom of the front fender behind the bumper. That set up is too ghetto for me bro good luck with it.

FSD is another term for a PMD that is remote mounted. Do it in the nose of the bumper to keep the PMD cooler. Attach a heatsink too. It will allow you PMD to last longer. But with the set up you ahve now the PMD is probably the least of your concern.

O and the muscle car thing you said earlier... forget that. I have not built a muscle car that creats the under hood temps that a turbo diesel does. Also guys that build muscle cars usually put a ram air hood or cowl hood on with a snorkel set up to suck in air from the outside of the engine compartment.

just my .02

Ryan

No comment about the K&N, but the bungee won't hurt you, no way
can you stretch that tight enough to make any appreciable boost.
He can still move the wastegate with his fingers!! There will be a lot
of black smoke, due to low boost, but it won't hurt the motor.

^^^ You are right. But what about when the bungee breaks because it hit has been rubbing against the turbo? When it snaps it is very likely that it will wind up getting caught in the fan or the serpentine belt. That is where my concern would be. If the bungee gets pulled under the belt it could de rail and cause some pretty sweet damage to the accessories connected to it. Plus if he still has a soot trap in the exhaust it is probable that it could clog prematurely due to the excess smoke being exhausted out of the motor. Also what about the exhaust compressor on the turbo? If it gets caked with unburnt fuel and soot it could fail. Not to mention piston, ring, or cylinder damage due to improper burn. In my thinking messing with the induction or exhaust of a motor can slowly cause irreparable damage. I would rather err on the side of caution when it comes to a fine tuned machine that turns several thousand revolutions per minute. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

As before... just my .02

Ryan

When I said you should be ok, I meant the filter for the time being. Not the way you have the wastegate setup. Maybe I should have been a little more specific. Everyone on here is right, a K&N filter or any oiled filter is not te best choice for a TD.

Let me be straight foward.

The bungee cord is a bad idea. Remove it so you can save your engine.

The air filter will do you fine for now, but should be replaced with a dry style filter. Amsoil makes a direct replacement. If you are handy with thin sheet metal, you could fashion a box araound the filter like any of the big filter companies do. I ran a filter setup close to the way you have yours for about a year, then fabbed my own box around the filter and made a sealed lid. It was a night and day differance for sure, but the filter setup you have for the moment will do you just fine for a month or two, or until you can afford to do it right.

You are a new guy to this site, and therefor will get razzed a little. Take it with a grain of salt and enjoy all the info and good friends of the site. Right now you are the student, but one day you will be helping out others like these guys are trying to help you out. Some of them just have no tact! Hope you enjoy the new to you truck and that it treats you right.

When I said you should be ok, I meant the filter for the time being. Not the way you have the wastegate setup. Maybe I should have been a little more specific. Everyone on here is right, a K&N filter or any oiled filter is not te best choice for a TD.

Let me be straight foward.

The bungee cord is a bad idea. Remove it so you can save your engine.

The air filter will do you fine for now, but should be replaced with a dry style filter. Amsoil makes a direct replacement. If you are handy with thin sheet metal, you could fashion a box araound the filter like any of the big filter companies do. I ran a filter setup close to the way you have yours for about a year, then fabbed my own box around the filter and made a sealed lid. It was a night and day differance for sure, but the filter setup you have for the moment will do you just fine for a month or two, or until you can afford to do it right.

You are a new guy to this site, and therefor will get razzed a little. Take it with a grain of salt and enjoy all the info and good friends of the site. Right now you are the student, but one day you will be helping out others like these guys are trying to help you out. Some of them just have no tact! Hope you enjoy the new to you truck and that it treats you right.

Well said. And he's right. We are all here to help eachother. Nobody flaming you(at least to much). We are just warning you that although its creative and maybe a "get home" fix, I personally don't recommend using that bungee cord for full time boost control. Take some time, getyour creative side on, and use the numerous threads posted here on how to make your own Turbo Master for nothing more than a trip to the hardware store and 10 bucks.

The K & N filter has already been covered and you really should go with a dry paper filter but if you have that for now it will work, just change it in the future. SSdiesel isn't the most truthful place in the world and you need to be cautious around here when it comes to vendors that aren't part of this site(theres a reason for that), indeed an open air filter has better FLOW capabillities than a cloased air box. It can draw in air from every angle possible with virtually no restriction, but cooler air has a denser charge(more Oxygen) and provides a more efficent and cleaner "burn" to fuel the engine resulting in more power. This is why people run aftercoolers, water mist injection, twin turbos, and Cold air intakes. The whole idea behind it is getting a denser charge.

I plan on building a real cold air intake that is completly sealed off from the engine bay that truly draws air from the outside of the engine bay, not through restrictive passage ways and metal that can absrb heat. Should be interesting...

Tony (Horsehaulin) is absolutely correct about the razzing, it's meant in jest for the most part.

I do agree the K&N or any oiled medium is not the way to go...I have a good buddy who will argue up and down the street my points, but he's still wrong :D , you need a paper filter with these engines.

the bungee cord has got to go bro, or your engine will. a makeshift TM is not hard to make, also fixing the vac system isn't hard, just costly.

rebuilding a motor is both hard and costly.


again, take everything with a grain of salt, we've all been newbs before, even Horse and myself.

I wouldn't go as far to say any oiled filter is bad for the 6.5. But K&N is def not the best choice filter wise (there is a study somewhere on the forum and K&N filter was worse in all categories i do believe)... Then again, I don't have a MAF sensor to worry about like some people lol.

and from what I can tell my engine has been on oiled filters (k&n up till last year) for its entire life (April 2002 ~120k miles).

I'm not saying the Oiled filter will kill your engine, but it won't filter near as well as a paper filter...I choose to run the HD Paper filter for more filtration medium area.

Pete what filter are you running?

Well said. And he's right. We are all here to help eachother. Nobody flaming you(at least to much). We are just warning you that although its creative and maybe a "get home" fix, I personally don't recommend using that bungee cord for full time boost control. Take some time, getyour creative side on, and use the numerous threads posted here on how to make your own Turbo Master for nothing more than a trip to the hardware store and 10 bucks.

The K & N filter has already been covered and you really should go with a dry paper filter but if you have that for now it will work, just change it in the future. SSdiesel isn't the most truthful place in the world and you need to be cautious around here when it comes to vendors that aren't part of this site(theres a reason for that), indeed an open air filter has better FLOW capabillities than a cloased air box. It can draw in air from every angle possible with virtually no restriction, but cooler air has a denser charge(more Oxygen) and provides a more efficent and cleaner "burn" to fuel the engine resulting in more power. This is why people run aftercoolers, water mist injection, twin turbos, and Cold air intakes. The whole idea behind it is getting a denser charge.

I plan on building a real cold air intake that is completly sealed off from the engine bay that truly draws air from the outside of the engine bay, not through restrictive passage ways and metal that can absrb heat. Should be interesting...
Thanks!:D

Bungie cord + KN = short engine life.

Trip to the hardware store to buy knick-knacks for a DIY turbomaster = $12
Buying a boost guage off Ebay and waiting a few days = $15
Using quality OEM (or OEM spec) air filter = $40

Running your engine for 360,000 kms without an overhaul = PRICELESS.

Ever seen a bridge jumper using a bungee, ya, they do break! Local parts store will offer an endless # of springs, still not my choice but it is your truck!

Get rid of the K&N. Put the stock air box back on and use a WIX filter. Not a cheapie, but a genuine WIX. I replaced my old WIX with an oreillys house brand air filter ($18 vs $31) and I really regret it. I have turbo lag with the oreilly filter that i didn't have when I had the WIX in there. With the WIX i would never ever get any black smoke. Put in the cheapie and now if i push the pedal to the floor from a dead stop i get a small puff of smoke. That tells me this cheapie filter isn't flowing very well.

For the turbo controller, just ask around for a bad actuator from someone and make your own turbo controller. Not hard to do and i only spent about 15 on mine even after paying for shipping for someone to send me their old actuator.

Get rid of the K&N. Put the stock air box back on and use a WIX filter. Not a cheapie, but a genuine WIX. I replaced my old WIX with an oreillys house brand air filter ($18 vs $31) and I really regret it. I have turbo lag with the oreilly filter that i didn't have when I had the WIX in there. With the WIX i would never ever get any black smoke. Put in the cheapie and now if i push the pedal to the floor from a dead stop i get a small puff of smoke. That tells me this cheapie filter isn't flowing very well.

For the turbo controller, just ask around for a bad actuator from someone and make your own turbo controller. Not hard to do and i only spent about 15 on mine even after paying for shipping for someone to send me their old actuator.

The DMAX guys had a thread going that shouwed the actually bench tests of a wide variety of your "name brand" filters. K&N was the worst on almost all levels with the absolute best being, oddly enough, an AC Delco. It had the highest particle capturing of all of them AND had the highest flow in both water and air. And it was spuratic either like a win here and a win there. the Ac Delco won ALL OF THEM. But the wix filters where pretty good as well. They seemed about midline during the tests.

The DMAX guys had a thread going that shouwed the actually bench tests of a wide variety of your "name brand" filters. K&N was the worst on almost all levels with the absolute best being, oddly enough, an AC Delco. It had the highest particle capturing of all of them AND had the highest flow in both water and air. And it was spuratic either like a win here and a win there. the Ac Delco won ALL OF THEM. But the wix filters where pretty good as well. They seemed about midline during the tests.

I cant say what the best is, i'm sure the test you mention is accurate tho. I just know that just about anything is better than this $17 piece of crap that I bought LOL. I've never paid so much for an air filter in my life so $31 for a WIX was even harder to fork out. I'm used to the old round air filters that cost $5 at the most.

I wonder if they tested Amsoil air filters? i've got on in my pickup now, and just a basic ol "name brand" filter in my blazer.

Has anyone heard from Wagner on this thread? He was the original poster. I wonder if he fixed any of this stuff yet? Hopefully we didn't hurt his feelings too much.

Still here, still have KN Filter, still have bungee cord... Did get a boost gage put on some time ago; I seem to be running just fine, not going over 10 PSI ever. I will do the turbo master when I get some time, and I guess I'll change out my filter setup, may come up with some sort of cold air intake thing. I've really been looking into getting the 4" exhaust, any comments on that? I'll probably change the filter first, and the bungee. I don't drive the truck every day, and when I do drive it, it's very little. I use it for side work and for getting to the deer lease.

Appreciate the comments :)