96 k1500 gas or diesel?

[1999gmc]

1999gmc if your keeping up with the 7.3 thats impressive. theres a place by me that sells new take off beds, but they are expensive $1000-$2500 usually. im south west pa, south of pittsburgh. so 02 and up diesel would be ideal? checked out the websites good info on the forums thanks.

still some diesel hate going on... im not going to lie it makes me nervous, seems like all upgradeable problems though. im going to keep an eye out for a one anyway, if a good deal pops up im going to give it a go. going to visit a local junkyard to see if theres any, i need some interior parts anyway.

i appreciate all the input good or bad, its helping.

If you're nervous don't do it. I get it. Before I bought this truck I was told by quite a few people not to buy it. They're gutless. They're junk. I have always been a GM guy. Never owned anything but Chevys. My wife loved the truck, how it rode and the looks better than the Fords or Dodges. We bought it and a buddy that was always a chevy guy bought a 7.3L power stroke. Our first 2 camping trips were delayed because the power stroke was broke down on the side of the road. This was back in 2005. My truck had 99K miles his had 110K. His manual trans started gushing fluid on one trip and 3rd and 4th gear went out. Turbo went out on another. Cam sensor(truck would just die). PS pump puking. He was getting so pissed because I was doing upgrades for more power and he was just trying to keep it running.

97 on up have the better cooling system(I did a duramax fan also - $40 new). But I'm pretty sure it was 2002 when the better blocks and heads came out. Good luck man. It's a big decision. I've taken really good care of my truck, so if and when the time comes, I'll probably drop a P400 6.5L in it. It's got almost 190K on it now and the guy I bought it from used it to tow his camper all over. He had oil change recipes from Canada, Alaska, Utah, fricken just about everywhere in the US. And for the last 90K that I have had it, it has mainly only been used to tow our 9000 lb toy hauler. So most of this trucks life has been towing and with what I have done, it tows it really well. I towed a suburban back from the Bay Area and there are 2 hills 5-7% grades and the truck never came out of OD. I stopped at a truck stop on I5 just to see what it weighed and truck, trailer, and suburban weighed 15,900. Not once did it come out of OD and maintained 60MPH up the hills no problem.

 

[deejaaa]

get off of it. i.ve had NO problems with my 6.5. now the trans...........

 

[Supercharged111]

A lot of people are running the HX40 knockoffs with no problems. Years ago a guy name turbine doc and slim shady came out with the A-Team turbo. I bought one and so did a lot of people. Non wastegated and maxes out at about 15-17 PSI. Stock my truck max was about 12 lbs of boost. You can't run a lot of boost on these engines and most people think boost is power. I had Heath reflash my computer to run the ATT and it pulls so well from Idle all the way to redline. I would never go back to the stock turbo. For $2000-$3000 you can make a 6.5L run pretty well and be reliable. Witch isn't much money when that is about what a set of injectors cost on most cummins, duramax, or powerstroke.

15-17psi is nothing. If you did the tune before the turbo you would probably have seen most of the gain you observed after the turbo. Boost IS power, the assumption is that it's tuned worth a **** before and after. Better than stock 6.5 is a good starting point, but are you making 600+ lb/ft? Because anything less is a waste on a turbo diesel. An LB7 with the slightest of tune is well over 600 ft/lb and an old 12V with the screws turned up will hit 600 all day.

 

[1999gmc]

Boost is not power. Air flow is. Hell my GM8 would do 20 PSI with the waste gate wired shut. No power but I could get 20 lbs of boost. You can have a turbo put out 50 PSI and flow less air than a bigger turbo at 25. What I'm getting at is more boost does NOT equal more air flow or power.

 

[rags77]

Ok had any diesel guys tried the optimizer block

 

[Supercharged111]

Boost is not power. Air flow is. Hell my GM8 would do 20 PSI with the waste gate wired shut. No power but I could get 20 lbs of boost. You can have a turbo put out 50 PSI and flow less air than a bigger turbo at 25. What I'm getting at is more boost does NOT equal more air flow or power.

Holy crap this is old. I'll stand by my statement as vague as it is. More boost is more power of the turbo has headroom. That doesn't mean all turbos make the same power with the same amount of boost.

 

[jdla140]

Ok had any diesel guys tried the optimizer block

Dead thread, but lots have tried the optimizer block. Did you google search it?