1996 C2500 Dyno Towing Truck

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skylark

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I thought I would post my newest vehicle, a 1996 L29 C2500 with the 4.10 ratio diff. Low mileage examples are all over here in Oregon, but this one was the closest to me so I drove an hour and a half with a friend a few weeks ago and picked it up for a fair price. Its only got 110,000 on it. I was looking at diesels and v10s, but with the Fords you have to remove the cab to do any major engine work and diesels in good shape were too expensive for my budget. It looks nice with original paint, but really no maintenance other than a water pump, oil changes and a new set of plugs have been done. So I have some new parts here and plan on replacing all the fluids, hoses and the shocks as a first step. I have some Sonnax goodies to stuff in the 4l80e, when the pan is off for service too. Its used to tow a mobile chassis dyno around the Southern Oregon, Nor Cal area.

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Here is a picture of my last tow vehicle, a 1995 G30 Van on the dyno after some upgrades.

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We need to get together with @ccreddel. I'm in Grants Pass and I manage a tire and auto shop. Ccreddel works at B&R auto wrecking in Medford. To my knowledge we're the only ones on here from the area. We both have items that either need to be tuned currently or in the near future.
 

DonF

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Cool! Yes, that is fine. Nice to know there are a few local people here.
 

Supercharged111

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Do you have EFILive or HPTuners? What are your capabilities? It's rare to find a dyno operator as a forum member.
 

DonF

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Tuning is not magic, I actually encourage the owners to look at what is going on and learn. A good tune takes a lot of time ($$$ if you have to pay someone for all of it) and ideally if its a car or truck that is driven on the road, its not just done on the dyno. That is why I encourage the owner to learn. They can do a lot of it and end up with a better tune once it hits the dyno. Just for kicks on my own stuff I usually see how good I can get a tune just street tuning, then put it on the dyno to see if any gains can be made, and there always is some, but not always in the peak hp areas. The dyno with an eddy brake helps fill out the areas of the fuel tables on a street car that is very hard to get on the street. Its not just about peak numbers, that is pretty fast. Its about the data you are collecting, on the street your always having to shut it down and muddying up the data you need to tune, especially in the 3/4 -7/8 throttle areas of the fuel tables. On a street car/truck, fuel economy is important, so an accurate fuel table can help save money. Most mail order tunes are extra rich on purpose as its safe.

I have only been doing the dyno hauling for two years, but have been in the auto service industry since 1993. The first thing you learn with the dyno if your paying attention is most tunes have big mistakes in them and people never check. Its just the way it is. Recently I got called to help another dyno owner in the valley with a tune. The tuner was remote and only wanted three data points for fuel reference. The tune they sent back was horrible when it came back, pig rich, but the dyno owner did not care and the customer did not know any better. They did a few WOT runs printed out some graphs and called it good. It was not my customer or my shop so I was sort of unable to say much. I just tried to get the guy to take a second look, but was not successful.

I have HP Tuners personally, but its one that I am the least familiar with. I can not use it on the 96 c2500 as its not supported. A 0411 swap may be in the works especially if I do exhaust at some point, but right now it does what I need it to do as is. I have used MSD, AEM, Holley, TunerPro, and a few others. I actual want to learn more on the Megasquirt software as that seems to be the software of choice for a lot of the local drift and auto-x people.
 

BNielsen

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As someone who also has a 96; the 0411 swap was perhaps the best thing I've done with my truck, headers and a full exhaust are in the works along with an AFR gauge, and a few rounds with HPTuners.
I had a fellow member help me with getting my truck ironed out after a few issues arose during my swap and I'm fairly impressed with the usability of HPTuners;
 

DonF

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Yes I am pretty happy with HP tuners myself. Compared to the features in Diablo or SCT. HP wins hands down, there is a reason its so popular. I posted on Diablos message board a few months ago for a customer with a hemi dodge, asking where some of the main spark and fuel tables were in their software, their response was give us $2500 per make of car and become a dealer and we will give you those features. A two stage software package like that is crazy when you can see it all in HP tuners for $300 in a tool and a $100 to unlock a computer and its better supported.
 

GarrettGmc

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Sounds like a sweet set up. Are you planning to have a name/logo somewhere on the truck? If so I'd suggest doing something on the camper shell window so you can claim it as a company expense but also take it off if need be.
How often do you come to nor cal area? I'm in Shasta county so just 1.5 hr south of @skylark
 

DonF

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The LLC owns the truck, no logo needed to write it off. Its not a money maker at this point to write much off anyway, more a hobby. There are some huge expenses owning a dyno in upkeep and insurance every year, not counting the initial costs to buy it and transport it. Its more I enjoy hanging out with car people, learning, and helping with their projects.

I have been to Yreka and the area below that for some people who wanted to dial in their cars before they hit the race track. I always tell people though its a lot cheaper for you to drive to Medford, than for me to come to you. Some don't care and pay up, others drive the two hours and save a lot. Mostly out of the area events are not practical cost wise unless you are promoting an event or club and have a lot of people preregistered. Some car event promoters like the dyno, others freak out with the noise and liability.
 

GarrettGmc

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Ah ok. Does sound like a pretty fun hobby an potential to meet alot of other hotrodders. It would be pretty cool bringing that down during Kool April Nites down here.
 

DonF

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Yes, for out of town stuff I go pretty much anywhere people pay or at least put down a deposit. In town I don't care as much, as it is a short drive. I learned the hard way though. When I first got the dyno two years ago a friend at a local shop hosted a dyno day without any sort of pre-payment. Over seventy people signed up on facebook as going for a five hour event, and most showed up! Guess how many actually had money in their pocket to use it? Three! The rest were just kids with their phones out and nothing else in their pockets. The crazy part is four other auto shop owners in Medford saw that event posting with seventy plus people and thought I was racking up the money, so they went out and started huge leases for chassis dyno's without even asking me or the shop owner what happened. I have a feeling there will be some big repo's in the near future. At least mine is paid for. Ha Ha

I am curious about the pin changes for the 1996 vs 0411 swap. I probably will not do it, at least for a while, but I am curious to see what is involved. I pm'ed one person here about the pinout spreadsheet and got an email offering to sell me a "conversion kit" instead for $200! Really at this point that was sort of spamy. If anyone has info on it I am curious. If all else fails I can get the two service manuals and make my own, but its a lot shorter to have the info without the hassle.
 
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