94 Dually 454 no power

[youthpastor]

my tow rig is awesome. I love it...but- the TBI 454 needs to scream at 3500 RPM's to climb any hills with a load- any tricks to get some power out of a totally stock 90's 454??

[98ssnova]

Yep put a diesel in it and never have to worry about power or torque again. If it weere me and i had to buy another truck it would be diesel cant beat them especialy for a haul rig. Just my .02

[GregWeld]

Chris --

Think we had this discussion.... LOL

DIESEL DUDE!

No gas powered "tow trucks" are going to pull like a diesel. If they do - they're not going to last very long. You just can't beat 650 ft pounds of torque.
:cheers:

[deuce_454]

whats the budget?

but id have to agree... a duramax/alison will be your ticket....

[youthpastor]

yep...that is what I REALLY want is a crew cab Duramax- maybe I should move the dually to the for sale section-

[CKTA]

Heads, intake, cam and full exhaust really wake them up. From the factory they can't breath.

[deuce_454]

Heads, intake, cam and full exhaust really wake them up. From the factory they can't breath.

true.. that would make more power... but likely youd still need to wind it to 3500 going up hill.... a single turbo would increase the low end torque under load.. if you get one for that purpose... but nobody wants to turn a reliable shop hauler into some project that takes time, costs money and might explode going up the next hill...

if the truck wasnt a money maker and you wanted to play arround with it i would recomend a smallish single turbo... nothing fancy in the plumbing dept... just pipe from the cast manifolds, and blow thru a carb

you could easily double your tourque from 2000 rpm, and who cares about lag on a tow truck?

[deuce_454]

a single masterpower t70 should spool well before 2000 rpm on a 454... and you coulde have it all done for 1000 bucks in parts if you do everything in mild steel exhaust piping... and if you have e85 in your area you could even do it without worrying about messing with the ignition

[TurboNova]

The problem you really have is the stock ECU on those trucks, they really suck. You have to burn chips, TBI with only 2 injectors.

Edelbrock had a EFI intake and 8 injector upgrade that would really make a difference.

I had a 92 and burned a ton of chips until I was happy with it, we put in a 496 stroker, ported the heads a little, cam, steel crank and rods.

The total timing on those trucks is someting like 22-25 degrees at WOT, timing really helps them, but the main problem is just getting enough fuel into them. We put a bigger pump and raised the fuel pressure on mine as a band aid instead of putting on the intake.

The narrow band O2 sensor really does not help either.

[deuce_454]

i agree.. hence my initial suggestion of a carb.. blow thru or otherwise.. there are guys that can make it work with a microsquirt ecu... but if you havent played with it before its a steep learning curve

[GregWeld]

Chris --

Jack the radiator cap up -- drive a new truck under it... make sure it's a diesel version.


:rofl: :rofl:

[youthpastor]

Chris --

Jack the radiator cap up -- drive a new truck under it... make sure it's a diesel version.


:rofl: :rofl:

I know, I know...but I would like to make it work for a few years before I lay the cash out, how 'bout an 8.1 swap? I hear it is pretty basic- just wonder if the 4L80E would work. I remember back in the day alot of guys were putting better cams, heads and carbs to wake them up.

timing is really horrible 22?

[GregWeld]

I know a good mechanic if you need one! :rofl:

[deuce_454]

I know, I know...but I would like to make it work for a few years before I lay the cash out, how 'bout an 8.1 swap? I hear it is pretty basic- just wonder if the 4L80E would work. I remember back in the day alot of guys were putting better cams, heads and carbs to wake them up.

timing is really horrible 22?

come on... if you are going to do a swap... get a duramax/alison combo... they arent that expensive on ebay... and would make a huge difference..

infact the coolest swap would propably be a 2 stroke detroit diesel... dut that could take alittle more time than a "shake and bake" duramax takeout engine...

[tyoneal]

I have a '97 4X4 Suburban (454 EFI) that I pull my Tractor and boat with. I have also upgraded the features of the truck increasing the weight probably 1500 pounds or more.

I installed the Banks Kit for the engine that had headers, cool air intake etc. and it helped quite a bit. I have the 4L80e Transmission in it so I can change the tuning very quickly. All this said, like you I really have a difficult time getting the truck to go. Sooner or later I will need to go into it. (200k miles currently) When I do I think I will put a rear mounted turbo kit on it. By cleaning up the heads by matching and lightly porting them, putting some lower compression pistons in it, and a good turbo cam I don't think I will be needing a diesel. I like them, but the truck is paid for and this would be a fairly easy cost effective way to get the power I want.

My truck came from the Factory with 290 hp/410 Ft Pounds of Torque. The Banks kit gave me about 12% increase in the power, mainly through just making it breath a hell of a lot better.

The right turbo kit, I think would be the best for my application is sold through www.ststurbo.com.

For my truck I would probably use the Universal kit. Last time I looked in it, putting it on my stock motor with nothing better on the inside, I could expect 35-40% gains in hp and Torq. That would certainly get the power where I want it without buying a new truck. The kit is about 2K complete.

There are a number of people who have had good luck with them especially with motor homes and trucks like ours.

Anyway something to look at. Let me know what you think.

I hope this has helped,

Take care,

Ty O'Neal

[MarkM66]

If you want to try small changes, the mags say the Hypertech "Power Charger" gets good gains for the buck.

http://www.hypertech.com/Images/Products-Accessories/Power-Charger.gif

Maybe headers, exhaust, and a better intake plenum.

Easy mods that should help.

[Efi69Cam]

The 94s have low compression peanut port heads. The quickest power upgrade would be to get a set of 96-00 vortec 454 heads. Those are more like the oval ports from the late 60s and have a much smaller chamber that bumps compression up into the 9s.

Any oval 4bbl conversion EFI manifold will work on those heads. I think the 94 ECM can be configured for port injection.

[youthpastor]

The 94s have low compression peanut port heads. The quickest power upgrade would be to get a set of 96-00 vortec 454 heads. Those are more like the oval ports from the late 60s and have a much smaller chamber that bumps compression up into the 9s.

Any oval 4bbl conversion EFI manifold will work on those heads. I think the 94 ECM can be configured for port injection.

doh!! I just sent back two core vortec 454's to the wrecking yard

[Efi69Cam]

doh!! I just sent back two core vortec 454's to the wrecking yard

If you are interested I'll dig up the stuff I researched for my brother when he was working on his 94 Suburban. He converted it to port injection using the stock ECM.

[mike renick]

there are sevral things u can do . starting with uping the fuel pressure to the tbi .my 93 now has a 505 in it with a reprogramed chip with the stock tbi i can pull hills at 70 with a 28ft car trailer. in 4 th gear if i chose too. the other is the new fast ez efi its a self programeing fuel injection unit . i have spent alot of time research and money . trying to make my dually do what i wanted to . the cheapest and easyest is the efi unit from fast .i also added a cam .
depends on how much money u wanna spend. im curently working on a bank to bank injection for mine thats more coast efective .if ur not in a huge hurry
ill let u know how it works . if you intrested let me know .or if theres anny thing i can do to help let me know

[81s]

If ur not gonna do a swap have u looked at like a 177 blower. Simple packaging. Quick and easy. Ur compression is already right for it. Should fit under the hood. Just a thought

[xx_ED_xx]

or get rid of that dished piston pos and put a vortec 454 or vortec 8.1 in it

[youthpastor]

or get rid of that dished piston pos and put a vortec 454 or vortec 8.1 in it



:D :D -

sold it- picked up a 2003 'burban with a 6.0 - problem solved- Chris