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.

[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]

Originally Posted by CKTA

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