So you have put a diesel performance exhaust, diesel performance chip and performance intake on your rig, if you had put those diesel performance products on your truck a few years ago you would have been considered a diesel performance connoisseur or someone who was into extreme diesel performance.
The fact of the matter is that in the past few years the diesel performance industry has grown by leaps and bounds and what were considered to be extreme diesel performance modifications back then won’t even let you keep up with the big boys nowadays.
Once you have gone beyond the standard diesel performance mods and are ready for extreme diesel performance there are some common diesel performance products that you should be aware of. If extreme diesel performance is your goal, then the most common diesel performance parts to put on your truck after the typical chip, intake and exhaust are larger injectors, a larger turbo and possibly an upgraded injection pump or lift pump.
Larger Injectors
Part of the equation for more horsepower is more fuel. By pouring more fuel into the cylinder you will be able to increase horsepower and torque, the thing that most people don’t know about larger injectors is that they also increase diesel fuel mileage. Most of the misunderstanding comes from the terminology itself, of course if people hear “larger injectors” they just naturally think that the holes themselves are going to be bigger when in all actuality injectors get larger in a couple of ways, the size of the holes in the injectors and the number of holes in the injectors. Increasing the size of the holes is usually accomplished in a couple of different ways, first is by laser cutting and second is a process known as extrude honing. There has been some debate as to which method is better but our experience has shown that the extrude hone process allows for smoother holes in the injectors themselves allowing for an increase in diesel fuel mileage. The second way that injectors get “larger” is by increasing the number of holes in the injector nozzles, by increasing the number of holes in the injector nozzles you get a finer mist which allows for a better atomization. The increased diesel fuel mileage is with conservative driving of course.
Pump Upgrades
If you are planning on pumping more fuel in with larger injectors you need to make sure your pump is up to the task. The amount of modification your pump will need as well as the options you have available to you will rely mainly on the year, make and model of your vehicle. For those vehicles that have a rotary style pump such as the Pre-1994 Dodge Cummins, 6.2L and 6.5L Chevy Diesels and even the 99-02 Dodge Cummins VP44 pumps you will be a bit more limited as to the modifications that you will be able to make to your pumps.
The main reason mods are limited on these style pumps is because of the fact that they are lubricated by the fuel, so if you fail to run additive through each tank you may seize your pump regardless of which mods you have made, with that said, Industrial Injection has made some crazy modifications to the VP44 pump so look for the HOT ROD and DRAGON FLOW versions of that pump. If you are fortunate enough to drive a 94-98 Dodge Cummins with the Bosch Inline p7100 pump then there are a plethera of modifications that you can do, one of the easiest of those being the installation of the Dynomite Diesel Fuel plate. If you have a newer common rail pump your task is all about keeping your rail pressure up so you can do that with a modified pump or by running dual feeder pumps. Now modding your injection pump is only half the battle, you still have to make sure that your lift pump can keep up with the demand as well and there is where systems like the FASS and AirDog come in handy.
Larger Turbo
Once you have plenty of fuel running to through your system it’s time to use all that extra exhaust that is being created to turn a bigger turbo. When it comes to upgrading your turbo you have several options including, ball bearing, stainless steel, waste gated or non waste gated, variable vein or not. Picking out just the right turbo charger comes down to your application and personal preference so we won’t go into great detail on that topic but do plenty of searching or come to our site for more information. The big names you will see throughout the industry include, Industrial Injection, HTT, Turbonetics, ATS and many more.