I'm 30 minutes west of Phoenix, AZ

 

I ended up backing down the timing to roughly half way between where I started with it, and where I had advanced it to. It's a heck of a lot better now. 10 mile trip one way unloaded, that's a slight downhill most of the way, held 70mph and EGTs were running around 575. 10 miles back the other way, slight uphill the whole way, and EGTs were running 650-700. Dropping speed to 62-65, and EGT was down to 600-625. I had to really get on it from a stop to get it up to 800, and felt like I was abusing the truck to get it to hit 900. It was still climbing pretty quick on acceleration, but I was hitting 70mph before the EGTs got too high. 2nd gear starts are back too.

So I'm guessing that 65mph on flat ground should get me around the 500-550 mark. I just have to go pretty far to get out to a long enough stretch of flat ground that I can run it at a constant 65mph for a bit. Given all this, and now the experience to see how timing changes effect the way the engine runs, I'm thinking I've got it within a few degrees of "right", and at least it's not running in a "danger zone" of sorts. I haven't run it long enough to see if there has been any change in fuel economy though. I'll throw some weight behind it this weekend to see how it does under load.

I'm at least past the point of wanting to douse the thing in gas and toss a lit torch on it, lol

 

You may have to tweak a little more. You are on the right track. Our turbos are not like the powerstokes that produce 40 lbs of boost at a stop light. Our engines were designed without a turbo. Our work when needed heavy load uphill. Running empty around town some times I may see 1 or 2 psi. Put some weight behind the truck drag it up a hill 8f ot happy let it cool and tweak a little bit more. Keep repeating to your happy . Not rolling coal, good egt. Fuel mileage empty may ot change much. With my 3.55 rearend I get 16 empty 12 with weight

 

Sounds like you are on the right track. I will be interested to hear how it does with a load behind it.

 

Theyre really touchy as i said earlier. With a 90cc pump the difference 1* made was almost 20rwhp. This was in one of justins old dyno videos, i couldnt believe the difference. This, and what you said are why i chuckle when people claim they can time them by ear. IMO even with a gun you are only ball parking. To really get them dead on you need to dyno tune or keep adjusting after you drive them because the littlest bit can make a big difference in fuel economy, power, and egts. Then again you dont have to, if its in a state you feel its running good and performing well enough, leave it where it is and drive the wheels off it.

 

Which is why it never ended up at a shop. I lost count of the number of times I heard "have a shop time it properly"...that was the problem - I could not find a single shop down here that COULD do it properly. The few that would actually touch it all had the "IDI guru that could time them by ear", and most of them followed it up with all the "neat things we can do to make them scream!", and basically made it sound like I'd drop a couple grand on the motor and end up with something that would make made a modern diesel truck look like it was powered by a 100HP 4 cylinder.

All of which sounded to me like a damn fine way to throw away a couple grand with a bunch of people missing a clue, and likely end up with a motor that would grenade shortly after.

I believe with some time, and some trial and error, that I can get it pretty close without putting a timing light on it. The biggest thing is just getting an understanding of how all the little bits work together to produce an end result, along with a better understanding of how adjustment X produces end result Y and affects Z. I also found the plans online on how to do a DIY injector pop tester, so I'm thinking it may well be worth my time to pull the injectors to clean and adjust.

The biggest thing for me is just not having a desire to drop a ton of money into a motor that I don't know the history on, without knowing if it will have a positive net effect for me. A grand between a new pump and injector set, if it only nets me an additional 3mpg means about 20 years before I even break even on the deal...it would be about a $50/year difference for me at current fuel prices. If it was something that would pull down EGTs, and make a better towing performer, then I could justify it. But I'm not willing to just throw parts at it in the hopes that it makes a positive difference.

 

These motors can reliably make good power, but not nearly as easy as modern diesels. With these being all mechanical all the timing, fuels etc has to be done with manual adjustments and parts rather than a tuner chip.

The guy that owns IDI Performance swapped a NA IDI into a Bronco and threw on a big pump with turbo to see what would happen. After running 50psi of boost and putting out crazy dyno numbers he bent the rods. Thing is that the NA rods are weaker than the turbo rods, but 50 psi of boost is a bunch no matter how you cut it. He summarized that a stock NA block with head studs could probably handle 20-25 psi all day. Adding a cam can allow more boost by reducing the crankng compression and adjusting the exhaust/intake events.

If you want to go further than that he has a set of custom 7.3 PS rods you can buy for your IDI to make sure they don't bend.

The best part was watching him beat up on some 700hp Cummins at the dirt drags in his old bronco.

 

No, all I want is a reliable tow rig that can move 10K down the freeway at 65mph without having to watch all the gauges like a hawk because the engine is always running on the ragged edge, then having to crawl up every hill because the EGTs are going off the charts.

I don't want a highly modified motor. I really don't want a modified motor at all. That was half my point with the shops - trying to get them to understand that I don't have delusions about drag racing my old truck. They all seem to have the assumption that EVERYONE wants a 1500hp demon of a truck. Same problem I have with buddies that keep trying to get me to put a 12" lift under the thing, and trying to explain that hooking a gooseneck up to a truck with 52" tires under it is gonna be a real bitch.

 

People do not understand Work Truck. Things you do to a work truck makes no sense to them. Like swaping in a Superduty Axle to get disc brakes, going to hyrdoboost brakes, extra cooling tires that carry weight. Granted some work trucks could benefit from a mild lift if it job is working off road

 

Everyone keeps asking me why i built a new engine with the PSD rods and only put a 110cc on it. Same thing, im going for dependability and longevity towing a 2 car trailer, not E.T.s lol. Granted, if you could get a dual disc clutch for an IDI... it would have a 150cc pump, but i dont want an auto, and i can just picture trying to leave a stopsign loaded with a ceramic clutch.

 

For towing, I've been pretty happy with a 110cc pump and stock turbo/banks(I've run them both with the same pump; they both run very similarly).

Yes, it's totally possible to get about 1.8-2x the stock HP reliably, and tow with it. That's how I use mine - towing and daily driving it.

The key, though, is timing. Too advanced and the EGTs will skyrocket. Too retarded and they will go high as well as the engine pushes half-burned fuel through the exhaust.

I'm of the opinion that I can totally time it by ear and feel, and, well, I've the dyno slips to prove it.

The one time I got a low number(150HP) was when I had a stock pump and forgot about the torque screw. Deleted that, and made 200HP a couple hours later. Then I found the 1" boost leak...

The /only/ IDI I've had beat me at the dyno was Justin in that bronco, and well... that thing has a lot more fuel.

I've seen it before and after he blew up the motor, I rode in it not long before he blew it up. 46 PSI is a /lot/ of boost, and he was putting down over 400 at the wheels. That's easily 3x stock.

 

whats the torque screw??

 

The later turbo pumps had a screw to adjust the fuel curve. Similar to a static mechanical afc in a cummins. Didnt change how much the pump fuels, but how soon it comes in.

 

Finally had a chance to get a load behind it over the weekend...drug my Samurai to the local trails, guesstimating somewhere around 5K pounds total between Samurai and trailer.

My stomach sank pretty quick at first, as the EGTs shot right up to around 900 as soon as I hit a hill, and I kept pulling out every time it would start flirting with 900s. Then one hill I got distracted and forgot to watch the gauge. Noticed I was around 950 at the top, and started getting on it more. Would seem to almost snap to 900 with any amount of throttle, then SLOWLY creep up to a max of 1000. On flat ground, steady 65, it was running 600-700. Oddly though, boost is down. Where I used to peg around 9.5psi, and ever so occasionally brush 10psi, now it was maxing at 8psi. I'll probably try playing with the wastegate a bit when I get some time again to see if adding another couple of PSI does anything positive. I haven't popped valve covers to check yet, but I'm sure this motor doesn't have head studs, so I know not to get crazy with the boost levels.

It DEFINITELY has more power now. I didn't notice it unloaded, as my mind keeps going back to gas mentality - more power means more tossed back in the seat feeling. But loaded up I noticed the difference - I didn't feel like I needed to lay in to the throttle any where as much to pull the hills, and in fact was pulling out due to EGTs rather than feeling like it was running out of power pulling the hills. Even then, once I realized it wasn't going above 1000*, it was no problem pulling 65 on the same hills I used to struggle to crest at 45.

Fuel mileage appears to still be absolutely dismal though. Last fillup I was running around 9.5mpg.

Bonus time is coming up at work in about a month...I'm really thinking about sending part of that bonus to R&D for at least a set of injectors, and maybe a pump too, a new set of glow plugs, and another small part to Ferret for the timing adapter. The motor at least feels good enough that I don't want to douse the truck in gas and toss a match to it, and a pump/injectors/glow plugs/timing adapter is still cheaper than buying another truck, lol.

 

Gasser are high hp low torgue diesel are low horsepower high torgue.

Glad yo saw improvenents. At 8 psi that is a lot of additional air. Just atomsphere is 14.7. I can not remember if you add the boost or mulitiply it

If your egt sensor is where Banks wanted it 1150 is danager. I so at 1000 that means it working hard do8ng what it should do. You can also watch oil pressure if ut starts dropping maybe a problem