I recently returned from a 2300 mile round trip towing/hauling about 6k-6.5k pounds over several mountain passes. I was very pleased with how my old IDI handled it, but had one concern and I wanted to get some opinions on a possible solution.

The biggest problem I had was keeping the EGTs at or below 1200 degrees. Especially at the higher the altitudes. The higher we got and the thinner the air, the less throttle it took to make black smoke and raise the EGTs. I pretty much had to watch the pyro ALL the time when climbing and constantly modulate the throttle to keep the EGTs down. Up in the 4000 foot + elevations, anything more than half throttle while pulling would raise the EGTs to 1200 degrees in just a matter of seconds.

The weather was dry & warm the whole trip until I crested the final mountain pass coming home - where I ran into light drizzling rain (typical Western WA weather). I noticed immediately that the EGTs didn't climb nearly so fast and I could apply more throttle without getting up to the 1200 degree mark.

Down here at normal elevations it is much more manageable even when the weatheris warm & dry, and it takes 3/4 or more throttle when pulling that load uphill to raise the EGTs. But it can still be done. Same with the black smoke - a lot harder to produce, but it can be done if I put your foot in it. Unloaded, I can just barely produce visible smoke pulling a hill with my foot on the floor and in that case the EGTs seem to top out right at 1200.

I could turn the IP down a bit, but that will hurt my performance under day-to-day "normal" conditions. I'm thinking instead of maybe doing a simple home-brewed water/alcohol injection system. Of course I'd use an oil pressure switch and a throttle position switch (similar to Ziggster's single-stage propane setup) so that it wouldn't come on at the wrong times and flood the engine with water vapor. Wouldn't want to hydrolock my motor. That way I could use it only when needed to lower the EGTs when towing heavy and still have my same performance benefits of the turned up IP for day to day driving.

What do you guys think?

 

Go big or stay at home........... Find the right system and buy it, making your own water injection has cost a few guys engines........ check with Travis on the the Old Boys Network.......

 

Travis is a poor example. He goes overboard on everything he does.
His injection nozzle was like 4X the size that was recomended.
He was also fueling/boostin to crazy levels without studs.

Right now, he and another guy are swapping/making their own fuel plates for their Cummins Pumps. Is kinda funny to read their posts.

I was kind of wondering if I could use a FILP as a pointentiometer(sp?), to feed a signal to a varible water/meth setup??

 

Is this the NA truck or the Banks truck?

I don't know enough about water injection to tell you how to set it up, but that might be an answer. In the absence of good, proven tech info, my advice would be to go with a store bought system.

The cheaper/better answer, IMHO, is just to go easy on your truck. Slow down. Here was my formula. Most of the miles on my Banks 6.9L are towing and it often towed at 17-18,000 GCVW (older 30 foot trailer with overhead camper on the truck). I lived in Colorado at 4500 feet, so my pump was turned back a bit compared to sea level. When crossing the high passes and EGT would start to climb, I'd slow down, shift into second and rev to about 3000 rpms. EGTs dropped significantly because I was pumping lots of air through (10-12psi boost) with less fuel rate than lugging at 1800 with my foot to the floor and blowing lots of smoke with low airflow. As I recall, it would about 950 degrees at just under 50mph and 3000 rpm over Vail pass in second gear. I'd go slower if the pyro told me to. In third, I'd be under 2000 rpm, at about 45mph, pedal to the floor, with the pyro pegged and rolling lots of smoke.

I'm never in so much of a hurry that I can't take care of my old buddy by going easy on him.

 

The temps may be improved by water, but the real problem is at altitude the air is obviously thinner, therefor not enough air for the fuel setting. That is where the turbo come in to replace that lack of air.
My experiance with water/methonol injection is with gas aircraft engines, Normally they run too rich at high boost, which is strickly for cooling purposes. When the water is thrown to it the fuel is cut back-derichment valve, back to best power fuel to air ratio, and the water just is for the cooling effect and to prevent detonation. That was an engine that ran up to 59" of boost!

 

The NA...

Ditto - which is why I'm askin'

Know of any affordable systems? I found two on ebay - the least expensive one is $550!

That's pretty much what I did - over 1100 miles each way. While that works, I'd rather not have to watch it so closely all the time and baby it up every hill. Being able to use more than 1/2 throttle would be nice.....

I'm not in that big of a hurry most of the time either, but sometimes, when you've got a lot of miles to cover, it's nice to be able to put your foot in it an ROLL.....

 

Umm, if your towing at high alt.
Wouldn't it make more sense to just use the Turbocharged Truck?

 

Have you looked at the Splash system that Travis based his system on. It is in the Tech sysction of the 6.9/7.3 page at Oilburners.net.

Here is the link:
http://oilburners.net/articles/splash.htm

Chris

 

I had same problem with my NA 7.3 pulling my 5th wheel in the Rockies. Installed a turbo. Problem solved. I have since installed larger exhaust and 4" ram air which made it all the better.

 

Sure - if it didn't have an input bearing in the T-19 about to go out (growling loudly) and 4.10 gears. Once I put the ZF in it, it will be the tow rig of choice.

But for now I need to tow with the NA truck. I know a turbo would solve the problem, but since I'll be selling the NA truck once the other one is tow-ready, investing that kind of dough - which I surely wouldn't get back - not to mention all the work involved - isn't in the cards.

I'll take a look at that splash system CRMW....