why diesel?

[kyle.rj133]

why do people choose to chip diesels and try to make them fast? alot of my friends do this and they dont tow, all they do is race each other?

couldnt you make a gas engine alot faster? i know you can in a car but never seen people do much with lifted trucks.

 

[shady]

I think its a tim the tool man thing. More power. They have kits now that are for strictly economy. Some claim 5-6mpg increase. plus a little power. Thats the way I'd go personally. But I guess some guys need an 1100ftlb/600hp DD mall crawler

 

[Russell]

Cube for cube, diesel engines make way more power than gasoline engines do. And they make all that power right down low in the power band

 

[63chevyll]

I think its a swinging balls contest myself....

Ido like fast diesels, as much as the next guy, but some are going nuts with it.

Once a chip, then exhaust, then a trans, then a turbo, then another turbo, then another trans....bla, bla, bla...... it gets craZy.

The same question could be asked, why do guys lift their trucks...

We can talk about this for days

 

[manchildau65]

You're talking some serious mods to a gas motor to get the same power out of a modern diesel. Think about it, a simple "chip" can easily add over a hundred horse and even more torque... the week point with our modern diesels is the trannies (whether the auto tranny/converter or clutch).

Tuned up diesels can take a ton of abuse and often easily out perform vehicles half their size!

(I am bias... 06' Cummins - freakish torque with no tune)

 

[kdoske]

yeah there's like three different questions here. But to answer the main questions its like others have said. When people are going for the 1000hp rides it more of just a pissing contest or challenge for them.

 

[blowedupmotor87]

I'd LOVE to tune mine!!! Heck, even stock, it's a freakin rocket for a 7000lb vehicle! (07 DMAX Silverado Classic, stock= 360hp, 650lbft!!!) It's fun to surprise somebody that thinks a big truck is slow!

 

[DEMON44]

its the same as ANYTHING why do you guys put bigger diffs under a truck, more flexy suspension. some down right huge tires...............

its cause you CAN!!!!!!!!

 

[KirsL]

Why Diesels, WHY NOT!!!

My dodge came stock with 305hp/555tq of which 250/500 made it to the ground and was pretty quick, course after dding a 91 F250 with a non-turbo 7.3 it was really a rocket-ship . But I couldn't leave well enough alone and I've added bigger injectors, banks sixgun, tweaked the stock turbo and just last year put a built trans to handle the power. I haven't had the truck dynod yet it's probably a safe bet that the RWHP numbers are in the area 300hp/675tq to the ground. Now those are just estimates based on whats done to the truck and how other have done with similar mods. One day I will dyno it just so I know for sure. Best part is the truck still gets over 19 mpg on the highway, at 75mph, and will pull 10k like it's nothing.

I've thought about pushing the truck to 425 RWHP but after some serious thinking I'm going to leave the power levels where they are. Why you ask, because the truck as it sits sometimes has too much power to be safe on the street in certain weather conditions. Plus I need the money to spend on the stepside . Two modded trucks are very costly . But fun

 

[CGT80]

My 6.6 liter engine (i believe it's the same size as a DMax) should be making around 420hp and 525 ft. lbs. of torque or better. Its pretty impressive for a small block smog engine moving a 6500 pound 79 chevy pickup. Yep. its a gas engine. 406 cu in. The compression is only 10:1 vs some outrageous number that the diesels can run and I don't have a turbo. My engine should make 477 ft lbs of torque at 2500 rpm and peak at 3500 rpm. It also took a ton of head and intake work to get it to where it is. I haven't dynoed it, but it's mostly based on the 406 impersonator article from a magazine and has upgrades over what they used.

Diesel has some great advantages. If I was to buy a newer truck, it would be a diesel.

My truck is a daily driver work truck, but doubles as a tow vehicle for a 10,000 pound trailer, and tripples as a hot rod/fun vehicle. My K5 has a mostly stock drivetrain but has newer paint and a lift with mud tires. I can't afford to go crazy with upgrades on both. Some people can't have a sports car to just drive for fun. A truck can help make up for it and is more practical. If I could chip my 406 and pile on another 100 or more ft lbs of torque, I would do it. I don't blame the diesel guys.

 

[kyle.rj133]

You're talking some serious mods to a gas motor to get the same power out of a modern diesel. Think about it, a simple "chip" can easily add over a hundred horse and even more torque... the week point with our modern diesels is the trannies (whether the auto tranny/converter or clutch).

Tuned up diesels can take a ton of abuse and often easily out perform vehicles half their size!

(I am bias... 06' Cummins - freakish torque with no tune)

im not against diesels at all, i think there badas* i just dont get why people do all of this just to race (even though i have).

think, you could turbo a gasser and tune it and have it faster than most diesels. and usually buying them are a couple grand more than a gas vehicles.
yeah i have no doubt that they have WAY better lower end numbers.

 

[blowedupmotor87]

Since GM ditched the 8.1, Dodge ditched the V-10, and Ford has only a 6.8 V-10 the only way to get a large displacement, big power engine in a new truck is to go diesel and they are easy to mod and get big gains to boot! (Heck, even stock the new trucks are getting on toward 400hp/800lbft!!! (Ford claims 400/800 now but, we all know about Ford and their power claims, LOL!!! )

 

[kyle.rj133]

its the same as ANYTHING why do you guys put bigger diffs under a truck, more flexy suspension. some down right huge tires...............

its cause you CAN!!!!!!!!

ha so true! just trying to stir some opinions up (THERE IS SO MANY SMILIES)

 

[rjfguitar]

im not against diesels at all, i think there badas* i just dont get why people do all of this just to race (even though i have).

why do people put big motors in old muscle cars just to race them?

think, you could turbo a gasser and tune it and have it faster than most diesels. and usually buying them are a couple grand more than a gas vehicles.
yeah i have no doubt that they have WAY better lower end numbers.

It takes torque to make something move. Torque= work done, HP is just a measurement of how fast torque can get the work done, but doesn't actually do any of the work. You could have 2000HP and 10 ft lbs of torque in a Chevy truck and a Craftsman riding lawn mower would beat it in a quarter mile drag.

So...... A highly modified gas engine with a turbo system (apples for apples right?) that makes 750HP and 750ft lbs will get whooped on all day long with a diesel making 600HP and 1000ft lbs.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Cause where else can you get 300-400 HP and 700-800 ft/lb and when you keep your foot out of it still get 20+ MPG!!

My buddy's 5.9 chipped, exhaust, intakeCummins will break the Duals loose if its wet on the freeway at 65 MPH in 6th. but when he drives it sane averages about 22 on the highway.

 

[djtejas]

I don't know about all the other states, but here in Texas the one's doing that drive them like sports cars weaving in and out of traffic and riding on other cars back bumpers at 70+mph. Trucks aren't really the safest of vehicles to be driving like that.
I don't care what mods people do to their vehicles, but when it comes to endangering other people on the roads, that's not cool.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

It takes torque to make something move. Torque= work done, HP is just a measurement of how fast torque can get the work done, but doesn't actually do any of the work. You could have 2000HP and 10 ft lbs of torque in a Chevy truck and a Craftsman riding lawn mower would beat it in a quarter mile drag.

So you think that 2000 hp means nothing even if only 10 ft lbs are produced? Any of us could produce 10 ft lbs, but at what speed? You may think that diesels are all about torque because they make their power at a (relatively) low RPM but their game is still in horsepower.

Say I can produce 200 ft. lbs. on a lever. That's two hundred, roughly as much as most cars on the road. Could I push a 3500 lb sedan 80 mph down the road, or accelerate it to 60 in less than 10 seconds? Hell no. That's because at two hundred foot lbs I'd be lucky to rotate that lever a couple times a minute, that car is probably rotating 4000 times per minute.

The difference? The car can be geared MUCH, MUCH deeper to achieve the same speed and hence it puts MUCH more force to the ground. That's horsepower, not torque. Given my rough example, that car can put 200 times more force to the ground, even though we can make the same torque.

Diesels are certainly VERY useful for their jobs, I have and always have used a diesel tow rig. But to say the horsepower is useless and torque is everything is totally false.

The usefulness in engines is that they spin fast (a measure of hp), and that we can reduce that speed many times through gears to create force pushing the car/truck forward. You can manipulate torque to the ground (higher gears giving less torque at a higher speed and lower gears giving more torque at a lower speed) but horsepower stays the same regardless of gear ratio (after drivetrain losses etc.).

 

[rjfguitar]

So you think that 2000 hp means nothing even if only 10 ft lbs are produced? Any of us could produce 10 ft lbs, but at what speed? You may think that diesels are all about torque because they make their power at a (relatively) low RPM but their game is still in horsepower.

Say I can produce 200 ft. lbs. on a lever. That's two hundred, roughly as much as most cars on the road. Could I push a 3500 lb sedan 80 mph down the road, or accelerate it to 60 in less than 10 seconds? Hell no. That's because at two hundred foot lbs I'd be lucky to rotate that lever a couple times a minute, that car is probably rotating 4000 times per minute.

The difference? The car can be geared MUCH, MUCH deeper to achieve the same speed and hence it puts MUCH more force to the ground. That's horsepower, not torque. Given my rough example, that car can put 200 times more force to the ground, even though we can make the same torque.

Diesels are certainly VERY useful for their jobs, I have and always have used a diesel tow rig. But to say the horsepower is useless and torque is everything is totally false.

The usefulness in engines is that they spin fast (a measure of hp), and that we can reduce that speed many times through gears to create force pushing the car/truck forward. You can manipulate torque to the ground (higher gears giving less torque at a higher speed and lower gears giving more torque at a lower speed) but horsepower stays the same regardless of gear ratio (after drivetrain losses etc.).

Lots of HP is obviously beneficial because it means you can develop your peak torque very quickly getting work (torque) done faster. You could move that same sedan at the same weight anywhere that engine could, it would just take you longer. You are still doing the same work in the end. The focus was more in a lack of torque, than excess HP, to the original poster's comment.

If an engine has 2000HP and 10ft lbs, it will develop that torque extremely quick, but it still doesn't have any power. It will only do what any engine with 10ft lbs can do, it would just do it faster. That is like being in a pillow fight with Mike Tyson. He may have a super strong arm that is swinging the pillow fast, but your still just getting hit with a pillow.

 

[blazinzuk]

Because too much is never enough.

 

[COCHEV]

Cube for cube, diesel engines make way more power than gasoline engines do. And they make all that power right down low in the power band

Would this be true if both had turbos?