School me....1992 12V cummins

pheery

pheery

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
High Point
school me on these engines. powerful or not? tunable or not? good mileage? worth a shit? i dont know jack about them, made an offer on one because the truck is clean and seemingly a good price. :popcorn: how about those auto's? has a 205 case, 60 front, 70 rear.
 
auto is just so-so...

Ken (BRUISER) and I are both running 1st Gen ('89-'93) Dodges...

I know I'm completely satisfied with mine...

several quick/easy ways to turn 'em up...they switched to intercooled in 91.5, so if yours is a '92, you'll know it's intercooled...

the intercooled use a slightly smaller injector than the non-IC (7mm vs. 9mm) so an injector upgrade would be more noticable for you...

HTT makes several compressor upgrades...the first tried-and-true mod to wake up the truck is to install the 3200 gov spring (<$20 and a couple hours of your time)...

I've installed a switch in mine to have a tow/play mode...and in play mode it'll spin the tires (on a dually) shifting into 3rd and 4th...in tow mode, it runs uphill at 75MPH-80MPH at about half pedal...

mid-teens towing mileage...~20 around town empty...

I spent a lot of time on www.dieseltruckresource.com when I bought mine...and I know I see Ken there quite often...

Greg
 
I have a 1990 12V (non-intercooled) in my Chevy. It has a 3-inch exhaust with no muffler, stock airbox cut open, and pump turned up a little. I am completely happy with it - it has pulled whatever I have hooked it to. Mine is a 5-speed though, so I can't comment on the auto.

I agree that dieseltruckresource.com is a VERY good site to check out.

Do you know what gears are in the one you're looking at? Mine would pull anything with the 4.10s and 33s, and now that I've put 35s on it to drop the RPMs, I have to downshift out of 5th into 4th on the highway some when pulling my 32-foot gooseneck. But with the bumper pull single car trailer, I don't even notice the load.
 
it has 3.55 and 265 tires. the body is very clean, which was my main reason in being interested in it. thanks for the info so far guys, i will continiue to reseach it.
 
I have a 93 manual ext-cab 4x4, so I cannot comment on the auto. These engines are great. The pumps are easy to turn up and as a whole they are very simple to work on. The best upgrade I can suggest is to put a smaller 16cm exhaust turbine housing on it. They usually came with a 18 or I think 21. Had alot of turbo lag. That is the first upgrade I did and was very happy with it. I put injectors in later and was not as happy with it. Smokes all the time and higher exhaust temp, although upping the pump timing and a larger turbo would probably fix that. If you turn up, make sure you put a pyrometer(exhaust temp.) and a tranny temp guage. And while you are at it put a boost guage on it too. Mileage was 20-23 stock and 17-19 turned up.
Michael
 
I wouldn't waste my time going from a 18.5cm housing to a 16cm...if you do have a 21, then 16 would be a noticable difference...

I put a 12cm wastegated housing on mine...spools up nicely...:D

I haven't dyno'd mine...but I will tell you I started a couple weeks ago making 15PSI of boost in 3rd gear...and now can hit 37PSI in 3rd...total cost was <$20...;)

Greg
 
Patrick...whenever you get time, you can read through this:

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/showthread.php?t=100810

it's a really long thread (~250 posts as of today...actually the longest one in the 1st Gen Forum)...but it's been the single thread I started with a "plan" of what I wanted to do...along with any problems I encountered...

BTW...much easier to read if you change your option to 40 posts per page...

it was started after I had spent probably 40+ hours reading on the site...trying to figure out what my options were...

I continue to add to it...as I've moved into the fine tuning part of my build-up...moved past the major changes (at least for now)...

Greg
 
If I can get my truck running again I am sure I will be happy with it..

I was very very happy with it until it went out..
 
I love mine it is a 96 3500 12v AT 4:10 gear 2wd. a little bit of a dog on the hill but that is easy to fix. I plan to bump the HP up a little. the AT has a huge gap between 3 and 4th. It is my DD and I hate shifting all the time but if it was just a tow rig I would get a 5sp.

AVg MPG 17
best 22.6
towing the J10 16.0
with the slide in Camper (2400lbs) 14.0
 
how much cash would you guys say you have wrapped up in upgrades? with 3.54 gears is OD going to be worthless when towing? i don't think the guy is going to budge on his price anyway, but i like that body style and the idea of a cheaper but capable tow rig.... i don't tow that often, don't need a payment.
 
I think you will be OK with those gears depending on how much weight you want to tow. You would definitely not want to go to any taller tires.

Depending on how the gears and tires make the RPMs work out, it might be good towing in 3rd (rather than OD) most of the time to keep the stress off the trans, then you can use OD when empty.
 
i dont tow more than 7k.....

sounds like a cheaper alterantive, now i just need to get one...
 
12V

A fuel plate from TST for less than $300 will give you more power than your stock trans will ever handle. The plate number determines the power and they all cost the same. You will not need a different turbo or bigger exhaust.
 
so larry, you are saying to not waste my time with the auto? the main reason i was leaning the way of the auto is so the wife can assist in driving sometimes, and because i never tow much weight.
 
pheery said:
so larry, you are saying to not waste my time with the auto? the main reason i was leaning the way of the auto is so the wife can assist in driving sometimes, and because i never tow much weight.
Click to expand...


FYI...you can't do the fuel plate swap in a '92 (as far as I understand it)...

you can do the Governor Spring upgrade (<$20) that will be a major change...

you can also do a fuel pin (instead of the fuel plate)...but it's only worth about 20HP...

as far as cost...it all depends what you want...

I'll tell you I towed my TJ to Crozet (up Fancy Gap) and held 70-75MPH the whole way...uphill...and the truck was completely stock...

what I actually paid for:

1. HTT Stage III - ($200)
2. used 12cm wg exhaust housing ($50)
3. 4" downpipe ($180)
4. gauges (EGT and boost) plus gauge pod...price varies based on brand...
5. BHAF (Big Honkin' Air Filter) can't remember exactly...maybe $25?
6. 3200 spring ($20)

I also bought an Old Smokey Fuel Pin...but it makes no difference in tow mode (with my new tow/play setup)

If I were you, and you decide to go with the auto, I'd adjust the throttle linkage, do the BHAF and 3200 spring and be done with it...at least to start...so, less than $50 and you'll have a very strong tow rig...

Greg
 
As far as the auto from my experiance they are pretty good in these trucks. The proof is the owner of the farm i have worked on has a '92 and a '91 i beleive and the '92 has only had one tranny in its 520,000 mile lifetime and the truck very reguarly pulls upwards of 20,000 pounds and more.
 
I will seccond the fact that the motor is bullet proof but the tranny wont hold up with many performance mods. I have a friend who has a non intercooled, A/T truck with over 500K on it. The trans fluid might have been changed every 200k and this truck gets beat on. Its a shop truck for a welding and metal fab company. Leave it stock and it will be a GREAT truck. You might not be as fast as the PSD or DuraMax trucks but you WILL get there and use less fuel ;)
 
trans goin in mine now
moved plate got springs

POW 1k miles cost me over 3k dollars for trans
torque conv 1100$
1k ft/lbs torq rated
friend is reblding it
whole trans 1k torq cap 4200$ from tci & jasper

stock was fine

now taking donations
 
Pheery

I mis-spoke, the plates are for 94 thru early 98 12 valve engines. The 89-93 engines can be turned up also, just a different pump. The reference to the trans was the power availiable can exceed the strength of the trans. You do not have to crank it that high. The pre 94's had a pretty good trans in them.
 
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