Tori

I recently bought the neighbors 2003 2500 CTD 4x4/Quadcab. It's identical to my '04.5 right down to the axle ratio - 3.73

The 03 is much, MUCH more responsive than my '04.5. Right down to the point that it's a little hard to drive in the wet. It will turn the tires over leaving a stop with very little pedal. It's actually hard not to spin them in the rain.
The '03 has a Banks Six Gun tuner, Air Raid cold air intake with prefilter, and Banks Hi Ram intake. Even with the Six Gun turned to setting 1 which is supposed to be stock, the truck is just as quick on initial accel.

My '04.5 has a Smarty Jr. and i run it typically on the 70hp setting but mostly only when towing.
The 04.5 is stock otherwise, and is very sluggish off idle. I'd describe the gas pedal as squishy before anything happens. Where a 1/4" of movement on the '03 and the truck is immediately 30' down the road.

My question is, does the High Ram intake make that much difference ? Or is it the cold air intake ? BOTH ? I was considering swapping the High Ram to my truck, but thought id share the idea with you guys first and get your input.

.02 appreciated.

tantruck

I don't think the intake or High Ram have that much to do with it. The 2003 and early 2004's had a bit smaller turbo than the 2004.5 which I think spools just a bit quicker.
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I have a Smarty S06 POD so the comparison to the Junior may be like apples to oranges but I will tell you this. I think the Six Gun fuels heavy down low and the Smarty doesn't to keep the smoke down a little. I had a Edge Juice / Attitude and unless the Smarty parameters are set more agressively the Edge seemed to be more responsive down low. That said, I can change the torque management and defuel settings on the Smarty and it will be super sensitive at low throttle settings just as you describe the Six Gun.
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The only sugestion I can give is to go back to stock on each, (except the intakes) and see how the two trucks respond. I always thought the first Smarty programs that were released were more sensitive at first throttle "tip-in" than the latest versions. But I certainly can be wrong.

Tori

Thanks for the input. If the installation/removal of the Six Gun wasn't so intense, I could take it back to stock. Supposedly on setting 1 it is at stock. That said, the Banks truck hardly smokes while my Smarty truck will put out a decent cloud when leaned on. The Smarty truck sure has a lot more mid power too.

TexasCTD

Could there be other differences, for example....if they are both automatics....could the 03 have a tighter torque converter? If the trans is slipping on the 04.5 it might be slower right?

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Spooler

The High Ram will make the throttle response smoother. It did when I put mine on and that was with a the stock airbox/filter setup.

totalloser

I think the short answer is that a high ram isn't going to make the difference you are describing. The responsiveness has everything to do with fuel delivery, and further mods simply support the bump in delivered fuel.