zontral

Hi guys, Im really interested in getting a 94-98 12v dodge with the ctd. I have 2 fords with the 7.3 L and have modded them a lot and I love them. But I wanna try something new and i've read about these 12v and it seems pretty easy to get a lot of power out of them. My questions are how much would I have to spend to say get close to 300 rwhp?
What kind of tranny upgrades should I look into?
what is considered high mileage on these things. i've seen a few that I would love to get with about 170k miles on them .
did these years have any major problems.

I didn't know if I should post this in the high performance section so I just did it here...

Thanks in advance, i'll probably have more questions later.

Rattlerattle

A 96 - 98 12 valve stick truck should be just cutting a plate for around 300 hp. You should do an intake and exhaust as well to help things keep cool.

Depending on the stock clutch somewheres around 300 + hp you will have to upgrade to a better than stock clutch to hold the power. Not sure for auto's.

big jimmy

A stock auto will slip the TC @ 240 hp or so, maybe less. I have a #10 plate and can spin mine at will @ 1500rpm's
170,000 miles on this motor is nothing if its been serviced as suggested. I have seen one that exploded out its side from worn oil and abuse, whatever that could have been. Mostly the lack of service I would think.

I had a PSD too and you will love the different personality of the cummins. Like going from a regular bear to a bad 'ol grizzly. Wake it up and somethings going to get broken...

If an engine had a soul the Cummins is a workaholic- the harder the work it just puts its head down and the better it likes it.

Big Jimmy

Big Deezul

I have a sexy 97 auto ext cab for sale

Willy91

Here's what I would do to get close to 300HP:
100 Plate
4GSk
60lb valve springs
Scotty intake
4" exhaust, a kit or just a straight pipe will work just as good
and a valve body from Goerends to help hold it all
Oh and a set of guages

zontral

Thanks for the answers. But could comeone explain the difference between the different plates? and which ones give you what power. thanks.

Also does the napa 6637 filter fit on these things? Thats what I used on my psd's. I did see a pic of a dodge with one, but it was an 03.

TxDiesel007

*****,

u have a good list here, but u forgot the timing bro, lol! yes you dont need it, but with a GSK its that much more fun to drive the truck.

Rick

TxDiesel007

Sounds like u need to read up on this thing..

Special thanks to Willy91 and Displacedtexan for Editing some of this post, and for reposting it as needed...

THIS is just to get a little more power out of your ram. You can do serveral things, i see you are getting gauges, and you have an air intake on the way. which is good. Now this is an into to the main power source of the ram, Your P7100 Pump, and what you can tweak on it for more power. You can also time it, but thats advanced, well at least for me... use this as an intro more than anything.. I tried my best to explain it.... here goes... and

I meant to say post.... sorry.....

Here is an intro the link to the pic might not work, but u can see it as banks plate in my gallery.....

to get more power out of your truck the first and foremost investment is a good set of gauges. These are a must anytime that you are adding more fuel to your mix.

A governers spring kit, Reffered to as a GSK is a wonderful investment that widens your normally narrow powerband from the 12 valve engine and allows you to fuel hard to at least 3200 RPMS or so, before it starts to defuel, this is all dependant on your governer arm adjustment and your plate positioning. A Torque, or fuel plate should come next. NO one really follows the plate guide anymore and the most popular plates nowadays are 100 (PM northslope for wicked work! ) and a zero plate. Piers Diesel Research and Hot Rod Diesels have them for the same price, The fuel plate... here is my explanation....

Torque plates, heres a bit about them

More commonly reffered to as fuel plates, they come in different numbers to explain how "aggressive" (for lack of a better term at the moment) that they are 10, 8, 6, 5, 0, and 100, zero being a flatt plate that bombards the pump with fuel, and a 100 being a ten plate curve with no top end defueling, much like the zero.. The one you see there is my banks plate, screwy yes, i know, i dont get it myself. that plate goes in the P7100 injector pump, It goes under what is called the AFC housing, which has a little starwheel on it, the starwheel can be accessed with the removal of the hex dealy using the the right hex head size plug, and u loosen it for more smoke, and better lower end, and tighten it for the inverse. Use a good screwdriver.... furthermore... You will see four screws there where the starwheel is, two that are flatt, one that is possibly a breakoff screw that can be a real PITA to remove, take a hammer and good screwdriver and bang the tar outta it, it will come off, if that fails, left hand drill bit... Looking down the driver side, the top left hand is the breakaway, and the top right is a regular screw as well, the bottom two are 8mm bolts and you need to get around to one that is in the back of the AFC housing that holds that fuel shutdown solenoid in place...

Install time, for a newbie, well it will take you about a couple of hours at most. If you read my literal "dissertation" of a post hehehehehehe. it tells u the procedure on how to do it. Your only real problem might be that break off screw, especially if your truck is stock, However, nothing a good strong screwdriver and some persuasion cannot take care of.

The other tricky bolt is the one (if you look down from the drivers side) behind the Fuel shutdown soleniod (electronic hooked up deal that bolts in front of the injector pump, easily removed with in my case an 8mm (and most should be too) socket and pull out the two bolts. when you undo those ull notice that there is one in the back that is holding the housing, you can just loosen the one in the rear using a deep 8 mm socket and just move teh shutdown soleniod out of the way, (downward) and then you can get to the plate..

When you are in there its simple adjustment, u just remove the stock plate and put the other plate in place of that one. NOTICE you have some play here. If you dont have gauges, dont set it full forward, If you do have gauges set it forward for a 30 or so rwhp increase!

Now put it back together and you are done. Installation is simply the reverse of removing it.PS having a magnetic tip screwdriver REALLY HELPS...

Which one is right for you.. id say the ten if you are not gonna be that aggressive with it, but the 100 is downright WICKED!! that be the one to go with, the zero is just too much at the low end for me but for dynos and racin, its awesome!.. The zero, PM Northslope AWESOME AWESOME WORK, and ull be helpin out a fellow DTR member, and the zero plate you can grind yourself, well you can do either or, but PM northslope do a search for plate grinding, started by gunracer1.. good instructions..

Either ways, you are going to need a clutch or tranny work if its an auto.....if you are going to play hard, in most cases if you just want a modest power gain, just get a 10 plate, set it a lil bit forward, and a GSK will wake up your truck. In the stock position its easily drivable and fun as well.

Waste gate, if i was good with pictures id put one up for you, but im sure you know what the wastegate looks like, that head looking deal, it is usually hooked to a rubber or similar airline, you want a little more boost? You can get a longer hose or pinch it up, There is a thread, i dont member where tho, where it shows someone improperly blocking the wastgate with a screw.... Well that aint good.. Anyways

Also make sure you get the KDP done on that truck as well... Not hard to do, look in my previous posts, KDP Report Using TST kit, or somethin similar to that......

PS this is cut and paste of other posts, sorry if its redundant....

Best of luck and hope that this helps..

Tx

zontral

Nice post. that explains a lot. no I am not very familiar with the older 12v cummins. But I am really interested in it. I am Much more knowledgable with the newer diesels and thats what I've worked on for the last few years. But I wanna try something new now. Any more opinions would be appreciated.

Willy91

When you start looking for trucks I would suugest getting a 96-98 as these have the largest pump of all the years. the autos will have a 180HP pump and the manual will have the 215HP pump. As far as problems go, one thing that will need to be fixed is the KDP (killer dowel pin) it is an alignment pin in the timing gear case that can vibrate it's way out and cost alot of $$$ to fix. TST makes a good kit to fix this problem. Also look the front end over vary closley to check for ware as this is one of the week points on the Dodge. Good luck searching and have fun!

pilipo

you might only want 300hp now but once you get the 12v bug you wont stop. go with a 5 speed so you dont have to spend a fortune on the tranny. new clutch and get the 5th gear nut fix and it should hold alot more then 300 hp