WestTexasRam

I was just curious as to what kind of performance some of the banks upgrades provide.

To begin I was wondering if the banks Quick-Turbo turbine housing w/ the Big Head wastegate provided that much performance in the spool- up department. They claim that the turbo lag is cut by up to 60%. If not, then what would be better, a non-wastgated turbine housing or rigging the wastegate to stay open.

Secondly, the High-Ram Manifold. Is it all that great? I know that it replaces the stock manifold and opens up the engine, but is it better than the ATS Arc-Flow Intake? I know that the Arc-Flow has pre-tapped fittings for boost gauges and W/M injection, but performance wise, which is better.

Third, would these upgrades be something to consider along with exhaust and intake, before purchasing a smarty or comp? I figure that these would be solid base-line upgrades to install before working on the fueling (smarty).

Any help on these fields is greatly appreciated.

apwatson50

Waste of money, that stuff is for looks.

Just get the smarty!! Because thats the "smart" thing to do.

yarddog

What he said. I've never ran any banks stuff myself, but everything I've read over the years says none of it ever meets expectations. Plus Gale Banks is a complete A$$. Stick with the tried and true stuff like EDGE, TST and SMARTY. Don't worry about your turbo, you can make a lot of power on a hx35, just make sure you do egt and fp guages first.

displacedtexan

You can say that again!

You don't need to do exhaust and intake to use the Smarty. Marco did the testing on a stock truck.

Intake and exhaust are nice, but not necessary at lower hp levels. Justin (Hohn) is running a Smarty and Mach 4s on a stock exhaust.

TxDiesel007

Had that stuff on my truck

a full power pack, now, theres not a remnant of banks to be found except for the 14cm exhaust housing..

Rick

WestTexasRam

Thanks for the input guys, I was leaning towards that myself. The upgrades just didnt seem to be something that would logically make a whole lot of power. I appreciate the help.

AlpineRAM

If you don't want to go too wild HP wise you won't need the arc flow or high ram intake. If you take a look at the intake side of the head you'll see why thode parts are not giving you significantly more airflow into the cylinder than stock.
About the wastegate- the best way to kill spoolup is to rig the wastegate permanently open. The wastegate permanently shut will give you more max boost, but for the price of more restriction. (And defueling and error codes if you don't have a box or smarty)
I'd suggest to bomb away like this-
GAUGES
Engine tuneup -valves and all new filters
smarty or edge (tst, quadzilla....) box
transmission or clutch
brakes
injectors+turbo (or twins with studs)

HTH

AlpineRAM

WestTexasRam

Thanks, those sound like solid upgrades. Basically what im wanting out of my truck is something that will pull a 10k lb+ trailer with ease, but can easily stomp the smartass power joke at the stop light. I appreciate the help.

GSP

I agree the Banks stuff is a waste of money. Same concept as installing chrome valve covers to add horsepower. Duh!

apwatson50

For the wastegate I would suggest a ball and spring type manual boost controller(MBC). You should be able to find a nice one on ebay for about $30. Using that you can set the wastegate to open at any psi you want.

you can also build your own using brass plumbing parts from ace.

cat1713

Banks does work but they are just a little on the safe side. I do have banks stuff like the wastegate, big hoss and high ram and it does move quite well. But, not well enough for the cost. There stuff is well built and safe but if this stuff was not already on my truck I would probably have gone with a TST. The smarty just looks too butt ugly for me.

schaef_12

I have the Ats 3 peice pulse manifold and love it, it gets the pyro before the turbo and give you quick egt reads, I would suggest Injectors, and Edge chip, Don't go to big on the chip without injectors, at $1000 for a injection pump it is worth $300 for injectors, secondary pump isn't a bad idea either

DaveB.inVa

Yeah but youve only got to look at Smarty for a few minutes.

displacedtexan

That's what I thought, the Smarty is a downloader. That would play nicely with the pretty TST.