PaulDaisy

I have read more than I care for about the Adrenaline and it is all mostly about the top HP one can make with it vs. another box. Now, let me ask: how many people who do not go after top HP drive it daily, tow with it and how does it work for the practical purposes? I need pyro and boost gauges and getting those with Adr seems like a reasonable thing cost wise. I am a bit hesitant because of the numerous reports of surging and the box catching on fire. Does that happen to Adr-s run with just competition type tunes, or the daily drive tunes surge too (like the 2000s)?
To sum up: is the Adrenaline a good box for non-wire-tap, daily driving and regular towing 10k+ lbs at high elevations?

xtoyz17

Tunes are changeable for whatever you want. ADR1000 tune will give you more power, better mileage, and no surging. Top end will be good, bottom end will be manageable. A few adrenalines have had resistors melt, but that's no worse than anything else you could buy. Everyone gets a bad one now and then, it's how the company takes care of you after that matters.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I were you. I love mine, and will truly miss it when I buy a 12V.

RowJ

Non Wire Tap?? And you already have gauges? I would not think the adrenaline will net you much bang for your buck!
With a 5 speed and no wire tap, you will have no surging concerns....and there have been no fires... just some melted resistors due to high HP heat, IMO.
If you want to get a Pulse, for all the extra readings available....makes sense, I guess; especially if you want to do away with your other gauges??

RJ

Big Blue24

The defueling ability of the Adrenaline makes it the very best towing box on the market. No other box will defuel so smoothly and accurately to keep egt's in your preset sweet spot. The edge juice has defueling but it is so abrupt it made my truck buck. I don't like my rig bucking and barking the turbo when I have 12K in tow up a steep rocky mountain pass.

I'd wager that I could put a pair of Mach 6 200HP + injectors in my truck and tow with my small 3rd gen turbo simply because the Adrenaline defuels so smoothly. What other box will let you tow with virtually zero egt issues and all of the HP you could ever need?

can17

I agree with RowJ, if you're planning on getting gauges and not tapping the VP then there are cheaper alternatives out there.

HOHN

Like quad's own XZT+ for example...

NoSeeUm

I have the XZT+ and can reccomend it, but it has no indications that you are looking for. In fact, it can be frustrating because it is hard to tell even if the **** thing is on. Quad could have done better IMO to put some LED's for feed back indicating the mode it is running in.

If it were me, I would just get the Adrenaline and wire tap it. You can always set the power where you want it. Sometimes having all that extra power is just plain good ole fun. It is completely on the fly adjustable. This is a polite box to run all the time, from what I have read about it, if the right SW is loaded.

I run a XZT+ / TST stack. The TST is normally on 4 or 5 if I am empty, because that way the power is alway on tap for me "only if I decide to use it". The truck remains 100% polite and I generally drive like an old man anyways.

For towing I turn off the TST, but still leave the XZT+ set on fueling and timing. I have all the power I need for all the towing that I do and it is my belief that too much power under those loads just tears stuff up / accelerates wear. But if you have stock injectors the Adrenaline would tow very nicely on the lower levels I would think and probably improve your fuel economy. Ask around some more, it might tow actually better than stock because it will defuel on high boost / EGT.

Jim

PaulDaisy

Thanks for all the replies! Just to clarify, I do not have the pyro and boost and that is why I am thinking of Adrenaline: it has both, and getting them separately is at least $200-250. Any other box (xcept for a VA probably) would cost some $350-400, so together they would run up to the price of the Adrenaline. The defueling is an attractive option for me for towing, I have always thought why the box designers are not using the valuable EGT information to control the boxes under heavy load. Wire tap is really not attractive to me: I don't like smoke and the truck will smoke as it is if I hit the gas abruptly, the elevation and Mach 1.6s will do it without any extra help. This is why I am not sure about the Adr: I would not use 90% of its capabilities, it would be like a XZT+ with gauges.

xtoyz17

Smoke is debatable. My truck hardly smokes anything other than a light haze on the 1k tune. The 2k tune burps black for 2-3 seconds. The COMP tune will black out the headlights of cars me though

2500Ram

Bring your truck up to 6000 ft and watch it bellow black clouds on your 1k tune. I don't have an adr just an EZ and I can black out an intersection with the low stall converter and EZ. Not fun.

xtoyz17

Torque converter probably has more to do with it than the chip does. Starved for air and lugging the engine is gonna make it smoke. For some reason I remember reading you want a looser converter in higher altitudes.

2500Ram

Maybe but this is the converter Dave recommended for towing in the Rockies. With the stock converter I could put out a pretty good cloud but now it's crazy.

xtoyz17

Twins! Seriously though, a slightly larger turbo would make the EGT's better but for low-end smoke clearing response nothing will be better than the stock turbo besides twins.

HOHN

Yes and no. What you really want is a converter and turbo that work together. A tighter turbo can use a tighter converter, and a laggier turbo needs a looser converter.

You don't want a really loose converter in the mountains because it tends to generate a ton of heat, and the engine is already making more heat because of the higher loads and thinner air.

Conversely, you don't want a converter so tight that the engine is unable to rev up to where the turbo is fully engaged.

I'd say what you want for high elevation is a fairly tight converter AND a fairly tight, fast-spooling turbo like the stock HY35 from the 01-02 auto trucks.

jmo

xtoyz17

I'll agree with everything but the last sentence. He's got a tight converter and a tight turbo, and while heat may not be an issue I'd venture a guess to say he spends an awful lot of time cleaning soot off of his truck and trailer. That may be ideal to some, but definitely not ideal for the OP.