Diesel Tuner's Blog

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IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO UPGRADE THE TURBO ON YOUR LB7 DURAMAX THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER FIRST

• What is your power goal?
• What do you use the truck for?
• Is there a sled pull class you would like to compete in?
• What are your future plans for the truck?
• Are your mechanical skills up to par for installing it yourself or are you taking it to a shop for installation?
• What is your budget?

With so many options on the market, it's hard to determine which is your best option.  Of course you can always call each manufacturer and discuss what options they have. However, you will still need to ask the right questions to get the results that you're hoping for. This article should save you time, money, and the headache of weeding through all of the hype out there to better point you in the right direction on  how to select the right turbo for you!

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What are your Power Goals?

Clearly defining your power goals will help you establish a game plan. No one wants to buy a turbo that will not work with their future goals for the truck. However there are some baselines that you need to set first; like are you going to build the motor?  On an LB7 we know the rods cannot handle more than 650HP.   So if you're not going to invest $15k-$25k on a motor build, there's no point in purchasing a turbo that is 800 HP capable.  On the flip side, if you are going to do a motor build in the future but want something more suited for the stock truck, consider a valley charger that will serve as the perfect primary for a twin kit.  This is a great way to maximize your dollar-per-horse-power. Below you will find a list of just a few chargers and their peak horse power raitings. 

 

 

 

6 Turbo Chargers + 1 Month of Testing = Cummins Turbo Shootout

 

 

If you ask five different diesel shops which single turbo upgrade is best, there is a good chance you will get 4-5 different answers.  To separate fact from fiction, we put together a rigorous test for five of the industry’s top turbo chargers.  Also included was the factory HE351 to see if the usual reported improvements over stock are true.  You might be wondering,  How did they choose the turbo chargers? What tests were run? And most importantly, What were the results?

 

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This LB7 Dually Killing It

I had a customer come into the shop with a pair of up-pipes and a down-pipe he wanted installed on his LB7 dually.  I told him that it would not be a problem and to come by the shop early one morning.  I happened to be near the front door when the the truck pulled in and my jaw about dropped when this thing came barreling down the road and whipped into the parking lot.  

After a brief discussion with the truck owner I found out this unit had just 89k miles on it and everything was original.  This gun metal gray paint had no fading or scratches and free of any noticeable chips or short comings.  The interior had no cracks in the plastics, the charcoal gray interior was mint, even the white paint on each button could still be seen clearly.  I think what really set it off was the 22.5" semi tires wrapped with 37" rubber.  Other basics had been done as well, all the trim was tastefully done, headlights and head unit upgraded and so on.  Looking back, each individual piece was fairly standard and readily available.  However, when put together on this 4 door dually; it just worked perfect!  

 

 

After our previous conversation of the truck, I found myself getting as excited about the potential for how cool this thing could be.  However, as any truck build story goes we ran into a few small hurdles that we needed solutions for.   Bolts broke while removing the up-pipes and the turbo had to come out.  It left us with an opportunity to replace the stock IHI with our Stealth 64 LB7 turbo.  Now we knew that because of how the owner used his truck that the transmission was going to need attention down the road . . . . shortly down the road.  It ended up being very shortly down the road.  Once the truck had a  DT750 built transmission we decided to install a few supporting mods.  

• DuramaxTuner.com Jack DSP5 Tuning
• Lift Pump
• Traction Bars

After the truck returned to it's daily life as a highway driver/midnight tollway race truck, it was not too long until we had another obstacle to overcome....

 

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Stock Duramax Turbo Upgrades!

Duramax owners are generally proud of how their stock turbos perform.  They spool quickly, run hard and are capable of over 500 RWHP (once you tune it and make a few supporting modifications to handle the power).  However, after driving your truck around 520 RWHP for a while, the addiction will creep in and you may find yourself shopping for more power.  We all do it!  For some, it may not even be about more power, it may be about EGT control under load, or it may just be the factory turbo had an issue and needs to be replaced.  If you are anything like me, you will not want to replace it with the factory components if there is an upgraded, after market, charger available. 

 

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Drop-In Duramax Turbo Options

In the old days, there was no such thing as a "drop-in" turbo.  You pretty much had to buy a turbo that was designed for a different application and convert it to run on your Duramax.  Meaning the requirements for installation included several custom fabricated pieces to make it work.  

As technology in the diesel performance industry has advanced, our options for parts have expanded.  No longer do we have to use semi turbo's and roal coal to make power.  Now with the common rail injection system and variable vane turbo advancements there is a real need to find a turbo that makes more power than stock, while retaining all the benefits of a stock turbo. 

Benefits of a stock turbo:

• Quick Spooling 
• Clean installation
• Reliable
• Serviceable by any dealer or reputable shop
• Requires no custom fabrication

However, they do lack peak power, and peak power matters!  When looking for which upgraded unit to replace the stock turbo, we recommend matching the replacement as close as possible to the desired power level to minimize compromising drive-ability.  Any extra capacity you buy in peak for performance will cost you low end response.  Example: Looking to make 650rwhp? Buy a turbo that can just barely squeak out 650rwhp, do not buy something that's good for 850rwhp because it will drive poorly a light load. 

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Duramax engines have always come with solid turbos. However after miles and miles of whistling and boosting, your turbo may have problems. Or you may have other issues, that make you think your turbo has problems. This is very common as most drivers watch boost, keeping an eye on how much PSI they're making. It stands to reason that if your peak boost drops, your turbo has a problem. This is usually not the case though. More often then not, when we diagnose this symptom we find there are other problems leading to a lower than expected boost number. 

Target boost numbers for the following RPO's are as follows (PSI)

2001-2004 LB7- Stock 20-22, tuned 24-26, tuned with PPE boost valve 28-31.  Failure will occur near 34psi

2004.5-2016 Stock 22-24, Mild tune 27-28, Hot tune 33-35

The factory map sensor which electronically measures boost on a 2001-2004.5 trucks only reads to 22-24 psi, 2006-2016 MAP sensors read to 37 psi.  If you want to read boost numbers higher you'll need an aftermarket gauge.