New truck all sorts of questions

[db7080]

New to forum, going to get a 04 gmc this week.
Super clean truck but have some questions
This truck has head studs, ppe that he claims is a 225 on highest stage, edge juice w attitude he is running for gauges, airdog (doesn't know what one), new stock injectors and strait pipe 4 inch magnaflow with 6 in tip.

Curious what ppe is it that it has? (225??)
And is tranny pretty much my next needed upgrade?
He said he runs ppe all the way up for mpg and I have seen he is getting great mileage. Just super worried about tranny issues. Thanks in advanced and remember I'm new to this forum so don't rip on me to hard lol

 

[db7080]

Also should I buy the Ppe boost valve? Will it help with performance much? Forgot to mention Im not planning on any towing just regular daily driving

 

[Hot COCOAL]

Welcome:hello:

Getting good mileage is a good thing for many reasons, like, if your getting good mpg you're prolly not beating on it, injectors are prolly good(you said they are new, stock injectors) and compression and what not are prolly good too

225hp tune, you said is "all the way up" on the PPE tuner, prolly a ppe standard tuner

Which leads me to the trans.
A 225hp tune will absolutely destroy a stock trans....so that would be my biggest concern, if you have the funds and plan to build a transmission for the truck, eh, buy it and let it break,or just build it first off.

Headstuds don't really mean much, could be head gaskets have been done and the studs were just added then, that would be nice to know, if the HG's have been done

studs are typically only used as a precautionary measure on a truck with a stock bottom end, as the boost needed to actually stretch a stock bolt is greater than the stock piston and/or rods can really handle, but over time the added cylinder pressures associated with "performance tuning" "can" stretch the stock bolts and cause a HG leak, so some guys will just put them in as easy insurance.

The fact it has an air dog is cool, and it has some gauges and what not, I think that's all good, as the owner was prolly pretty adept in/about diesels, so that's cool, and it means you don't have to buy as much, or at least as soon

 

[db7080]

Yeah he did say he did head gasket. What can I do to save the tranny for the longest time? Just drive conservative? Yeah good luck with that lol. Running juice just for gauges, does that mean I should just run it on stock? Is it going to cause problems (other than tranny) to turn the edge up also just to test for better mileage?

 

[03spoolindmax]

Get rid of the ppe and get EFI LIVE :thumb: As for the stock trans. I don't recommended anything over 100hp especially in higher gears. It will limp pretty fast. I limped my stock trans with a 80hp tune on the freeway.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

The best thing you can do for the trans is leave the tune in the level one or two tune, something less than or about 100hp over stock. If the previous owner really did daily drive the truck in a 225hp/ppe standard level 4 tune, the transmission may already have some work done? Or may already be toast, or maybe it's fine, he limped it once or twice and just ran in the lower tunes, ya never really know, until ya know. I'm not sure the edge is compatible with the ppe handheld tuner, so I'm pretty sure that the juice is only showing the gauges, and the tune file represented in the juice is not representing what tune the truck is actually running, and cannot be changed by/from the juice monitor, you will have to hook the ppe standard flash tuner up to change tunes. Although, I'd do believe the juice can monitor engine vitals, read and clear codes and comes with some drag strip apps 0-60/100 et, etc, etc.

Ppe tunes are gonna blow away edge tuning. Efi live tuning is gonna be the best, in a nutshell the edge juice box/monitor is just a sensor/code fooler that tells the onboard computer to max everything out, and that's not good tuning.

Just keep the ppe stuff on there, i was told by Eric @ ppe that ppe tunes were actually written in efi live format/platform and then recoded for (or whatever it is) a different format for the hand held ppe tuning devise, so ppe tunes are really efi live, but I do think an efi live specific tuner will get you a more solid set of tunes. Especially and absolutely, if you can get the truck tuned by your tuner, with the tuner in the seat:thumb:

 

[db7080]

So would a ppe boost valve benefit me? Some people say they don't do anything, why is that? And yeah I'll prolly drive it a month or so limp it a time or two then have the tranny done

 

[db7080]

Also he said he just put new injectors in but he said he put stock in. Do I need to put bigger ones in? I plan to build but keep stock turbo. I wanna stay in a stock class on a dyno

 

[Texas Chevy]

Edge juice with attitude will even in stock adds timing if I'm not mistaken. I would pull that off and get some guages. As far as the tranny if the Ppe is set to the highest tune it will hurt the transmission and as most know if you have been told that you truck is faster than stock you play with it every now and then so plan for the transmission to already be hurt. It's hard to keep your foot out of it

 

[Low366Dmax]

First things first. Ditch the PPE and the edge. Sell them both you will probably have enough money for efi live. Your stock injectors will be fine if your gonna keep the stock turbo. IMO if your gonna build the trans and have the funds to do it. Do it! If you do efilive you can get an edge insight for gauges it's an awesome unit and everyone who runs one loves them. It's great it has an airdog on it already will save you a good chunk of change.


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[db7080]

Yeah I'm planning on doing tranny. I'll have to, no question about it. I lack self control, a stock trans won't last. Will I need to replace the new stock injectors that he put in? I'm going to sell ppe and edge buy efi and gauges.

 

[db7080]

First things first. Ditch the PPE and the edge. Sell them both you will probably have enough money for efi live. Your stock injectors will be fine if your gonna keep the stock turbo. IMO if your gonna build the trans and have the funds to do it. Do it! If you do efilive you can get an edge insight for gauges it's an awesome unit and everyone who runs one loves them. It's great it has an airdog on it already will save you a good chunk of change.


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Sorry didn't see this before my last reply. But yeah that's what I was thinking with the tuning. And now I just need to decide on a trans

 

[02greysixer]

There's plenty of threads about bigger injectors being needed or not but the short of it is stock injectors and pump will feed a stock turbo all the fuel it can handle as long as they're in good shape. And as long as you don't abuse the crap out of the tranny and beat on it at high speeds it will last a while. That's what I'm doing till I have the funds for a built one. Only gears 1-4 see wot and only in tow/haul. I don't give OD anything more than about 1/3 throttle ever since I limped it the first time.

sent from a galaxy far far away

 

[Jacy_dzlguy]

stock injectors will be fine with a stock turbo. And ditch that Edge ASAP!

 

[Low366Dmax]

Also he said he just put new injectors in but he said he put stock in. Do I need to put bigger ones in? I plan to build but keep stock turbo. I wanna stay in a stock class on a dyno

You say you'll keep the stock turbo till you feel 500rwhp then all you want is more! Diesel power is like heroin just 3 times as expensive and 10 times as addicting!


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[db7080]

You say you'll keep the stock turbo till you feel 500rwhp then all you want is more! Diesel power is like heroin just 3 times as expensive and 10 times as addicting!


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Oh I know how it is lol I'm getting back into it now. I owned a 01 cummins a couple years ago and loved it. Single cab long bed, it was way bad ass

 

[db7080]

There's plenty of threads about bigger injectors being needed or not but the short of it is stock injectors and pump will feed a stock turbo all the fuel it can handle as long as they're in good shape. And as long as you don't abuse the crap out of the tranny and beat on it at high speeds it will last a while. That's what I'm doing till I have the funds for a built one. Only gears 1-4 see wot and only in tow/haul. I don't give OD anything more than about 1/3 throttle ever since I limped it the first time.

sent from a galaxy far far away

How big of tunes could you run, only on it from 1-4? Before you limped it? And what tunes you running now?

 

[Low366Dmax]

How big of tunes could you run, only on it from 1-4? Before you limped it? And what tunes you running now?

On a stock trans you really don't want to run much more then 100hp over stock. I limped
My trans on a 150hp stock trans race tune


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[02greysixer]

How big of tunes could you run, only on it from 1-4? Before you limped it? And what tunes you running now?

I just have a single tune no dsp switch. My old lb7/zf6 truck had dsp5 by bobo and it was cool at first but eventually the newness wore off and I never took it off of the #4 setting. When I got efilive for my new truck I decided that I wanted to tune it myself. I just run a single hot tune that DD's well, tows fine and gets decent milage. I haven't dyno it yet but if I had to guess it's somewhere around 150-200rwhp over stock just by seat of the pants comparison to my bobo 500 rwhp tuned old truck. It's entirely to much for a stock trans but I drive smart and don't expect it to last forever either.
I limped it in 5th twice. Once during some testing trying to make a tranny tune that downshifts out of 5th at very light pedal pressure. Didn't work. The other I was trying to see how fast I could go, I eased into it very easy and at about 1/2 throttle and 110mph it limped. Now anything other than normal driving I disable OD and just don't go any faster than about 100mph. I hit the rev limiter in 4th at around 100-105mph. I haven't limped any other gears

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[blk smoke lb7]

You say you'll keep the stock turbo till you feel 500rwhp then all you want is more! Diesel power is like heroin just 3 times as expensive and 10 times as addicting!


Sent from my iPhone

Wish I had more room for quotes because that's sooo true and ....funny but true.:rofl:

I just have a single tune no dsp switch. My old lb7/zf6 truck had dsp5 by bobo and it was cool at first but eventually the newness wore off and I never took it off of the #4 setting. When I got efilive for my new truck I decided that I wanted to tune it myself. I just run a single hot tune that DD's well, tows fine and gets decent milage. I haven't dyno it yet but if I had to guess it's somewhere around 150-200rwhp over stock just by seat of the pants comparison to my bobo 500 rwhp tuned old truck. It's entirely to much for a stock trans but I drive smart and don't expect it to last forever either.
I limped it in 5th twice. Once during some testing trying to make a tranny tune that downshifts out of 5th at very light pedal pressure. Didn't work. The other I was trying to see how fast I could go, I eased into it very easy and at about 1/2 throttle and 110mph it limped. Now anything other than normal driving I disable OD and just don't go any faster than about 100mph. I hit the rev limiter in 4th at around 100-105mph. I haven't limped any other gears

sent from a galaxy far far away

That's the ticket right there just don't let it switch into 5th gear in a high tune.

I believe the PPE 225 hp tuner is the standard tuner they sell. I ran the PPE hot plus 2 eliminator along with my edge hot juice, only using the edge for gauges that I had no problems with.Your trans is going to be your next quest for sure.
Stock injectors will be just fine for now when and if down the road you add a larger turbo worry about the sticks then and go up in percentage for what your needs are at the time.
Efi live is the way to go for sure and if you still want to run the Edge just for the gauges (oh btw don't ever think that you can bump the edge up just a little to run with what you have ....bad idea) make sure you disconnect it before making any adjustment with your ppe it can rob the tune rite out of it when you suck the tune out of it and then it will be useless to try and sell,ask me how I know lol.
I would for sure do the boost valve it will let the turbo put I believe 3 more psi into the motor IIRC and its pretty cheap. Also1 more thing on the trans, everytime you limp it it gets easiesr to limp the next time, so your going to have to exercise some control on it or your going to be doing it sooner then later and don't wait till it doesn't move anymore to do the trans it will be packed with clutches and planitarys and if not all is removed it will play hell with your built trans down the road with heat and contamination.