Should my setup be smokey??

[chevyburnout1]

Hello there everyone! Haven't frequented the forum in a while, kinda missed you guys!

Anywho, I figured I'd start off with a question about my build. Snapped the crank in December, finally got it back together and have about 3000 miles on the new setup. My concern is that the setup is moderately more smokey than it used to be. The chargers are a GT3788 .89ar with a Comp Turbo 88/116 1.21ar. Injectors are just 60 overs that were inspected by Exergy. They said they were worn but still flowing within specifications. Decided to run them until they gave me issues. Now, the only changes to the new setup were swapping to Finger's 16.5cr cast ovals and a SoCal 6480af camshaft. The truck hauls my camper over the mountains, starts great, and just flat out runs the best that it ever has! It's just constantly hazy even up on boost. I wouldn't think the drop from stock delipped LB7 pistons to 16.5cr would be that drastic. So was the camshaft change my smokey downfall?

My small camper hauling tune runs about 26-35psi with 900µ pulse and it still is more hazy than I was hoping.

 

[clrussell]

Elevation?

 

[chevyburnout1]

Shoot forgot that. 5000ft is where it averages. Hauls the camper over 11,000ft a few times however I'm not worried about that. It wasn't built to tow lol.

 

[chevyburnout1]

I've also tried some tuning changes but nothing seems to really help. However my tuning is not what you call professional either.

 

[clrussell]

Big cam, big(ish) injectors, elevation, Id think it'd be smokey until I got completely on top of the Chargers and cam.. That's just basing on a truc with a 68r and a 3388 on stock fuel that's smokey and 800' elevation

 

[TROJAN366]

I think the 3388af cam might have been a better choice for what you are doing. I have a 6480af in my truck and it definitely seemed to move the power up in the rpm range.

 

[delong_1]

No cam isn't the issue.. I towed with the nearly identical cam but larger turbos and didn't have any issue with smoke or egts. Stock heads or ported? I even lugged mine at 60 mph locked converter in 5th. 20 psi is all the boost I made but I keep my fuel conservative so it's not smokey.

 

[TROJAN366]

I would consider having someone else take a look at the tunes. At this point you have one hell of a setup and lots of money invested. It would definitely be worth the few hundred bucks to maximize the trucks potential.

 

[DAVe3283]

I went with a cam and 16.5:1 pistons and fought the same issue. Had done the same as you, and had Exergy check out my injectors. Exergy said they were fine.

After pulling my hair out and having several people tune the truck with no luck, I went with new S&S SAC injectors instead of the Exergy injectors, and it cleaned up 90% of my smoke. It still will haze a bit until I get on the cam and boost, but not bad enough to annoy anyone, unlike with the Exergy injectors.

I think a big cam and lowered compression does make it hard to run clean, but in my case, the injectors were the root problem.

 

[delong_1]

Fwiw my pistons were 16.5/1 also

 

[JoshH]

I don't know why, but from what I've seen, the oval bowl pistons seem to be a little dirtier than standard pistons. That's just been my experience.

 

[chevyburnout1]

Thanks for all of your input guys!

In regards to the tuning: I originally had a tune from Steve that I had tweaked and modified a bit. Ran that before and after the build so I at least had a common variable there. The old setup cleaned up relatively well. Steve was gracious enough to write me a new tune however I'm still waiting on that to show up. In the meantime I've tried a few of my own moderate tunes changing timing/pressure/pilot with really no change.

I knew from the getgo that the cam was probably more than what I needed, however this truck has just been slowly growing bigger and bigger so I'm just hopefully planning for its future haha. Even up at 75psi and 3700rpm the smoke is moderately more than the old setup.

Oh and no porting on the heads.

 

[chevyburnout1]

I'll work on getting some professional tuning in her, triple check for any pressure leaks, and see where I'm at from there.

 

[chevyburnout1]

OH, one thing that I just thought of as well. Since the build my ECM does not store the VIN or serial numbers anymore when I'm programming it. I have to use the old V7 programming procedure for it to even take a programming event. Back in the day I had someone tell me that they've corrupted ECMs from letting them sit for months with no battery. Didn't know how accurate that was or if it's something to be concerned about. I have three more ECM's sitting at home, just haven't had the drive to order another license.

 

[ikeG]

I have noticed exergy injectors to be hazy suckers. Even ones as small as yours. I'd expect haze with the big 'uns but not the sensible sized ones.

 

[chevyburnout1]

My biggest concern was that Exergy had them all apart, then threw them back together when I declined new ones. Said they found metal debris, but they were still flowing correctly. Then it was straight to "It'll be $3500 for us to ship you a new set. This truck goes through so many changes and repairs that I figured something else would probably need to be done by the time I really needed the injectors. So I politely declined.

It's been a few months since I've been on the forum, but I have been reading up recently on the SAC injector nozzles, and so far I'm glad I didn't impulse buy another set from Exergy. Sounds like they may be the way to go.

 

[malibu795]

I don't know why, but from what I've seen, the oval bowl pistons seem to be a little dirtier than standard pistons. That's just been my experience.

This has been my experience.. pretty sure it's bowl design..as I have swapped just pistons and changed nothing else, even with increased CR it still hazes compared to stock bowls.. mainly under a load, also haze is usually in visible at night in head lights

 

[DAVe3283]

It's been a few months since I've been on the forum, but I have been reading up recently on the SAC injector nozzles, and so far I'm glad I didn't impulse buy another set from Exergy. Sounds like they may be the way to go.

I would highly recommend the SAC nozzles. Jury is still out on if they will last longer than the typical LB7 injector, but no failures yet, and a whole lot of other benefits over the traditional nozzle.

 

[delong_1]

I thought that was the hype of the high priced stuff from exergy, cleaner more efficient injectors???

My truck at the end had 30% nozzles from ddp and even with 71/94 compounds once on boost it was completely smoke free and never hazed. And still made 860 on a tight dyno

 

[chevyburnout1]

This has been my experience.. pretty sure it's bowl design..as I have swapped just pistons and changed nothing else, even with increased CR it still hazes compared to stock bowls.. mainly under a load, also haze is usually in visible at night in head lights

I thought that was the hype of the high priced stuff from exergy, cleaner more efficient injectors???

My truck at the end had 30% nozzles from ddp and even with 71/94 compounds once on boost it was completely smoke free and never hazed. And still made 860 on a tight dyno

I'm truthfully not a fan of the injectors right now, especially with only 20,000 miles on a completely new $3400 set from Exergy. Factory fuel filters changed more than they should, only name brand fueling stations, yet somehow they're worn out and need to be replaced. I try to not drive at night because it looks like a poor maintained n/a diesel in the headlights behind me. I understand this build will smoke more but even up on boost and the cam, unloaded pulling a hill traffic usually goes out of their way to not be behind me. I do not want to be that asshole giving diesel performance a bad name.

After the holidays I'll look into swapping in some new injectors. Hopefully there is some more good news on the SAC nozzles by then. Maybe I'll give them a try.