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P400 In The '95 K2500

Looking back at the invoice.
The wrench is $4.04, the shipping is $12.49 brings the total to $16.53.
I believe that if I went to NAPA or Oriellys and bought just a combination box/open 19mm, it would cost that much, so I was not bashful about paying the shipping.
The wrench is coming from out of Indianapolis In.
Is there a set? I'd have to check what I have before ordering. I think I have a set like that in standard sizes. I don't think I have a set of flex heads in metric
 
One of the many things I was looking forward to upgrading on this truck was the turbo. It's well documented that the GM turbos are junk and an obstacle to real power. I'll have to dig up a photo, but the original engine on this truck seized up because the previous owner installed a homemade turbo master and literally welded the wastegate shut, making the whole adjustment spring useless. The gauge would regularly pin at 15 psi, and with the shabby pyrometer broken I had no idea how bad things were in the engine. Again this was years ago when I was new to diesels and had no idea how much danger the engine was in running the stock turbo at high boost levels. The engine locked up less than a year after I bought it with that setup, spun a bearing somewhere. So needless to say I was ready to get away from stock once and for all!

I decided to go with the Peninsular Towing Turbo stocked by @uniquediesel. I didn't have the time or budget for an intercooler which left larger turbos off the table. A 35/40 will be swapped in at the same time the truck is converted to DB2. I don't have many specs on the Peninsular turbo itself, all John could tell me is it's a Borg Warner unit with a 56mm compressor and 64mm turbine.

Here's a few side by side pictures next to the GM8, even with the heat shield on the GM8 you can see how much larger the exhaust/ turbine side is on the Peninsular turbo

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I've had good results running this turbo the past few years and think it is a fantastic bolt on upgrade. The most boost the average user will see is around 14 psi on a stock truck. The most I've pushed out of it is 21 psi towing heavy in 3rd up steep hills. I always downshift once EGTs get close to 1200, so it's not the ultimate turbo for performance. However it's larger exhaust housing helps it run a lot cooler, and being non- gated means no silly vacuum pump either. The 35/40 will have a manual wastegate and will be run through a 31" x 12" x 3" CAC, which I'll most likely do in a separate thread when the time comes.


I ordered the turbo and all necessary plumbing and sensor adapters as a kit, paired with the highly recommended Peninsular upper intake makes for a clean and easy install

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Real world "Butt Dyno" showed the Peninsular worked well with a DS4, same was found with a HX35 w/12cm hot side, BUT with a hot DB2 the game changes drastically, A cac is a MUST, if someone says a given turbo won't be more efficient and provide benefits that tells me the turbo isn't a good fit to said engine.. just my thinking here..

Peter you will be amazed with the difference running a WELL built DB2 & a 35/40/14cm hybrid & cac...
 
We have a really fun DB2 planned for this build. After talking with Peter about his power goals and concerns for reliability stepping up to a .330 H&R was the original plan. But things a little bigger fell into place so now its going to get really fun. Im going to go about this build a little different than most. Instead of maxing it out, I'm going to dial it back and let the increased plunger size increase the fueling. That way the plunger travel stays in spec and that will take stress of the pump increasing its reliability. That combined with a special cam ring it will be a great combo for his turbo and leave room to be turned up if a larger single is added later down the road. If its ok with Peter I will post some updates on his pump as it comes together. The H&R is headed out to the machine shop in the next week or two. Then the fun begins.
 
I was hoping you'd chime in @Rockabillyrat I'd love to have you share more details on the pump you're putting together

The Frankenstein pump is a military 5079 core that is getting .350 plungers from a John Deere tractor pump. Along with having the .310 H&R reconditioned it comes in cheaper than a new .330" H&R and according to Sean the bigger plungers will push 30% more fuel than the .330 base 🤘
 
Here's a list of what I have planned for your pump.

*reconditioned housing with sleeved advace piston bore and new throttle bushings.
*custom resleeved H&R (.350)
*smooth lobe camring
*cryo treated campin
*3/8 inlet nose cone.
*4500rpm govenor
*ceramic rollers
*larger leaf spring
* hardened T/P for ULSD

It will obviously get all new bearing and seals. And every is ran through a ultrasonic cleanner.

No one in the industry is refurbishing H&R like I will be. It's the closest thing to a NEW H&R you can get, but less than half the $950 cost of a NEW one. The big differences between mine and CDD refurbished H&Rs is mine uses NO hard chrome!! The problem with that process is the hard chrome can seperate and destroy the pump.

To avoid that issue I have the factory sleeve pressed out and a new undersized sleeve is pressed into the head assembly. Then the rotor diameter is adjusted to fit the new sleeve.

Unfortunately I haven't found a way to machine the plunger bore for larger plungers... yet. So In order to step up to .350 or larger plungers a rotor is taken from a AG pump and sent out with a 8 cylinder head. The larger plunger rotor is machined to fit the sleeved 8 cylinder head giving us larger plunger options that never where available on a 8 cylinder DB2!!

The problem is finding these bigger plunger pumps. .350s are EVERYWHERE, but they are many used in JD tractors and that drives up the cost. .370, .390, and .450 rotors are extremely hard to find but they are out there. I have a .370 waiting for my build. There is also a .450 sitting on the shelf for our resident HP record holder.....Im sure you guys can guess who that's for.😁
 
Oh and I forgot, Peter might be the first to try my prototype timing end plug as well. This system will allow for more than double the stock timing advance. Im dropping off part for my father to machine and if it passes the test on the bench then it will become a option for performance pump builds. This will be a game changer for the DB2 if it works out
 
So how much does it cost?
I don't want to violate any vendor rules here.... but my stock premium rebuilds that feature refurbished H&Rs should be around $1100.

Peters pump is getting stage 1 fueling upgrades that adds a couple hundred onto the base cost. As well as a custom big plunger H&R. I found him the .350 pump for around $350. And the machine shop charges me a little more for custom stuff. So his pump should be a little under $2k total investment.
 
What are you doing to get this large turbo going "out of the hole"? Aka from a dead stop where bigger turbo's are not able to help get the rig moving at the low engine RPM?

I'm hoping that eventually upgrading to the Banks Sidewinder manifold with the much shorter crossover pipe under the front of the engine helps with spooling up and reducing the lag & imbalance of the factory setup. So far being a 5 speed with granny gear I have had good luck getting going. The 35/40 hybrid will have a 10 blade 70/60 mm turbine wheel, which isn't that much larger than the turbine on the Peninsular turbo.

But really, I have no idea, others with a similar setup have reported good results, so just gotta do it and find out for myself 🙃
 
I had my A/C condenser sent to Chris for coating as well. I've never owned a truck with *working* A/C, and with everything in this system looking original, I was very excited to put in a new system. I purchased the condenser OSC 4544 from RockAuto. When I went to install it it wouldn't fit precisely into the rubbber saddles that hold the condenser. So I had to knock/ bend them in to get it to fit

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In addition to having to bend the tabs, the metal tube for the orifice tube wasn't straight enough out of the box for the tube to go in, so I had to bend that into place as well. Not entirely thrilled with these fitment issues. Next condenser I get will be a ADPI 7014544.

I took the truck to have the A/C charged around June 2019...and the shop didn't have the knowledge or equipment to put the system on vacuum first, just stuck in a few cans of refrigerant. Which of course didn't work. It's now February 2022 and I still haven't made time to get the system properly charged. Maybe this spring I'll finally get around to it!
 
I made a vacuum pump for my ac work using an old mini fridge compressor. just connected a hose to a fitting that fit onto my gauge set and kept the wiring on the compressor so I could just plug it in. works like a charm, only have to squirt some oil in the suction side of the compressor every now and then so it doesn't lock up on me between uses. I charge with the 12oz cans going by the ounces shown for the factory charge. might not be perfect but has worked for me so far. at least until I run into orifice tube and flow problems like my truck currently has. Ive charged it with way more than called for and still the pressures wont build up steady like it should. but that is for another thread!
 
Those small gas station tire inflator compressors, push a button on the wall and You can hear it running inside the station storage area.
My cousin gave Me one of those. I removed the noise filter and stick it to the pressure side. Installed AC coupler fitting to the suction side.
That works quite well.
So if You ever see one of those compressors laying around, grab it up. They are not real big and they are light.
 
My biggest issue with going it myself is getting the right amount of oil in the compressor, accumulator/ dryer etc. For a brand new system I know it's really important to get everything oiled appropriately so nothing gets slugged with a gob of oil or suffers premature wear. Just is a pain in the arse that getting it done right means the truck has to sit on vacuum for a while and I don't have the luxury of twiddling my thumbs for half a day waiting for a shop to properly charge the a/c. One of the downsides of living alone in a rural area, kinda hard to find a ride at times. Clearly it hasn't been a priority given how much time has elapsed since lol
 
My biggest issue with going it myself is getting the right amount of oil in the compressor, accumulator/ dryer etc. For a brand new system I know it's really important to get everything oiled appropriately so nothing gets slugged with a gob of oil or suffers premature wear. Just is a pain in the arse that getting it done right means the truck has to sit on vacuum for a while and I don't have the luxury of twiddling my thumbs for half a day waiting for a shop to properly charge the a/c. One of the downsides of living alone in a rural area, kinda hard to find a ride at times. Clearly it hasn't been a priority given how much time has elapsed since lol
Charging an AC system, especially when everything is new, isn't that hard. You just need to put the proper amount of oil in the compressor and then the balance that the system needs in the accumulator. For a vacuum pump, just get one from Harbor Freight, they're not that expensive and mine has lasted years for me so far. Also just get a gauge set from Harbor Freight, they aren't the best, but they will get the job done....I'm on my second set, so they don't last as long as the vacuum pump, but still good enough for what I need to do. And if you get in a bind there are people here that can help you get past it. Do you have a factory service manual for your truck? That has a lot of helpful info in it as well.
 
I am not sure how much oil or what kind of oil is in a new compressor.
It seems that I read someplace to drain the oil from the new compressor then refill it with the recommended amount and type.
When I did a new compressor on a old Chevy pickup I once had, I can remember using socket a d turning the shaft several times to be sure the most of the oil had been drained.
 
I am not sure how much oil or what kind of oil is in a new compressor.
It seems that I read someplace to drain the oil from the new compressor then refill it with the recommended amount and type.
When I did a new compressor on a old Chevy pickup I once had, I can remember using socket a d turning the shaft several times to be sure the most of the oil had been drained.
There are typically instructions included with a new compressor. The last one I did, it had an oil charge in it, but as I recall they still told you to drain it and then refill it with a specific quantity of oil. They also say which oil to use. There's enough info floating out on the interwebs that pretty much all guesswork can be taken out of it.
 
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