Learning From Your Experiences With Modifying Diesel Trucks
Diesel Performance Podcast · Jun 29, 2026
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41:48
Car
Chevrolet Silverado HD (LB7)
This is a heavy-duty Chevrolet pickup truck built in the early 2000s with a very famous diesel engine called the LB7 Duramax. Truck fans love it because it doesn't have modern, restrictive emissions systems, but it can be very expensive to fix when its fuel injectors wear out.
Part
leveling kit
A simple suspension upgrade that lifts the front of a truck so it sits completely level from front to back. This is usually done to make the truck look better or to fit slightly larger tires.
Part
exhaust stack
An exhaust pipe that points straight up out of the truck's bed, like a chimney on a semi-truck. It makes the truck much louder and blows smoke upward into the air.
Part
BorgWarner S300
This is a very popular, heavy-duty upgrade turbocharger that diesel truck owners install to get significantly more power, faster acceleration, and louder turbo whistling sounds.
Car
Jeep Gladiator
This is a modern four-door Jeep that has a truck bed on the back. It looks like a Wrangler but functions like a pickup truck, allowing you to take the doors and roof off while hauling gear.
Concept
NorCal mod
A trick where truck owners cut and bend a small metal portion of the front fender behind the wheel. This creates extra space so they can fit bigger tires without them rubbing when turning.
Car
Dodge Journey
The Dodge Journey is a family SUV that can hold up to seven people. It was designed as an affordable option for families needing extra seats.
Term
rotational weight
The weight of parts that spin, like your wheels and tires. Because they spin, it takes much more energy for the engine to turn them, which can hurt your acceleration and gas mileage.
Car
Dodge Ram
The Ram is a large pickup truck made by Dodge. It is built for carrying heavy loads, towing trailers, and driving on rough roads.
Brand
Allison Transmission
A company famous for making incredibly tough automatic transmissions, most notably used in heavy-duty Chevrolet and GMC diesel trucks.
Brand
S&S Diesel Power
A highly respected company that designs and builds advanced fuel system parts for diesel trucks to make them run better and more reliably.
Brand
Exergy Performance
A top-tier company that makes high-quality fuel injectors and pumps for modified diesel trucks.
Term
balance rates
A measurement that shows how hard each fuel injector is working to keep the engine running smoothly. If one injector has to work way harder than the others, it usually means it is dirty or failing.
Part
CP3 fuel pump
A heavy-duty fuel pump that pushes diesel fuel into the engine at extremely high pressures. It is highly valued by truck builders because it is very reliable and can support a lot of horsepower.
Concept
Italian tune-up
A slang term for driving a car or truck really fast and hard for a short time to blow out built-up soot and carbon from the engine.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a sporty, mid-sized car made by Dodge. It is designed for drivers who want a powerful vehicle with a spacious interior.
Part
lift pump
A helper pump installed near the gas tank that pushes fuel up to the main engine pump. It helps keep the fuel clean and prevents the main pump from running dry and breaking.
Car
Saab X Turbo
The Saab Turbo X is a special, sporty version of a sedan made by the Swedish company Saab. It has all-wheel drive and a powerful turbocharged engine for better handling and speed.
Car
Volkswagen Derby
The Volkswagen Derby is a small, older sedan made by Volkswagen. It is essentially a tiny car with a separate trunk in the back for luggage.
Part
variable-geometry turbocharger
A smart turbocharger that can change its internal shape depending on how fast you are driving. This helps the engine get extra power quickly without waiting for the turbo to 'spool up'.
Concept
compound turbocharging
A setup that uses two turbos of different sizes working together. The big one does the heavy lifting at high speeds, while the small one gets going quickly at low speeds, giving you smooth power all the time.
Car
Volkswagen Rabbit
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small, practical hatchback car. It is designed to be easy to park, fuel-efficient, and useful for everyday driving.
Term
EGT
The temperature of the hot air coming out of the engine. Monitoring this is super important in diesel trucks because if it gets too hot, it can literally melt internal engine parts.
LIVE
All right, guys, welcome back.
This is the Diesel Performance Podcast.
I am Anthony Bernini and I am here with my guy Chris Emke.
Chris.
How are you doing, man?
Haircut looks good.
Thanks, man.
It's a couple of weeks old, but I haven't seen you.
It still looks fresh.
Yeah, thank you.
Fresh.
Fresh, yeah.
I got an interesting topic today.
It might be a slow burn at first, it might take me a minute to get into it, but we recently
talked with Meyer, the winner of UCC 2026, and a big thing that he had talked about which
I really enjoyed hearing was his teammates.
Everybody on that team had some sort of experience to help him, to better him, and get that truck
to be the champion that it is.
And I kind of wanted to touch base or fall back on something that is just experience.
And yourself, myself, everybody in the industry, trucks that come in customers, experience
as a whole.
Because between me and you, we've got quite a bit of experience.
Yeah.
I mean.
Arguably 20 years.
Yeah.
So we've got a good chunk there.
And there's going to be a handful of topics that I'm going to want to talk about, but
what have you learned over the years, both on your own trucks and customers' trucks,
that has built your experience repertoire, if that makes sense?
Less is more.
Yes.
I mean, that's, honestly, if you could sum this shit up into one sentence, that'd be
it.
But like, I learned a lot on my OB7, what I did that I enjoyed, and what I did that
I would never do again, that kind of makes my LOY the way it is, is now.
And I know you've had a lot more trucks than I've had.
Yeah.
Like, what did you learn on your Silver One that you would never do again, that you would
do, you know, same thing goes for the Ram Box, and now your CMF that you got currently.
I think, you know, we'll look at it from a broader scope, right?
You know, when you look at the diesel enthusiast, what naturally you get your driver's license
when you're 16, you know, maybe you get your hand passed over a truck, or you get a used,
you know, 1500 or old, you know, old diesel that maybe isn't the most desirable to modify.
You finish out your high school years, you know, you get a job, you get into the trade,
you know, go to school, fall into a lump sum of money, who knows, whatever the reason
is that you get the money, you know, then you get to buy the truck that you aspire to
have, right?
And you want to start modifying it and doing the things that you, you know, in our era,
read in the magazines.
Oh, yeah.
Today's era, it's what you see on TikTok, and you, yeah, we are.
And you really start to go down this rabbit hole of making impulsive decisions without
truly ever understanding the repercussions.
You know, the value that I think we had is where we worked with trucks that at the time
we were able to buy for four or five, $6,000 and put another 67 to 10,000 into
it, where now those $5,000, $6,000 trucks are 10, $15,000, $20,000.
Or if you're getting them for that cheap, they're piles of shit.
They're total, totally pile.
Yeah, just, I wouldn't want to touch an LB7 if they were selling for five grand.
Just horrible.
But then that, that cost of entry for modification, which was once, you know, let's say, let's
say five to $10,000 to really set the truck up nice.
That is now 10 to $20,000.
So, you know, I would say there's, there's a lot of, you know, you've asked a very open
ended question and I'm just trying to like paint this picture of comparing what getting
into this stuff 15, you know, years ago looked like versus what it looks like in the year
of 2026.
Yeah, I mean, to kind of what you're talking about your, whether it, whether maybe it wasn't
a diesel truck, it was a 1500, car or something like, I feel like everybody at
this point has cut the exhaust off, cut a muffler off a car to make it louder.
And you and your friends are hanging out in the garage like, dude, check this shit out.
It's loud.
It's obnoxious.
And it's like, oh man, look how much fun we're having.
And then you got to drive it to school.
You got to drive it to work.
You got to drive it to your girlfriend's house to pick her up.
And the dad's sitting on the front porch like, what is this idiot driving?
Because that takes me back to when I had my LB7, I bought it off a guy who had a leveling
kit with 35 inch mud tires, sick and a stack.
Oh yeah.
The stack would set off car alarms when I would leave my job at Texas Roadhouse because
of how loud it was.
That sounds interesting.
It was sick.
You were also hauled.
19.
There you go.
19, maybe 20 years old at that point.
I got into the game a little bit late.
I mean, I was also 19 with a single cab with a six inch bed stack right, right behind
my head with a big S 300 on it.
And I manual trans and I daily drove that.
It was a four inch downpipe, five inch out to a six inch tip.
And I daily drove that truck for almost two years that way.
Now, what would it take for 2026 Chris Emkey to daily drive something like that again?
That won't happen.
No, it's like that's part of like, you know, we've cut the exhaust off.
We've all had the fun.
It's like I went through the truck being stupid loud.
I was like, oh, I'll axle dump it.
It'll be quieter.
It's louder.
It's just it wasn't behind my ear this time.
It was just louder.
I finally put like my progression with exhaust has gone quieter and quieter.
The older I get, I had a stack cab dump and then I put a four inch flow pro way back
in the day on it and it's like mud tires.
I mean, now they're stupid expensive.
Yeah, that's a that's another one.
You know, you get into this like look and, you know, any truck that's, you know, leveled
on 35 is always a good look.
You know, no matter what generation of truck, you know, but you get into, you know, a mud
terrain, all terrain.
There's a lot of tire companies that are selling a cheaper tire that you can, you
could buy that's mud terrain ask.
And, you know, I'm not a fan of road noise.
I hate the 111 noise.
You look like an asshole when you're driving by, but if I got my windows down and I'm
cruising and I got some Jeep Gladiator trying to be cool, I can't stand it.
So, you know, it's, it's one of those where it's, you know, again, I don't know where
you want to start.
Yeah, it's so, I mean, there's a whole list here.
Just that was the first thing I thought about.
We'll do tires.
Like let's, let's go there, right?
Because I think let's go into this as I am a new truck purchase of sorts, right?
And what's the first thing we're doing?
Well, you got to make a look, right?
You know, you got to, you got to do wheels, tires.
You got to do a leveling kit of sorts, right?
You need to, you need to make a statement, right?
You bought a new to you truck.
You got to make a statement.
You got to make a statement, you know, and, um, you know, the, the younger version
of me was, Hey, you know what?
I want, I want big wide wheels and I'm going to, to mess
my wheel well up.
I'm going to mess my front bumper up.
I'm going to mess my front bumper valance up because I just want that, that
stance.
I want it to look a certain way to want the poke.
Got to get the poke.
Yeah.
So like, Oh, I want, I'm going to crank these keys up.
Oh, that's not enough.
Anybody got saws all anybody got an angle grinder.
What am I doing?
I've, I've seen, I've seen my, my neighbor's friend who I'm not going to
mention his name on the podcast.
He's a customer of ours.
He's listening.
Um, I literally saw him, uh, wanted wheels.
So he bought a set off marketplace.
Is that step one step?
That's red flag one.
You either find it from Guff's mom, no shame.
Or you get him off marketplace.
I think the, the wheels off of marketplace, you're, you're getting the guy
who has already made the bad decision of buying the wheel.
That's a little bit too big.
He's already had his fender to shit.
He's already, yeah, yeah, or he was smart enough to be like, Hey, I owe on
this thing for the next 15 years.
I don't want to hack the fender up.
Um, so he bought like a 20 inch by 12 wide, like those stupid moto metal, like
moto metal 962 20 by 10.
I can say they're stupid now just because like that era, it's not, it's not in the
era now.
This was an old era thing, like 2012, 2015.
Um, so when he would turn the wheel, the inner part of the wheel would hit the
fender bordering the cab.
Okay.
I literally saw him take an angle grinder and just hack the fender and, and
actually like hack at the cab.
I've done that.
That's how far back he had a cut.
The NorCal mod.
I don't know what years, but like, I literally watched this, this, this kid
like hack up, you know, what was at the time at a decent LLY and, you know, the
following was so funny, Justin, you're over there laughing at us.
Dude, the, the, that spring, like this was fall that he did this, that spring,
that the truck was, was rusted.
Oh, I noticed the first winter after heck, you know, I'm like, Oh, I'll just
tuck the, the foam back over there.
No, the first one to start a ride away.
So I always say, like, you know, cheap and good tires, like, you know, the DJ,
our shop manager here has always made this comment of a real nice poke, like
a big wheel and tire, like a 22, a 20 inch, like a 12 or a 14 wide.
Those are photogenic wheels.
They look good in photos, but the practicality, unless you're going to
lift the truck to the moon and you're going to, you know, go to that extent,
which that's a whole nother topic.
Yes.
It just, it really doesn't make sense for the practicality.
So, you know, if it's your, your first truck, you're going to play with it and
you're going to hack it up and you know, it's not your forever truck and it
doesn't matter and you want to play cool.
But if it's something you plan on holding on to, I would, you know, probably
say be a little smarter with, you know, how you approach that.
Yeah.
It is.
No, we've all been there.
Like we're not going to knock it, but we kind of are.
This is like, Oh yeah, you have fun with all the rubbing.
Haha, but like, go have fun with it.
It's like your, your dad, when you were a kid saying, Oh, don't touch the pot.
It's hot.
What do you do?
You touch the fucking pot.
I don't believe you.
Like, you know, the kids that are listening to the younger crowd that's
listening to this these days, they're not going to be able to reference this,
but cars used to come from the factory with cigarette lighters.
We've all done that, dude.
I like how you just start laughing right away.
You know, like it wasn't uncommon to be like, Oh, you're, you know, your,
your parents are not in the car and you push that thing in and you take it out.
You stick your thumb, like my thumb still jacked up from it to this day.
Why do we all do the thumb?
Yeah.
You know, and, uh, you still got to test it.
He's still got the burn on you.
There you go.
My thumb is still jacked up to this day from it.
So it's like, you know, everyone can lead you to the water or tell you, Hey,
don't do this, don't do that.
I'm going to tell you by experience, but they're going to learn their own way
based off of their experience.
So, but I would say, you know, the younger version of his big wheel, big tire,
cheap tire, run it.
And then, you know, that tire wears out super fast or that tire has a lot of
aggressive road noise or, you know, that, that tire, the, uh,
bands in the tire break from, from towing, you know, not putting any rated
tire on a truck that's going to tow that kind of thing.
I mean, how many times have you been driving down the road and you see
somebody with three, $4,000 wheels, I'm not going to name the brand, but we
know the brand that they've got to achieve his mud tire.
I instantly disregard that, but that's also like that guy that bought that
wheel and tire combo for like next to nothing for one of those special deals.
Because again, the tires are junk.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Big wheels, big tires, big problems.
Or the guy that puts the big wheel and tire, but couldn't afford the lift kit.
Yeah.
You know, you crank up the keys, all my front ends loose.
I feel like I'm just, I put this outline just to talk about myself.
I feel like, because I think we've all been through this.
Or, you know, you're, you're young getting into this, right?
And like this, this is all like first truck owners problems.
You're on a budget.
You're on a budget.
You know, and you buy this truck, you aspire, right?
And we're still talking tires and now getting a little into suspension, but
we haven't gotten into the modifications, which is a whole nother slew of problems.
But you get these guys where they do these wheels on a 150,000 mile truck.
And then it's like, oh, my front end went to shit.
And then they're doing ball joints every other year or every year.
And it's like, man, you know, these front ends are junk.
It's like, no, you have these stupid wheels on the truck that's causing this.
And like, again, they look good in videos.
They look good in photo, but for the practicality of everyday driving, you know,
hey man, I had 22s.
I've had 20s.
I've had 12 wides.
I've had 10 wides.
I've had nine wides.
I've had 35s.
I've had street tires.
I always look good.
I have a stock wheel and a stock tire on my truck and I am very happy.
I couldn't be more excited.
I think I've got a couple sizes bigger on my L-Y, but it doesn't rub.
I still got my factory PYO wheels gloss black for some style.
It's quiet.
I don't, it doesn't rub when I turn.
I don't have to like rev the engine to get the power steering to kick in a little
bit more because they're heavier.
I've been there.
You know, you mentioned, you know, my silver truck, you know, 0759 Dodge.
That truck had 12 wides, 20 inch wheels.
And that was one of those trucks, man.
You, that thing wasn't turning.
It wasn't moving.
Like going out on a first date and just, yeah, from all.
What was that?
I just got to do a nine point turn to back into this parking spot real quick.
Don't worry.
I'm not special.
I got you.
So I think another thing too is, you know, you get this excitement of having
this truck and wanting to modify it, but you don't thoroughly plan your, your
journey, right?
So you have this idea of, oh, I want to make a truck that's going to make X amount
of power, but you don't account for what a trans is going to cost to accommodate
the power with the bigger tire, the suspension, that kind of thing.
So, you know, the more, the higher and bigger the truck is, the more expensive
it is to make it go fast and keep it together, you know, and I feel like that
stuff isn't really explained and exposed for, for what it's truly worth.
Especially in today's age where it's all about views, clicking on
stuff because like if anybody who, we love to educate, we talk about this all the
time. If somebody calls in, I would much rather spend 30 minutes on the phone
with them educating than them getting answers from somebody off of form.
There's a lot of people who are informed, but a lot of misinformation on YouTube,
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, whatever it is, but you put bigger wheels and tires.
Yeah, they look sick.
Now you got to tune it if you want your speedometer, granted they have other
options, but you're also going to want your power back.
So you're going to need to tune.
So I mean, you talk about changing up the suspension.
Most guys are going to be lifting them.
You're putting big wheels and tires.
It's 99% of the time going to be heavier than stock.
So you're talking about, oh, my truck's down in power.
My mileage went in the shitter.
And now you're tuning to hopefully just get back where you were at before maybe
increase it.
Well, we just did this.
It's funny you say that we just did this test that recently went through a buddy
of mine. He's got a, I think I might have talked about it on one of the other
episodes, but he's got a 14 LML and he has a duly and he had 20 inch wheels with
like a 34 inch tall tire.
And he went back to a stock 2014 duly wheel with stock size tires.
And I lied.
The tire size stayed the same between both trucks are both wheels, but I mean,
his mileage went up like three and a half four miles to the gallon because of
rotational weight, you know, and people, you know, yeah, you, you have, you know,
maybe you're, you're that guy like me where it's like, Hey, I'm going to run
a 22 inch rim, but I'm going to run a 33 inch tire, you know, a 33 and a half inch
tire or street tire and, you know, the rotational size hasn't changed, you know,
the reps per mile, everything's in check, but he went from an eight and a half inch
wide wheel to a 12 inch wide wheel.
And each wheel just gained, you know, 50 pounds, like just the GM wheel weights per
wheel were like 30 pounds, 25 or 30 pounds.
And then the tire was like another 15 pounds.
Right.
And that's, that's just standing weight that you got to think like that's
multiplied in a rotational weight perspective.
So, you know, you, you don't really think of the drive line.
And I guess that's why I kind of brought up like the transmission side.
So this, you know, I think now's a good time to kind of pivot a little bit, you
know, it, uh, you know, guys get into the modification wanting to make power.
And, you know, uh, there's a lot of intakes, right?
We'll, we'll talk intakes first.
I think, you know, there's, there's cheap intakes out there.
You know, there's the second hand, hand me down intakes that you can get,
depending on the year and application, you can get into a more expensive air
intake, which, you know, they're, depending on what you're doing, what the
application is and do what makes you happy, right?
But the problem is, is that when people want to really start turning up these
trucks and we'll, we'll dive more into turbos and injectors, they don't
accommodate for, or account for the trans and what you find is, is you find
two new diesel enthusiasts out there.
You have the guy who is needing to do a trans because he's put a big tire and
lift and he's beat the shit out of the truck and the trans is just done, right?
Or you have the guy who is maybe not accommodate or accounting for the
trans and he's wanting to do a turbo injectors, do all these other things
without realizing, but neither one of those guys are going to account for what
that trans is going to truly cost them for their end result.
Oh yeah.
Right.
Both guys, it's like, well, the stock trans will last as long as it's going to.
And then I'm going to do a turbo and injectors.
So, you know, a maybe a 1000 horse trans or a 600
horse trans is going to suffice because I'm only going to make 600 horse.
Well, that's 600 horse trans no longer works for a truck that's going to make
600 horse on 35s, 37s with a lift kit, there's added stress into the mix.
Now you have to kind of spec the trans one step bigger to account for the added
stress load.
So now that what you were, were planning on being a five or $6,000 trans
build is now a seven or an $8,000 trans build.
And now that trans build is maybe out of sight.
Like it's, it's not, it's not obtainable because you didn't account for
that added dollars and cents because the truck already looks this way and you
already did this to the truck.
Now you want to make the power.
I mean, how many times, uh, you know, can not to speak for you, but have we had
a customer where we're talking to, and it's they want to buy the trans or go
into the finishing pieces and it's like, Hey, just so I can note down what
are the tire size and you hear 37s.
It's kind of like, okay, well, what's done to it?
Oh, it's on a, it's, what's my favorite one?
Like a 12 inch skyjacker.
It's like, okay, you're on a skyjacker and 37s, like this five 50 is not going to work.
It's not going to work.
And it's like, well, why not?
It's like, well, you're telling me about how you're going through tires every
other day and you've got all this rotational weight.
You had all this driveline stress.
Like at that point, it's like, you get a DT 1000.
Like you're going to need billet components.
Cause I know all too often that we've seen this trans is going to work.
It's going to hold the power, but you're going to be ripping burnouts and you're
going to hit a bump.
You're going to do something and there's going to be a planet or a planetary
that's going to just snap inside the transmission.
And now not only you out the cost of the trans, there's not going to be a warranty
on that.
Well, then you look at it, clean it up.
Yeah.
Well, but the stock trans lasted.
Well, sir, you've said that your stock trans has been slipping the last 30,000
miles.
I'm going to be able to put a trans together that there isn't going to be any
slipping.
So the next component in the driveline, the weakest component, that's going to be
what's going to take itself out, which, you know, if we're talking Allison, it's
usually planetaries, you know, if it's a Ram, it's usually shafts, Fords.
I mean, they have pretty stout shafts and their planetaries are pretty solid, maybe
a drive shaft you're going to take out.
But, you know, you see a lot of that stuff where it's, you know, don't, don't
skimp out on those components.
And, you know, we've seen it over the years.
We've seen customers skimp out.
They just want to make the power and spending money on a transmission is such
an unfun thing to spend money on.
Because you don't see it immediate.
You don't, there's no gratification of putting a trans in the truck in any way,
shape or form, you know, you put it instead of injectors in the truck, you
know, maybe trucks will smoke here or a little coal.
People like that, you know, bragging rights of saying, oh, I got, you know,
a hundred overs, you know, I'm cool.
Watch out, that guy's got big sticks in that.
Yeah, yeah.
Or people think like maybe the truck's going to idle different, whatever, or you
get into turbo chargers, like do turbos, instant gratification.
Yeah.
Sound changes.
You fire it up, you need to pull out of the driveway.
No, no, instant gratification.
But yeah, the transmission is one thing that I think is, I think that's the most
overlooked side of it, that in my experience, it's let that, let that be the
first thing, because that's literally the foundational piece of what is going to
make power and be able to hold it to the ground.
And don't skip out, go over, not under when it comes to that.
It's one of the most overlooked things, but not at the same time, because I feel
like maybe it's just because we've been around this stuff for a long time.
People call it, it's like, yeah, I know I need to build a trans, but I'm going to do this.
Well, why, you said you know you need to build it.
It's like we're spending three grand on a fuel system or just injectors when you
could at least put it down payment on something towards the transmission.
And from personal experience, if I know that I've got a trans, like take the GA,
for example, if I know that my cars make a big power and my trans can hold it,
I'm beating this shit out of that thing.
If it was slipping all the time, it's like, oh, you know, I can't beat on it.
It's going to slip.
And now I've got a transit can handle it.
You're going to use it.
I'm going to use that power.
Well, I think the big misperception a lot of guys have too, is that, well, I
have a trans that's built for 700 horse, right?
You have a trans that's built to, to, to harness 700 horse, not a trans
that's going to live at 700 horse.
There's a big difference there.
And then that, again, power number comes down based off setup.
Where do you see, I guess, you know, getting into my two favorite
topics are probably the next two fuel injectors and injector pumps and lift pumps.
Like, where do you see the big misperception or the big miss when, when
guys are doing their builds and that stuff?
I think it's kind of the, a lot of it kind of goes to the mindset of, well,
there's two things that come to mind.
One, what your buddy's buddy's buddy has on his truck.
Neverson's.
Yep.
It's like, oh, well his, his truck smokes.
I don't mind to smoke.
And I'm not going to, we know the brands, we know, like XRG and SNS are like our
top two.
There's a lot of good other brands out there.
I mean, we've tuned a lot of trucks with, I mean, Lenny or DDP.
Shout out Lenny.
He does a great product.
We've tuned a lot of trucks with like LDS injectors, a whole bunch of stuff,
but it's, especially with how expensive it is to do it right.
He don't want to do it wrong just to do it right again.
Like I had cheap injectors in my LB seven.
Thankfully the guy fixed it before I bought it.
But like what's a sports, let's take just LB seven sportsman injectors.
It was at six, $7,000 job these days ish.
Yeah.
I mean, you're probably looking at six, $7,000 to do an injector job.
Through a legitimate shop.
Yes.
Let's just say it's seven grand.
Maybe I can get it done for like $4,500, $5,000 on the cheap side.
Well, let's say less than a year, two years.
Those things, the imbalance rates are, it's hazing.
Balance rates are plus eight minus 10.
You know, what else am I going to say?
Like the balance rates, that's hazing, maybe an injector is hung open when you
fire it up after sitting for a couple of days.
Well, you got smoke, like there's a whole bunch of stuff that can go wrong.
Do it right the first time.
It's the same thing about a transmission.
Like, yes, it's going to suck.
You do get a little bit of instant gratification because maybe it's
going to smoke, it's going to make more power, but it's always more
expensive to do the job right the second time that it is the first time.
So one of the things that I see, and this is probably a little bit more
like old school, old era stuff, but it was, Hey, I'm going to put a big injector
in the truck and I'm going to do like a bag of parts or I'm going to do a
regulator upgrade of the CP three on my tire, 200,000 mile injector pump or,
you know, Hey, um, you know, my injectors are tired, but I'm going to
just string it along a little longer type thing.
And I'm going to run it in max effort tune and have the injector beyond
as much as possible with, you know, a few 100000 miles.
So my, you know, I fall victim of this.
Oh yeah, we're all guilty.
So my, my 07 59 once again, we'll bring that truck up.
You know, I had bought that truck, uh, from the original owner with 348,000
miles.
Um, the dude hot shot with the truck.
It was always very well maintained.
It was a really clean truck for what it was.
I didn't know it was hot-shotting new.
Oh, that's cool.
And, uh, you know, uh, got the truck home.
We put on the dyno, the truck made like 25 more, 20, 25 more horsepower.
I think we usually baseline those trucks around like 310 horsepower.
This truck made like three 30 right, but two wheel drive had a little extra
fuel, you know, the injector is a little hazy.
Well, then we go and turn it up.
Right.
Max max effort tune stock trans.
What was next trans took a dump, put a trans in it, kept running it, then
threw a turbo in the truck, right, kept running it.
And the injectors were just getting hazier and hazier and they would have
like this, they would hang up from time to time.
And then I was playing around doing like single event, like 12 valve to
what would you have, I just had to learn, I had to learn how to do it.
And, uh, you know, had the truck in storage for that winter, pull it out in
the spring and the truck was just not happy, not happy, took it out, beat the
crap out of it, hung on an injector, blew the motor.
The old Italian tune up bitch.
You know, it was not on the, the 12 valve stuff at that point, but my point
being is, is it's like, you know, I, I wanted to throw money into, you know, I
wanted to make the power, right?
And, and inevitably it took out my trans.
So I had to put a trans in it, which is fine.
And then I, I had to have a turbo.
I had to have an air intake, had to have an intake horn, right?
Instinct gratification, but I needed injectors and I did not want to put
injectors in the truck, right?
I didn't want to pay for them.
I couldn't afford them because I was spending money in other areas where why
do injectors and run a stock charger, the truck's not going to make more power.
That's not fun.
Well, that will cost me a motor.
You know, perfect example.
It's going to cost you more to do it the second time.
So, you know, replacing the components that need to be replaced and then not
pushing the truck to its end all be all is, is something that like I'm really,
really big with where, you know, yeah, you can, you can spend $3,000 on
injectors now and yeah, the truck's not going to make any more power, but your
truck's also got 250,000 miles and you don't want to have to put a motor into
it, then recoup, put a turbo and do these things and, you know, you'll be in
good shape and the cool thing with like tuning these days is, you know, let's
say you do need injectors and you do have a thought process of a certain power
number, you know, you can put a bigger set of injectors in the truck and then
have the truck retuned and scale that injector back.
Now, I'm not telling guys that they can go put a set of 250 overs in and the
truck will run like stock, no, but, you know, hey, you know what?
You want a 700 horsepower worth of injector while most companies that are
30, 45% can probably get you there and you can scale that injector back to
make, you know, 350, 400 horsepower and get you by reliably until the funds are
available to, you know, gain the other supporting mods to get you there.
So I think both of us have coached, you know, honestly, everybody here has
coached somebody through that where they have a power goal in mind and it's
like, okay, well, you know, stock injectors can do 550 ish, you know,
call it 650, 6 depending on, it's like, okay, so let's say I just want to make
700 or 600, so I'm just gonna leave the stock injectors.
Okay, well, those things are gonna be maxed to shit and they're really gonna
be struggling with 200 and some thousand miles.
It's like, all right, so if, you know, I wouldn't put a new set of sportsmen's or
a new set of factory injectors, like go a little bit bigger, I'm not building a
race truck. No, no, no, you're not building a race truck and I don't want to
build you a race truck. You say you tow with it, you got your wife and kids in
the back, you got the fifth wheel that you're hauling out west. Here's why I'm
recommended these injectors, it's all the points you just made and, you know, like
you said at some point, you're gonna want to race this truck, you're gonna want to
have extra fun, you've got a power goal in mind. Well, let's set this up first the
right way so you don't have to call me up, hey man, I should have bought those
injectors from you, I should have gone smaller, my buddy talked me into 150s, now
I can't tow with it or the guy in tuning, the guy's tuning it can't figure it out,
and I feel like too, like that, that pairs well with like what are the
supporting mods, like I've had guys where they're like, oh I put 45% and I have no
lift pump, I have a 250,000 and 300,000 mile CP3 pump and I'm like, who sold you
these, like who, did you just go online and order these because whoever was on
the phone with you took your money and said, yeah, this is what you need to do
but didn't ask you any other question about any other attribute of the truck
and said that you would be fine. And now they won't answer your phone call.
I remember here and when I first got into the stuff this guy had, he had like a, I
think it was a fleece charger because fleece was like top dog then, he had a
fleece, he had 45 ores and a sportsman pump, I didn't know what any of that
stuff was, so I'm like he's got 45%. That's big, yeah. I was like, he's got,
now look at it back, he had a sportsman pump, what does that matter? Which again,
that's just, we've all gone through like the being a novice and not knowing any
better. Yeah, I mean that's always a tough one too when you're talking to a
customer, you know, and you're getting into this like realm of, hey my truck
runs like crap and then I need to have the truck retuned or, hey I'm in the
market for a turbo charger, which that, I wanted to save that one for last year.
I was gonna save, get into that. You know, but it's like, hey you know, I have,
I have X Turbo 64 on and you know, I got, I got 60s in a stock pump. Okay,
okay, well what turbo would you recommend? I was thinking of going like a 70 mil.
Okay, what do you do with the truck? Well, I do this with the truck and it's
like, well, my, my, my STR is a 60, not a 70 and it'll make probably consistently
more power than what your 64 does now. Yeah. No, dude, it's smaller. It's like,
right, but it's gonna support more airflow through a wider operating range,
so the truck isn't gonna make any more peak power, but it's gonna make power
in a broader power band, so it's gonna become more efficient, more effective.
And I think that, you know, again, leaving this as the last topic is, is, is the
sizing of and kind of ego-checking guys, right? Where it's, you think you have this
big injector, which, you know, hey, you have a bigger injector, right? That 45,
like you mentioned. And you, you have this big turbo charger, right? And your,
your buddy's uncle says like, hey, that setup should make 700, but they lost the,
the vision, right? Or didn't have the understanding of what size injector pump was
in the mix, right? So it's like, your truck never made that to begin with,
you know? And then, you know, they, they have this in their head that like their
trucks made this X power this entire time, which it never did. Like physically it didn't.
On the butt dyno it made that, but not in real life. Right. Well, that guy also
hadn't been exposed to anything that actually made that power before, you know?
So yeah, I would say, you know, kind of backing into all of this, like, you know,
the sizing of all that and knowing the weak link of the truck, you know,
where the limiting factor is goes a long way.
Not even just power as much as that is a big thing, drivability and using the truck. I hate
saying a truck is a truck, but using the truck for what you're using it for.
I always hate like, you know, being in this industry as long as, as I have, and there's
this term that is used throughout the entire industry and it's referred to as drivability.
It means nothing, but it means everything. Yeah. Right.
Drivability is what you make of it and it's how you interpret. Right.
So you'll get these guys where, you know, we're on turbo sizing now. Like we're full
fledged there and you get this guy and he's like, oh, I got a, I got a 2015 Dodge.
You started getting an accent right there. I thought you were about to make sure.
And I got, I got a second gen. I got, I got an S 300 kit. You know, I have this second gen swap and
you know, I can drive it, it tows, it drives like stock. It's like, on what planet and what's,
what test did you do that you collected that was the factory turbo that you're comparing to have
a locked up vein cage? Because then that is the only, and even then I think, I still think a
factory 300 VG with spool quicker, but you have this where you go online, you have guys make posts
about how their truck runs a certain way that it spools like stock, this,
it spools like that, but there's no evidence or data that back into that. And then you go and do
the same modification to the truck because, you know, John Doe on Facebook said to do this,
and then you get it in the truck and you're like, dude, this thing sucks. It sucks.
And I just spent $3,500 on this like turbo kit. More than that these days. I don't know.
So it's, it's, it's really being able to, you know, from a turbo charger size of things is
the biggest mistake I see guys make is not pairing the turbo for the application. Yes. And
that goes so many different ways, right? This is more than just, you know, a compressor wheel
size of, oh, I have a 60 or a 62 or a 64, a 66, a 70, a 74. That, that's not it. It's the overall
package, how that turbo charger is, is balanced as a unit, right? That I feel like that, that's
what makes or breaks a lot of builds that guys do. It's like, well, okay, you got a 63 mil. Okay,
cool. Yeah. A lot of people have it. How many blades? What's the blade count? Is that something
that's going to be ideal for towing or is that something that's ideal for power? What are you
doing with the truck? Are you towing with the truck? Are you not towing with the truck? Is just,
is this just a parking lot crawler and you're just out here wanting to have a cool nine blown,
nine blade turbine sound and you just want it to, you know, look at your local culvers? Well,
then, you know, I mean, that's, you were there once. I still am. You know, that, that guy isn't
going to really care about what size or how the turbo performs or what the compressor wheel blade
count is or anything of the sort. But, you know, to the guy who, you know, he, he uses the truck
on the farm or he's a young guy starting a family and he's, he's into, you know, derby car racing
or he's into side by siding or dirt biking, whatever the case may be, you know, and he wants,
you know, maybe to have his cake and eat it too, you know, going the route of a bigger turbo or
going to like a fixed vein turbo or going to a modded VGT depending on the truck with
a, a compressor wheel that's maybe leaving more to be desired. I think goes a long way. So
I will say like in my years of my personal truck, my turbo charger choice has only gotten smaller.
So in my, you know, in my, in, in shit, in my 16 years of, of just doing this,
yep, 16 years of just doing diesel stuff. You can drive now. I can, I can drive now. Yeah,
I can, I can drive now through my driving experience in diesel. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
driving for that, driving for 20, 16, 20 years. Yeah. Yeah. But in my, in my 16 years of doing
this, like my, in my daily driver for, for that matter, my turbo charger choices have only gotten
smaller or it's been bigger, but fed by something smaller and a compound application. Yeah, I mean,
I think I couldn't have said any better. It's the older I get, the smaller the setup gets.
I remember when I first started Nick still had the Dura-Burb and I mean that, that setup drove
very well. It drove really well. And then like that was something. And it towed well. I mean,
that was, I think that was probably one of like the first real setups that like maybe, maybe my
Cummins and you know, shout out Mark Downing, but him and I had matching trucks. He had compounds
on his like all in the same era at that point, but you know, having like a small manifold or
valley charger with a big 400 and being able to make four digit numbers in a vehicle that was
really streetable. I mean, that was, that was a really cool era. Yeah. Yeah. It really was. Like,
I remember talking to customers on the phone or like, oh, there ain't no way a 64, 88 is going
to make a thousand. I'm like, bullshit. Sitting out in the shop right now. It will. And like,
it's, it's, it's fine. Yeah. Right. So, you know what I've, I've seen like the whole,
well, you've seen that with the OEMs too, you know, you've seen, you know, in the Duramax
Powerstroke and Cummins lineup, like all of the chargers have gotten significantly smaller over
the last, you know, decade and a half. Yes. But they're making more power, horsepower and torque
and they're making it through a much more dominant, you know, torque curve. Yeah.
You know, so I feel the technology is really what's benefited us into being where we're at now.
I think that just pushes the whole, not agenda, but kind of what I talk about is experience,
where we've both got a fair share. You've got a lot more than I do. And just the experience,
if you've had with your stuff, how it's progressed over the years, what you recommended,
what you don't, I think it really all boils down to if you are wanting to make steps in
fuel systems, intakes, turbos, tires, lift kits, suspension, whatever the case is,
if you don't have the experience, I would encourage you to talk to somebody who does,
whether that be us, somebody else, because you got a lot of small town diesel shops,
but like you got to talk to the right person. There's a lot of small town shops and there's
some shops that are knowledgeable, there's some that aren't. There's some shops that, you know,
they're linked up to bigger shops that have more knowledge that they're willing to reach out to
and ask questions to, which is nice. But I always try to tell guys, like if you're going to go down
this rabbit hole of wanting to modify your truck, things aren't cheap and cheap isn't good. If you
are going to go that route, try to find a shop or try to find a person that you're going to
gain knowledge from that can back it up. Right? Maybe they have a truck with similar setups,
so you get to experience it firsthand or you have a shop that you're working with, but like
they specifically specialize in this particular style of truck setup to where, you know, you're
not going to go to a company that builds race vehicles to build a tow rig. You're not going to
go to a company that sells box tuners off the shelf, you know, parts to make a 700 horsepower
truck. So it's, you really want to try to find a company or a person's that have similar alliance
to what you're looking for. And I always love it when dealers would call in and they'd be like,
oh, you know, I need to get tuned set up. It's like my personal rig. And then I'm like, here's the
tunes. TNA performance does a real good job of this. Tim over there, he said anytime somebody
wondered what our newer four tunes look like, he's like, I would toss them the keys. He goes,
I dare you to go blow this thing up and get the EGTs over 1400. He's like, you can't.
The truck runs its ass off. And anytime somebody, you know, we get dealers set up, it's like, oh,
you got a personal rig? Dude, here's the tunes like show people what we're about. We're not just
some guys on a podcast or on a YouTube channel talking about shit, but it doesn't make sense.
Like, we've got the data, we've got everything we need. And being able to put somebody in that
driver's seat is like, Hey, this could be you like that's sold right there compared to watching a
couple of videos. I mean, that's all painting the picture, right? Taking the customer on the journey
and people that are all across the world that, you know, we've had the luxury of working with,
you know, in that opportunity, it's yeah, they're not in house to be able to take the keys to the
said vehicle that they have to see what it could be like, you know, you have to take them on that
journey and ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes and truly understand what it is that
they're after. And, you know, the way you're going to want to set up a truck that is going to make,
you know, 500 horsepower and tow phenomenally is different than the way you're going to set up a
truck that you want to make 600 horsepower with and maybe not care about towing so much. And it
just is a domino effect from there is as you progress. So it's the best advice I could give
through any of my experience is before you start going down the rabbit hole, besides maybe minor
bolt-ons is truly back into what you want out of the truck and then try to be really strategic about
what that goal, you know, looks like and then start, you know, penciling in numbers of what
you think it's going to cost and probably double it. I was just going to say double or triple and
that's what's going to come out too. And depending on how much research you've done or
how intelligent, you know, the sources are that are helping you, you know, they'll get you closer
to it. But yeah. Cool. Well, Chris, appreciate your input on this. That was fun. We had a good time,
but if you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out. But until then, we'll catch you guys next time.
Beat the crap out of it, hung on an injector, blew the motor.
The old Italian tune-up bitches, you know, it was not on the 12.
About this episode
Hosts Anthony Bernini and Chris Emke reflect on twenty years of diesel truck modification mistakes and the hard-earned wisdom that comes with age. Comparing the cheap project trucks of the past to today's expensive market, they debate the pitfalls of impulsive modifications. From obnoxious exhaust stacks and cheap mud tires to hacking up fenders with angle grinders for photogenic wheel setups, they share hilarious personal regrets. It is a candid look at why less is more when building a reliable daily driver, warning the next generation against learning lessons the hard way.
Original notes
Chris and Anthony discuss something that every new to diesel person should probably hear from others that have been around the block, what you learn from your experiences with modifying diesel trucks. Both have ran the upgrade path on multiple trucks and want to discuss many facets when it comes to upgrading your first diesel truck. The boys touch on turbo sizing, suspension, tires, fuel system sizing, intakes, and much more!
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