I agree, running a shop that pretty much only works on diesel powered equipment and vehicles, the 12v Cummins is the best. Not all the bells and whistles of electronics but a good solid motor. Everyone that has written in about how bad the new powersmokes are compared to the d-max needs to remember that the D-max had some problems when it was first brought out as well. I heard that Isuzu had something like three revisions on head gaskets. IMO an aluminum head doesn't belong on a diesel! I personally like the powersmoke and Ford combo, my brother has one with the 5 speed automatic and it drives, operates, and pulls awesome.

 

FWIW, the injection system on the Duramax is the Caterpillar HEUI system.

Caterpillar and Isuzu seem to be starting some cooperative efforts. As previously stated, Isuzu has been making diesels for many years, they are true diesels, and should hold up as well as the Cummins.

 

just a little bit of info, isuzu has been making diesels for 60 years. Dont tell me the 6.0 liter is better. It's not, I have driven both and the duramax feels, rides, and out performs the powerstroke. Cummins is the oldest but wisest engine of all. look forward to Duramax being the same in a few years. man Dodges are so ugly.

 

I can tell you prefer the Ford by this statement.The Ford and Dodge fans went on and on about how it was a recipe for disaster when the Dmax was introduced with aluminum heads.4 years and millions of miles later they are proving the doubters wrong without a single reported head gasket failure.It seems the engineers at GM may know a little more than the ford,mopar camps thought.

 

As I said in my oppinion. I realize how long Isuzu has been building engines, and I think they are good. Would I want one over a Navistar anything, hell no! Our shop works on trucks from light to medium to heavy duty, navistar in our opinion is where it is at.

 

The aluminum head thing is a non-issue.

 

[QUOTE]The aluminum head thing is a non-issue.
Maybe to some.

 

Just out of curiousity, what does it take to make a Duramax, 4 door, 4wd run low 13s?

 

Not too much. I'd start with this and see where it got me:

Edge Hot OJ
Magnaflow/Dynomax weld-in or 4" exhaust
FIPK of some sort
Low stall Suncoast converter (triple clutch)

That should be good for low 14's I'd think or high 13's as the converter will put ya under the torque peak helping acceleration a lot.

Then I'd look into another programmer stacked. But you'd need to rebuild your C2 clutch pack in the Alli first. If not another programmer, you could do some larger injectors too or propane or nitrous if you have the fuel.

I still think you'd need dual programmers for low 13s... one for pulsewidth the other for timing.

 

I am a bsnowmobiler and so we pull our snowmobiles up to the mountains in the winter. My buddy with a 1999 powerstroke 7.3 is a big Ford man but he says a Duramax has more power than his engine. On the way back from wyoming a Duramax and his powerstroke raced for fun from like 40-70 both pulling 4 sleds on a trailor for fun and he got beat by 6 lengths. I love hearing that story being a HARDCORE GM guy.