truck sure is a far cry from back when you used to try & race me!

 

Its had a rough life. A spanish news reporter backed into it a year or 2 ago and bashed the bedside in. Don't think its been washed since then. That plus the Texas and Florida sun have really taken its toll. Interior is still mint and everything works which is all that matters to me.

 

Just finished a leak down test. Started the truck let it idle up to temp then pulled in the shop and shut it down. Let it cool for about an hour so I could touch the headers without being burned and the entire test took about 45 minutes. Worse cylinder was #7 at an 8% drop. #7 plug also looked blacker than the rest. First 2 plug pictures are #7 the last pic is what all the others looked like.

 

Decided to go test the muffler full of oil theory. Made about 15 good long pulls with the cutout closed and boy did it smoke! However it seemed to smoke much less by the last pulls. Still a little bit of smoke but nearly none whatsoever with the cutout open even upon a cold start.

Also noticed a 2psi difference between pulls in 3rd gear with the cutout open vs closed. Seeing a max of 9psi with the cutout closed and 7 with a glimpse of 8 for a split second with it open. Excited to see the difference with the 4" cutout if the shop will ever open back up. Might end up pulleying down before then 😈

 

Well, nothing exciting is happening on this POS but I am still scheming as always.

As I am building a 9.5sf I want to address the gear ratio issue that @_zebra and I have discussed a few times on different threads. The NV4500 is a great transmission and I love it for what I do but I will finally admit that the first gear bugs me in this truck. When it was a 4.8 and needed all the help it could get 1st gear made it feel fast but for the short time, I had the 6.0 in and running right it was useless as **** on a boar hog, spinning with even a hint of throttle. I'm not out to make a fast record-breaking truck but I think the 6.0 setup would actually run slower than the 4.8 because there was no way to get traction until you hit 3rd gear and 45mph. By then I would have peddled twice and lost 2/32" of tire. So my options are gear down and/or bigger tires. I think I am going to do both here is the data I have compiled.

1st-3rd is MPH at 6,000rpm

1st 2nd 3rd 5th@75mph
4.10/33" 25 47 86 2300
4.10/35" 27 50 91 2150
3.42/35" 32 60 109 1800

 

I'd go to a 35 and stick with the 4.10's. I like my vehicles with some gearing though. The NV4500 is definitely a truck transmission and first gear is only useful for towing. Always start out in 2nd. There's a reason the diesel guys start out in 3rd when racing. Boost 3rd gear launches are awesome.

 

I didn't know they left in 3rd that's kinda wild. I know it's a truck trans but it doesn't seem to mind a hard 1-2 shift so I'd like to actually use it for once. What I really hate about the current setup is having to throw 4th before 90mph and then it just feels dead and out of steam. Being able to run 3rd into 100mph would pretty much mean I'd never pour the coals to it in 4th and possibly not have to shift out of 3rd in the 1/4mile which I would like to do one day.

Also, I agree trucks should have low gear especially for off-roading but I have only used low range 1 time off-road. I was towing a trailer loaded with 4 wheelers through sugar sand and 3rdgear/4LO seemed to be just the right amount of wheel speed needed to claw out of it. Therefore if I had 3.42s and 35s I'd assume 2nd gear would be the right combo for that situation. The final crawl ratio difference between the 4.10s and 3.42s is 62:1 vs 52:1 while that is considerable consider this. A 4l60 equipped truck with 3.42s would have a crawl ratio of 28:1 just about half of what I have.

I really appreciate the perspective, please don't think of this reply as me trying to shut you down or that I've already made up my mind because I have not at all. Especially a dude with a cool K5 that blasts Kid Rock!

 

Haha no worries on that. I'm just speaking from what I've experienced and how I like my vehicles to run. The NV4500 has a crap split from 3-4 which is why a lot of folks preffered the NV5600 as it helped lessen that split. It's kinda that split that makes you debate going 4.10's to help alleviate it but suffer every where else or 3.54's to save every where but you'll hate that split. My last truck had 3.42's and even with a 6 spd it took a hit on the bottom end with 33" tires. I'd hate it with 35's. I also didn't have the power you have so take that for what it's worth.

Never played in the sand beyond driving on a beach so can't comment on that.


You ain't lived until you've done a 20-30psi boosted launch in 3rd gear with 4wd and 1000ftlbs of torque.

 

Had to throw that out there. I see so many threads go dead with no solution because someone gets offended and stops responding or a gang rape happens and the only opposing view gets strangled out.

Jeez, that turbo whistle is ear piercing! Looks quick too. I genuinely don't think I'd notice a difference going to the 35s if I left the 4.10s in, not in 1st or 2nd at least. One reason is I will not be getting Load E 35s, I'd rather have a C or D rated tire to minimize the weight difference between the 33s and 35s.

Here is a different way to look at it.

33/4.10 - Baseline
35/4.10 - 6.7%
35/3.73 - 15.4%
35/3.42 - 24.3%

Now the numbers look drastic which they certainly are when looking at the 35/3.42 percentage however, consider this. Any mod that results in a change of 10% or less is considered to minuscule to be felt by a "butt dyno". For example a CAI, catback and tune adding 25hp to an engine that already makes 350whp is not going to be noticeable by an untrained human body besides noise. Therefore 3.73s would only be mildly noticeable and the 3.42s would be like damn I did just regear didn't I? I wish I had the ability to first put on 35s then go to 3.73s then 3.42s if necessary but I really want to do this all at once. Besides tires, I'm actually not 100% set on 35s and the 33s aren't maypops yet so I will get to test with them.

 

Do they make a 3.54/55?