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Installing an RBP exhaust, air intake and computer chip for even more power.

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The Airaid kit for the '04 6.6L turbodiesel (#200-129) contains an intake tube, AirAid washable filter,MAF adapter, assorted hoses and clamps, all necessary
Impressed by the performance of the diesel-powered vehicles coming out of Detroit, the availability of aftermarket diesel performance enhancements, and the potential he saw in the diesel performance market, Southern California native Roland Trudell founded RollingBigPower.com two years ago in his garage. For the past year, Trudell has operated his young diesel performance company out of a modest shop in his hometown of Lake Forest, Calif. When we caught up with him, he was in the midst of leasing a larger, more modern facility to house his rapidly growing business, which caters to diesel performance enthusiasts.

We delivered an '04 Chevy 2500 HD 6.6L Duramax turbo-diesel to RBP in a quest for the best power development we could find. Trudell suggested that we begin with the installation of an air intake from AirAid Filter Company of Scottsdale, Ariz., and he assigned RBP installer Franck Darnell to perform all of our installations. It's a well-known fact that the more air, the better the fire, especially in a diesel engine. Basically, that's what an aftermarket air intake is all about. Designed to be as efficient as possible and certainly more efficient than the stock intake, aftermarket air intakes increase the amount of air channeled to the combustion chamber, and in so doing, improve the combustion. The result is a gain in power and improved performance. When we compared the performance of the 2500 in stock trim to its performance after the air intake installation, the dynamometer readout indicated a gain of 17 horsepower (from 235 to 252 hp) at 2,600 rpm.

We then completed the installation of RBP's exhaust system, a 4-inch, mandrel-bent aluminized tube arrangement featuring a straight-through, "un-baffled" muffler; a 5 1/2-inch, "slash-cut" stainless steel exit tip and just about the best possible unrestricted flow of exhaust gases. The system is offered for street legal operation with the stock catalytic converter in place like our Chevy and for off-road use with the catalytic converter removed. The RBP exhaust system results in a significant improvement in performance. Because of the large diameter and design of the tubing, the exhaust gases exit much more quickly. Therefore, the gases do not retain as much heat and may well be as much as 200 degrees cooler than the 400 to 450 degrees normally found in exhaust gases exiting a stock system. In the world of diesel performance, cooler means quicker and the dyno readout after our exhaust install indicated an additional gain of 18 hp to the rear wheels  (from 252 with air intake only to 270 hp) at 2,600 rpm.

 Finally, Franck installed an Edge five-power-level programmable custom computer chip known in the trade as the "hot juice."  According to RBP's Trudell, "We don't usually sell the hot juice to our regular customers. The unit is custom manufactured by Edge Products, Inc., of Ogden, Utah, but only for those who want maximum horsepower and torque out of the GM Duramax."  There are a lot of power potential avenues integrated into the Duramax ECU, which the chip taps into but must be done using care. The dyno readout after the hot juice install indicates a gain of 135 horsepower to the rear wheels (from 270 with air intake and exhaust to 405 hp) at 2,600 rpm. Now that's some big time street power that any true truck fan can appreciate!

The accompanying photos show the highlights of the installation of each performance upgrade and the dynamometer readouts show the performance gain of each installation.

SOURCES

Rolling Big Power
26242 Dimension Drive, Suite # 130
Lake Forest, CA 92630
(949) 470-9999
Fax (949) 470-9996
www.RollingBigPower.com

Edge Products
1080 S. Depot Drive
Ogden, Ut 84404
(801) 476-3343

Airaid
2688 Rose Garden Lane
Phoenix, AZ 85050
(602) 652-9718

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