im about to buy my first diesel (1997 3500 auto 12v) and I was wanting to do some of the easy and preferably free upgrades shortly after I get it but I don't want to be to hard on the tranny. could anyone give any suggestions and maybe some links to videos on how to do what? any and all help is greatly appreciated. it will also be my daily and I was wanting to do a hood stack also so if someone can help with that also please

 

Upgrades aren't hard on transmissions, drivers are. If you intend to use the extra power, even the littlest of mods will toast a stock auto in next to no time. There is no "safe level" beyond the stock power level. Now, if all you want is the insane bump in fuel mileage and you have the self control of an oak tree, you can double the power and have the trans hold up just fine for a very long time. I'm pretty sure you aren't my grandfather though, so I wouldn't bet on it. Additionally, there's a lot of power to be accessed just by upgrading the trans. You can add all the power you want, but the stock trans is going to bleed half of it off and what little actually gets to the road isn't going to be very impressive. Shortly after you realize this, the trans will grenade, so you're better off planning on doing it before it forces you to. A stronger billet torque converter is a must, and valve body work so it has the line pressure to hold. Beyond that it just depends how much you have to spend and how much you think you'll beat on it.

First thing you should do is determine if the KDP has been taken care of. Do a search here for "killer dowel pin" if you aren't familiar with it. The next free thing you can do is bump the injector pump timing, if you have the tools and the confidence. If not, it isn't particularly expensive to have someone do. Not a bad project to do in conjunction with the KDP. I suggest timing first not because it does all that much at this point, but because if it's never been done the odds are good that the timing of a truck that old has slipped and isn't even correct for stock settings anymore, never mind advanced. Advanced timing means better mileage at higher speeds/RPM and lower EGTs when it's working. The trans doesn't like power, but it's fine with RPM so another cheap thing that makes a big difference is governor springs in the injection pump so the engine will keep fueling after 2200rpm. A 3K or 4K kit will really wake it up across the band. Just know that if you're going to rev it much higher than 3K you should really do valve springs as well, or risk floating the valves. For more power in general you can slide the stock fuel plate forward for free, you just have to break into the injection pump. You can also grind the plate to a different profile for free, or just take it out entirely. There are many schools of thought on this, but it gets the job done. When you get the plate how you want it and put the AFC housing back on, you can slide if forward before clamping it down, which makes a huge difference as well. With these two mods you should really have a Pyro gauge so you can keep tabs on how likely you are to start melting things. You can also turn the barrels in the pump for more fuel, but the reviews on this process are mixed. A Big Honkin' Air Filter is relatively inexpensive, and will help it breathe without the expense or maintenance of K&N type filters. All of these mods have been talked to death here, and there a quite a few topics on each. If you're thinking of doing this work yourself, then the best thing you can do is use the search and read everything that comes up for all of them, really immerse yourself in it. Some of the topics are better than others, but while most of this stuff is pretty simple some of it has to be done quite meticulously or the results can be... unfortunate. Use the search and readreadread. Welcome to the forum, and good luck.

 

I don't plan on being very mean to it as it'll be my daily, I'm just trying to figure out the free or cheap and easy stuff to do to get a little more get up and go and also mileage. I was planning on a true hood stack mostly for looks but also for the smoke factor when I want to. Maybe a little on down the road go with marine injectors and a twin or triple turbo but that's a ways down the road. Is there a good source to get beastly tranny internals? What would be a good recommendation on a fuel plate profile to get? I don't want to do to much to soon and kill it but I want a little more than stock. What is your opinion on a hood stack?

 

They're great on pulling trucks.

 

Think it'd be to much for a daily? And what gauges would you recommend running? Also would a 97 have the P7100 or the VP44?

 

The hood stack is personal preference but you are gunna get tired of the exhaust drone after a while and your windshield is going to be covered in soot.

A 97 would have the P7100. The VP44 didn't come out until 98.5 on the 24 valve trucks.

I just installed Isspro EV2 gauges and they are great. Easy to install and they match the factory gauges fairly close. The recommended gauges for a 12 valve truck is Boost, EGT, and Trans Temp. Also a fuel pressure gauge is a good one to have.

Hope that helps

 

Can you recommend a brand for tranny parts please? How do you get rid of the silencer ring on the turbo and also does it actually do anything other than noise? And will a 12 valve black smoke stock or does it need some tweaking to do it?

 

A lot of what you are asking can be found by searching this forum or google. Just so you know.

Anyways tranny parts is a lot of brand preference but there are those that stand out. Obviously look through the forum sponsors for tranny parts and try and support them if you can. Otherwise ATS, BD diesel, Revmax (they made my valve body), Goerend and I think Suncoast does some auto stuff too, just to name a couple. There are also companies who make just Torque converters and input shafts for our trucks.

Look on YouTube for videos on how to remove the silencer ring or just google it. The main thing it does is make the turbo whistle more pronounced. When I did mine there was very little, if any, increase in power. It's more to make noise.

Due to emissions diesels are not supposed to smoke stock and if they do there is generally something wrong assuming nothing has been changed. So tweaking does need to be done to get them to smoke.
"Rolling Coal" shines a negative light on diesel enthusiasts and it is generally not recommended because of that.
Also, smoke does NOT equal power. What causes smoke is un-burnt fuel which is lost power and this generally causes high EGT's. The exception being sled pullers who use it for cooling the EGT's.

Now that I am done discouraging "Rolling Coal" if you are stuck on making your truck smoke I suggest you read about the AFC, which is what controls the fueling on your truck. If you read about it and get proficient at adjusting the AFC you can make your truck behave how you want it to.

Hope I answered some questions