first diesel and I need some widsom......
 

Hey everyone. I got my first cummins a few weeks ago. Its a 1997 single cab long bed 4x4 with a 5-speed. Long list of new parts and entire truck serviced with new bushings, seals, bearings etc..... I bought the truck and put in a #0 fuel plate and with doing so I added a boost elbow which is putting me right around 34 lbs of boost. I LOVE power but I am not diggin the black smoke. Ya its fun to play with but I aint "one of those guys" to just go around smoking on everyone and everything. Once my truck starts boosting, the smoke clears up purdy good which I can deal with, but I need some advise how to keep and even better yet, boost my power but cut back on the smoke. Any advise? Thanks.

tune the afc:tu:

There is a screw on the back of the pump referred to as the smoke screw and a star wheel which allows the fuel slide to move faster forward with less boost. You need to strike a balance between how much fuel you want before boost vs. how much power you want off the line vs. being careful not to push to much fuel before boost. This is tuning the afc as Monster is referring too.

At the end of the day more power is going to smoke more. The stock automatic is detuned to 180hp when people are getting upward of 380hp with bolt-on additions and some tuning.

Thanks for the replys guys. I have read up on the AFC housing and how to tweak it a bit. Before I put in my fuel plate I had turned the star wheel full forward because of some advice i got from a 12 valve owner. So Im going to put the star wheel back in the middle (It took 58 turns from stock to get it full forward) and go from there. I havn't touched the "smoke screw" in the back yet and neither has anyone else since the break off bolt has been untouched. I knew it was going to smoke and like i said, i dont mind it too much if im out somewhere with no to few cars around...i just dont like trying to baby it though town and smoke someone out on accident because I lugged a gear too much or gave a smidge more throttle then needed. Thank you guys for the replys, ill adjust that starwheel and let you know.

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Also, im needing to get new exhaust, i dont like running the power I have with the stock exhaust on there....too hot way too fast which is why i dont lay into it more then a few seconds usually. How do you like the 4" craig? Also on another note...my buddy has a '01 cummins with edge juice/attitude with the hot unlock. We was going to auto part store and he wanted to run em.....needless to say he lost and quite badly at that.

My aFe 4" runs very cool, I have a hard time hitting 600 now. Injectors are my next add. I'm turning up the heat now that I have the Trans taken care of. When it comes to juice I'm holding off till I have heat trouble with standard fuel. I have seen several posts on Methanol and Water injection, it's cheap to add but you should do studs first and maybe fire ring the head. Cools the EGT real well but adds a lot to the head preasure from what I've read. Also if cleaner is what your looking for I have read the Meth kit helps a lot and keeps you a lot cleaner, adds ~100hp hence the need for studs.

But like I said, I'm not there yet till I add 60# valve springs, 4k GSK, and head studs.

Ya i have read alot about the meth kits while looking for a 7.3. While in my diesel search, the cummins and the 7.3 were my only choices since i dont care much for the other diesels through second hand experience and forums. I need to get out there and crank my starwheel back to the middle and go from there. headed to the mountains today and my poor buddies behind me the whole was were getting smoked on (40 miles of uphill and windy roads....were your stuck between 3rd gear too high and 4th too low) Before any more add ons, i need to get my exhaust taken care of thats why I was asking about the 4" exhuast. I was going to just shoot straight for a 5" but I can get a turbo back 4" exhaust for right around 300 shipped to my door.

go with the 5 inch
:tu:

Thats what Im wanting. I might as well fork over the extra 100 bucks or so for what I want.

i bought a 5 inch diamond eye exhaust system for my truck over the summer off ebay for round 370 bucks with free shipping. Cant beat that!!!

Na that seems like a steal. My EGT gauge is all screwed up and such but it did work for a few miles one time and she hit 1350 purdy fast and easy so Im thinkin i need my exhaust purdy quick. Also, i started tweaking with my starwheel. Put it back to stock location and it sucked. Stock power and then all of a sudden you get this surge of full power then you shift and right back to stock power....no go. So i have been messsing with it and trying to find a happy medium to retain my power but cut back on the smoke.