Mods and performance rant

[zogg]

Having been a gearhead for many years, I have tried almost all of the mods available on various trucks I have owned.....cai, exhaust, headers, tuners, etc. Etc....

The only two things that really show a significant performance increase are some tuners and ring and pinion gear changes. Most of the rest rest of the mods dont do much, though some folks make wild claims of fantastic mpg increases or dropping 2+ seconds off quarter mile times with a cai.....balogna.

My 2015 Ram hemi got 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway. I installed an 18" magnaflow muffler, kept the resonators, at it sounds really nice....no drone and great rumble.

i then installed an S&B cai which looks great and adds some growling sound at 4-5000 rpms.*

The net result is that the exhaust is a tad louder after adding the S&B, and the 8 speed transmission does not downshift quite as much on the same roads I take every day. It does seem to be just a little more torqey on takeoff from a light, though this might be wishful thinking.

The end result is that I now get 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway.....no change, and I didnt expect any. I like the sound and the looks of the mods, knowing that they really dint add much, if anything to mpg or performance.*

The manufacturers show charts with hp increase in thier advertisements.....notice that any power increases dont show up until 4-5000 rpms. That may all be true, but how many folks drive at 4500 rpms on a daily basis???? I am generally in the 1800 to 2200 rpm range in normal driving unless Im passing some guy on a two lane road....then i might hit 5000 rpms for a few seconds. The hemi does a great job without any mods for this event.

still, I buy the stuff because i just like it, full well knowing that it it generally a waste. Buy, hey, I get to work on my new truck and take it apart and put it back together.....that is just fun!!!*

So, realize what you are paying for and the actual benefits, if any, and enjoy the hell out of your truck!!!!!!!

 

[Hemi450hp]

There arent many mods you can add to these trucks that will show any real gains in mileage. I tested this on my 2011 crew cab 4wd as well, and only gained 1 mpg from a Vararam intake, Magnaflow catback, ported throttle body, and catch can. I added a Hemifever custom tune from there and gained an extra 2mpg though.

If you are looking for gains at part throttle, then you want a custom tune, gears, or longtube headers. Your intake, throttle body, muffler swap, etc are only going to show noticable gains at WOT. They are not the type of mods that give you instant power in the lower rpms at part throttle.

 

[sicmadek]

The shifting changes are from the tcm learning your drivibg habits. The only physical parts that could change trans shifting habits are gear, tires, and converter.

 

[CMil527]

Having been a gearhead for many years, I have tried almost all of the mods available on various trucks I have owned.....cai, exhaust, headers, tuners, etc. Etc....

The only two things that really show a significant performance increase are some tuners and ring and pinion gear changes. Most of the rest rest of the mods dont do much, though some folks make wild claims of fantastic mpg increases or dropping 2+ seconds off quarter mile times with a cai.....balogna.

My 2015 Ram hemi got 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway. I installed an 18" magnaflow muffler, kept the resonators, at it sounds really nice....no drone and great rumble.

i then installed an S&B cai which looks great and adds some growling sound at 4-5000 rpms.*

The net result is that the exhaust is a tad louder after adding the S&B, and the 8 speed transmission does not downshift quite as much on the same roads I take every day. It does seem to be just a little more torqey on takeoff from a light, though this might be wishful thinking.

The end result is that I now get 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway.....no change, and I didnt expect any. I like the sound and the looks of the mods, knowing that they really dint add much, if anything to mpg or performance.*

The manufacturers show charts with hp increase in thier advertisements.....notice that any power increases dont show up until 4-5000 rpms. That may all be true, but how many folks drive at 4500 rpms on a daily basis???? I am generally in the 1800 to 2200 rpm range in normal driving unless Im passing some guy on a two lane road....then i might hit 5000 rpms for a few seconds. The hemi does a great job without any mods for this event.

still, I buy the stuff because i just like it, full well knowing that it it generally a waste. Buy, hey, I get to work on my new truck and take it apart and put it back together.....that is just fun!!!*

So, realize what you are paying for and the actual benefits, if any, and enjoy the hell out of your truck!!!!!!!

A few goodies here and there keeps things fun, I'd love the tune but with the 15's we are kind of hamstrung having to lay out a $1000 to play so I've kind of put that off for now. Realistically it's my daiy driver and a big ass heavy truck so as long as I get a lil extra grunt and she looks good I enjoy it for what it is!!

 

[H1Chester]

Yeah I love how people think they're going to get a mpg increase with an intake and exhaust! Sorry, not going to see it! It will probably even get worse... more air in = more fuel in.

IMO to get any real HP / TQ increase you'll have to do intake, long tubes, full exhaust and
dyno tune. I've never wasted money on a throttle body. In the cars I've driven they don't do much unless you have a blower or turbo.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Biggest change in MPGs I've seen from mods was lowering the truck and adding a Hemifever tune. I picked up probably 2-3 MPG from those two mods alone and maybe 1 MPG from everything else, full exhaust, intake, catch can, etc. combined.

 

[Hemi450hp]

I've never wasted money on a throttle body. In the cars I've driven they don't do much unless you have a blower or turbo.

On a stock vehicle, you arent going to gain much from a ported TB. On a full bolt on and tuned hemi motor, we usually see about 12-15hp/tq and about a tenth off 1/4 mile times from the throttle body.

 

[craigsez]

When getting more air in and more exhaust out,you may also be doing it a lil more efficiently to if tuned for it...So to the op,you added mods,got a wee bit extra and mpg stayed roughly the same means its also more efficient than it was before..

 

[R/T_Fire]

Sorry, not going to see it! It will probably even get worse... more air in = more fuel in.

More air in/out with proper tuning equals a more efficient motor that is not restricted.. Go breath through a straw and tell me if you can use all your strength... then breath through a pipe and see how your full potential is opened up. Same principle on a engine,

All a motor is, is a big ole vacuum. the more fresh clean air you get in the more fuel you can give to it to burn cleanly, you can never have too much air available but you can have too much fuel or too little fuel. For a motor to run its best that balance has to be met, and coincidentally that usually results in more power (to a point) and a more efficient motor, you may not see much fuel mpg gain all the time but with proper air/fuel and tuning of the motor and such you will remap the torque curve and be able to gain mpg in some cases. This is why some see mpg or power gains and others don't because some have the mods to support other mods which in turn help and other combos hurt.

There is alot more to mpg or speed and all that whole thing.. one thing I learned from my time around Top Fuel Racing was the is the balance of air, air density, humidity, air to fuel, gear ratio in the diff etc etc all play a part in the motors efficiency and HP levels and MPG. Note there is no MPG worries on a Top fuel but the same principles apply to a every day car just not on such a extreme level as they do in top fuel and their times...

 

[theviking]

I think long tube headers are well worth the money on these trucks. My big-ass heavy 7200 lb truck would run sub-7 sec 0-60's with just headers and a cat back, no tune. Obviously the cat back isn't doing much if anything, so attributing the gains to headers.

 

[zogg]

When getting more air in and more exhaust out,you may also be doing it a lil more efficiently to if tuned for it...So to the op,you added mods,got a wee bit extra and mpg stayed roughly the same means its also more efficient than it was before..

I agree totally. I think my hemi is probably running more efficiently with the magnaflow and cai. It feels different and the exhaust is louder. So something is going on. Again, it doesn't downshift as much on my normal route to work so it feels better. Not enough to brag about or justify the $399 for the intake or $165 for the magnaflow. But I love both though the wifey says it getting too loud. Hahaha

 

[Dubstep Shep]

The thing about a lot of these mods is that they may not make a huge difference on the highway, but because you're actually giving it some throttle around town, you should see more MPG improvement there.

 

[Casper]

Having been a gearhead for many years, I have tried almost all of the mods available on various trucks I have owned.....cai, exhaust, headers, tuners, etc. Etc....

The only two things that really show a significant performance increase are some tuners and ring and pinion gear changes. Most of the rest rest of the mods dont do much, though some folks make wild claims of fantastic mpg increases or dropping 2+ seconds off quarter mile times with a cai.....balogna.

My 2015 Ram hemi got 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway. I installed an 18" magnaflow muffler, kept the resonators, at it sounds really nice....no drone and great rumble.

i then installed an S&B cai which looks great and adds some growling sound at 4-5000 rpms.*

The net result is that the exhaust is a tad louder after adding the S&B, and the 8 speed transmission does not downshift quite as much on the same roads I take every day. It does seem to be just a little more torqey on takeoff from a light, though this might be wishful thinking.

The end result is that I now get 14 mpg city and 17+ hiway.....no change, and I didnt expect any. I like the sound and the looks of the mods, knowing that they really dint add much, if anything to mpg or performance.*

The manufacturers show charts with hp increase in thier advertisements.....notice that any power increases dont show up until 4-5000 rpms. That may all be true, but how many folks drive at 4500 rpms on a daily basis???? I am generally in the 1800 to 2200 rpm range in normal driving unless Im passing some guy on a two lane road....then i might hit 5000 rpms for a few seconds. The hemi does a great job without any mods for this event.

still, I buy the stuff because i just like it, full well knowing that it it generally a waste. Buy, hey, I get to work on my new truck and take it apart and put it back together.....that is just fun!!!*

So, realize what you are paying for and the actual benefits, if any, and enjoy the hell out of your truck!!!!!!!

You drive a truck with the aerodynamic characteristics of a concrete block.

Most performance mods can't fix that.

They can move it a little quicker--but that usually involves burning more gas.