Once the gauges were in place, we took the Dodge out for a test drive, and that's when things got interesting. We found out that our EGTs were as high as we had feared, and with our fuel screw turned in only 1 turns (the 234 rear wheel horsepower level), our exhaust gases registered a smoking-hot 1,600 degrees on our impromptu 0-60mph runs. Despite our 2wd Dodge having massive traction problems all the way into high gear, our times dropped from a stock time of around 11 seconds to the mid-7-second range. Boost was healthy, but not dangerous at 25-27 psi under full-throttle conditions. On the drive home, we figured, "What the heck. Our EGTs are already high," pulled off the freeway, and turned in our fuel screw another two turns (264 hp). When we got back on the road and started hammering it, we noticed that we were now up to about 28 psi of boost, and our EGTs wouldn't go above 1,400 degrees. Wait, more fuel means lower exhaust gas temperatures? That didn't seem right.
The point is that, without gauges, we wouldn't have known any of this valuable information. It turned out that non-intercooled trucks apparently hate high elevation, and while our initial 1,600-degree readings were from Palmdale, our later readings were in Los Angeles--a good 2,000 feet lower. We turned the pump back to its 234-horsepower setting for daily driving (at 3 turns it idles pretty fast) and could only get the pyrometer to climb to about 1,200 degrees once we were testing at sea level. As Rust Bucket progresses, we'll now be able to give more complete information on subsequent dyno pulls and dragstrip passes as we venture toward 300 rear wheel horsepower and beyond.
PROJECT RUST BUCKET PARTS LIST
Dynomite Diesel Stage IV Injectors: $749
Injection Pump Modifications: $FREE
Di Pricol Gauges: $250
Nitrous Kit: $300 (see pg. 170)
Grand Total: $1,299
With all the senders in the right place, wiring up the guages was next. The wiring was pretty simple, and since the guages don't draw that many amps, we just tapped into the factory fise box. A voltemer was used to find a wire that had power running to it when the key was on, and that's what we tapped in for our positive leads. The guages also have gray and white wires used for lighting, and those were hooked into the factory dash lights. | 
The last step was mounting the gauges and running the wiring. Our truck had holes where a brake controller was mounted, so we used the same spot to mount our pyrometer and boost gauges. We bought the gauge holder from a local speed shop for $20. | 
The Di Pricol guages look pretty cool to begin with, but look even better at night. They're easy to read, and best of all, we can now know when our truck is reaching the danger zones for exhaust gas tempratures and boost. |