Banks sidewinder turbo system m1028

[ken]

You should see a small increase in milage. I gained 3MPG. And you will not see much difference in backpressure. The original exaust is very restrictive. I installed one on my 82 K2500 gmc ten years ago. First i will tell you from a machinist point of view the banks kit is a piece of crap. The bolt holes don't line up with out pushing and pulling parts when assembling it. The fit and finish of the machined surfaces was very poor. I'd much rather use a GM4 from a 6.5. That being said. It does do what it claims. It will give you about 50 HP and has been very reliable for me. I've rebuilt it once and expect good service from it. Is it worth $2500? Not in my opinion. You would be better off replacing your exaust with 2 1/2 inch pipes. And installing marine injectors. You will get the same 50HP increase much cheeper.

 

[67_C-30]

You should see a small increase in milage. I gained 3MPG. And you will not see much difference in backpressure. The original exaust is very restrictive. I installed one on my 82 K2500 gmc ten years ago. First i will tell you from a machinist point of view the banks kit is a piece of crap. The bolt holes don't line up with out pushing and pulling parts when assembling it. The fit and finish of the machined surfaces was very poor. I'd much rather use a GM4 from a 6.5. That being said. It does do what it claims. It will give you about 50 HP and has been very reliable for me. I've rebuilt it once and expect good service from it. Is it worth $2500? Not in my opinion. You would be better off replacing your exaust with 2 1/2 inch pipes. And installing marine injectors. You will get the same 50HP increase much cheeper.

No, you won't come to 50HP with marine injectors and 2 1/2 pipes. The marine injector subject has been beat to death, but in short you can not increase the fuel on N/A 6.2 enough to gain 50 HP without a turbo. No way, no how. You can barely increase it enough to get 5 - 10 HP more, and even then you have watch your EGT's. There's a lot of melted pistons and dyno pulls out there to prove this...

 

[bigflew]

There is a crossover pipe that goes from the factory driver's side manifold to the pass side Banks manifold. You have to have it to get exhaust from both banks of the engine to drive the turbo. Then there is the single exhaust that runs from the turbo out to the rear of the truck. I haven't seen it being sold without the exhaust, but if it comes with crossover pipe, you could have a competent muffler shop run the exhaust for way cheaper than $600 - $800. A good muffler could even do the crossover too, and shouldn't be too expensive. Do you have a link to the kit w/o the turbo?

And no, they actually make it quieter, unless you run open exhaust. It also makes the engine noise much quieter in the truck because you don't hear the air rushing into the huge holes iin the intake under air cleaner. The Banks air box keeps makes the turbo whine nearly non existent, but you can make a cold air style tube with a K&N you can hear the turbo whine, if you want to. I prefer them with free flowing mufflers and the cold air set-up becuase these engines sound really tough with the turbo whine and rumbling exhaust, IMO. They sound good without being obnoxiously loud.

Here's mine Banks set-up in the before I took it out of the Suburban. Notice it doesn't have the droning sound from air cleaner when it revved up.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eolZIk1f_PA&feature=related[/media]

thank you!
this is the kind of info I can use.

 

[OddballJ]

truthfully you've been a huge help 67. I'll look into contacting the fellow and hopefully snagging that turbo
Is there anything I need to watch out for with engine damage from 8lbs of boost?

 

[67_C-30]

truthfully you've been a huge help 67. I'll look into contacting the fellow and hopefully snagging that turbo
Is there anything I need to watch out for with engine damage from 8lbs of boost?

No, 8 psi is fine as long as the fuel isn't turned up high. You'll have to turn up the fuel in the IP when you add the turbo, and a 1/4 turn is the good starting point. The Banks system comes with gauges, so get them out the truck if you can. They come with the a temp gauge, EGT gauge, and a boost gauge. The EGT's are really the most important one to watch. If the the fuel is too high, the EGT's go too high, and that's where damage occurs. On a gas engine, a lean condition is what destroys parts, but it exactly the opposite on a diesel. You want to stay under 1100 degrees max, under 10 psi, and keep the water temp under 230 and she'll be fine.

$500 is a killer price, and you can't go wrong with that. To answer an earlier question, you can check the shaft play on the turbo to help determine whether it needs building or not. There will be an oil residue inside it, but it should leaking or spewing oil. There is usually a little side to side on a used turbo, but in and out play is not acceptable. As long as it doesn't move more than about a 1/16" side to side, it will be OK. (Some people have succesfully ran them with a lot more, but I'd err on the side of caution0.

 

[conifercucv]

I'd get the turbo. I live in the mountains and had the Banks turbo put on about 4 months ago. It made all the difference climbing the hills and its great for passing on the highway. It seems to smooth out the acceleration and there is an increase in mpg if you're careful not to stomp on the gas all the time.

 

[OddballJ]

I'd get the turbo. I live in the mountains and had the Banks turbo put on about 4 months ago. It made all the difference climbing the hills and its great for passing on the highway. It seems to smooth out the acceleration and there is an increase in mpg if you're careful not to stomp on the gas all the time.

I'm up in the mountains here at school and most of the driving I do is up and down hills. I was driving (unintentionally) with the IP retarded a bit and it was killing me. I was struggling to make 30mph up the hills.
If the turbo gives me even a little boost in mpg it should pay for itself by the time I sell the truck. Clearly the wise financial decision is to turbo

 

[67_C-30]

I'm up in the mountains here at school and most of the driving I do is up and down hills. I was driving (unintentionally) with the IP retarded a bit and it was killing me. I was struggling to make 30mph up the hills.
If the turbo gives me even a little boost in mpg it should pay for itself by the time I sell the truck. Clearly the wise financial decision is to turbo

Yeah, if you are in mountainous areas you will benefit in power and fuel mileage with the turbo.