We haven't had a chance to run it on the dyno yet, but what impressed us the most with this new performance chip is the improvement in the fuel economy. The six tune chip is set up for towing, economy, daily driving and racing as well as stock and high idle. In the economy tune. I'm now getting over 12 miles per gallon, which still isn't great but it is better than the 10 mpg that I was getting around town before I added the chip as well as the new intake and exhaust from aFe Power. At first, I wondered if my fuel gauge was broken and just stuck on full, but turns out it was just my optimism in thinking I was getting a lot better fuel mileage than I was before.
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Driving home from the Powerlabs shop I couldn't help but "test" out the new additions to the project truck. As I pulled up to my house, my young kids were outside playing so I stopped in front, put the truck in neutral and switched it to the race tune and then dropped the hammer. It put a huge black cloud in the air and my kids just cheered. Of course this probably explains why I don't always get the most miles out of each fill up, but no complaints. This is one truck that I know I'm going to be able to have a lot of fun with.
I did run my acceleration tests and in the race tune the time wasn't all that impressive because to be fair I didn't let it spool up before starting the stopwatch. Clearly at this point I have too much fuel, so obviously the next step is air. Stay tuned. In the next issue we hook up with BD Diesel Performance for a crankcase ventilation kit, wastegate kit and other key installs from the Canadian-based manufacturer as we move forward with this project.