Diesel + Gas or Bigger Dump Pipe and free flowing exhaust?

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

Currently I tow around a five metre plate alloy boat with a towing weight all up around 750kg. The Prado tows this fine and only struggles on really long sneaky hills where you lose too much speed before you realise it. The Dtronic chip made a really big improvement to low down torque.

Now I looking at getting a bigger boat around 6.6 metres which will weigh around 2.1 tonnes fully loaded. I want to be able to maintain a decent cruising speed and be able to climb hills fairly easily I would like some more torque to pull the whole operation.

I have been doing a fair bit of research on various sites and it appears to me there are two options;

1. Get a Diesel + Gas conversion

The base cost I have priced is $4400 less $2000 Commonwealth rebate less $1000 WA government rebate means a net outlay $1400

2. Get a bigger dump pipe 2.75" and free flowing exhaust frpm Beaudesert exhausts for example for around $900.

With gas fitting I would have 40 Litre bottle in the vehicle because the bottle that can be fitted outside is too small IMO.

I don't want the Prado to be noisy so a noise level as close as possible to standard would be nice.

Both options appear to give a decent boost in torque/power and reduce fuel consumption when you are not using all that extra toque/power.

Could I have advice please as to which way would be the best way to go in the long term Question

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

Diesel + Gas or Bigger Dump Pipe and free flowing exhaust?

Anyone able to give any advice?

[Guest Close Guest]

There is already a few threads on the exhausts and Gas/Diesel. May be worth looking in those.

You have also picked a 4 day weekend that your post is in, I suspect a lot of people will be away from the PC.. Replies may take a while.

[Stevo De Devo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stevo De Devo]

MM, I have a 120 with I suspect an identical motor. I'm getting the Beaudesert exhaust next Friday (2.75 inc dump pipe) and I'll let you know "seat of the pants" results ....

IMO you might be better going for LPG, solely because of the extra grand you get in WA. Without it, it prices itself out of the market for me (plus the rising LPG prices too).

Buck for buck I would suspect lpg would give more performance, but the other thing to turn me off is (at least when i looked last) you use 1/3 lpg to diesel, so you wont be able to get the full performance benefit over a full tank from a 120 (ie use all the lpg with 120 litres of fuel and need to refill the lpg with another 60 litres of diesel in the tank. Unsure of fuel capacity in a 90 series, though ....

hope this makes some kind of sense (its a bit all over the place!)

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

looking forward to hearing stevo. also keen to get a rough idea of $'s for the setup. this is "another" thing i've been looking at... jees my "i want that" list is getting huge!

[Stevo De Devo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stevo De Devo]

Hey Mr McB - cost of the exhaust which includes the dump pipe is $1,060 installed. They will need it for around 3 or 4 hours Friday morning (booked in 7.30am) so I'll go down and sit there having a look or reading a book or some such cr@p - trust me, until the pubs open there's nothing else to bloody do!!! :roll: :lol:

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

Hey Mr McB - cost of the exhaust which includes the dump pipe is $1,060 installed. They will need it for around 3 or 4 hours Friday morning (booked in 7.30am) so I'll go down and sit there having a look or reading a book or some such cr@p - trust me, until the pubs open there's nothing else to bloody do!!! :roll: :lol:

How is the new exhaust system?


mackerelmauler

[Stevo De Devo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stevo De Devo]

Beautiful mate!! Lucky summer's nearly over because I've been driving windows-down just to hear the turbo spool up fully at 1,200-1,300 rom

Without a before and after dyno I couldn't tell ya about power increase, but seat of the pants it feels stronger over the whole revs range, although still making more noise than torque above 3,000 but I can live with that.

Noise is acceptable for me - the whistle is just magnificent, and windows up at idle it seems a bit louder than standard but really you'd be hard pressed to pick it. It has more of a growl when you sink the boot in which just sounds lovely - nothing like a japcr@p 4 cyl petrol with 6 inch exhaust :lol: (or even my old AU falcon with a 3 incher ....) but for anyone over 21 years old its really nice - throaty without being loud and windows up not really different than standard.

Turbo lag is now gone - it pulls lovely from idle and when I wanted to, I could change gears in my 5 speed manual 120 at 1,500rpm in each gear dropping back to abround 1,200 in the next gear and it would just keep pulling. Sinking the boot in 5th gear at 100km it pulls much harder than it did before - straight up to 135kmh at 3,000 rpm strongly and quickly. Not that you'd do this often or for long (unless sponsored by Caltex!) but for overtaking plenty of urge.

Went down to the tip this morning with the dual axle 8x5 trailer weighing around 800kg and plenty of drag with two axles, idled over the speed bump out of the place in 2nd (around 700rpm) and just touched the go pedal - no labouring it just started gathering speed (although slowly LOL) and took off fine. That was enough for me.

We've got a camper which is around 1.2t fully loaded, and I think now we'll have no troubles on all but the biggest hills. I was contemplating a Dtronic but i think I'll wait for now.

So mackerelhauler, I would definately recommend the exhaust as a first step. At just under $1,100 it isn't earth shattering and I reckon it'll pull the most out of your Dtronic, too. One thing I just thought of also is egt - I would think that lpg injection would have to increase the temp of the exhaust gases, and the dtronic might add some heat, too- might not be the best thing on the turbo .....

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

After experiencing a drive in Mark Smith's (*) Prado fitted with the Beaudesert exhaust and bigger dump pipe I have decided to;

1. At the time of my next service which is about two months away i will get the beaudesert exhaust including on the Prado new dump pipe.

2. In about a year I will get gas fitted to the Prado.


mackerelmauler

(*)Mark Smith is on another forum

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

The Prado has been gassed!

I just picked up my Prado today after it has had gas fitted (D-Gas system).

I went with the gas only after finding out that it was impossible to have the 2.75 exhaust and the gas fitted. The vehicle could not pass the pits because the exhaust would be too close to the gas cylinder.

The exhaust was modified so that the gas cylinder could be fitted. With gas fitted the Prado is a little more noisy when accelerating. However the vehicle definitely accelerates much more quickly (V6 Commodores should be afraid at traffic lights).

I also picked up my boat after it's annual service and I was having to take the foot of the accelerator when taking off from the lights because I was going faster than the vehicle in front.

Driving on the Chokeway(Freeway) the Prado has now got better pick up when accelerating after those inexplicable slowdowns of cars in front.

Accelerating out of roundabouts is considerably faster than before.

Once I get over the using the extra torque and power just for the fun of it I am sure my fuel consumption will drop.

I am a happy camper with a gassed Prado.


mackerel mauler

[mackerelmauler Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mackerelmauler]

I have just had a 3" dump pipe and 2.5" exhaust system fitted.

In seat of the pants trials I have found that with no gas the turbo spools up faster and gives boost sooner than it did previously. You can hear the turbo whistle as it spools up rapidly.

However when you turn the gas on it is like someone is giving you a great big shove from behind even from low revs.

This means that I will plenty of Power/Torque in reserve when I meed it towing my old boat and hopefully my soon to be newer and bigger boat. I am very pleased with the gas and exhaust system enhancements on my 95 series Prado.


mackerelmauler