Stop The Hemi Bashing

[xhemidriver]

Lets set the record straight.... I am a Toy fan at heart. However I just traded in my QC 4x4 hemi and some of the bashing on here is a little over the top.

I would just like to set the record straight and give a few helpfull pointers as we hemi drivers went through the same thing you tundra truck owners are going through now. (Little to no aftermarket help)

1st - These claims of x hemi's qc 4x4's running a 100 shot of the funny stuff only pulling a 14.5 1/4 is sad. My 6545 lbs (on race day) qc 4x4 w/ 3.55 and a peg leg would run 15.7 right out the box. with exhaust, cai, and hypertech i would run a 15.3 w/ a 2.6 60' (do to the peg leg) Most of my friends w/ 3.92 possi's were cutting 1.9-2.1 60's all day. 1 10th in the 60 is good for 2 10ths at the trap. You do the math.

2nd - the dodge ecm sucks moose d*&k! Even with nos is takes 10-20 passes before the ecm starts to learn and make adjustments. Your should expect the same. I have personlly whatched a Dodge runnin a 125 shot drop 1.5sec in the 1/4 over the span of 10 runs or so from his first pass on nos without making a single change and cutting a consistant 1.6 60 every run.

3rd - all dodges (except the 03's) have a nazi tcm (torque contol management) computer. This is where most of the power to the ground gets lost on the hemi's. The tcm tells the ecm to retard fuel and timing off the line in an effort to eliminate converter slippage. On the 03's you can pull a wire going into the ecm that keeps max tranny pressure at all times and cuts a strong .5 off the 1/4 time. This is the main reason why you can nail a Hemi off the line put he pulls you around the 1000ft mark.

4th - Yes stock to stock simular trucks the tundra is faster. make no mistake about it. However a stock 2wd RCSB Hemi with a driver that knows how to use the truck can run 14.4-14.5 all day. If you hesitate, blink, etc you will get beat. 4-5 10ths in the 14 sec class is only 3/4-1 car car length or so.

5th - Hemi's are 5 speeds not 4. (Even if the top two gears are both OD ratios.

6th - Top end, any hemi will eat just about anything else on the road given the right driver. (They have the best 2nd gear gearing around) This includes a Tundra, 350Z and will even run door to door with a C5. Its hard to get 5000+ lbs moving but once it does good by. (Agian why you get passed around the 1000ft mark when you have a hemi beat by 1-2 trucks off the line. This goes back the the TCM agian)

IE> PAY ATTENTION HERE - SEE IF THIS WORKS IN THE NEW TUNDRAS

Dodges like to short shift from 3rd into 4th (the 1st od) At this point they are just about out of juice. HOWEVER

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PAY ATTENTION - Once in 3rd gear if you pull the shifter out of drive down into 2nd once you have exceeded the top speed for 2nd gear (the ecm is smart enought to know not to down shift) it will hold the truck in 3rd gear. Then once you hit the governed speed you turn the key to start and hold it there. (Again the ecm is smart enough to know the truck is already on) This shuts down all ecm and tcm management of the drivetrain. As such you have no top speed limiter. My 4x4 qc on 35's w/ 3.55s and 6" lift would run 155-156 top end at 5200 rpm or so. (It did burn almost 1/2 a tank of go juice in about 10 miles though) Wind resistance of a brick SUCKS!

7th - A stock hemi will dyno between 245-265 hp at the wheel not 212 as i have seen posted. (Yes still well shy of the 289-295 of the tundra)

8th - ALL CRYSLER PRODUCTS SUCK! They are the only manfacturer that clearly states they only build autos to run to 100,000 miles. After that they don't much care what happens to them. Since they suck sooo much they decided to put a paper thin bottom end (Built in Mex) in the 5.7 hemi. Yes many have blown up. MOST that are driven hard will drop a valve around 50-60,000 miles. Mine droped the valve on cylinder #6 at 52,000.

9th - PAY ATTENTION THIS WAS GOOD FOR ABOUT 2-3 10ths (60ft time) IN A HEMI.......

Go to your local auto parts store and spend $10 on a set of spring clamps (For Leaf Springs dummy) Used them to compress the rear of the overload leaf all the way to the rest of the spring pack. (They look just like Metal C's with a screw in the middle) This will drop your rear 1-1/2 to 2" in height and tighten of the rear end eliminating wheel hop. (Act just like a set of Traction bars for a fraction of the cost)

10th - Exhausts are a waste of money. You would have to be putting down 500-600 hp before your exhaust would make a difference. HOWEVER - you should remove your Cat and Muffler and replace them with just regular pipe. If you have emisions to deal with (we have none in Florida) buy a $40 set of old school manual cutouts. $500 exhaust systems are for dummy's.

11th - I will assume the new Tundras have some sort of TCM as all new trucks do. PAY ATTENTION - One way to get around this in the Hemi's was.... do your burnout to warm your tires then pre-stage (quickly before the other person) and turn off your truck. Once the other person is stages start your truck and inch forward to stage. We found out that is takes the ecm/tcm around 20sec to boot up. Believe it of not this would gain us 15 hp on the dyno.

12th - INTAKES ARE A WASTE OF MONEY - Just pull the stock filter out when you race. (This was good for 1-2 10ths) Any one who knows will tell you that 200cfm (ball park #) is plenty for any motor up to about 4-500 hp. (Except for a deisel with a 20:1 compression ratio) Make a trip to Home Depot. Buy some dryer vent hose, pull your air box and clamp the dryer hose to the intake hose and run it to the bottom front of the truck. This was good for 3 10ths at the track.

13th - ALWAYS ALWAYS Race with tow/haul mode! This increases tranny line pressure, making quicker harder shifts and locks the tc sooner giving you 100% power to the ground (minus lossed dut to rotatin masses). Should be good for 1-2 10ths.

14th - Traction control is for dummys. Buy a good set of tires for the track like MT ET's. Traction control robs you of power. As any expierenced racer and he/she will tell you that you can gain 1/2 - 1 sec with slicks VS street tires. I don't care if you spent $400 per tire on nittos or Toyo. You wasted your money. Sorry.

BASHING HEMI's will get you know where. If you would spend some time asking some of the "Expierenced" Hemi owners they could help you to make your Tundra run Close to a 13.5 1/4 for around $5-600. (2wd RCSB) Maybe even break into the 12sec class for around $1000 or so. I know of several hemis that run low 13's on motor with no more than $2500 Parts. Go to DodgeTruckWorld.COM. Most of them would be glad to help. The only problem may be finding one of us original Hemi Truck guys. Unfortunatly The aftermarket just isn't going to offer too much for the Tundra. Toy likes to keep all thier info to themselves where others share info with the aftermarket.

TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT A PROGRAMER, Call Superchips. They are down here in Orlando FL. They worked hand in hand with us in designing the Hemi programmer. When they know there is demand they will be more than happy to borrow a few local Tundras and get to work. They are the most end-user friendly company I've come across.

[Jhanfosho]

It's a toyota forum. Of course we will bash the hemi. Go to the dodge forum and see what they say about our tundras.

I have the 5.7L tundra and it eats the hemi for breakfast so all of your points don't have any standing. Also, the quality of the dodge trucks are pathetic.

[jpnca]

April is Ford bashing month! We don't start on Dodge until May

[wildbill23c]

Well I didn't buy My Toyota Tundra to race, I bought it because its built in America. I was surprised at all the stuff under the hood that has stickers saying built in USA. My 2006 Chevy Cobalt, everything on or in it was built in Mexico, Japan, and Italy (transmission). I haven't looked at any of the new Dodge or Fords, but I'm sure they're right up there with Chevy using foreign parts in a so called "American Vehicle".

[xhemidriver]

J - You need to go back read my post. Most of what I posted will be helpfull to make you truck faster.

FYI - Most of the Dodge people have the utmost respect for the Tundra and will not make any claim that the Hemi is better or faster.

[xhemidriver]

Cryslers products are mostly built in Canada and assembled in Mexico. The 5.7 Hemi motor is 100% mexican though and I think they used the same materil from the Titanic for the block b/c it's extremly thin and weak.

[can't stop spinning]

First off, it's nitrous, not nos. Nos is a brand.

In number 6, you're full of shit. I have a dodge, a srt-4 to be exact. And in stock trim, I couldn't keep up with a c5 from a roll, yet I handed many hemi's their asses, from either a dig or a roll.

When you say you can hit 155mph, that's a load of bs as well. The srt weighs approx 3000lbs, makes 230whp and 240-250wtq stock, is a lot more arodynamic, and can only do 153-155mph on flat ground.

Otherwise it's a decent post, with some useful information in it. While I don't 100% agree with everything you say, I do agree with a lot of it.

[Prlauren]

When can an American car company build something reliable.......never! That's why they are trying to give them away 0% financing and rebates! Toyota Honda and Nissan hardly ever give 0% financing.....American car manufacturers have been competing with Foriegn for years. slowly over the years...... they are losing. They offered 0% financing to entise people to buy once to often.......now people wait till they offer low or 0% to buy. Sales drop then they offer it all the time just to sell...........I have even heard of Toyota possibly buying Ford out...........Hmmmmmmm to tap into the work force. I mean...when you go to a job site, what three trucks do you see? Toyota already has the American cars beat....why not now work trucks?

[TundraTough]

I'm excited to see how much bigger this thread gets while I'm at work all day.

[xhemidriver]

Cant Stop > Yes NOS is a brand. It is a common abrev 4 nit so that every1 knows what u r talking about. Top speed is all about gearing. 3rd in the ram is your one to one and depending on rpm and gears every hemi truck made is capable of running 150+. My old truck would have gone faster had it had either better aero or more power. At 155 the truck still had another 1100 rpm untill fuel shut off however she was maxed.

The SRT-4 is out of juice at this speed b/c of gearing not power. 150 in an srt-4 is in 5th gear which is an OD. I don't know what the final drive and gear ratios are but lets assume the typical 0.86 or so for 5th. That means you are now only getting 86% of the power you dynoed at in 4th gear. (4th is your 1 to 1) Now instead of 230hp you are looking at 180ish to the wheels.

The ram is only good for about 130 in 4th gear. Thats the whole point to that section. In order to keep the truck in 3rd gear we had to figure a way around the ecm. Shifting the lever to 2nd while in third did the trick.

Their is a lot of things I could help you with. I am here just for that. I could come on your site and bash the Tundra like everyone comes over to the dodge sites to do.

Thats childish.

Notice my user name is "X" hemidriver? I am not hear to pump up any one brand. Just to help. Originally I was trying to learn what mods to start planning for but it seems very few of you know how to make a vehicle go fast w/o being able to go to the store and buy $800 parts.

Just so everyone knows I will be buying another Toy Truck soon. I am just debating on if I should wait for the diesel or not. I know the Tundras are fast. I know I can make one run low 12's in a weekends time with a few old school race tricks and a little nitrous propane mix for the intake.

Whats the fastest 07-08 you have seen or heard of?????? I can't find anyone running faster than high 13's.

Maybe you should start listning to what I am saying and stop trying to pick fights.

[xhemidriver]

Here is another little trick to add with the sping clamps mention eairlier. ALL of you complain of wheel hop right. Add the clamps and remove the rear sway bar. This save sa couple pounds and will make your truck hook hard out of the whole.

[xhemidriver]

I am bord now and my mind is racing with things we did to make our hemis faster. YOU ALL want a programer right???? Forget that, all a programer is going to do is change timing an fuel a little. Go buy an $40 A/F gauge and buy a male and female connetor for your air sensor. Make a plug in adapter with some wire and the conectores and buy a reostate at radio shack. Now you can change the reading that the ecm is getting reguaridng air density. Dial in the reo using the A/F guage until you get around a 12.8 to 13.3 ratio AT WOT NOT IDLE. (Lean but still on the safe side) The ECM will think its 10* outside all the time with really dense cold air and compensate by adding a little more fuel. Now you have a programmer that is adjustable on the fly by the twist of a dail, that you can remove in 2 min when you have to take a trip to the steelership. I havn't seen what the factory a/f is but I am sure it's around 15.5-16 (a little rich) at idle and 14-14.5 at wot.

At the track "Lean = Fast"

If you want a little more power disconnet the o2 snesors. (THIS WILL THOW A CODE and pop the idiot light on) However it will richen the fuel mixture even further. Now use the Reo to retune. The two of these together might be good for 25whp.

[can't stop spinning]

I still don't buy the whole 150 mph thing in a stock hemi. Lightning's and SRT-10's barely do 150, and they make a whole lot more power then a hemi. You say top speed is all about gearing, but aerodynamics(sp?) plays just as big of a factor.

I remember reading an article from Road and Track I where they test a few supercars in a 0-200 test. The owner of a 205 mph Lamborghini changed the wheels and slowed the top end down to 190.1mph.

Road & Track Magazine - Lamborghini Murci�lago (9/2007)

so just by changing to a less aerodynamic wheels, the car lost 15mph.

[2008_CrewMax]

id take a dodge mega cab 2500 4x4 diesel ... not over my tundra .. but thats in my top few choices of truck

[jpnca]

Originally Posted by xhemidriver

J - You need to go back read my post. Most of what I posted will be helpfull to make you truck faster.

FYI - Most of the Dodge people have the utmost respect for the Tundra and will not make any claim that the Hemi is better or faster.

Its all fun and games. The Dodge Power Wagon was my 2nd choice

[sxd45]

The power wagon is a beast! I am really good friends with a hemi guy, matter of fact im driving my truck in they're convoy to the Laps for charity event in dallas this may. They have been nothing but cool to me so I have no problem with them.

[ramoine]

HEy , anyone remember the show Simon and Simon ? That's the Power Wagon I always wanted !

[jpnca]

Originally Posted by sxd45

The power wagon is a beast! I am really good friends with a hemi guy, matter of fact im driving my truck in they're convoy to the Laps for charity event in dallas this may. They have been nothing but cool to me so I have no problem with them.

No kidding lockers, sway bar disconnects, 33's, winch all stock! But I love my Tundra

[jpnca]

Originally Posted by ramoine

HEy , anyone remember the show Simon and Simon ? That's the Power Wagon I always wanted !

Man how old are you! Simon and Simon ya I rember it being on I was kind of young to watch it. I was watching Bo and Luke. Yeeeeeeeeee Haw

[ramoine]

Lmao , I'm old enogh to remember that show .