Six-Gun Shootout

To gather baseline data on the truck’s performance, we made our initial runs with the truck in its stock configuration. The best quarter-mile e.t. was 16.40 seconds at a trap speed of 86.18 mph. Upshift points occurred between 3,150 and 3,200 rpm, and the torque converter clutch locked while in Second gear. No smoke was observed or measured on the opacity meter.

The first product tested was the Banks Six-Gun, teamed with the PowerPDA. We tested the Six-Gun at its highest setting, and left most of its default settings alone. The only modification we made was to remove the Fifth gear derate, a Six-Gun default value that reduces added fuel delivery by 40 percent. This change to the calibration was done through the portable PowerPDA, which controls, monitors and records performance functions and 15 engine parameters. Through the PowerPDA we were able to set the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) limit at 1,500 degrees F.

During the testing, a small puff of smoke was visible immediately after launch and during the 3-4 gear shift – shifts that were smoothed by the Six-Gun’s protective calibration. Yet as you can see from the accompanying chart, those small smoke puffs barely budged the opacity meter. After the tests were complete, the truck’s best e.t. was 14.75 seconds at a trap speed of 97.51 mph – more than a second and a half quicker than the best stock run, and more than 10 mph faster.

This programmer-style product has six available levels: Economy (40 hp), Tow (90 hp), High (160 hp), Race (225 hp), Hot (300 hp) and Hot+2 (350 hp). We raised the vehicle speed limiter to 100 mph so it wouldn’t influence the test results. Because it was a programmer-style product, there was no provision for temperature limiting control. All other tuning parameters were left at their default values.

Initially, we opted to test the truck at the highest level (350 hp), but the first test run was aborted due to turbine inlet temperatures exceeding 1,800 degrees F about midway through the run. We then selected the next level down (300 hp) and were able to complete our testing, despite the fact that the turbine inlet temperature still exceeded 1,800 at the end of the quarter mile. The 300hp setting resulted in a best e.t. of 15.07 seconds, which was the second quickest of the competing tuners but still slower than the Banks Six-Gun with PowerPDA by more than three-tenths of a second. We also experienced some drivability issues with the PPE programmer: Because it was calibrated to pull fuel back during each gearshift, the shifting performance was harsh and abrupt. We also observed heavy smoke throughout the runs, with opacity exceeding 85 percent at times.

This programmer-style product has three available levels: Tow/Econ, Perform, and Extreme. We selected the Extreme level for the test, and raised the vehicle speed limiter to 100 mph so it wouldn’t influence the test results. Because the Power Pup is a programmer-style product, there was no provision to limit or control EGT.

After testing was completed, the Power Pup’s best 15.33-second e.t. was four-hundredths of a second quicker than the Flashpaq, but still nearly six-tenths of a second behind the Banks Six-Gun. Worse, the engine produced a moderate level of smoke during the entire run, and the maximum EGT reached a dangerous 1,790 degrees.

During the test our opacity meter measured very little smoke, but very little acceleration improvement, too. The best quarter-mile e.t. was just 15.37 seconds, which was faster than the truck in stock trim but slower than any of the other programmers – and more than six-tenths of a second slower than the truck equipped with the Six-Gun. In drag-strip terms, that’s huge.

With a best e.t. of 15.19 seconds, the HyperPAC produced one of the quicker acceleration runs among the competing programmers. That number still fell short of the Six-Gun’s best by nearly half a second, and did so without any means of controlling exhaust gas temperature.

The Juice’s best e.t. of 15.35 seconds was the second slowest of all the tuner test runs – six-tenths off the Six-Gun’s best. The 91.36-mph trap speed was the slowest of the lot – more than 6 mph off the pace set by the Six-Gun-equipped Duramax.

During our test runs, we noticed a large amount of smoke coming from the tailpipe, and the opacity meter registered readings between 75 and 90 percent when the truck was in Fourth gear. This much black smoke is an indication that excessive fuel is being delivered to the engine and passing through, unburned, during the combustion cycle. Although the 14.82-second e.t. was comparable to the Banks Six-Gun, the speed at the end of the quarter mile was 1.66 mph slower than the Six-Gun, indicating a lack of high rpm performance. We also experienced sporadic shift characteristics during the tests.

In this configuration, the truck was actually slower than all previously tested tuners except for the Edge Juice set to the 50hp level and the SuperChips Flashpaq. During the run, the Check Engine Light came on, indicating an ECU error for low fuel-rail pressure. This forced the truck into a low power (limp-home) mode, a condition that occurred in each quarter-mile pass. We also observed excessive smoke throughout the run, with opacity approaching 100 percent (pitch black) during the second half. As with the 80hp level, shift characteristics were sporadic.