Banks Upgrades Revive the Classic 12-Valve Cummins
This 12-valve Cummins gets a breath of fresh air with classic Banks upgrades. Furrylittleotter gives a quick rundown of the only upgrades he’s ever bought for his 70k-mile 1995 all-stock RAM:
- Twin Ram intake for even airflow distribution
- Ram-Air Intake inhales outside, cooler air
- Big Head wastegate actuator features a larger spring/diaphragm, allowing him to adjust boost up to ~30 PSI—safe for the stock head bolts.
Full Video Transcript
00:04 Hey everybody, coming in from the garage again. Doing a little work on the Ram. Django wanted to help, but she also wanted to take a nap. She found a piece of foam and now she’s been snoring over there.
00:24 I’ve got this Banks Ram-Air Twin Ram intake going on. It’s going to give me better airflow. I’ve also got a Banks air filter — still a fresh air style filter where the air comes in through the fender. And I’ve got a Banks Big Head wastegate actuator.
00:48 What this does is open the wastegate, which on this model is inside the turbo. It allows manifold pressure to go to the compressor side and keeps manifold pressure from getting too high. The stock system is set at around 20 PSI. This Big Head unit has a larger spring and diaphragm, so it can handle more pressure and is adjustable with the rod.
01:07 I’m going to be shooting for 30 PSI of boost, which is more than enough for this truck. It’s still on stock head bolts — no fancy studs. All this work is just easier to do before I put the bumper back on because once that’s in place, everything is farther away and harder to reach.
01:25 I also put in some headlights from my donor truck that have LEDs, so hopefully they’ll blind everybody. And here’s a little trick I came up with: I set four cinder blocks on the ground, put a piece of 3/4-inch plywood across, and it gave me the perfect working height for the engine bay.
01:55 I’ve had these parts sitting in my living room for a year, putting this project off. You can make a lot of free mods to a Cummins 12-valve, but some things — like the intake, actuator, and air filter — you have to buy. I’ve got about $1,400 invested so far, and hopefully that’s the biggest expense.
02:14 The rest of the engine is stock with 70,000 miles on it. The only mod I’ve done before this was sliding the fuel plate forward. I may also adjust the smoke screw a bit to add more fuel, but I don’t plan any major modifications.
02:31 Thanks for tuning in. Hopefully the truck’s going to run a lot better with these modifications. Talk to you later.
The 12-valve Cummins upgrades featured here solve the platform’s biggest airflow and boost-control limitations without compromising durability. The Banks Twin Ram splits charge air into dual plenums, distributing boost evenly across all six cylinders to reduce hot spots and smooth combustion. Pairing it with a Banks Ram-Air intake feeds the turbo cooler, denser outside air, trimming pressure drop and helping the engine pull harder at lower EGTs. For precise boost management, the Banks Big Head wastegate actuator replaces the weak factory canister with a larger diaphragm and stronger spring, holding the gate shut longer for quicker spool and letting you target ~30 PSI safely on stock head bolts. Together these parts transform drivability—quicker throttle response, stronger mid-range, and more consistent power under load—while maintaining the legendary reliability that made the 12-valve a favorite. If your ’94–’98 RAM still works hard, this trio remains the cleanest, most proven path to modern-feeling performance with period-correct hardware and Banks-grade engineering.
Banks Twin-Ram intake manifold for 12-valve Cummins.
Big Head wastegate actuator (’94-’98 Cummins).
How a turbo wastegate works (Big Head explainer).