CLIMAX

July 2008 Update: CLIMAX finally made a trip down the track this past saturday in Xenia. It took 6 hooks to the sled, one exploded(completely) transfer case and 2 broken turbochargers and a lot of head scratching, but I think she is finally ironed out. I put the transfer case together the RIGHT way and switched to an ATS Aurora 6000 turbo to solve those issues. One of the big issues we had to deal with was the LBZ engine and 6 Speed Allison. It didn't like being in the 02 truck. The TCM wanted to shift whenever it felt like it, not when I told it to! We got that settled without having to convert the shifter to an 06+ style +/- selector. Turns out an 06 4500 Duramax still uses the older P R N D 3 2 1 programing just like an 02 instead of P R N D M 1 like an 06 Pickup. Now she still has a long way to go tuning wise, but at least it will be a lot more fun when I can make a complete pass down the track.

2008 Update: CLIMAX only made half a dozen hooks last year(2007 Season). We made more power than ever before but the motor wasn't ready for it. In July the shop was so covered up with customers trucks that I didn't even get it apart for a month to see what was wrong. It took even longer to get the block back from the machine shop. Just too busy to get it on the track again. For 2008 CLIMAX will be ready for the start of the season with new updates!!!

HISTORY: Climax was bought in January of 2006. It was a 2 wheel drive dually with 236,000 miles and had bad injectors. The tires had the cords popping out but it ran and drove. It made more white smoke than the black smoke it makes now. It barily had enough power to get up to 55mph. So as it sounds it started off pretty rough.

The First thing we did was convert her to 4x4. All this required was to weld in the brackets for the differential carrier from a donor frame. The A-arms, spindels, and torsion bars were never touched. The hubs were simply replaced with splined hubs to accept the cv shafts.

The donor frame section for the 4x4 parts

We assembled the engine with aftermarket connecting rods and stock pistons that were cut to lower compression. The mains are studed as well as the heads.

The engine is equiped with 3 cp3 high pressure bosch common rail pumps to supply enough fuel to keep the rail pressure up. Climax runs 2 turbos in a compound setup. The small charger(manifold) is an ATS Aurora 5000 and the big charger(atmosphere) doesn't have a name, just big.

The engine is bolted in the truck to an ATS EXTREME Transmsission and an ATS Five-Star Torque Converter.

The weight ballest out front is cut out of 1/4" steel in the shape of a Chevy bowtie. I welded it up so that more weight can be added inside it as well as the batteries. The picture above shows it being attached. Its quite heavy empty at 350lbs.

Climax definatly had a very successful pulling season in 2006. It won almost every pull it made it down the track without breaking the front driveline. The front independent suspension was found this year to not like the torque as it took gental launches and me not getting excided to prevent cv shaft explosions. The turbochargers worked great, the rest of the driveline held up good, the truck hooked well and made many smooth runs.

Climax made a great showing for the only Duramax powered truck in the country running at this level. It had what it takes to compete with the long reigning cummins powered trucks at many events. The Duramax is here to stay in diesel truck sled pulling and Climax is here to stay on top.

Some new things for 2007 were a new straight front axle, new turbocharger setup, and new 03 style Chevrolet front end. Look forward to seeing Climax out on the pulling track in spring of 2008!

Movin.....

Climax ran out of pulling track

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