CK@UPP
Member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2013
- Posts
- 32
- Reaction score
- 68
Updates
Hey guys, just wanted to stop in for an update session. I know a lot of you are anticipating this kit, and believe me, we are working on it! But before we fully release it, we want to make sure everything is right, and everything is "Raptor Tuff". It has fully been brought to my attention that you Raptor owners are not like any other customer base we have. The abuse suffered under "normal operation" is nothing like I've ever seen before. Before we hand over a product, we want to make sure it is up to par with the floggings you will be delivering to it!
Thankfully Danny and the team over at TMX have been happy to be a part of our design process as we put the finishing touches to this, and test it under the extreme conditions it will be a custom to.
Just to give you a little insight, we've put a tremendous amount of effort, R&D, and design into this project as a whole. No part has been left untouched, and every piece we constantly look to improve.
Our flanges start off as a one piece billet, CAD designed and 4 axis CNC machined, with integrated port matching (one side perfectly mates to the head, the other to the tubing). No two dimensional plasma/water jetting here!
Our manifolds are made of thick .109 wall 304 Stainless Steel, tig welded, in house, by hand by our expert craftsmen. Complete with full back purging. This not only ensures beautiful welds, but longevity over time as the weld is not contaminated from the inside. Compare this to the thin .045 or .065 wall that others use. Generally acceptable for header material, but not for turbo manifolds, and REALLY not for "Raptor Tuff" turbo manifolds.
Our collectors are TRUE collectors, complete with finish porting. Not formed collectors with 4 tubes jammed into them.
NOT
Initially we were going to include our standard UPP 5871 (58mm, journal bearing) turbo.
It's small in size yet packs 1100hp capability. And on these engines it SPOOLS!!! Actually, it may spool a little too early. Based off the size of the truck and the corresponding load, we were seeing spooling happen at 1800RPMs. Generally a good thing, this may however prove to be unstable on this platform. Because it's spooling so soon, it may be causing compressor surge as at such a low RPM the engine can't consume that much airflow. (we're still testing on this, because of the complexity of the tuning system it may have actually been tune related, not turbo related).
So for the time being we've upped the TMX truck to our UPP 6182R ball bearing line. These are 62mm beasts, capable of 1400hp, and ball bearing!
After the install TMX questioned now that it's functional, could we make it look even better. So we stepped up our game starting with a better, bigger, and higher quality intercooler. Currently we are building them in-house until we can get a production run made where they will all be pre-polished.
We also stepped up our game to now include TurboSmart wastegates and BOV's.
For fueling we set you right with BIG injectors right out of the gate. ID1000 equivalents made by Fuel Injector Connection (FIC) deliver 1000cc worth of fuel each. Plenty if you're planning on turning up the boost, or running E85.
Tuning is where we ran into a bit of trouble on. Because the tuning platform is so complex, it took a bit to get a tuner who was able to handle the challenge. Not just WOT power, but actual drive-ability as well. This is still something that's in the works. We were able to find a local tuner in TX who did an amazing job on the TMX raptor, but don't yet feel comfortable with "cookie-cutter" tuning option of just copy/pasting it into a hand held tuner. Because of this we are going to be initially offering this kit exclusively through TMX! They will have the capability to install, and tune with the local tuner. TMX is also looking into other tuning solutions as an option and may eventually release something different (mail order tune from well known tuner).
TRR
As many of you know TMX had a chance to run our kit at last weeks TRR event. And with overall good results. There was a bit of a fire, but the TMX crew was able to eliminate it without any real issue. As soon as I heard of the fire, I was on a plane to TX to see the results/cause.
The main cause of the fire was a compound issue on the passenger side. A previously cracked dipstick tube along with the added boost pressure led to crank case pressures causing an oil leak (spray) from the tube directly onto the hot manifolds. Also one of the up-pipes was too close to a suspension fitting (aftermarket suspension) that was on the vehicle. It's more than 3/4" away, but with the beating these trucks see, there is more than enough play room in the factory rubber motor mounts. This allowed the up-pipe to contact the suspension fitting, rubbing a hole (which also contained oil at 200psi).
Both of these led to the fire in his engine bay. Luckily the fire was limited to a little bit of wiring, which I was able to repair while I was in TX, and the truck is again up and running.
The dipstick is obviously getting replaced, and we are looking for a lower profile fitting for the suspension to maintain plenty of clearance.
This also led us to see that we have too much of a heat buildup on the drivers side in the brake system/ reservoir. TMX noticed brake fade, as well as slight melting of the reservoir. We are in the process of remedying this with heat shields as this is being posted. Also the kit was originally designed with turbo blankets, but being on back order we were not able to get them to TMX before the run.
All of this is allowing us to see where we can improve the kit before it's finally released to the public, as a finished, flawless product.
I believe we are in the final stages now, and we should be getting close. However after we make the necessary changes and remedies we want to make sure there is sufficient "test" time with the kit as TMX puts the abuse down making sure it is in fact "Raptor Tuff".
Hey guys, just wanted to stop in for an update session. I know a lot of you are anticipating this kit, and believe me, we are working on it! But before we fully release it, we want to make sure everything is right, and everything is "Raptor Tuff". It has fully been brought to my attention that you Raptor owners are not like any other customer base we have. The abuse suffered under "normal operation" is nothing like I've ever seen before. Before we hand over a product, we want to make sure it is up to par with the floggings you will be delivering to it!
Thankfully Danny and the team over at TMX have been happy to be a part of our design process as we put the finishing touches to this, and test it under the extreme conditions it will be a custom to.
Just to give you a little insight, we've put a tremendous amount of effort, R&D, and design into this project as a whole. No part has been left untouched, and every piece we constantly look to improve.
Our flanges start off as a one piece billet, CAD designed and 4 axis CNC machined, with integrated port matching (one side perfectly mates to the head, the other to the tubing). No two dimensional plasma/water jetting here!
Our manifolds are made of thick .109 wall 304 Stainless Steel, tig welded, in house, by hand by our expert craftsmen. Complete with full back purging. This not only ensures beautiful welds, but longevity over time as the weld is not contaminated from the inside. Compare this to the thin .045 or .065 wall that others use. Generally acceptable for header material, but not for turbo manifolds, and REALLY not for "Raptor Tuff" turbo manifolds.
Our collectors are TRUE collectors, complete with finish porting. Not formed collectors with 4 tubes jammed into them.
NOT
Initially we were going to include our standard UPP 5871 (58mm, journal bearing) turbo.
It's small in size yet packs 1100hp capability. And on these engines it SPOOLS!!! Actually, it may spool a little too early. Based off the size of the truck and the corresponding load, we were seeing spooling happen at 1800RPMs. Generally a good thing, this may however prove to be unstable on this platform. Because it's spooling so soon, it may be causing compressor surge as at such a low RPM the engine can't consume that much airflow. (we're still testing on this, because of the complexity of the tuning system it may have actually been tune related, not turbo related).
So for the time being we've upped the TMX truck to our UPP 6182R ball bearing line. These are 62mm beasts, capable of 1400hp, and ball bearing!
After the install TMX questioned now that it's functional, could we make it look even better. So we stepped up our game starting with a better, bigger, and higher quality intercooler. Currently we are building them in-house until we can get a production run made where they will all be pre-polished.
We also stepped up our game to now include TurboSmart wastegates and BOV's.
For fueling we set you right with BIG injectors right out of the gate. ID1000 equivalents made by Fuel Injector Connection (FIC) deliver 1000cc worth of fuel each. Plenty if you're planning on turning up the boost, or running E85.
Tuning is where we ran into a bit of trouble on. Because the tuning platform is so complex, it took a bit to get a tuner who was able to handle the challenge. Not just WOT power, but actual drive-ability as well. This is still something that's in the works. We were able to find a local tuner in TX who did an amazing job on the TMX raptor, but don't yet feel comfortable with "cookie-cutter" tuning option of just copy/pasting it into a hand held tuner. Because of this we are going to be initially offering this kit exclusively through TMX! They will have the capability to install, and tune with the local tuner. TMX is also looking into other tuning solutions as an option and may eventually release something different (mail order tune from well known tuner).
TRR
As many of you know TMX had a chance to run our kit at last weeks TRR event. And with overall good results. There was a bit of a fire, but the TMX crew was able to eliminate it without any real issue. As soon as I heard of the fire, I was on a plane to TX to see the results/cause.
The main cause of the fire was a compound issue on the passenger side. A previously cracked dipstick tube along with the added boost pressure led to crank case pressures causing an oil leak (spray) from the tube directly onto the hot manifolds. Also one of the up-pipes was too close to a suspension fitting (aftermarket suspension) that was on the vehicle. It's more than 3/4" away, but with the beating these trucks see, there is more than enough play room in the factory rubber motor mounts. This allowed the up-pipe to contact the suspension fitting, rubbing a hole (which also contained oil at 200psi).
Both of these led to the fire in his engine bay. Luckily the fire was limited to a little bit of wiring, which I was able to repair while I was in TX, and the truck is again up and running.
The dipstick is obviously getting replaced, and we are looking for a lower profile fitting for the suspension to maintain plenty of clearance.
This also led us to see that we have too much of a heat buildup on the drivers side in the brake system/ reservoir. TMX noticed brake fade, as well as slight melting of the reservoir. We are in the process of remedying this with heat shields as this is being posted. Also the kit was originally designed with turbo blankets, but being on back order we were not able to get them to TMX before the run.
All of this is allowing us to see where we can improve the kit before it's finally released to the public, as a finished, flawless product.
I believe we are in the final stages now, and we should be getting close. However after we make the necessary changes and remedies we want to make sure there is sufficient "test" time with the kit as TMX puts the abuse down making sure it is in fact "Raptor Tuff".
