Gale Banks upgrade on Workhorse w22 with 8.1 GM

hanko wrote:
15 responses and not one person that has done what the OP's question pertained to.

Original poster said "Any feed back would be appreciated."

I have a W16 with 8.1 and Banks Headers, exhaust and air filter intake. It was on the MH when i bought it so i cant say what the differeance is. I can say this, i pull a 8.5 x 20 enclosed trailer with side by side and other stuff and here in the west have never lacked for power going over hills. Before i bought it from my friend we were in Idaho and he was able to keep up with my 2011 GMC dmax with similar load on the hills.

Interesting replies, all. The great thing about this forum is that we're never lacking for opinions. My own experience is with my 2004 Georgetown with Ford V10 and 3sp+OD transmission. Performance on mine is uprated from the original V10 version, but not up to the 3-valve motor in the later Fords. And as a result, on long and/or steep hills (I'm talking east coast) pulling my toad, I invariably had no recourse but to drop into 2nd gear to finally get to the top. I fully appreciate that that it's not about who gets to the top of the hill first, but rather about just getting to the top; but this was maddening and no matter how I tried to anticipate the conditions, I'd find myself at 40 MPH with flashers on and the motor "screaming". So last year, after 10 years and 40,000 miles I popped for a Banks Power Pak and the Brazels UltraPower tune to take full advantage of it. It was my choice to spend the money as it will be yours if you choose to go with what you propose. But I can tell you that I am extremely pleased with the new drivability of my MH. It pulls thru the entire RPM range, does not strain, holds reasonable speed in 3rd up most hills, shifts much better in all cases (and doesn't drop out of 3rd at the drop of a hat). Having experienced now what it's like to drive this thing, I wish I had done it a long time ago. My 2 cents for what it's worth. I hope it helps.

15 responses and not one person that has done what the OP's question pertained to.

ArchHoagland wrote:

Fairway9 wrote:
Has anyone done a Banks Stinger or a Power Pack upgrade to a W22 chassis With the 8.1 GM. Has it made a worth while difference in power? I'm hope to squeeze a few more horses when it comes to climbing hills. I'm not expecting any improvement in fuel economy. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Thx Art

I've put close to 80,000 miles on my stock 8.1 and have crossed the country several times climbing over many mountains with a 4,000lb toad behind me.

In my humble opinion I don't think you need to spend any money to get more power as this engine pulls pretty strong just as it is.

Put the money you were going to spend on it into gasoline and take more trips.

I agree with this post!

Thanks for all the feedback, I was not looking to hot rod my 8.1, just improve the hill climbing a little, we travel frequently with an another couple who pull a fiver with a duramax and they uusually have me lead but they invariably climb my but on all the hills. Some reprogramming on the allison and little better engine breathing is my main goal and was considering Banks stinger package with the Ottomind tuner. Still in the analysis state. It is expensive especially to ship up to Canada. I do pull a 4000 lb toad and that does affect the hill climbing ability.

Regards Art

Fairway9 wrote:
Has anyone done a Banks Stinger or a Power Pack upgrade to a W22 chassis With the 8.1 GM. Has it made a worth while difference in power? I'm hope to squeeze a few more horses when it comes to climbing hills. I'm not expecting any improvement in fuel economy. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Thx Art

I've put close to 80,000 miles on my stock 8.1 and have crossed the country several times climbing over many mountains with a 4,000lb toad behind me.

In my humble opinion I don't think you need to spend any money to get more power as this engine pulls pretty strong just as it is.

Put the money you were going to spend on it into gasoline and take more trips.

Rag,
I just try to help people on this forum. The push back once more is going to send me away. It just is not worth the time to try to explain the nuances of engine design, tune compromises and the aftermarkets ability to prey upon the uninformed.
Randy

randallb wrote:
Rag,
Probe sells all styles of pistons including hypereutetic. I have also ben involved with many types of high performance engines from NA to Nitrous to Nitro and have talked to a lot of the old timers like Tom Prock at JE about the hypereutectics. I once saw a guy break a hyper piston free reving his engine, about 4500 rpm, showing off. Do what you like I am just trying to give advice based on 40+ years working on everything from stock, at the dealership level, to 8,000 HP Nitro Coupes. I must ask one question. Did you understand the part of the article about taking the silicone content to a percentage higher than the aluminum and silcone's ability to meld? 12% silicone has always been the maximum amount of silicone you can add to an aluminum alloy and have it fully integrate. Above 12 % is where the brittleness comes from in a hypereutectic piston. If you are interested in why manufacturers are using these pistons I will be willing to point you to more articles having to do with piston rock cold, etc.
I hope you never have an upper ring land break but if one does you will now know why.
Randy
p.s. I also looked long and hard at a new Monaco 30 SFS on a Workhorse chassis and being a hot rodder at heart looked at all of the "tuners" in the market at that time. My studies convinced me that I would be perfectly happy with the stock tune up. Also, one of the original complaints that most of the "tuners" were attempting to fix was the sooty exhaust pipes on the 8.1 powered RVs. The only way to clean up a tail pipe on an exhaust system that long is to take fuel away. Opps, detonation.

Randy,
I read what the article said and that they build pistons with an 11% mixture of silicone. They did not give the percentage of silicone in the GM 8.1L pistons. Don't the pistons follow the same engineering logic about leaving HP on the table. Why would that same engineer spec a poor piston that would fail?
I was not making a change to hot rod my 8.1L but I did want to increase the low end torque and power available for mountain climbing while towing. They also reprogrammed my Allison to allow the overdrive to come on a few MPH quicker and shift a little sooner to take advantage of the increase in engine performance. This made a big improvement with my hill climbing ability but had an immeasurable affect on fuel mileage. I was not looking to accomplish what a full Banks system may provide.
I've actually never noticed my exhaust to be sooty but I do monitor my AF ratio. If my pipe gets sooty, so be it and like you say, leaning it out is the only cure it and that can lead to detonation.

Rag,
Probe sells all styles of pistons including hypereutetic. I have also ben involved with many types of high performance engines from NA to Nitrous to Nitro and have talked to a lot of the old timers like Tom Prock at JE about the hypereutectics. I once saw a guy break a hyper piston free reving his engine, about 4500 rpm, showing off. Do what you like I am just trying to give advice based on 40+ years working on everything from stock, at the dealership level, to 8,000 HP Nitro Coupes. I must ask one question. Did you understand the part of the article about taking the silicone content to a percentage higher than the aluminum and silcone's ability to meld? 12% silicone has always been the maximum amount of silicone you can add to an aluminum alloy and have it fully integrate. Above 12 % is where the brittleness comes from in a hypereutectic piston. If you are interested in why manufacturers are using these pistons I will be willing to point you to more articles having to do with piston rock cold, etc.
I hope you never have an upper ring land break but if one does you will now know why.
Randy
p.s. I also looked long and hard at a new Monaco 30 SFS on a Workhorse chassis and being a hot rodder at heart looked at all of the "tuners" in the market at that time. My studies convinced me that I would be perfectly happy with the stock tune up. Also, one of the original complaints that most of the "tuners" were attempting to fix was the sooty exhaust pipes on the 8.1 powered RVs. The only way to clean up a tail pipe on an exhaust system that long is to take fuel away. Opps, detonation.