December « 2002 « Banks Blog - diesel performance

What Recession?

by Pat Ganahl

Friday, December 27th, 2002

You can tell by the date of this column that Christmas was the day before yesterday. Last Friday, after I posted the Friday Night News, we held our big Banks Christmas party. And the emphasis—and this week’s news—is on BIG! My job was to take pictures with our digital camera of each department of Banks employees as they were called up on stage. I’ll post them here so you can see just how big we are. I’m talking number of individuals, not individual size of employees.

The Christmas party marks my first anniversary here at Banks. My very first assignment was to take the photos at last year’s party. This is my 61st edition of the Friday Night News. Time flies.

When I started working here a year ago, we had 160 employees. I thought that was a whole lot compared to the Banks Engineering I knew a couple decades ago that had about one tenth that number of workers in one or two small buildings. Now we have seven BIG buildings, and we’re out of room again.

When I introduced Gale to a press conference at the Oakland Rod and Custom Show last April, we had already grown from 160 employees in December to 180. If you have any kind of investment portfolio that includes stocks or bonds, you know the last couple of years haven’t been good. I pointed out that in January Ford laid off 35,000 employees and closed five plants. They killed the Lincoln Continental after more than 50 years of production. Oldsmobile (one of the oldest automotive nameplates) and Plymouth also disappeared. It was a bad time for business, especially automotive/new vehicle-related business. Yet in this climate Banks Engineering was growing. Since this was a news conference, I suggested to the media present that they might want to relay this news to their business editors. I repeat this suggestion here, should any in the media happen to be tuned in.

But this Friday’s news, as we were informed by Gale during his usual “state of” talk during the Christmas party, is that we are continuing to grow at an amazing rate. As of last week employee count was 193. We have continued to introduce new products all year, including new Banks Brakes and the new Jeep line I talked about three weeks ago. Gale announced that our gross sales for this year were up more than 20% over last year, and estimated that we were up to 3,000 part numbers in our product line. When he looked to Product Manager Jeff White for confirmation, Jeff said, startlingly, “No, we’re up to more like 6,000.” All this in an economy that was lower than sagging.

I think that’s BIG news in itself. But the next logical question is, “How did this happen?” It wasn’t by accident. Gale took several specific steps to grow this company in the face of hard times. Marketing Manager Rich Shahoian, who shares the sumptuous Friday News office suite, just informed me that we increased our advertising by 38% over the last year. And our advertising was significant to begin with. Plus Rich has been tireless in promoting editorial coverage of our products as well as our performances, both in print as well as on radio and television. He has been quite successful at it in the past year. Hopefully you’ve seen some of the press and publicity he’s generated.

Speaking of performance, anyone who pays any attention to this site knows that we went to Bonneville this year and set several world records with the Sidewinder diesel Dodge sport truck. This not only generated tons of good publicity (much of it ongoing), but also touted the capabilities of light turbo diesel engines and Banks products for them.

And speaking of this web site, we have grown it significantly this year. Both the Sidewinder project and numerous new products account for dozens of new BanksPower.com pages, not to mention the Friday Night News, which was added this year. Another recent addition (again, to the spacious Friday News suite) is former Hot Rod magazine technical editor and Circle Track magazine editor/publisher C.J. Baker, who is currently writing a series of easily understood technical articles about how different aspects of diesel engines work and other subjects pertinent to Banks products. These will soon be added to the site in a section tentatively titled “Knowledge.” Watch for it. We’ll also be adding coverage of upcoming fun projects, such as the Pro Touring Camaro I wrote about on 11/22/02. All of this has resulted in a 60% growth in the number of you viewers who have tuned in to our site—just in the last six months.

Finally, given the numbers I have stated, it’s obvious that Gale has readily added to the work force to keep up with, and to produce, the product growth. At the same time, we have brought more of the manufacturing process in house. In fact, the new CNC machining center I told you about on 8/23/02 is now running two shifts. You can’t grow sales and the product line if you don’t add the people needed to make them, market them, engineer them, account for them, and all the other support groups you see pictured here. Now what we need is some more room to house all these people. Gale says it’s coming. We’ve already bought new property for further physical expansion. But, in the meantime, the Friday News suite is full!

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Lumpy’s Torrid Truck

by Pat Ganahl

Friday, December 20th, 2002

Chad Horning is a videographer who accompanied us to Bonneville for the recent running of the Sidewinder pickup to capture all the record-smashing action, including shots from an airplane as the truck sped down the course. If you live in the Los Angeles area and watch the 5 o’clock news, you saw some of his footage in the last couple of weeks as several TV channels reported on The World’s Fastest Pickup. And, as I reported here on 11/15/02, you can sample several clips of his video work on our Sidewinder web site.

But Chad is not the subject of tonight’s news. It’s his dad, Richard “Lumpy” Horning of Burbank, California. They say the movies are made in Hollywood, but most of them, as well as TV shows, are really made in Burbank, and it seems like half the people who live there work for the studios in one way or another. Richard works for a company called Easy Rider Productions, which supplies portable generators, dressing rooms, wardrobes, and other on-location support for music videos, commercials, and feature films. These are all in the form of trailers—mostly 5th wheel—that must be towed by trucks. Richard’s truck is a good-looking 2000 Ford F-350 XLT Power Stroke Super-Cab duallie long bed. He says he uses this truck strictly for work—nothing else—and since it’s always pulling heavy trailers, he knew it could use some more go and some more whoa. And after Chad’s connection with Banks, he knew where to get it.

So we fixed up Lumpy’s truck with a Banks PowerPack and a Banks Brake. Otherwise it’s completely stock, with an automatic transmission.

Now for the story. Last Oct. 27th, up in the desolate high desert near Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles, the L.A. County Raceway (one of only two full-time quarter mile drag strips left in all of Southern California) staged a first-ever Survivor Series Chevy vs. Ford meet. The night before, one of Richard’s friends called and said “Let’s go.” But when he arrived the next morning in his convertible, for some reason the top wouldn’t go up, and it does get cold up in the high desert. So he said to Lumpy, “Let’s take your truck. I want to see how that Banks stuff works.” So they did. Then, on the way up, the friend started grinding on Richard to enter the meet. Lumpy thought the idea was ridiculous. But by the time they got there, the friend had somehow convinced him to do it. “It was only $20 to enter,” Richard told me.

This was all completely spur of the moment. The truck had a full toolbox and the 5th wheel in the bed, a heavy ball hitch on the back, and a back seat full of other stuff. Lumpy was no regular drag racer. But he decided to enter the OEM Tire class, which was for any types of vehicles running factory original or replacement tires. There were about a dozen cars in this bracket class, including several Cobra Mustangs and similar cars. Lumpy’s was definitely the only diesel duallie pickup at the event.

For his first and only practice run, he turned 16.50 seconds, but he forgot to take the truck out of overdrive. So for his first actual race, he dialed-in at 16.20. He took off with a little chirp of the tires, letting the automatic shift for itself. Toward the finish line, he said he saw some of the young spectators kind of pointing and laughing at the big ol’ diesel truck. But he won!

If you’re not familiar with bracket drag racing, each driver writes the time he thinks he can turn, or a little quicker, on his windshield. Then the starter “dials-in” these times to the starting tree, and the slower vehicle gets a head start equal to the difference between the two times. The first car (or truck) to the finish line wins, as long as it doesn’t go quicker than its dial-in time. So this racing is not about being the fastest or the quickest; it’s about running consistently close to your dial-in and getting off the line as quickly as possible. It’s more a driver competition.

Lumpy must be a natural drag driver, and the truck was plenty consistent. He won the class, running as close as 16.23 on his 16.20 dial-in. That’s good! By the final round, the kids in the crowd were standing and cheering. Needless to say, Lumpy was stoked. Now, those of you who know drag racing aren’t impressed with a 16.23 second E.T. But let’s put this in perspective. Given the full toolbox, the 5th wheel, and all the other baggage, Richard’s truck probably weighed well over 8000 pounds in “race trim” that day, but let’s use 8000 lbs as a comparison weight. Using the Quarter Jr. computer drag simulator program, using low-rpm diesel-speed shift points, if Lumpy’s truck weighed 3500 pounds, like an average car, it would run 12.60’s with the same power. And that isn’t factoring for LACR’s near 3000-ft. elevation. Does that get your attention? And its only modification was the Banks PowerPack.

Towards the end of the day, the promoters staged a burn-out contest, with $100 going to the winner. Lumpy was ready for more. Actually, he told me he wasn’t sure whether it would spin the tires at all. But he decided to give it a try. Judging burn-outs is subjective. But once Richard got those duallies smokin’ there was absolutely no question which vehicle won. It was a pretty unusual—and impressive—display. The $100 prize will hardly put a dent in the $400-$500 he’ll have to pay for new rear tires, but Lumpy says it was all completely worth it. He wants to do it again.

However, talking to him yesterday about these unexpected exploits, he actually had more to say about the Banks Brake than anything else. Remember, other than this one day of play, Richard uses this truck exclusively for towing big, heavy trailers. Last week he had to take one over the Grapevine. He said that in the past he had driven big rigs with Jake Brakes, but he said the Banks Brake on his Power Stroke works even better. He’s only had it on a couple of months, but he couldn’t say enough good about it.

Now, before all you Dodge boys get your knickers in a knot over another story about a Ford Power Stroke winning an event, be advised that (1) he won his class; there was no Top Eliminator (Ford was declared event winner; they won 4 of 5 classes); (2) it was bracket racing, so speed didn’t matter; and (3) he didn’t beat any Dodges, because they weren’t invited at all. Why so many Ford diesel success stories? Because they tell me about them and send me photos to use. If you want Dodge turbo diesel equal time, tell me about your exploits—using Banks Power equipment, of course—and send material to me at the Friday Night News. Same goes for any of you doing anything outstanding, unusual, fun, or maybe even absurd with Banks Powered vehicles. I’m open. Believe it or not.

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CBC News

by Pat Ganahl

Friday, December 13th, 2002

A lot of our products tend to sound like TV stations.

CBC

It’s called an acronym. In this case it stands for Computerized Brake Controller. And it’s a patent-pending Banks exclusive that is now an integral part of our Banks Brakes. Other diesel exhaust brakes are controlled by a micro-switch, which is a simple on-off device just like a light switch at home. It must be physically mounted to contact the throttle, which means it must be adjusted to turn on when the throttle is closed (and, more than likely, readjusted periodically to keep it working properly). And, since it’s a mechanical device, it can stick or otherwise malfunction. And it only knows how to do one thing: turn on and off.

The Banks CBC is much more talented. You could say it has a mind of its own. It’s not a switch, it’s a computer. You hook it up with wires, and it adjusts itself, constantly.

But it does considerably more than that. That’s the great thing about computers: they’re multi-taskers. They can do more than one thing at the same time.

Unlike a micro-switch, which is mechanically mounted to the throttle linkage to activate when it’s closed, the CBC is electronically hooked into the throttle position sensor (TPS) to tell when the throttle closes; it’s hooked into the vehicle speed sensor (VSS) to tell it how fast the vehicle is going (including when it’s not moving); and it’s hooked into the engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT) so it knows what the coolant temperature is.

Therefore the Banks CBC can do things like turning off the brake below 15 mph. This helps you accelerate more rapidly from a standstill or low speed, with the added bonus of helping the turbo spool up more rapidly. The CBC also “cycles,” or exercises, the brake on every cold start, whether you have the brake turned on or not. This provides several advantages. First, it keeps the mechanical parts limber, so they will never stick from lack of use. Second, it helps warm up the engine more quickly. And third—this is the one you’ll like the best—that means your heater will be effective sooner. How does the CBC know whether it’s a cold start or not? Remember, it’s hooked into the throttle position sensor, the vehicle speed sensor, and the engine coolant temperature sensor. So it knows when the engine is idling, it knows the vehicle is not moving, and it knows what the coolant temperature is. At idle, the CBC keeps the brake closed on Ford Power Strokes and Dodge Cummins until the coolant reaches 140 degrees. On Chevy Duramaxes, with EGR, it keeps it closed until 125 degrees. And, incidentally, the CBC makes the Banks Brake compatible with EGR-equipped Duramaxes—the only one that is.

The CBC also cancels cruise control whenever the Banks Brake is activated.

Most drivers take their foot off the accelerator while shifting gears with a manual transmission. If all you have is a mechanical switch on the accelerator linkage operating the exhaust brake, that means the brake will engage every time you shift gears. You don’t want this. When you’re up-shifting, you want to be gaining momentum. And you want to maintain the turbo’s momentum, as well. You don’t want to damp it with a closing exhaust brake between each shift. Some brakes slam shut as soon as the micro-switch is engaged. Ours has a graduated closing rate engineered into the brake itself, so it doesn’t slam shut during gear changes. This is not a function of the CBC, directly, but it’s still good.

In fact, if the brake does slam shut, this can cause a back-pressure spike in the exhaust system, which can lead to possible engine damage if it exceeds the back-pressure limit. If the brake is designed to keep this spike at or under the engine’s pressure limit (so it doesn’t “float” the exhaust valves), that means the effective braking pressure will fall to some lower amount. The Banks Brake is engineered in such a way that the valve closing rate does not create a spike, so that it can come up to maximum allowable braking pressure for the best possible braking action. This is better, no?

And a little, solid-state computer is much better at controlling multi-task functions than a simple on-off switch, which can’t multi-task at all. The news? As I alluded last week, we’ve had the CBC for the Ford Power Stroke and GM Duramax exhaust brakes for some time. And this week we are announcing a CBC for our Banks Brake for the 24-valve Dodge Cummins, as well. So now we not only have the only Computerized Brake Controller on the market, but we also have the market covered with CBC’s for the current line-up of turbo-diesel pickups and sport utility vehicles. It’s not a TV station. In terms of diesel trucks, especially if you’re towing a load, it’s better.

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The Jeeps are Coming

by Pat Ganahl

Friday, December 6th, 2002

Two things this week. The primary news is that we are tooling up for a new line of Banks products for Jeeps. The secondary subject is the process of tooling up, otherwise known as prototyping.

We’ve been noticing a few questions and answers on web site chat rooms talking about whether Banks is going to make products for Jeeps. The answer is yes, we are. We are going to make TorqueTube exhaust manifolds; cat-back, all-stainless, mandrel-bent exhaust systems including a straight-through stainless Dynaflow muffler; and high-flow air intake systems. Our first target is for ‘91-’03 Wranglers with the 4.0L straight six engine. As of today, we have a ‘99 and 2001 model in our shop, to which we are fitting prototype TorqueTubes. We have the basic design determined. The question, and it’s not a really big one, is exactly how the outlet will be configured.

See, the big problem with prototyping is that Detroit (or Toledo) keeps changing their mind. One year the catalytic converter is here, next year it’s there. One year it has one here, then it has two there. Worse, on several lines of vehicles, they might have cats in California and something else in other states. For most of the ‘91-’03 run the Wrangler used a welded steel tube exhaust manifold that they kept changing because of a persistent cracking problem. Then, a couple of years ago, they switched to a cast iron exhaust manifold set-up to solve the problem. So how are you supposed to design, and sell, a new exhaust system to replace—or match up to—all these variables? That’s what our engineering department is faced with constantly. And we’re only talking mechanical intake/exhaust system here. Imagine what it’s like when we’re trying to interface with ever-changing, highly complicated electronic systems—which we are daily.

While prototyping a new product here at Banks our first goal, of course, is to improve performance and reliability, not to mention economy, over the stock parts. But, at the same time, we have to maintain the emissions legality of the vehicle, we have to design the best fit and finish of the part, and we have to design a part with the best value for the customer. A big part of the value is designing a part that will fit the most applications, rather than having to build, and stock, several different part numbers. That’s the niggling point we’re at on the Jeep TorqueTube. We might be able to make one part, with different “down tubes” (connector tubes) to the stock catalytic converters, or we might have to make two slightly different manifolds to cover the ‘91-’03 Wrangler line. They might have it decided by the end of the day or sometime next week.

But that’s the news—Jeep products are coming. After TorqueTubes for the Wrangler, intake and exhaust systems will follow quickly. Then we’ll do the same for Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. And there are even plans for product for the new Liberty, 4-cylinder and V6.

Actually, the prototyping for these new Jeep products has been relatively easy, compared to some, primarily because it doesn’t involve electronics and there have only been a few running changes in the year models we’re addressing (which is more than a decade). Another new product, that I had been planning to announce here for the past two or three weeks, has been significantly more complicated. It is electronic. We already have it in production for Ford Power Stroke and GM Duramax applications. But for the Dodge (and again we’re talking nearly a decade) we keep finding variations year-to-year. One big problem in prototyping is that you actually have to test, or fit, the part on every year and model of the vehicle you claim it applies to, unless you can be assured by the manufacturer that there have been no changes from one year to the next. These days we’re lucky if there haven’t been two or three running changes in one model year, not to mention regional differences. And imagine what it’s like prototyping new products for motor homes, where several different companies are using the same engine/chassis in slightly different configurations, and even the same make and model comes in a variety of different lengths.

I’m glad I don’t work in the engineering department. Tune in next week to see if I have news of another neat new Banks product. I think I will.