The big day has finally come. Your new truck isn’t so new anymore. It has a few scratches—maybe a dent—and your factory warranty has just run out. Or, maybe you just picked up a nice used truck, and it didn’t come with one. Either way, the power bug has bitten, and you’re itching to add some new parts.
| The folks at K&N Filters were kind enough to allow us to pull our ’09 Ram 2500 onto the rollers at the company’s state-of-the-art research and development facility in Riverside, California. For our testing, we utilized a SuperFlow dyno; the company also has three other DynoJet units in its arsenal.
In this day and age of evil acronyms—EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), CARB (California Air Resources Board), DPF (diesel particulate filter)—we set out to show that good power can still be made while keeping your truck 50-state emissions legal. Our guinea pig for this experiment is a bone-stock ’09 Ram 2500, which lives in California, one of the toughest states for diesel emissions right now.
Making Power
It’s harder to make big power while staying emissions legal—that is a fact. However, in our pursuit of this Holy Grail, we found a combination that not only produced real results on the rollers but also added driveability and fuel economy.
Looking at the chart, you’ll notice that power numbers with both the intake and programmer look very similar to results with only the programmer. This is true when we look at peak numbers, however, when you look at the difference between the lines on the dyno graph you’ll see that with the intake kit installed, the additional power is available from idle all the way through the rpm range. Making the power sooner is what you’ll feel in everyday driving, and it’s what will give that kick-in-the-pants sensation whenever you leave a stoplight.
Power-Adders
K&N Intake Kit
$340.57
Bully Dog 50-State GT Diesel Tuner
$822.99
MBRP DPF-Back Stainless Steel Exhaust
$395.28
Total
$1,558.84
Intake
It’s not that the factory intake system is bad, necessarily, but we can do better. Or more specifically, K&N can do better; it’s what the company is known best for. The OEMs sacrifice a certain amount of airflow for the sake of noise control. If you can live with the louder intake note, there is a significant amount of power to be had.
| 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Project Big Horn Part 1 Stock Air Box
Programmer
In our continued quest for more power along with CARB compliance, we picked up the 50-state legal GT Diesel tuner from Bully Dog. As of writing this, only the ’07 1/2 to ’10 Ram 2500-5500 tuner had an EO number, but more applications are being added to the line as they receive approval.
| 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Project Big Horn Part 1 Bully Dog Tuner Installed
Exhaust
Out with the old, and in with the new. To complement the intake and programmer, we replaced the factory exhaust on our ’09 Ram with this very nice stainless steel piece from MBRP. The emissions-legal DPF-back exhaust system replaces the stock resonator with a straight pipe, smoothes out the bends for better flow, and rounds out the package with a stylish tip.
| 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Project Big Horn Part 1 Mbrp Exhaust Comparison
Horsepower / Torque
Gain Over Stock (HP/TQ)
Stock 6.7L Cummins
263.2 / 419.5
Bully Dog Tow Mode
281.3 / 443.4
18.1 / 23.9
Bully Dog Extreme
314.6 / 487.9
51.4 / 68.4
K&N Intake Only
278.0 / 446.0
14.8 / 26.5
BD Tow with K&N
288.3 / 463.9
25.1 / 44.4
BD Extreme with K&N
311.1 / 501.4
47.9 / 81.9
