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'Killing a Duramax' Gale Banks YouTube series methodically tunes a diesel to death

Learning or perfecting a skill by watching YouTube videos is known as attending YouTube University. GM Authority picked up on one of the video site's more fascinating courses, hosted by Gale Banks; in a fair world, he should be referred to as Professor Banks when it comes to diesel engines and truck tuning. A few months after GM introduced the updated L5P 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8 in the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD that ships with 454 horsepower and 910 pound-feet of torque, Banks decided he wanted to methodically tune the engine to death. The purpose of the resulting series, called "Killing a Duramax," is to push more power out of the engine in order to discover which parts break and when — or, as Banks puts it, force-feed the Duramax "until the crank hits the street and the heads hit the hood." With that knowledge, Banks can figure out all the weak points on his way to building what he calls a "Superturbo," that being a supercharged, twin-turbo race engine with more than 1,000 hp. What makes the series fascinating is Banks' knowledge, paired with the company's comprehensive iDash engine monitoring system that keeps tabs on a glut of parameters every step of the way. So for instance, you get Banks explaining the differences between inches of mercury and barometric pressure, how those are different from the water content of the air measured in grains, then showing those readouts on the iDash, then explaining in detail how they affect the air density in the Duramax system. The stock Borg-Warner variable turbo gets a lot of airtime — Banks accuses it of being "out to lunch" because he feels it's the weakest link on the engine. That turns into a turbo teardown and a deep explanation of performance pitfalls, such as when air pressure on the turbine begins to diverge from the boost pressure coming from the compressor. Banks says he can keep close tabs on where power's coming from, because the iDash monitors the horsepower contribution provided by the ambient air, the turbo, and the intercooler separately. The major changes so far are a stouter Precision 7675 turbo and TurboSmart wastegate (episode 5), a twin intake (episode 6), a custom liquid-cooled intercooler from a marine engine, a new GM oil cooler and synthetic oil (episode 10), and new injectors (episode 11).

GM to offer 2 years free maintance on most 2014 models

A day after Ford announced it was scaling back the complimentary maintenance program for its Lincoln brand, General Motors has gone in the completely opposite direction, offering most of its 2014 lineup with free maintenance. Since 2011, Cadillac models have all come with a four-year/50,000-mile complimentary maintenance program, but Chevrolet, Buick and GMC vehicles will now come standard with free maintenance for two years or 24,000 miles for the 2014 model year.
The program will give vehicle owners and lessees free oil changes, tire rotations and 27-point inspections following the recommended maintenance schedule laid out in each vehicle's owner's manual. We contacted GM to see which vehicles were eligible for the program, and a spokesperson got back to us with the following comment:
"All 2014 models are eligible, it's just that the included services vary by model, e.g., Spark EV would not need oil changes, Corvettes don't recommend tire rotations."

GMC Hummer EVs 'sold out for two years or more'

At the end of March this year, GMC said it had 65,000 reservations for the Hummer EV pickup and SUV. At the time, brand chief Duncan Aldred said, "Production’s actually slightly ahead of plan and weÂ’re putting things in place now to actually expedite that as well, so we can deliver these reservations quicker than we originally thought. WeÂ’re seeing momentum building," adding that "it still means a reservation now probably means delivering in '24." By the time of the 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 reveal just a bit ago, that reservation number had climbed to 90,000. GMC shut down the Hummer reservations line a month ago. GM Authority reports that when GMC chief Duncan Aldred spoke at a media briefing ahead of the Sierra EV reveal, he said the Hummer is "sold out for two years or more."   Notice, the word "probably" has been replaced by the phrase "or more" in the production vocabulary. That development likely takes into account what's happened since March at GM's Factory Zero, where the automaker currently builds the Hummer. That site, along with the new Orion Township Assembly Plant, will soon build the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle. In a memo from the beginning of the year, GM said a $6.6 billion investment in EV production capability will ultimately allow 600,000 electric pickups to come off lines every year. That's at least a couple of years away, though. At the beginning of October, GM said it wanted to bump production of the EVs on sale now, which includes the Chevrolet Bolt, to 70,000 vehicles in 2023. Back to the Hummer, GMC increased September Hummer production to 700 units for the month. That was a huge bump over the monthly average in the nine months up to September, the production totaling 2,750 units for the first three quarters, yet well behind what the brand would like. And Factory Zero will shut down for a few weeks in November for upgrades to produce the additional vehicles. All of this assumes the supplies of chips and raw minerals for batteries, industrial supplies and industrial transport don't suffer another hiccup. If there's any good news buried in all this, it's that 95% of Hummer reservation holders were converting to paid orders, an absurdly positive number. Based on what we've seen so far, GM's got some good looking EVs on the way. Let's cross our fingers that the company can build them quicker. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party.