The Specialty Equipment Market Association or SEMA is a 46-year-old organization comprised of manufacturers, retailers, distributors and marketers of automotive specialty equipment parts and accessories. Every year, representatives of over 7,000 member companies come together in a huge trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada to witness the unveiling of the newest trends and the hottest products in the automotive industry.
The 2009 SEMA Show will be held on November 3-6, 2009 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will not be open to the general public, but here are just some of the products for trucks that will be coming out after the 2009 SEMA Show.
Ansani Designs will be showing off their latest products featuring their fiberglass bumpers and inserts with molded in light pods. Fiberglass is reportedly 40-50% lighter than OE steel. Their 2008 Ford Super Duty Fiberglass High-Visibility Bumper, which is a direct replacement for the factory bumper will be showcased at the prestigious event. This bumper is said to be 40-50% lighter than the OE steel made bumpers and comes with 3 mounting pods for 8-8.5-inch auxiliary lights.
Ansani Designs will also be showing their current Toyota Tundra Fiberglass Bumper Insert, which replaces the factory urethane section of the front bumper and is also designed with the same molded light pods. These products will be shipped in a paint-ready primer coating, or get them in Ansani’s optional hydro-printing patterns in carbon fiber, metal or wood finish. Ansani Designs offers applications for a lot of late-model Ford, Chevy/GMC and Toyota full-size pickups.
BedRyder’s innovative truck bed seat frames will also be shown at the SEMA. This product allows you to safely add additional seats on your truck bed. It’s light, detaches in just seconds and can be used with or without camper shells or toppers. Best of all, BedRyder Removable Truck Bed Seats meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and are legal in all 50 states.
Also in SEMA is the IFW Classic BedSlide, which permits easy and convenient cargo organization by allowing you to slide it out just like a kitchen drawer. Available for most pickups, this functional product is capable of holding 1,200 pounds of evenly distributed weight and is easily installed and removed.
These products are just a few of the offerings available after the 2009 SEMA Show. If that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will.
Fitch Fuel Catalyst is a device that you can install permanently to your car to improve fuel economy and engine performance, while reducing emissions and engine maintenance all at the same time. Fitch Fuel Catalyst can be used on all types of fuel may it be gas, diesel, bio-diesel, low sulfur diesel, kerosene or oil and individually improves its quality by increasing cetane and lubricity in diesel or octane in gasoline for example, thereby increasing horsepower and torque for maximum engine performance and efficiency. Fitch Fuel Catalyst works by reducing the oxygen, ozone and microorganisms harbouring on your fuel preventing and reversing degradation from storage. This process places fuel in its optimal condition right before it is introduced to the engine, enhancing combustion to guarantee a more powerful, stable and consistent engine performance.
I have been itching to get my camshaft replaced in my 2002 Dodge Cummins ever since I saw the article in Diesel Power magazine. I researched it and made an appointment with DynoMite Diesel in Monroe, WA to get it done. I also needed some better injectors because the ones I was using gave me really bad Idle and I needed to upgrade to something bigger due to my recent twin turbo installation. DynoMite Diesel specializes in injectors and acually hones and balances their own nozzles. I chose their 150HP Injectors.
The Mechanic working on our truck today is Mike. Mike has been working with diesels for several years now. I really appreciated the care and detail he put into working on my truck. He really payed attention to the little things and did not rush anything for the sake of getting the job done fast. The operation went smoothly and no time was wasted.
The first step that was taken was putting protective liner on the sides of my truck right outside of the engine compartment to keep anyone leaning over my truck from scratching it. The next step in the camshaft upgrade is to drain the coolant, remove the bumper, intercooler and radiator to give complete exposure to the front of the engine. The head cover is then pulled and the rockers removed.
Before the gear and camshaft are pulled out, each of the tappets must carefully be lifted up by sticking wooden dowels in the centers and holding them up with clothes pins. There are other ways of replacing the camshaft, but this is the most efficient way to do it. Great care must be taken though, if any one of the dowels or tappets fall while the camshaft is being pulled, they fall into the engine or oil pan and removing them is a big deal. It is really important to make sure that the wooden dowels are not worn out so that they will hold well.
The front engine cover gets taken off to expose the gears. The big gear in the middle of the picture is the gear with the camshaft connected to it that will be removed. Mike took great care in removing the gear without forcing it so that none of the dowels or tappets fell. This process is almost like watching a locksmith pick a safe. Mike has never had a tappet or dowel fall in all the camshaft installations he has done but we all still hold our breath while the camshaft is out.
The round tray that you see in the picture is placed in where the camshaft was. One by one, each dowel is lowered onto the tray and the tappet pulled out with a magnet. Using the same tray, a system of strings and springs, the new tappets are pulled through the engine on the tray into their positions. Each of the new tappets is then held in place with a wooden dowel and clothes pin. Before the new tappets are installed, Mike places them in a foil tray and makes sure they are completely covered in oil.
Now for the moment we have all been waiting for! The new Camshaft is oiled and gently installed the same way it was removed. The gear on the end of the camshaft has little dots on each side that must line up with the dots on the gears to the right and left. For the picture, we added some white dots where the real ones are so you can see them better. If you look through the bean shaped hole in the gear you can see the spacer that Mike put back there. The spacer keeps the Camshaft from moving back and forth. The Cam bolt in the middle of the gear gets tightened to 85 Ft/Lbs.
Now that the camshaft is installed, each of the tappets can now be lowered back on to the cam and the dowels and pins removed. The old gasket material is stripped from the front of the engine block and front engine cover and new gasket material is installed on the cover. The cover is then put back on the front of the engine and bolted on. The rockers are put back in the same order that they were removed and tightened to 27 Ft/Lbs of torque.
The radiator, intercooler and bumper is now back on and we put the coolant back in the radiator. They dont always do oil changes at the same time, but I figured it wouldnt hurt and I''m due for an oil change anyways. For the oil change I brought 12 quarts of AMSOIL 15W-40. While my pan was draining, Mike installed my fresh off the press 150HP injectors. 
