Full Tilt Performance was started back in 2004 as a family owned business. Since then, this American company has focused on developing products that help diesel engines improve in individual areas and in their overall performance. The team currently consists of 30 members who have dedicated their time and energy to creating products that they can say they are proud of, and that other Americans can say they are proud to use.
Full Tilt Performance is a company with deep roots in the trucking industry. The original founders had 40 years of experience as truck drivers and understood the needs, and dreams of the unnamed heroes that work so diligently behind the scenes. Truckers are the lifeblood of American companies, and Full Tilt Performance’s goal is to to help their fellow truckers get the best use of their engines possible, as well as other everyday drivers everywhere.
It is rare to find stock engine parts that provide drivers with the best performance and quality. This is because stock engine parts are made with mass production in mind. This generally leads to simpler designs that are easier to manufacture, that are frequently made with lower quality materials to save on costs. While these things do make vehicles cheaper to buy, they also result in stock parts that don’t produce the best performance and are more likely to wear out in a shorter period of time.
Full Tilt Performance knows that there are jobs out there that require much more from a vehicle and its engine than what the standard stock parts will allow. This is why Full Tilt uses high-quality materials, and innovative design in the creation of all of their manifolds and intakes. Furthermore, they understand that trust in a product starts with trust in the company that makes them. As a company they are committed to honest customer service that includes fair pricing, earnest responsiveness and quality attention by their personnel. Their desire to see their customers succeed and their belief of “making things right” is what has helped Full Tilt create and gather a following of loyal, life-time customers.
Manifolds are an important part of every diesel engine. They enable the engine to keep the gasses responsible for combustion contained within the engine until the time that they are ready to be expelled out of the exhaust. They also help distribute those gasses to various parts of the engine so that they can be properly used.
Turbos improve airflow in the cylinder by compacting the air and therefore allowing more fuel into the same space. This increases the output of the engine, and, generally speaking, an increase in turbo size will increase the benefits of having a turbo. However, there are limitations to what your engine, and manifold, can handle. Before adding a larger turbo it is important to research and see if the turbo capacity matches that of your engine. If the capacity of your manifold can’t handle the turbo that you would like to put on it, then you will need to change out the manifold in order for your engine to function properly.
Another reason why turbos could cause you to need to change out your manifold is that turbos are built in different sizes. The sizing goes from T1-T6 and the size of its connector with the size. If you want to connect a T-4 turbo with a manifold that has a T-2 footprint, it simply isn’t going to work. The footprint on the manifold and the turbo size has to match.
As mentioned previously, stock manifolds and intakes are not known for helping truck owners get the most out of their engine. One benefit of switching the manifold itself is that it can increase your engine’s capacity in various areas of performance. For example, Full Tilt Manifolds have been known to increase gas mileage, increase horsepower, reduce manifold temperature, and reduce turbo lag.
With ever increasing fuel costs, improved gas mileage itself might be enough to convince most people to upgrade their manifold. For those that still aren’t convinced that they should replace something that isn’t broken, there is another reason why we highly recommend replacing your stock manifold before it does break. Low quality manifolds can cause damage to your other engine components over time.
One example of this is the damage that can be caused by manifold shrinkage. Manifolds are attached to your engine’s cylinder head. The connection points, or “ears,” are necessary to keeping the manifold firmly in place. However, some stock manifolds, such as the Cummins cast iron 12-valve manifold, experience shrinking over time. This is caused by the heavy heat that the manifold experiences, and overtime the manifold can break the ears right off of the cylinder head. In most cases the repair for this kind of damage requires a costly replacement of the cylinder head itself. While not everyone will experience manifold shrinkage to the point of damaging the cylinder head, most 1-piece manifolds will experience shrinkage and warping over time.
Full Tilt Performance has put their 40+ years of trucking experience and 16+ years of manufacturing experience together to engineer manifolds that beat out the manufacturer/stock manifolds in every department. All their manifolds are cast from a proprietary high-quality blended steel. This metal is one of the hardest and most heat-tolerant metals that can be found on the market today.
Full Tilt manifolds have been designed to be stronger and longer lasting than their manufacturer counterparts. Full Tilt exhaust manifolds sport thicker flanges and some have a divider in their center. This center divide continues throughout the whole of the manifold, and allows for better spooling and less bottlenecks. Sharp turns and twists in the manifold design have been removed and replaced with smooth joints that are press-fitted against leaking. Another reason for the press-fitting technique is that Full Tilt manifolds have a 3-piece design. The pieces are press-fitted together to allow the manifold to expand and contract as needed without cracking, thus eliminating the damaging effects of shrinking that manufacturer manifolds can cause.
At Full Tilt Performance, they go the extra mile to make sure that the interior of the manifold is smooth by going over it by hand. Then, to be sure that the already heat-tolerant steel blend is even more protected, they add a coating of CeramiChrome. This ceramic-based coating is not only highly heat resistant, which boosts turbo response, but also gives the manifold a nice, eye-catching gleam to its surface. Every manifold made goes through a test to make sure that the flow is at a minimum, 20 cubic feet (CFM) of air per minute per port. Each piece proudly sports the tag “Made in the USA” cast directly into the mold. The whole design process from start to finish is to ensure that the final product gives your engine the power that it needs, and then some.
Engine benefits from using a Full Tilt manifold.
Full Tilt Performance has a large selection of different manifolds that work with a number of different engine manufacturers. When looking for your manifold it is important to be aware of what type of engine you have. Full Tilt manifolds are primarily made for the following engine types: Caterpillar (CAT), Cummins, Detroit, and Paccar.
Just as important as your manifold is your intake. The intake’s purpose is to supply your engine with cool, clean air. This air source is a vital component in your engine’s ability to reach the necessary compression ratio needed to function properly.
Manufacturers create their engines with specific goals in mind. Generally speaking, the goals that they are trying to achieve revolve around the rules and regulations in the industry. Two of the main ones that most manufacturers design around are noise reduction and emissions compliance. Because of this, it has been found that stock intake manifolds tend to reduce the flow of cold air into the engine, and therefore do not offer the same performance perks that many aftermarket do.
Diesel intakes created by manufacturers work sufficiently for short trips or normal, everyday type of driving, but when it comes to high-end performance it could be a wise decision to switch to an aftermarket intake like those from Full Tilt Performance.
Just like how modifying the turbo and other accessories could cause a need to replace a manufacturer manifold, making changes and modifications to your engine could cause you to need to change the air intake manifold as well. The original parts that come with your engine are designed to work with each other; however, not all stock parts are capable of producing the performance you want and need even when paired with outstanding aftermarket products.
Adding a larger turbo could cause failures in the intake system if it is outside of its performance capacity. It is never recommended to overwork your engine. Making any part of your engine work in a way that is outside its capacity could result in a shorter overall life-span for your engine, or damage to specific parts. One of the benefits of changing out the air intake manifold to a Full Tilt Performance intake manifold, is that they are designed to work with higher performance parts, whereas many manufacturer parts are not.
Factory intakes are generally made from cheaper materials and could include components made from plastic and rubber or composite materials like fiberglass or carbon fiber. These components, along with the cheaper metals used are more likely to crack or break down under high heat and pressure. Full Tilt Performance intakes are made from high grade aluminum and are more durable than their factory counterparts. They are designed to better rigorous strain of high-performance driving and extended use.
Full Tilt Performance has designed three different models of intakes to help boost your engine’s intake manifold so you can get the best output from your diesel engine. These models are:
Each one of these manifolds is made from high-quality aluminum and provides an equal air flow to all cylinders. Thanks to the equalized air flow, the velocity and distribution of the clean, fresh air to the engine is increased, which in turn increases the performance of the engine. They are designed to be easy to install and replace. An added bonus is that they are coated on both the inside and the outside. The inside coat helps increase the airflow again, and the outside coat, which is Cummins Red High Temperature Paint, helps protect the intake from the intense heat of the engine.
Other key features include:
