Banks System

The Ram-Air system for the 6.0L will be available around the end of October, beginning of November. It will be similar to the Duramax Ram-Air in that it will have a very large 8-ply filter with 1" deep pleats. The housing is different though. One nice feature is a built in lid that can be easily removed to see the condition of the filter. We have also done a lot of testing to ensure that we do not set any trouble codes associated with the mass-air flow sensor.

PT

[DiscountPowerParts1]

Peter, I am NOT anti-Banks. I have part of a BIG-HOSS bundle on my Excursion 7.3. I sold a guy 2 6-gun budles at the race track last night for his tow vehicles. I say that for every buyer there is a product, and for every product there is a buyer. Bank's has its place, just the same as Superchips, EFI-Live, or any other product from lower end to higher end does. My job is to put the customer into the product best fitted to him. So rock on.... and let us all know when the 6.0L intake is coming out, cause I am betting we will getting sales out the waa-zoo! I have me a Spearco IC coming....so I am all fixed up, but thanks.

Larry,
No worries, I didn't really think you were, I just want to make sure to set the record straight whenever possible. I agree with you that there are many choices out there, and Banks may not be the right choice for everybody, but as I said before, our goal is to meet the needs of as many customers as possible.

Peter Treydte

There are a couple of items that were brought up in this thread that I think merit some clarification.

It seems that people are often commenting that Banks products are overpriced or more expensive than other products that are out there. The reality is that when you compare like products, Banks is similar in price to the competition, sometimes slightly higher, sometimes slightly lower, but always high quality and loaded with features. For instance, if you are going to make a price comparison on exhaust systems, consider the fact that the Banks Monster exhaust is stainless (not aluminized) and comes with a lifetime warranty. If you are comparing the Six-Gun to other products, you cannot make a direct comparison to a programmer like an SCT or a Hypertech because the feature set is different. There are things that a programmer does that a tuner does not and there are things that can be done with a tuner (like EGT control) that a programmer cannot do. The type of product that you choose may be partially driven by your specific needs.

Banks sells products as individual items (exhaust systems, tuners, intake components) but those products are also available assembled together into systems. The purpose of a system is to allow you to use the power that is available in a tuner with the added safety of airflow. It is not as simple as $=HP. Sometimes the added dollars give you the ability to continuously use the power that is available without overtemping your EGT, coolant, etc.

Another issue that seems to come up is that Banks products are considered mild in comparison to other available products. The Banks Six-Gun is delivered with a calibration from the factory that has a lot of built in safety for the engine and transmission. However, if a customer desires more performance at the expense of safety for the drivetrain, the PowerPDA allows the user to modify the calibration to his liking. This allows us to meet the needs of the greatest cross-section of people. Our testing reveals that there are no products on the market that make more power than a Six-Gun is capable of making without putting the engine or the transmission in serious jeopardy.

I hope this provides some clarity.

Peter Treydte
Banks Power

[99Smokin73Stroker]

Thanks for the clarification, Peter! It helps me understand better. However when I was shopping for an exhaust kit I was unable to find anyone who would sell a monster exhaust to me for less than 550 dollars. I ended up getting a competitors product that was stainless steel and backed by a lifetime warranty for nearly 150 bucks less. I just think that a lot of people will have a hard time seeing the logic in paying more for the same thing other than the name.

[stump0331]

nice explanation PeterT

Adam,
Your post actually kind of proves my point. According to your signature, your truck is straight piped. It would make sense that a straight pipe exhaust system would be cheaper than a Monster Exhaust which includes a 4” straight through muffler with a 5" polished case and a polished 304 double walled tip. If you were comparing a system that had the same content as the Monster Exhaust, I would think that the prices would be comparable. If you were interested in the Monster Exhaust system without the muffler, whoever is selling the parts should back out the cost of the muffler and you would have a more accurate price comparison.

Peter Treydte
Banks Power

[99Smokin73Stroker]

No actually the system I bought was a magnaflow SS, which came with their straight thru 7x24" muffler and I did use it, it was not straight piped. It did not include a tip which is better for me as I like to choose my own tip. I bought the silverline 6" angle cut. Total paid was around 470. I couldn't get anyone to come off of 550 bucks at the 04 Jamboree or any of the early shows in 05 before I bought the magnaflow kit at IRP.