Hey all .....

I just bought a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 QC with just over 28,000 miles on it and I'm looking for some recommendations for some minor upgrades.

It's bone stock right now, but these are the planned upgrades for it:

Quadzilla Boost Fooler
AEM Brute Force HD intake and filter
CFM+ intake manifold (drilled and tapped)
Mandrel bent exhaust with a Aero Exhaust 4040XL resonator
Snow water-meth (upgrade later on)
Boost/Pyro/Tranny gauges in the pillar
Fuel pressure gauge on the column

I'm not looking for crazy gains, but a few extra ponies would be nice.  I don't plan on going over 450hp, so other than a VB job and a deep pan for the tranny that's temp gauge ready I don't plan on doing much more unless the TC starts to slip.

Any suggestions?



Kris  

You lose the boost fooler if you get a Smarty

http://www.madselectronics.com/  

what kind of exhaust were you wantin to go with, as in out the back or up thru the bed? I just put a set of Grand Rock 7" stacks on my 06 QC dually and they sound great and gave me quicker spool up.  

It'll be a mandrel bent stainless exhaust that'll use an Aero Exhaust 4040XL resonator.

I want it to be a bit of a sleeper and a set of stacks will give it away.



Kris  

i would lose the resonator it will give you a nice turbo sound out the exhuast  

At 450HP your going to need more than just a VB mod...At least do a triple disc TC .....

Do the tranny First!!!  Don't make the same mistake I made...Do it right the first time..  

Ok here is what I would do, I posted this not to long ago in a thread and I think it's a good start.  It goes for what you want and beyond too, but its definitely a start


This is the first step.  More air, more fuel

First is first, more air.  I would recommend getting an exhuast, preferrably 5 inch just because they make your truck sound like a beast and it lowers EGT's straight pipe mandrel bent.  After that get a CFM intake and Air Intake. These two will significantly increase spool up time, lower EGT's and give you better MPG as well.

Once you get the simple ones out of the way, chip it out bro.  I would recommend a smarty simply because they're the best for the Dodge and they're specifically designed for dodge and dodge only.

Also when you get the chip, make sure you get a torque converter and valve body as well as guages, boost, pyro, and tranny temp.  These two upgrades (converter and valve body) alone will dramatically increase the durability of the crappy tranny dodge has, you can handle around 500-550hp.  Torque converter prevents slippage and cools tranny as well as improves MPG, and Valve body increases line pressure and gives firmer shifts, dont forget the DOUBLE DEEP tranny pan to keep it cooler.  With ALL your transmission upgrades I would recommend Goerend Transmission, they're the best on the market, and their pricing CANNOT be beat.  Don't do the ATS 5 star converter the 5 disk clutch is only for selling purposes.  You'll never make that much power and torque with what you're saying you're wanting to make in order to utilize it.  Also I would get a boost fooler which will give you around 10psi and lower egt's as well.  Also gives some power too, and it's cheap.  You will need it anyways once you stack chips.  Another thing you will need is a lift pump.  This is critical, simply because if your liftpump struggles so is your whole fuel system going to struggle, it's gonna tear up your fuel system in time if you don't.

Right now once you get those upgrades.  Youre truck will be around (if using last setting of the smarty) 450-490hp and 800-890ft lbs at the crank.  You will be getting substantial airflow, lower egt's, and have some decent power.  Now we go a step further.

Here is the second step. fuel, air, cooling, and keeping your motor together

For the next step.  I would recommend stacking those chips.  You can do either of the three for your application.  MP-8, Edge, TST.  I know TST is a CRAZY CRAZY stack withe the smarty.  And if you go edge, either do a juiced with attitude, or if you get the TNT-R tune (which I don't recommend for your application) then go with the Edge EZ.  The MP-8 I don't really know to much about.  I apologize.

When you stack chips, this is when you have to start safeguarding some things.  For one, you will more than likely be over 40lbs of boost, in cummins engines you will need headstuds at least, and for what you're wanting you will be fine with just headstuds.  I would go with ARP, but there might have to be some clearancing in the back right of the spacer plate.  An aftermarket turbo now will be the next think you will need. I would recommend either an Industrial Injection (because they're kits are unbeatable as far as being complete) or ATS (the wastegate their turbos now, though the kit isn't as complete yet).  Once the turbo is on, I would recommend something else.  Water Methanol injection.  It's gonna lower EGT's VERY NICE and give you around 70hp or so.  Also creates a scrubbing effect in engine and cleans it from harmful agents.

Now that you have those nice little upgrades.  You're engine will be running extremely healthy and you're boost will be somewhere around 40-48psi.  Also you're hp will be around 550-590hp and roughly over 1000ftlbs at the fly wheel.  You'll be delivering good amouts of fuel and you will be utilizing the fuel with your new turbo thus bringing your fuel to air ratio back to a balance.  Now here comes the major upgrades, kind of expensive but will definitely put you where you want to be.

Step three  keeping fuel pressure at a constant and dumping more fuel.  TRANNY WORK!!!!  And more air

You run stacked chips, this will ruin your CP3 very fast.  I would recommend a stage II or III CP3, personally by Floor it Diesel (the father of them) or Industrial Injection (who Floor it made them for only to have them stolen from Floor it).  This will restore you rail pressure at a constant level through out RPM and speeds.  Once you get that taken care of, the next thing is injectors. But don't go REAL big.  I would recommend Flux injectors by F1 Diesel.  They're very cheap and they give the best hp with best EGT's.  I would recommend flux 2's for you.  They add 100hp and will open up your truck like you wouldn't believe.

Once thats done, you need to do more tranny work, this will take some time however because it's your shafts, those will be the weakpoint and if you do boost launches, you will turn the internals of your tranny into chocolate pudding.  Do a input, output and intermediate.  Once you get those taken care off.  Your tranny will withstand ALOT of power around 900 to the ground or so.

Last but not least you're gonna need an intercooler.  If you're gonna use the CFM I would either go with a BD or a Spearco because they can use the stock tubing and they look awesome.  And virtually all the Intercooler perform in the same way.

Ok so all in all, once you get those parts.  You should be anywhere between 650-700hp and 1100-1200ftlbs at the crank which would put you where you wanna be at the wheel.  500-600at the wheels.  It's gonna cost you though, but trust me.  The next time you race a mustang gt that thinks he has got something but then you smoke screen him, it's TOTALLY worth it my friend.

However, before you buy these things.  PM ME and I will give you a number to a guy in California, he has THE BEST pricing I could find for any product I have bought.  Hopefully this helps my fellow cummins owner.

Good luck bro

John  

also once you get the smarty, the boost fooler is gone  

Loose the cfm and go with the bd air arch. it also comes drilled and taped and is so much bigger than cfm.  

This is going to be a "work in progress" as I'm overseas and most of my parts are going to be bought after the first of the year, which is also when I get my bonus.  After I put about 75% of it into savings/401k, I should end up with around 6 grand for mod money.

Since I'm going to be here until the end of next year, at a minimum, and won't be home until summer of '09 I want to be able to spend a few days working on the stuff I can before I drop it off and get the rest of it done.

The TC, VB, gauges, and deep tranny pan will be done when I come home on vacation.  This of course is after I put in the CFM manifold, new air intake and filter, and Smarty.  This means I skip getting the boost fooler, unless I can use it on my '08.  While some like the BD, I don't like the mounting bolts that go through the air flow design it has.  I did plan on adding the FASS 150 just to lose the stock lift pump and gain the added filtration it provides.

I do need to decide on a gauge mounting area as I don't want to lose the grab handle on the A-pillar since my wife is vertically challenged and I want to keep the stock appearance (again, I want it to be a "sleeper").

A complete tranny rebuild/replacement was something I didn't want to do since I'm not going to be making that much power, but it's something I'll keep in mind.  If I end up doing the tranny, I'll do the head studs as well.



Kris  

on the bd air arch the bolts don't go through the air flow design. that is banks i think. They designed it to be on the sides of were it mounts. It also gives a awsome noise with it. Just saying that if u want a big bad ass look under ur hood go with bd. I run it and love it. It is also cheaper i think. I got mine for like 330 and no shipping.  

i have a pic of mine on my prorile. The longer studs closest to the head actually to all the way through the solid part of the air arch. They do not cut into any air movement. the other 2 r short studs and mount just like the cfm does. So i don't know were u have seen or read that it has bolts that go through and cause a restriction in air.  

I really want to stay with the CFM.  I'm getting the powder coated AEM intake and want the CFM to match.  I'm not down for having a technicolor yawn under my hood, and I want some of the colors to match.

I do want to look at a multiple piece exhaust manifold and since I'm going to put a pyro gauge on I might as well do them both at the same time.

And yeah I was thinking the BD intake was the Banks unit, sorry.  Sometimes there are just too many damned choices and since I've got time at work I'm trolling the sites that sell all the accessories and comparing prices.  I'm not being cheap, but I want to make sure my dollars get spent very well.

John, thanks for all that info .... and in a couple months I'm gonna PM you so expect it around the middle of January.  I prolly won't get all that crazy but I figure I'll have a solid base to do it if I get it all planned the right way from the start, and I've got a lot of time for that.

I bought the Aero Exhaust earlier this year and I think I'll keep it and a 4 inch pipes for now.  I can always change it later if I need to (and decide that I need 500 plus hp at the wheels).



Kris  

PDI has a very good 3 piece manifold, I just had it installed and it significantly helps spool up  

Buddy just send me a message that would be perfectly fine.  If at times you can't reach me here I will give you my personal number sometime.  I'll get you hooked up with soe awesome stuff man.