I have been debating getting stage 1s from Rosewood but need to focus on getting a house hopefully with a big garage

 

good thing. better to own a home.

 

psh I made 29 with stock stixs. Efuel,chip,intake exh.t500. It only made 200 HP and 360lb ft iirc.
Stage ones and a stock turbo will destroy a stock truck. Egt towing heavy might not be ideal but I get the feeling you aren't towing heavy.

 

Not trying to question your claim here, but coming from someone who ran stage ones on a stock turbo for 80k miles I don not know what you mean by "destroy a stock truck". EGT issues were always a problem when towing with anything more than a wind fart let alone a trailer, but that could be quenched and bandaided by 100% water injection in a stock tune. Yeah it was good fun hot rodding but short bursts were not all too hard on the motor.

Mcali

The best you will see with stock injectors and a chip on a stock turbo will be 280hp at the wheels, 550-600tq, if everything is healthy. If you want 400 hp 160s and a turbo upgrade are needed. A 38r will get you there on 160s and a SD pump on a hot tune, otherwise bigger injectors, more air, will alow for a more mild tune..

No need to build the trans now. Just wait till it blows up then do it. Sounds like its a fun truck towing 1% of the time... should be fairly easy in the EGT and trans department. I hate to say it but we have a local that has 240k on his original 4r100, 15k of that has had 250/200s and a s369 in front of it and a hi average of 45-50 psi when towing his monster trailer. The truck is only used for pulling a trailer. I'm not saying its not going to blow up, but you may get many years out of it with casual fun driving and some 160s. Heck I thought we would pop it on the first hard test drive.


If you want to do it right and reliable for 400 hp, its expensive...period

 

i meant that stock stixs vs 160 the 160 on those short bursts would win. What you say about egt is exactly what I to was getting at. That that is not ideal with a stock charger. I'm not sure about 250 on stock stixs. I feel like I was running about as well as could. 29lbs and absolutely no sign of anything from tail pipe . 200hp. I guess if somebody found a loose dyno maybe.

 

Same here, eventually someday I'll be able to speak from experience but for now it's all what I've learned from reading on here.

 

Well I built the truck to be my tow truck. I just happen to like driving it more now so it has become a daily driver. Making the towing part a very small part of the use now. I do plan to use it to tow my 12k toy hauler on 600 mile trips a few time a year but again that is not much. Tomorrow will be my first tow since owning it, a short 250 mile trip. I don't want to go far as you know from my long thread, it likes to break down a lot.

 

Right on, Its been a few months since I visited, but from what I remember you were doing a superb ground up resto on the truck. Has she been fairly reliable as of late? I went through the same thing when I bought mine, so bad it was to the point of selling it.

Regarding your weight you are going to tow. For a stock truck it will do just fine, it won't be a monster heading up steep grades but she should take care of you to get you back and forth. 4.10s of 3.55s? To keep it short and sweet in order to tow at a 400hp level it will take significant funds to keep the motor happy, cool, and reliable towing a 12-18k up a grade without having to pay attention to your egt gauge. It also strains the rest of the truck in many ways that you might not think add up but they do. I'd suggest building it in stages and seeing how each performs. Snag a chip and 160/0s and see what you think. You can run them on the stock charger and be fine, you will find water will be required when tugging hard at altitude. Down the road a 38r or preferably any t4 platform turbo will be needed. It just snowballs from there...efuel, trans/clutch, differentials overheating, blowing pinion seals/driveshaft u joints constantly, etc. This all happens with OE parts until they are beefed up and typically you will be fine. Towing 15k around the country in a hot tune will destroy the driveline over time, simply requiring it to beefed up as well. Besides pinions I think i have the issues all remedied.

My best advice is to build it how you want and just run in a mild tow or stock tune when pulling heavy. Build it over time or save and do it all at once. The stock turbo will never flow enough to keep up with the injectors, even if its ported, 360 thrust, Billet wheel, deleted, ICd, it doesn't matter so don't waste the time and money to polish a turd vs just buying a t4 s362,366, or 369 sxe supercore.

You would be surprised how some measely 160s or small hybrids wake this motor up and make it very fun to drive, just as much fun as the new 17 6.7. Towing at a hi power output just adds another element of difficulty to overcome, but it can be reached, just with a lot more greenback than asay a 12v cummins will take.

 

Mike & Nick, what brand of water injection are you guys using?

 

water injection is looking good to me, my last tow was in the rain and egts were lower and had quicker boost in the heavy rain

 

That is a different kind of water-assisted cooling. The water (water/meth) injection is when water is injected into the IC pipes and cools/condenses the air coming into the motor (condensed air=more 02=more boom).

Driving in rain increases the heat transfer in the IC and radiator, allowing boost to be built more quickly and EGTs to be lower.

 

hmm, I have no intercooler yet but the heavy rain lowered my EGTs a lot and boost spooled up faster. maybe the water expanded in the cylinder as steam, so more air out means quicker spooling

 

I build my own. Most components come from Coolingmist and MCMaster Carr. Buy name brand you will pay 5 fold for a snow performance or Banks kit... I have put 15 or so together this year primarily for diesels but even for small displacement ethanol motors/drag motors.

Biggest thing I suggest is running straight water, and during the winter winshield wiper fluid that is straight water/methanol. Increased methanol is not worth the minimal power gain you will get over changed flashpoint of the combustion cycle and timing variance. Just run water. I was very hesitant at first, after 125k now I am happy I made the change. Guys freak out about only using distilled. I have used a hose since day one, on the road as well.

 

Rain will not affect manifold pressure or turbo spool.

 

How much of a difference do you think you would you see if the temp dropped 15 degrees in 5 minutes, like say if a huge cold front rolled through?