^ Pretty good advice right there. It is better to buy once and cry once than only try to get something just because you can afford it right now. If 3 months later you want to go further and have to replace that part anyways, then you just wasted money. Just go through the forum and read all the threads that deal with tuning/injectors/turbos/hpop/exhaust/air intakes/gauges/transmissions. Anything performance related. You will learn a vast amount in a rather short time by doing this. I spent about 3 months reading all the threads on all the forums regarding performance and that greatly helped (and changed) the direction I wanted to go with the build you see in my signature.

 

 

You missed some stuff. Upgraded transmission cooling to take the added oomph, maybe a better torque converter and valve body, and traction bars because the rear suspension will start jamming up your drive line and rear end. I forgot what your intake is... but it needs to be rated somewhere in the 1400 SCFM range.

 

I knew you had DP in the first sentence above. I think DP is the loudest game in town, but I haven't tried everybody yet. The thing about DP, is you really need to watch your Injector Control Pressure. I see a lot of good questions, but I'm getting a clear picture that you don't have OBDII gauges, or you'd be asking the question about your ICP dip while towing in 80HP tune - that dip will elevate EGTs. Add OBDII gauges to the missed items list in my previous post.

 

I see that your are in OH. I'm not sure of the inspection/smog requirements of your state (if you even have any) but make sure whatever you do is in line with Johnny Law (or you can at least make it look like you are ).

I live with Big Brother watching over my shoulder and he would like nothing more than to get my dinosaur off the road and have me buy a Nissan Leaf to put in my driveway.

I agree with Tugly (and who doesn't ). These trucks are old and, depending on what direction you decide on going, you will be pushing some design limits compared to OEM power levels. You are not required to do anything but there is a supporting cast of "should get" and "really should get" to ensure you don't end up on the side of the road scratching your head wondering what happened.

IMO (as well as others) gauges are a must to monitor some of the essential items that nothing else will (EGT and fuel pressure do not have a sensor and cannot be monitored otherwise). All others can be monitored with an OBDII APP (e.g. Torque).

There are other things that you will need to consider that have been mentioned also (intake, transmission, traction bars, etc.) depending on what you decide on. I would definitely leave some room in the budget for those items.

 

Akcooper9 runs the 364.5 SXE with stock injectors and likes it a lot for performance and EGT's, but aspires to get some larger injectors one day.

Brandon_oma#692 runs the 364.5 SXE with 140/30 (stock with 30% nozzles) and like the performance and EGT's.

There are many others like TheBrad and SRBF150 that are running everything from 160/80's to large hybrids and will sing the praises of performance and EGT's until they pass out.

I will be swapping out all of the OEM turbo parts for the 364.5 SXE, T4 from CSD and a 6637 intake this fall/winter. I plan to start buying the parts soon and have them on hand for when I can get started.