I too succumbed to the 364.5SXE frenzy.

I put together some notes.

1) My kit did not come with a 3 ½” x 4” exhaust adapter, so either ask CSD to send one with, or source one if you have something different than 3 ½” exhaust. (plus required clamps). Some use a piece of flex exhaust tubing…not my thing though.

2) The T4 mounting plate that bolts to the block is raw steel, plan to either paint or plate that.

3) I’m a fan of washer under bolt heads, so, source some washers for the T4 mounting plate bolts and the turbo/collector mount bolts.

4) I ordered my CSD kit with a CCV port in the intake tube. Have the required o-rings on hand for the CCV vent on the drivers side valve cover should you need to reposition it.

5) The CSD kit does not have up pipe to exhaust manifold bolts. Your mileage may vary depending on the climate you live (I figure on replacing mine), are 8mm x 60 flange hex head bolts. You could substitute 5/16 x 2 ½” instead. You will want the bolts that have the 10mm hex head.

6) Removing the old downpipe from the exhaust is a treat. (I have the MBRP 4” exhaust turbo back in the 409 material)

7) Now after you have the OEM intake piping removed and the turbo, this is a good time to clean the valley, pop the valve covers, ohm the glowplugs and torque the injector hold down bolts. You might find an issue that might explain some weird behavior.


Yes, that's the IPR nut and spacer.

8) Disregard the CSD instructions about mounting the T4 plate and up pipes prior to installing the downpipe. Place the downpipe up and near the heater box, zip tie or wire it. Mount the T4 mounting plate, install the turbo oil drain fitting (leave the turbo oil supply off for now as you will need the room to tighten the return line.)

9) Place the turbo mount and up pipes, drop the up pipe bolts in the exhaust manifolds. Tighten the Turbo mount to the mounting plate. Tighten up pipe bolts

10) Mount the turbo. Use a 9/16” stubby combination wrench on the top turbo mounting nuts. You will find it helpful.

11) I stood the “Y” on the intake plenums and clocked the compressor housing until it was maybe 1/8” away from the “Y”. A 13mm gear wrench in useful for locking down the compressor side after you clock the housing.



12) Install the oil drainback tube, tighten. Install the oil supply fitting, install the supply line.

13) If you have a separate turbo boost line, you will want to drill/tap the “Y” for that fitting. I also have a Driven Diesel regulated return, so I needed to drill/tap a mounting hole for that too.

14) You will have a fight on your hands installing the boots on the “Y” to the intake plenum.

15) I have the Gen 1 of the S&B intake….I cut 4 5/8” off the CSD intake tube, and at least 1” on the S&B intake, and then a flap wheel on a 4 ½” angle grinder to get it to fit…and it also doesn’t line up well.

Plan on going to the muffler shop, the supplied downpipe does not line up with the factory (or in my case the 4” MBRP) exhaust path. SO took it to the local place, I went to pick it up. I got in started it and the noise!!! Um, the CSD downpipe is a tight fit in the space and during the time at the muffler shop they got the DP up real tight against the firewall.




I go back in, "Um, this ain't gonna work guys." He comes out crawls under the truck, "Yep, the downpipe is against the firewall. Big job now, the DP has to come out."

I tell him that yes, that's a big job because you have to have the DP in prior to the up pipes. I'm just not pulling everything off the engine again. And everything is welded, not a band clamp anywhere, the DP has 4' extension welded to it now. I have to drop it back off for him to correct his work.

On the up side, boost seems to be linear and gets up to 40 psi rather quick as well.

 

Thanks for posting your thoughts Dan, we really do appreciate it.

If you get the chance, a picture of the intake you were saying didn't line up well would also be appreciated.

I am excited to get my kit mounted staring on the 29th of this month. I know there will be some fights, frustration and things that don't line up right. Although, I feel that the end result will be shining through and I will have a fresh and well performing turbo system to pull our camper cross country.

 

You mean the intake piping from the S&B to the turbo intake?

Oh, one additional thought. Don't be buying this kit powder coated piping from CSD....hack it up, make it fit, then powder coat it...if that's your thing.

 

Yes, the section from the filter housing to the turbo intake as it is now mounted in the truck. You mentioned that it didn't line up well, maybe that is why you cut so much off the CSD intake tube and a bit off the S&B intake tube and now it lines up better.

It is nice to see images so we can see the differences in the kits that are being sent out to the customers.

 

I need to move a horse with it tonite, so maybe after that, but it goes back to the muffler shop tomorrow.

 

On your own time sir. Thank you again for your advice and sharing your experience with us all.

 

Good stuff you two are making me itchy. If I didn't just buy a GT500 that I am dumping money into, I would be all in on the T4 set-up.

 

What is the exact issue with the downpipe? Is the straight after the flange area where it mounts to the turbo too long before the downward bend, putting it into the firewall? Did it also have to be clocked to line up with the factory exhaust? IMO it is over priced by about $400 and down pipe/ Y-pipe fitment issues dont help. It is surprising that the CSD is cheaper with a cast Y-pipe compared to Irates mandrel bent Y-pipe kit.

 

Nice write up. Going to follow along.

 

I think they tried to bend the down pipe with the fewest bends possible. There is no straight after the V-Band flange, it comes out of the flange, to an elbow, to a straight run and then a bend to get it running parallel to the ground, The last bend needs to be a compound bend to get the pipe not only running parallel with the ground, but also running in the path of the exhaust. The MBRP that was on there fit great.

One more thing. In one of these T4 threads somebody said, "Hey, they should have the DP 4" so it will match those of us that have a 4" turbo back exhaust. The MBRP downpipe is 3 1/2" until the last 4" then MBRP stretched it out, in two steps, to 4". From what I can tell, you just aren't getting a 4" downpipe right off the turbo. The room just isn't there.

 

Had what turned out to be a major battle under the truck last night. The trans dipstick mounting tab (bolts to the bellhousing) tore away from the tube. I crawled under, got the tube out, unbolted the mounting tab, brazed it back together.

All that was easy...then you have to try and get that back in from underneath, with the downpipe in the way. I tried this way, that way, pulled the starter for more room. The limiting factor was the turbo. I could get the tube shoved up far enough but man I just couldn't get the tube between the firewall/cowl and turbo....until I just went brute strength.

Did loosen the downpipe and got it off the firewall...just enough so the noise isn't constant...now, just intermittently. ....dropped it off at the muffler shop this morning.

 

Just to be clear here.

There have been some issues with the DP fitting properly, even after @akcooper9 sent his back a couple of times. Since then @SRBF150 , @brandon_oma#692 and @565edge have installed the kits. 565edge posted pictures of the DP being off by an inch or two as it goes parallel with the ground. I cannot say for sure how each of these guys ended up making things right at the DP to exhaust joint except for Akcooper9 who used a 3.5" flex pipe.

Dan V, I know you are not keen on the flex pipe, but it does not bother me and I have dry fit the pieces together on my bench already to make sure they fit well. The way I see it, the flex pipe joint is just like a piece of rigid pipe held on by a clamp. Large diesel trucks like 18 wheelers use flex pipe reliably and have been for years. Again, I know this is not everyone's method of accomplishing the union, but it does not bother me at all. I also agree this should not be a problem, but it is. I think CSD needs to have a serious conversation with his pipe bender, but then again the kits are selling so CSD might not be seeing anything wrong with them.

I don't know much about the Irate kit, but I from what I have seen it fits together worse than the CSD kit. I did not want to tap a hole into the valley of the engine for the oil drain like the Irate kit wants us to do, so that is why I went with the CSD kit. Well, that and the success stories from the fellas mentioned above pushed me over the edge. I get it that the kit is not precision built and overpriced, but that is what we sometimes get with aftermarket parts.

In addition, did the muffler shop mess up the transmission dipstick mounting tab when they were trying to make the DP fit to the exhaust right or was that something you may have done when mounting the kit?

I had not seen this problem before from the other fellas mentioned above is the reason why I am asking. I have a ZF6 transmission, so that will not be a problem for me, but I am sure others would like to know.

 

Well, this is Minnesota, so rust can be an issue. But I can not tell a lie...It was me, prying trying to create some room.

 

I had a 4" downpipe on the stock turbo. Man that was a pain. Had to remove tranny cooler lines on the zf6 to get it in and out. But enough about that.

I actually have the OBS CSD T4 downpipe. It was an accident-miscommunication-goof when ordering. (Resolved) I spoke with Carson himself afterwords and he did not think I would notice any problem performance wise. Several high power OBS trucks running aroiund with that setup. It fits good. It is tight and close especially to the cross member. It lined up with my 4" diamondeye kit nicely. I would assume the larger diameter superduty one would be tighter. I considered getting the superduty down pipe but have not yet. I do not recommend the diamondeye kit for the chassis cab trucks as I am not happy with the fit by the rear axle and fuel tank.

If mine had any spots rubbing or too close they would be getting some clearance denting treatment with a ball peen hammer. I actually did this on the stock intercooler pipe and the CSD one for the power steering line at the pump. Both fit and cleared but I was being picky and wanted a little extra room. This ends up being done on 2 stroke aftermarket exhausts to clear radiators with no issue and they are much more dependent on exhaust design.. I about cried when I watched my Dad do this to a brand new Dynoport cone pipe I bought back in high school for my bike.

Since I have the OBS downpipe I had to expand it to 3-1/2" (in 2 steps as my buddies exhaust bender did not have large enough expansion tooling) then use the 3-1/2" to 4" adapter.

 

Not sure what you guys are smoking but to compensate for a 2500.00 kit that lacks the fit/finish is just insane!

As for plumbing the exhaust, cant tell from pics, but one would think you would expand the collector that is being fed with exhaust fumes so leaks would be non existent.