Sycostang67

I honestly don't know, the turbo, manifold and down pipe were a package deal so I assumed it would all bolt together and frankly it's been a PITA. I know I got the right turbo, I double checked the part I got with my invoice and the numbers match. I ended up pinging the down pipe until it fit, didn't take a whole lot thankfully. I finally got to take it for a spin and I'm amazed at how different the exhaust note is, much deeper. I assume those injectors will cure the fact that now I don't build boost as quickly as before and the truck smokes even more.

I'm doing my best to try and get my new turbo installed, started last week and only got things disassembled before I ran out of energy. I got back to it today and am almost done but I was unable to get the down pipe installed. I was hoping it would go right in as I am replacing a DEP pipe(HY35) with another DEP pipe(HX40). It looks like I am gonna have to beat the firewall or the pipe to get it to fit. Should I just take turns hammering on both until it fits?

I think I may take you up on that, I do love a nice long drive. Let me check with the wife as I know she has some plans and then I'll message you.

Is it ok to leave my camper plugged in when not it use? I had a 30amp plug installed on the outside of my house to keep it plugged in while my mother was living in it. Now that she has her own place and the camper in only used occasionally I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. My old pop-up only had one battery and I would take it into the garage and put it on a tender over the winter.

I've never seen that before, do you use the needle to grease them. I currently have the moog joints with the angled zerks as well which is much better than the last setup I had. The previous joints had the opening in the middle and I would have to remove the tiny bolt from the hole, thread a 90* fitting into it, grease it and then remove the fitting and put the bolt back in.

Well I have everything, even went and got those Black Horse Racing intercooler boots just because I needed to spend at least $6 more for free shipping. Now I have to get the energy. We been so short handed at work that I'm working 12-15 hours a day and have zero energy when the weekend arrives. I am thinking about having someone else do the injectors and head studs at least. I guess I'll ask around and maybe the price tag will motivate me to do it myself.

Got the ceramic coating, they said it would good up to 1800*, I 'll be picking it up tomorrow if I can get off work on time.

I've got everything but the down pipe and it should arrive tomorrow. Much to my surprise the exhaust manifold that came with the turbo was a 3 piece unit. I'll probably have it powder coated, I'm not building a show truck but I don't care for the rusty look under the hood.

I was looking at the Steed speed manifold, but it sounds like unless I am looking for some crazy power numbers, it's not worth the extra $600. I assume the T3 manifold that comes with the GXE turbo is a standard cast piece. I guess I will probably have to redrill my EGT probe holes. Should I relocate the holes? They are both currently in the center section one towards the front and one towards the back. Should I move them further apart?

The turbo is coming with a new T3 manifold so I also decided to get some stainless studs for that as well. I need to get an estimate for some cement work and then I should be able to pull the money and get everything ordered.

That's good to know, I can't imagine the 7x.009's being much worse then. I guess I will be getting the Screaming Eagle GXE turbo with the 4" HX40 DP, some 7x.009 injectors, new injector tubes, head studs and a new valve cover gasket. Is there anything else I should consider doing along with this other stuff?

I would rather have the true 4" pipe, so that's a win. The snap test is just stabbing the throttle to see how much smoke the truck makes, I believe it's also called an opacity test? If the 7x.009's aren't going to be smoky with stock tuning then they should work fine. I would like an exhaust brake but it's not a necessity, most of my towing is local on flat terrain and the places I do go camping have few hills to contend with. I did fine with the new camper just dropping it into 3rd on the down grades. The Edge may be smog legal but I have to unplug it from the OBD port so the test equipment can be plugged in. I don't think it alters the tuning when it's unplugged as the truck feels like a slug when I do.

Ok, just dropping in the studs will save some cash and pain. That screaming eagle is within the budget I quoted my wife for a turbo as well. It needs an HX40 DP, is that larger than the HY35 DP? I have a 4" DP on my 35 right now, but it necks down to attach to it. It's an option with the SE turbo so that would make it easy. I do have emissions testing here in Idaho, but it's an OBD/snap test so my Edge has to be disabled to do it so I always pass with flying colors. Would the 7x.009/.010's still be ok or should I stick with the RV's?

The wife is letting me spend some money on the truck, so here's what I need. 1. I just rolled over 250k miles, I know the head gaskets have a tendency to let go around now. I was thinking of doing it pre-emptively and tossing in some head studs. Is that wise or should I just wait for it to fail on it's own. What brand of head gasket should I use, I have access to Fel-Pro and Mahle at work or I can go to the local Cummins shop. I would have the head checked and worked over while it's off as well. 2. I know I need injectors, I'm probably still on the original ones. I have noticed my MPG's have dropped a bit in the last year and I am clouding the sky more that usual. I am running the Edge Juice tuner so something that would play well would be preferred. I've heard a lot about the RV275's I believe, would those work or should I look at something else. 3. Turbo, I have a relatively new HY35 with the waste gate locked down. Would have done something different when it went out but had no money at the time, had to borrow a bit just to get this one. Would it enough to just swap in an HX35 or could I do a little better? I would prefer something that bolts in though getting a different down pipe is not a deal breaker. I just want to make sure everything will play well with the Edge tuner. I know the canned units are meant for stock stuff so I'm not trying to make big power or anything. I've tried the Quad and it wasn't my cup of tea. I don't have a blank check but also don't want the cheapest stuff I can find, that said I'm not even sure if I'm going to do the work myself. I've managed to injure myself at work several times this year and I'm finally almost back to normal so I may not want to risk hurting myself pulling the head off. Mike, what's your labor rate?

The wife and I had a long discussion last night and have decided it would make more financial sense to keep the 01. I told her it was going to need some things to keep going the way I want it and she is giving me a chunk of money for some upgrades. On that note we went to the scrap yard this morning and got a new uncracked dash core, glove box door and the panel under the steering wheel all for $70. I felt pretty lucky finding that dash since the yard only had three 98-01 trucks in it. Now I can upgrade the radio and toss some new speakers in this thing. I'll also get some new weather stripping and fix some things I "fixed" awhile back, lol. I'll be starting a separate thread for the engine upgrades, don't want to get too much lost in here.

That's a valid point, used vehicle prices are ridiculous right now. I have also been thinking of just putting some more money into my 01. It's due for injectors and I wouldn't mind upgrading the turbo. I do still enjoy driving it but the clearcoat is finally letting go and that's depressing to see. I could probably save the doors but the roof is to far gone and the hood is getting a tad spotty.

I've got my eye on a 2003 with 194k miles, 4 door long bed with a 6spd. Looks clean and stock in the pics, guy is asking a bit much at $22k though. I'll have to double check with the wife tonight first to make sure she was even serious before I make calls and tick her off.

Since we got the camper, my wife casually mentioned getting a newer truck. For me that just means newer than what I currently have but nowhere near a new truck. I've noticed a couple 3rd gens for sale and the main thing I am interested in having would be a real crew cab with a manual transmission. The 2nd gen I have now, I've had longer than any other truck, just over 7 years while I usually change up around 5 years. I've heard the 3rd gens tend to need injectors every 100k miles, but aside from that not much else. I recently rolled over 250k miles as well and know that in my price range I'll be looking at truck with around 200k already. My truck mostly just sits anymore unless I need to do truck stuff so mileage accumulation has dropped considerably. Having a tough time deciding if I should throw some more money at the 2nd gen or start over with a 3rd gen.

I didn't think getting a generator would be so difficult. Everybody was out of the larger units, I tried 3 nearby harbor freight stores multiple times, even put my name on one that was supposed to show up at TSC which finally arrived 3 weeks later than expected and I was called 2 hours after I had already left for my trip. Thankfully I was able to get a 6000/5000watt generator through my work in a day. It's a Pulsar, it's a bit noisier than I hoped but it works great and kept everything working without issue. The wife said it was the most comfortable she had ever been camping.

I do like camping far enough out that my phone doesn't work. I like to go out find a place to set up and do nothing at all. I've been doing fine the last 2 years with my pop up, small generator and a fan. I just figured since I'm spending this much money on a camper I want to use it more often and not just during the comfortable heat level times of year. I may or may not use the A/C but I like to know it's available should I start to get uncomfortable. I used to go further away to camp but my wife isn't a huge fan of road trips so I tend to keep it local which makes finding a shady spot difficult sometimes. I did find the paperwork but haven't got to go through it yet. I just got back from Nebraska and my brother decided to buy my pop up so now I'm trying to get it ready for him. I probably won't be able to do anything fancy like W-T was suggesting although it does sound pretty sweet, I'll probably end up with a regular gas generator for now. Money has gotten a little tight after buying the camper, and now my washer and dryer have both decided to die at the same time. I'll try and get at least 4500w or better to keep the A/C happy, not likely I'll use the microwave or TV. If I have a fire pit, that's where everything gets cooked.

So I decided to buy my mothers camper from her instead of hauling it to NY where it would most likely sit and get destroyed by rodents. It's a 25' 2020 Coleman, been camped in once and my mother lived in it for about 6 months before she flew to NY. I have a little 1200/1000 watt generator I was using with my pop up that I know is not up to the task. I'm still trying to find the paperwork for this thing to get official numbers but I think they may have gotten packed in my mothers things. It has A/C, Fridge, microwave and the other typical accoutrements. I would like to get a generator capable of running the A/C, from what I gather I should be looking at 3500 watt minimum. What's a good number to shoot for, I don't mind having a little more power than I need. On a side note if anyone is interested I'll have a nice pop up camper and generator for sale soon.

Didn't think about a fire extinguisher, I'll have to grab one of those. My buddy did give me a GPS yesterday for the trip, I'll have R. Lee Ermey yelling directions at me the whole time. I got a new spare for the GMC and serviced the small trailer. I'm probably gonna get a shell for the GMC as pulling that trailer is like pulling a parachute. Even empty it's a huge drag, no pun intended. Hopefully a shell will help direct some more air over it instead of into it. Otherwise I entertain the idea of getting a hitch on the camper and pulling doubles with my truck.

I'm trying to prep her truck so she wont have to get anything done while she has it. She'll be living alone in the woods and my brother in law can sometimes be slow to get to fixing things. The GMC has 152k miles on it and I replaced the original water pump and hoses. I actually replaced the water pump twice, the first one only survived going around the block a couple times before the bearing let go, wobbled around and tossed the belt. I did a warranty return and upgraded to the HD version of the pump just in case. I had to do a warranty exchange on the radiator cap two times as they both leaked from the vent shaft. I went with a standard cap the third time. I put a battery tender under the hood with a plug in the lower air dam. She only drives 2-3 times a month and the car she is borrowing keeps having the battery go dead from the cold and lack of use. I got some newer used tire for it as brand new tires would rot before she ever used them up. I still need to get a new spare for it though, current one has cracks in the sidewall. I also need to check the age of the little trailer tires and it's spare as well. I did install a new Tekonsha P3 brake controller in my truck. The one that was in there came with the truck and could only be used on the lowest power setting. If you turned the power up one notch it would lock the trailer tires up when you the touched the brakes. I was gonna get the P2 but I installed a P3 in my father in laws work truck and really liked it. He was having the same problem with his old controller but I noticed it had been mounted upside down so the pendulum was probably sitting in the position to make it think it had to brake hard.

Coming in late June my brother and I will be driving from my home in Kuna ID to Lincoln Nebraska to get my mothers things to her. I will be using the Ram and pulling a 25' coleman camper. I will be followed by her 1994 GMC K1500 pulling a pickup bed trailer. I will be meeting my sister and her husband in there truck where they will take the camper and GMC to Watertown NY where my mother lives. The GMC is just about done, been prepping it so my mother shouldn't have to do anything but change the oil as long as she owns it. I've changed every fluid, filter, fixed all the leaks, replaced the cooling system, shocks, fuel pump and converted all the lights to LED. My truck is almost done, most of the fluids are fairly new in the last year. I will be getting the brakes flushed, upgrade trailer brake controller, new belt/tensioner and an oil change. Bringing extra tools, fluids, belts and fuel for the GMC, lol. What do you guys usually do to prepare for a big road trip?

I'm so paranoid when ordering things online, I usually go back and forth checking all the info 7-8 times before I have to grapes to hit the "Place Order" button. So far I have only messed up once when ordering headlights for my mother in laws jeep, I assumed she had HID's and ended up returning them on my dime. I'm now having similar issues with a friend as we try to convert a 1982 Trans am from auto to manual using a 350 from a 1980 vette and a 5spd from a 1989 Trans am GTA. Getting the right combo of clutch and flywheel is proving tricky.