Keep your truck. Paid for trucks rule!! There's a ton of things you can do before a SC to boost power....but if all else fails SC that dood.....nice truck btw.
Thanks for the responses guys. @CountryBoy - thank man. It's been a while in the making. @Darth - I'm on the same page man. We've worked hard to climb out of the normal debt structure and get to the point where our only payment is the mortgage so if I traded up I'd have to go broke for a while to pay it off quick. @Batman - I should take you up on that. The Nite looks like it's get's 'er done. @Vano - you have any good reference info on someone whose done this? A TC would be sweet and at that price I could do it and still have some $$ left from my tax return to pick up the moto I've been eying. @westtnfx4 - I'm not sure what else I can do. I have a K&N CAI, tuner, regeared diffs and Magnaflow exhaust with only one set of cats.
That would be one way to do it. It's a nice feeling not having huge car notes weighing you down monthly.
PS - I'm assuming the TC still wouldn't mask the phaser tick.. Has anyone figured out a permanent solution for this? It sucks to have a mean looking truck that sounds like a rattle can at idle. I fired up my old Durango R/T to charge the battery yesterday and the grumbly purr of the 5.9L with Borla exhaust just reminded me of how whimpy the 5.4 sounds.
I dont know of anyone that has done this, but I have priced and spec'd everything for it to be done to my truck. My buddy is a big time tuner, has a 2.0L VW pushin 400+HP & 450+ ft/lb. I promise, the hardest thing is sizing the turbo for you. But, since its just .8L bigger than mine, I ballparked the turbo for your engine based on the one I was getting for me eventually. Now, you will prolly want an A/R of .93. Make sure your pipe is mandrel bent, as normal bends w/ the "bulge" will create scavenging and thats not good for turboing... you'll lose power. feel free to ask me anything if I am leaving something out or you think of something else. It took me over 3 months of researching, making my own spreadsheets, and basic math skills to figure out the turbo. I wouldnt do like the STS turbo kit and remote mount... closer the turbo (or pipe run to the turbo) it is to the exhaust, the faster spool you will get. Fast spool = little lag = instant power!
