Do I need head studs with a mild sct tune?
 

I am wondering how much hp you guys think would be safe without having to get head studs? I just have a straight pipe so im also a little worried about high egts plus I dont have guages. This is my daily driver truck and I dont need to break anything because of to much hp. I have been looking at the sct with cutsom tunes and was thinking 70-80hp as my street, a tow, and an eco tune. Any thoughts? Thanks guys.

studs is more of a high boost thing. gauges should come first though but with those tunes you should be fine

Boost isn't really what does it as overall cylinder pressures. The added timing from the high horse tunes is really what kills it.

What's safe and what's not? No one can say. Some trucks blow tons of headgaskets stock, some run extreme race tunes on stock head bolts and never have problems. So to say you wont have issues, we can not do that. However I would feel comfortable running a street tune with stock bolts.

EGT's are actually kind of hard to get high on just a street tune. I ran extreme street for almost a year with no gauges and once I put them on I realized I wasn't even close to getting it hot.

With that said, do gauges first.

Get some gauges and Get Xrace or SRL tune. You'll get the best milage out of those and from the sound of if you're not gonna beat on it hard enough to blow your gaskets.

And your EGR delete is helping save your gaskets a ton :tu:

Add a coolant filter too.

Ok good info thanks. The coolant filter is coming soon. As for guages what do I need and how much $$? I have the boost in the stock guage cluster but im thinkin pyro and trans temp? I was also thinkin maybe fuel preasure? I have seen how the pyro is to instal and I think I can do that no problem. Whats it like for trans and fuel preasure? Mdub when you say you ran extreme street whats that for hp? also were you puttin er to the mat and not runnin hot? If I dont get guages right away I would like to know how to drive with the street tune. Am I ok to tromp on it or I guess its hard to say. Thanks again guys great help.

Fuel pressure is most important guage to get. Id get coolant / Oil temp guages next. But thats me. I also have the boost guage in stock cluster.

If running a programmer I'd get the following gaugs:

Fuel pressure (most important)
Oil temp
Coolant temp (you need to monitor oil temp vs. coolant temp. Each gauge individiually is not going to tell you much, but together you can see what's going on)
I'd skip the trans gauge unless you regularly tow 10K +. I'd also skip boost.
EGT gauge is a good one for running a programmer.

Trans temp is stupid easy to hook up. There is an empty plug on the side of the trans case just above the pan, remove plug, insert temp sender and wire up.

Fuel pressure isn't bad either, I have mine in a different spot than you'll have yours, but basically you can pull a test plug from the filter bowl on top of the motor, and insert your sender there. You will need an 1/8" NPT adapter to make it work though, just FYI.

Extreme street is the same as extreme race just without the torque converter lock up. It's the biggest tune Innovative sells for non-studded trucks. Supposed to be around 140hp over stock, the torque is awesome though. It's a 420-430 rwhp tune (maybe a touch less on X street due to the converter not locking). Yes I matted it and ran it. You really need to be holding high EGT's for extended periods of time to do damage. Doing a 1/4 mile run and buyring the pyro isn't going to kill your motor, just can't have it sitting at an absurd temp for extended intervals. Be smart about it, don't go towing a dump trailer full of stone on your hot tunes.

Ok cool thanks alot guys, always a big help. Cant wait to get er blowin a little smoke.

I got the SCT livewire. It monitors all but fuel pressure through the obd-2 plug. Tuner and monitor all in one, only have to install egt probe and have seperate fuel pressure guage. It was a simple way for me to get all I needed.

How much did your setup cost you if you don't mind me asking? and what is your real mpg after the tune? Thanks!!

My tuner came from MPT {more power tuning} on ebay at about $400. I run the canned tune from SCT that it came with. Truck came with cold air kit {which I would not buy myself} and banks 4 inch turbo back exhaust. Mileage is about +3-4 mpg over stock if I drive nice. It is hard to drive nice with that exhaust and turbo combo, so I seldom do.

Good luck.

You should try some custom tunes... you'll like it a whole lot better.

That Banks setup have a muffler on it too?

Innovative Diesel Performance . call Eric .

vrooooom vroooooom . bahhhhhhh:jump:

I think if you want to run custom tunes go with extreme street, extreme tow and extreme race. An eco tune is a waste, you will never load it after these three. I have ran the race tune daily for several years and about 80000mi. I use the tow tune when I pull the 36ft fifth wheel (12000lbs) and I have been lucky so far. Some guy never do any mods and baby their truck and have nothing but trouble. Just use your head and try to use a little self control.

More true words have never been spoken...