My name is Daniel. I'm 52 and live on Long Island, NY. I found your site while I was looking at turbos. I really liked the write up you did on ATS vs BD turbos. It was very informative and the kind of information that I need.
I have a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 4wd Cummins, auto trans, with crew cab and 8ft bed. It is my first truck and first diesel. My education to date is what I have read in the magazines and the mechanic I take it to tells me I shouldn't read the magazines.
It is pretty much a stock truck right now. I have a Predator programmer, AFE Stage 2 intake and have taken the cat out (but still have the muffler) on a 4" exhaust. The transmission was rebuilt with upgraded parts, kevlar bands etc. and a 750ftlbs converter. I have added tranny temp, pyro and boost gauges to the pillar. I'm planning on adding a rail pressure and a fuel pressure guage in the near future. I want the guages in it so I can see what is going on as I do the performance mods (besides they look cool).
What I would like to find out is this. Is there a somewhat logical build sequence to take? I want to end up with a pretty bad *** truck but unless I win the lotto I can't do it all at once. At what point in a build do you need to put in ARP bolts, or fire ring the head? With out having access to a dyno how do you keep track of the torque and hp? Is it safe to just add up the numbers that the manufacturer gives as you put in different mods? The next things I am planning to do is a 5" exhaust (probably Magnaflow) and a water/methanol kit. Does that make sense? Then I will save up money for the next thing.

Thanks for your time.
Daniel

 

HI Daniel, welcome to the forum.