Guest

1. FIRST and foremost, realize and accept that ANY significant mods WILL most likely void your warranty!<br><br>2. Once THAT is understood, guages are a MUST to monitor what's going on with that dandy Cummins.<br><br>3. Install some sort of remedy for the infamous lift pump/VP44 potential premature failures - the most common being addition of a &quot;pusher pump&quot; down by the fuel tank to reduce strain on the stock LP, and the failure that frequently occurs whnen the LP fails and takes the VP44 with it.<br><br>4. Consider a power adder in the form of a &quot;magic box&quot; - I use the Edge Comp - and picked up over 80 HP and 210 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheels with NO other add-ons or expense.<br><br>My EGT stays 1200 degrees or less no matter WHAT grade or load I pull, boost is about 32 psi max, and my fuel pressure stays well above stock values for maximum LP and VP44 protection - total outlay was well under $750...<br><br>Good luck.

Guest

RS88: You're still thinking in terms of gassers. Intake and exhaust are factors, but the CTD has a bit different spin on upgrades. So --

(1) Get pyro, boost, and fuel pressure gauges before you do *anything* else. Seriously. Nobody who knows anything will disagree with me on this one. Figure on spending $250 or more for good gauges, but it's worth it. (The fuel pressure gauge is there to monitor the health of your lift pump and expensive VP44 pump.)
(2) Get the BHAF ($50) if you're poor or do a lot of driving in desert talcum powder. Get the Scotty II ($200) if you can afford it.
(3) Lose the stock muffler. Replace it with a straight through or a four inch muffler/back system, or dump the muffler altogether. Could be $0 to $250.
(4) Get the Edge Comp &amp; don't hook up the pump wire (yet). I've seen them for less than $600. If you do hook up the pump wire, you've trashed your warranty, and you'll need to go to #6 below.

You're now at $1000 or a little over. If you want to go further:

(5) Get performance injectors -- RV275's are cheap, excellent, and you may be able to avoid doing transmission modifications. If you want to go further, try DD2's but see #6 below. $275 to $500 or more.
(6) Depending on what sort of transmission you've got, at this point you'll have to do some work on it -- an SBC clutch for the manual, or aftermarket upgrades for the slushbox. A thousand bucks.
(7) A four inch exhaust would be OK here, since at this point, money obviously doesn't matter.
(8) A Piers HX35 or HX40 turbo, depending on where you whether you want to tow or smoke. Another thousand plus bucks.
(9) Might as well hook up the pump wire on your Edge Comp. It's free now, and your warranty has been already been trashed.
(10) Bigger injectors, O-rings, porting, nitro, radical exhaust systems, all kinds of expensive exotics.

My advice? Go with 1-4 if you've got an automatic transmission. Go with 1-5, spending an extra $275 for the RV275's, if you've got the NV-5600 (6 speed). You can do these, and still have a *chance* of retaining your warranty, if you're responsible and you can find the right dealer.

GP