CaughtinmyGrill

Because the Company I am working for has had a VERY good year, I will be getting a nice year-end bonus this January. After putting some money in the kid's college fund, putting some money into the retirement fund and buying the wife something shiny, I think I could dedicate about $5,000 to bombing my completely stock 2004.5. I have a 48RE, 3.73 gear ratio, and 315-70/17 BFG's.

80% of my driving is City, 15% highway and 5% towing between 3000 to 7000 pounds. I hope to buy my bosses boat which weighs 5500 lbs dry.

My priorities after I am done are #1 - Reliability (I don't want a truck so powerful that my upgraded drivetrain is overly stressed), #2 - Fuel Efficiency, #3 - Performance (unloaded), #4 - Towing power.

As far as gauges, I would like the X-monitor or similar all-in-one digital unit. The X-monitor is $430 at Geno's garage. I know I need to install an intake system like AFE or a BHAF. I need to buy a Chip, and I would like to put some money into the transmission/drive train, probably a shift kit and high performance torque converter.

How would you "invest" $5,000 on a truck like mine?

BigBlue

A TST chip, Scotty Ram Air 3, exhaust, and a new Valvebody and torque converter from any of the big 4 (DTT, ATS, Goerend, Suncoast). That oughta be good for now. And when you get a little more money, completely upgrade the transmission and turbo and start having lots of fun.

AK RAM

Thats a tad over 3K! We still got 2K to spend. B1-04 $1,800 wastegated?

CaughtinmyGrill

OK, so my shopping list looks like this so far:

TST Powermax CR $725
X-Monitor $430
Scottys Air Around $300
ATS Torque Converter (450 rhp) $1,388
ATS Valve Body $288
Labor (Transmission) $750????

Total $3,881

I don't think I need to do the exhaust because I am already running the stock 5" exhaust (even though it has the CAT on it.) I like the turbo upgrade but that is around $1,600.

How about fuel? Do I need a better fuel pump or injectors? Is there anything else I'm missing?

Mcmopar

These new trucks have a 5" exhaust??

cquestad

Get that tape out again...it is a 4" system. The muffler is the most restictive part of the exhaust.

mattymac

$200 at a local muffler shop can take care of that. Like stated above with the fuel and drivetrain then go for a B1-04.

Or better yet give me the 5k and ill show you how to use it for bombing.

RamWheelsBy4

Your gona need more fuel pressure with all of the above. FASS or Air Dog.

Push Rod

And I'd skip the XMonitor, and do the TST with gauges instead with a separate fuel pressure gauge mounted in the A-Pillar. It'll save you a hundred bucks or so, and you get automatic EGT defueling then.

Rod

CaughtinmyGrill

Revised list as it stands now:

TST Powermax CR with Gauges: $849
Dipricol Fuel gauge with pillar mount: $180
Scottys Air: Around $300
ATS Torque Converter (450 rhp): $1,388
ATS Valve Body: $288
Donaldson Muffler: $200
FASS Fuel System: $590
Total of all Parts: $3,795

Labor: $750????

Everything installed gets me to $4,545.

Sorry about the 5" exhaust comment. It is 4". I looked at some exhaust packages but it appeared that they were mostly 4" pre-downpipe and 5" after that. Is it worth spending another $200 for this? I'm not sure if the State of Arizona would be too pleased if my Cat ended up in the trash. (They test emissions in my county.)

By my calculations, this setup should take me from about 280 rwhp/515 tq to 400 rwhp/710 tq. Anyone disagree with these numbers?

Are there any weak links in my plan? I would think the next logical step would be a turbo upgrade, but that will have to wait.

zzsdad

$288 is for the valvebody kit. The ready to go valve body is $495. Might end up being cheaper than having the tranny shop do the kit. Have them just install complete parts. If you tow, you might want the torque commander from ATS too. That's where I'm headed. Don't forget the contribution to your government. They want their percentage of that 5k.

CaughtinmyGrill

What does the Torque Commander do?

You are probably right about the Valve Body Kit. Before I start all of this, I am going to go speak with a trusted Tranny shop. They will give me the pros and cons of my drive train upgrades. After all, they will be up to their proverbial elbows in my tranny.

tcr

YOU BETTER SAVE SOME MONEY FOR WHAT YOUR ABOUT TO BREAK W/ ALL THESE CRAZY Edit SUGGESTIONS. YOU DID SAY RELIABLE DIDN'T YOU? KEEP IT SIMPLE W/ EXHAUST/AIR/CHIP, SEE WHAT YOU THINK, YOU MIGHT WANT TO KEEP THE TRUCK AS IS AND BUY A VIPER(FAST AND RELIABLE)

cquestad

My truck is fast and reliable? Probably will still be on the road when a Viper is in the trash can.

You should look into Scotty's Max Flow fuel system instead of the FASS. It will save you a little dough. It probably will cost more that what you think if somebody else is going to install all of your goodies. I would try to do as much as you can yourself (with the help of all of the DTR members of course) for cost and educational reasons. It is nice to have done the work yourself, so IF something does happen you will no the difference between a MAP and CAM Sensor.

The ATS Comander gives you control at what speed the torque converter locks up. You can set the speed from as high as 48 (oem setting) to as low as 8 mph. This gives you all kind of flexibility when towing (or racing)......

You can lock the auto in a lower gear and set the converter to a speed slighty lower than you want to travel...and viola, you have engine braking and a coll auto.

AK RAM

That is one heck of a list. One of two things will happen; 1) You will pop your stock turbo trying to run the TST on KILL mode. or 2) You will be unhappy because the stock turbo will not allow you to run the TST on KILL mode for more than 2 seconds. See the weak link? Plan on doing a turbo sooner than later. You have everything else covered and should be reliable in the long run. B1-04, HTT Killer B2, or even BD's Super B Single (which is a heck of a deal) would probably do just fine if you don't plan on adding any other power bombs besides the TST.