Yet another build thread

[chrisd91]

Since there doesn't seem to be a lot going on here, and I'm have a slow day at work, I figured I might as well post up my build thread here. Posts and pics to follow shortly

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[chrisd91]

Bought my truck in June of '10. It had been on the dealer lot for more than a year and I talked them down significantly in price over a 6 month period before I bought it.

It was rough. Bed corners had torn sheet metal and the bed was pretty dented. Tires were quite worn, rear pinion seal leaked, and the dash was GONE. This was fitting considering it was a trade in from a local logging fleet.

The good:
120k miles, engine ran strong, trans shifted great, and 4wd worked flawlessly

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[chrisd91]

As every noob knows, the most important mod on any vehicle is stickers so I made sure to order a big cummins C :hehe:


First day after buying it:
Modified the headache rack/bed rail guards off my old 90 chev, in an attempt to hold the bed together.




Also did the first of many exhausts to come. Completely removed the factory exhaust, made a downpipe using the factor turbo end, a reducer, and a 45* elbow. With some pipe I had laying around I ran it out the side in front of the rear tire. Hangers were made from bolts welded together and no bushings were used.

It was loud and crude

I also bought a napa 6637 filter, because it was in stock and was cheaper than the larger BHAF. To prevent the plastic end from crushing under the clamp I cut a small piece of exhaust tube to slide into it

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[chrisd91]

Got tired of the raspy sound after a while, bought a straight through muffler that was long. Also got tired of the shoddy hangers so I decided to redo the side exhaust.

There was a fancy bend sitting neglected in the corner of the shop, so I claimed it for my new side pipe

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[chrisd91]

Continuing on...

Scored a used airdog 150 in the fall of '10 as well as a Quadzilla adrenaline with control pod and pulse monitor.


I didn't have time or tools to do the airdog while at school, so I left it in the box and just installed the quad without tapping the pump wire. The pulse monitor was junk so I ran the control pod only.

Over my thanksgiving break I put in a new dash, which I painted semi gloss black to make the interior black/gray two tone. I started to install the airdog, but realized i didn't have everything I needed, so i tossed the bed back on, leaving that for a christmas break project.

I got a little greedy and also tapped my pump wire without an aftermarket lift pump or fuel pressure gauge. My sending unit stopped working around then, and I ran my truck out of fuel in a starbucks parkinglot after hotrodding around with the quad turned up. I tried for many days to bleed the system and get it started, to no avail.

I finally gave up and had it towed to the dealer. My VP was toast. Being finals week for me, meaning I had to drive home within a week, I got a VP44 expedited from DAP and had the dealer install it do I could focus on studying.

I drove my truck 3 hours home after finals, and immediately pulled it into the shop and did my airdog 150 install, using a Vulcan drawstraw 1, JIC and pushlock fittings, and fuel line from napa. I made my own sandwich mount so I could mount it outside the frame rail next to the tank. This place it high out of harms way and the filters were not visible unless you crawled under the truck

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[chrisd91]

Toward the end of the spring of '11 semester I bought a slightly used fleece VGT controller. Over that summer I bought an eBay he351ve and pieced together my own VGT setup on a second gen manifold.

EBay turbo


Bye bye hx35!



Turbine and vanes



Mocked up


Ugly first draft intercooler pipe



Everything in place



Metric water fitting tapped to 3/8npt. Inline with heater hoses.

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[chrisd91]

I got busy with work, do I paid a friend $100 to install my clutch for me. I bought a used set of DDP 150s and tossed them in the truck right before school started up for the fall of '11. I had a hard time finding a boot to come off the he351's 3rd gen style outlet, so I was running a cheap amazon boot. First run out with the 150s and the boot split at about 25psi. Fortunately I had ordered a spare and was able to limp the truck to school keeping boost under 15psi.

Over that summer I also did a few cosmetic upgrades in the form of projector headlights and blacking out the grill

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[chrisd91]

Version 1 of the finished product

On the first run I realized I had put the actuator arm in the wrong position and in effect had a very large non VGT turbine LOL. That was easily fixed. Exhaust sounded like a dryer vent at idle due to the he351ve's extra muffling. I ended up re-straight piping the truck, though it still ended up being quieter than most trucks with a high flow muffler
Here's a vid that does a good job of showing the setup

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/...E/DSCN1003.mp4

Ended up shortening the shock tower by later on to allow me to clock the center section of the turbo to where the oil drain was vertical

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[chrisd91]

Shortly before I did the VGT swap I made a tailpipe for my exhaust as I liked the look of exhaust exiting behind the tire better than in front of the tire. The VGT made the exhaust VERY quiet, even with such a small muffler, so I straight piped the truck again


Once at my new apartment (at the school's dairy) I washed my truck. This is a rare occurrence for me, so it called for some pic whorin'

Tires are 265/70/17 treadwright guard dogs that replaced the bald coopers that came on the truck

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[F350Cummins]

I want to know more about the fleece VGT controller. I am looking into building one. I have (have to pick up) a VGT, Manifold, and downpipe. Any chance I can get a few pics of the fleece controller, Preferably of the internals?

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