More Durable
In Diesel Power, we often harp on how the factory parts are the most durable parts you can have. In this case it is different. Since the stock turbo is providing almost twice the boost it normally would, it becomes a spinning time bomb. With the fueling upgrades in our Dodge Ram, we could make about 37 psi, and these turbos are known to explode (compressor wheel comes apart) at roughly 35-40 psi, so we were living on borrowed time. The max efficiency rating of our new turbo is 40 psi, and we've heard of them spinning all the way to 55 psi without exploding. Anything more than 45 psi will just overheat the air, but we were worried about something else. We're running nitrous on our truck, and nitrous is extremely hard on turbochargers. It spins them up quickly, and makes them turn a lot faster. With a compressor upgrade, we were less worried about our turbocharger exploding and sending metal through our motor.
 While the turbocharger was...  While the turbocharger was out, we checked for any endplay in the shaft. There's no use upgrading your turbocharger's compressor side if it needs a rebuild. Ours turned out to have virtually no wobble in the shaft, so it was on to the install. |  With the Stage IV compressor...  With the Stage IV compressor upgrade we received a machined housing, a new backing plate, and an upgraded wheel. We could now safely spray some nitrous, and spin our improved turbo past 35 psi without worrying about shelling it. |  We needed a few miscellaneous...  We needed a few miscellaneous parts to complete the install. First was a reducer hose that went from 2.00 inches to 2.50 inches in order to adapt the new compressor discharge to our engine intake. If you have an intercooled model, the turbocharger will be a direct bolt-on. |
 We also needed a different...  We also needed a different intake setup for the turbocharger intake, since the new housing had a much bigger inlet diameter. Here we got lucky and were able to find one off of a later intercooled model that would work with our existing air filter setup. |  We think our -3 nitrous line...  We think our -3 nitrous line (solenoid to nozzle) is holding us back, and some more injection-pump tuning may be in order. To keep bottle pressure at 1,000 psi, we used a $19.99 hair dryer-although next time we hit the dyno we'll have a bottle heater installed. |  Max Torque = 691.67 Max Power...  Max Torque = 691.67
Max Power = 339.99 |