Our last modification was a compressor upgrade from High Tech Turbo. At $400, it's much cheaper than a brand-new turbo, and the 60mm wheel is a big improvement over the stock 56mm inducer. Also, the tougher compressor wheel would allow us to use our nitrous system that we'd been sitting on for months. Once the nitrous was activated, we hit a new best of 339 horsepower and 691 lb-ft of torque on the dyno. DP
 Dave Goerend also supplied...  Dave Goerend also supplied a sweet converter, which stalls at 1,600 rpm, yet feels like a lockup unit. Not only did we see a 124lb-ft increase in torque, the new converter netted us 2-3 mpg better fuel mileage on the highway. |  Intake and exhaust are cheap...  Intake and exhaust are cheap modifications that should be one of the first steps for any first-gen owner. The truck will sound better and create more power. In case you're wondering, the filter we chose was made by K&N (PN RC-4780) and the muffler was a universal straight-through design. |  To make sure our head gasket...  To make sure our head gasket didn't make an early exit, we re-torqued all the stock head bolts to 125 lb-ft. |
 We think our High Tech Turbo...  We think our High Tech Turbo 60mm hybrid will be able to support 400 horsepower with enough fuel, so that will be our next step. |  It's still rusty, and it's...  It's still rusty, and it's still low-buck, so the heart of the project remains intact. | |
What The Readers Say:
We've got a lot of feedback from readers who have expressed an interest in our budget Dodge. Here's some advice that they have given us so far:
"Add water-methanol injection, it will provide good cooling without an intercooler, and give you more power when you need it."
"Add a posi, I saw that one-wheel burnout in the April '08 issue!"
"Power Stroke intercoolers can be made to fit, put one of those on."
"Take the air fuel control (AFC) lever out, that way you can get full fuel whenever you want it."
"Put a new lift pump on the engine, you're starving the injection pump."
"Get a real turbo, one that is 64mm or 66mm, and ditch the nitrous."