So I'm going to be moving to the pheonix area end of this year and, natrually, I wanted to know what kind of wheeling they had available. All this thinking about steep climbing and sand for miles made me realize that my big six will NOT be up to par in the power department. It's not running bad by any means, but my seat-o-pants dyno tells me that it just doesn't have the cajones to push my truck up any sand grade steeper than a moderate hill. I'm going to be running 35's and I'm trying to decide on 4.10's or 4.30's as the gears will be installed prior to the ~2000 mile trip and only be turning my 31's as I don't want that kind if driving on a new set of tires. Anyways, back on track, I've been considering a turbo set-up. Nothing radical. I'm not trying to build a trophy truck or anything. Just a low-budget, DIY system. I've dealt with turbos plenty enough to know what I'm doing there. My question for you guys is how well will my 170,xxx mile 6 handle it? I don't want a lot out of it. Maybe 6-8 lbs would be plenty and I'd probably use a small Holset, likely an HX35 for ease of parts, mounting, and fabrication. I plan on compression testing it when time permits (been working 7 day weeks for quite awhile) but I'm just kind of asking, generally, how would the average 300 stand? I know they're moderatly low compression stock and supposed to be one of the most durable/reliable gas engines ever built. But what are their weaknesses mechanically? There seems to be next to no aftermarket for the EFI versions (which I have). Is there something special I should check into maintanence-wise?

 

I imagine there is plenty of wheeling around Phoenix that does not involve steep sand hills. I'd wait until you get there, try some of the trails, and see what mods will work best before slapping a turbo on.

FWIW, a turbo is going to generate heat. Pheonix gets hot. Crawling around hills sandy or otherwise is going to generate heat. If you go turbo, you should consider upgrades to the cooling system.

 

Ya, I forgot to mention I planned on switching over to e-85 to help with the cooling. I also plan on dedicating the front portion of my bed to an oil cooler and trans cooler along with an electric fan and possibly a motorized water pump. The idea I've been looking mostly into I would remote mount the turbo in the bed aswell which would cut temps underhood alot. Basically run the exhuast like a diesel stack right up through the floor of the bed, fab a bracket of sorts that would bolt to the carriage bolt behind the passenger seat then run a small stack off the turbo for ground/suspension clearance and simplicity. But I do see your point on "testing the waters" so to speak.

 

If you put the turbo in the bed, the lag is going to be terrible.

 

I'm not too worried about that, it shouldn't affect it but a few hundred rpm and since my trucks an auto once it spools it stays spooled until I lift.

 

Hey sorry to just jump on your post but I'm new and not sure how to create my own post about my truck can you help me please thank you. And once again sorry

 

If you want to post under V6 engines hit the back arrow in the upper left corner, then scroll to the bottom, on the left at the bottom it will say NEW THREAD, click on that and you are set.

 

A 4.9 is not a V-6, post in the pre-1997 truck forum.