I'm back after several years and having questions

[Kissfan113]

After losing my 02 2500 back in 2011 to a fire I bought a 04.5 3500 heavy duty DRW with the 6 speed and HO Cummins. I took a break off the site from then until now due to life and fuel costs but I am back and bit by the power bug once again. I am fairly unfamiliar with the common rail motors and have some questions. I tow a 15k 5th wheel once or twice a month and a gooseneck on occaision around 20k. I am curious on what kind of power I can pull from this truck and still maintain my ability to tow when needed.
So far I have done the following:
AFE cold air intake, MBRP 5" turbo back exhaust into 5" stacks, ATS exhaust manifold, isspro gauges (fuel pressure, rail pressure, pyro, and boost pressure), smarty tuner, FASS 150, and a south bend dual disk clutch.
I am shooting for as close to 1000hp peak as possible but I daily drive the truck so I'm skeptical on getting there but I do want to wring as much as I possibly can out of it while maintaining my ability to use the truck for the reasons specified above.
I'm looking into twins, more fuel filtration, head studs, injectors, water meth, and other improvements but need to get a solid game plan together to get where I want to be. Hopefully other members with more experience in this platform can chime in and give me some tips, advice, tech info, and help with all this
Thanks in advance
Kevin

 

[p-Bar]

I feel like I am talking to my kid so here goes. Son you need this as a vehicle to safely get your family to campsite without having to think if you are going to make it . You have done a lot of good things to the truck with the smarty being the smartest thing you did. I pull a 14k 5er and with my almost stock truck it does well and I know it will get me where I need to go. 1000 hp are you nuts ? save that for the drag races . Why don't you buy a older truck with a 12valve and hop that up and not have it as a daily driver ? You are just asking to continue to find the weak link in the power train . Good luck Son

 

[bdenson]

i agree with p-Bar 1000 hp way to much

 

[Kissfan113]

Admittedly 1000 is a bit unreasonable for my overall uses, however I'm just not quite satisfied at stock, would 600-800 be a reasonable objective? I don't tow every day just occaisionally with the most being a couple times a month, I find myself feeling as though the truck could give me more when I do. I am due for new injectors with my originals now over 250,000 miles and I'm throwing a p1222 code more and more frequently. I've been working to set up a good base for more power as I've replaced and added parts, just not sure to what extent I can go while keeping egts reasonable under load, I miss sled pulling on the weekends in the summers and am trying to find a happy median area as I cannot afford another truck/insurance/registration/maintenance and parking space, the one I have needs to be my do all.

 

[p-Bar]

Look at the BBI injectors. These look real good and just put the 50hp units in. You have have a nice set up that is reliable.

 

[cerberusiam]

Look at the BBI injectors. These look real good and just put the 50hp units in.

?????



Yeah, 1000 hp on fuel only tends to take it our of a useful daily driver and tow rig arena. Unless you want to use giggle gas or propane the amount of fuel and components to deliver tend not to work as well at lower power levels. The 1000 hp is just tuning and fuel but all the pieces around it tend to be the problem and get expensive, dual CP-3's, multiple turbo's, shower head injectors, etc.

A 600-700 hp for play build makes it a lot easier to detune to a usable level that doesn't include high EGT's and constant smoke.

 

[Kissfan113]

Id be happy enough at 600-700hp I considered giggle gas at some point in the future to top the 1k mark but want as much as is practical on fuel only I think 700 is very reasonable given the detune possibility of electronics, I checked out the bbi injectors looks like I've found the company I'll be buying from and their stage 1.5 for my year will work for my overall build goals I believe, down the road I'd like to do 03 year Pistons probably when I get another towing truck and go ahead for the steel Pistons I've found although expensive they should hold up under much higher temps and abuse at that point the truck will be a play toy for now I need to balance power and use and build smart with everything in the end being for the greater good of the end goal so some parts at present will be overkill but down the road fully utilized

 

[Bob4x4]

Admittedly 1000 is a bit unreasonable for my overall uses, however I'm just not quite satisfied at stock, would 600-800 be a reasonable objective? I don't tow every day just occaisionally with the most being a couple times a month, I find myself feeling as though the truck could give me more when I do. I am due for new injectors with my originals now over 250,000 miles and I'm throwing a p1222 code more and more frequently. I've been working to set up a good base for more power as I've replaced and added parts, just not sure to what extent I can go while keeping egts reasonable under load, I miss sled pulling on the weekends in the summers and am trying to find a happy median area as I cannot afford another truck/insurance/registration/maintenance and parking space, the one I have needs to be my do all.

Ok so you have 250k and want to tripple the power output..........good luck with that.I see the aftermath of that all the time.The 400 hp level is much more reliable as a dd.Good luck and maybe start a build thread.

 

[Kissfan113]

Bob, there is an overall overhaul planned during the build process I know that when power is built it must be built on a solid foundation much like a house is, I'm planning to build from the bottom up just getting a game plan together for the final outcome