BigBore050

the bad:

Friday I dicided to put my new ATS manifold and turbo on and I do have to say the install was a PITA. I did buy the garrett stage 2 turbo KIT for a easy install and no fabrication but i was wrong. The T3 flange was alot thinner on the new turbo so the factory studs were now to long and the nut would bottom out on the stud instead on the turbo. The flange was also not taped like the factory turbo for studs, but easly fixed with the 2 supplied bolts right? wrong, the bolts were way to long and had to be cut in half, they werent even close. then after I get the turbo and manifold in the truck, the suppled water lines did not fit, the inlet had to be bent and the turbo to intercooler tube had to be turned for proper fit and the outlet didnt ever come close had to go but 2 ft of heater hose to finish the install. could have just bought the turbo and made my own kit faster and cheaper. IMO

The Good:

No problems with the, ats. great part

got some drive time with it today and i have to say that now im the happy new owner of a 747. the turbo sounds amazing and cools great. spool up is quick and i would say its comparable to stock maybe slightly slower.

The help:

I went and upgraded to the TNT software a few days bofore the turbo got here and ran SW5 Tq3 IT1 RP1 and the truck felt as strong as it did with normal smarty tunning on SW9. now that the tubo is on i went up to SW7 Tq4 It2 RP 2 and im sad to say that the truck alsmost feels slower than normal smarty with stock turbo. not a real big noticable change in performance like i was expecting. any suggestions.

Do your guys thing 500 whp is possible with the setup if so how?

the truck will be on the dyno next sat so i guess il have the truth then and i will have pics up soon

SuperiorRam

Turn down the timing abit or go to 8 IMO

JJPage

It is possible your CP3 cannot support SW7. I have an Arson III Kit and I can hold 26k on SW7/TNT, before the Arson I could not get TNT to work at all, consistently, but I have an 03...

soulezoo

Who sold the turbo to you?

Sorry for your troubles. This is why, (among a few other reasons) Garretts don't sell so well. When it's figured out and done right, you really can't beat them.

Am curious about your spool, that doesn't sound right. You should be spooling faster than stock by an amount you can clearly tell SOTP. When I ran a 3788 as a secondary on twins, that was faster than a stock he351.

Anyway, the one you bought doesn't put out any more air than your stock turbo. A stage 3 should have been your choice. Later down the line if you decide to change or upgrade, PM me and I can point you in the right direction. There are a couple of folks out there that already have taken care of the issues you ran into.

To hit 500 from where you are at, you'll have to run TNT and add a pressure box... that should get you pretty close.

BigBore050

I got it from Tom at turbo resource and by the way there service was great and easy to work with. I may call him monday and see what he thinks. the turbo does sound very different and i think i hear a strage sound out the exaust durring light acceleration when the boost i slowly climbing or it may be just the only time the motor is quiet enof to here but it almost sounds like my ole 6.0 powerstroke with the VGT, but that all may be normal for the BBs idk

The spool may be quicker than stock i just always have trouble remembering what my truck felt like before i change things sometimes, I think i may have been expecting little to much.

Tom didnt recomend the stage 3 without injectors and a cam, cuz that was my first choice.

what may be some of those other resons the garretts dont sell well???

KKB

That is too bad stuff didn't fit well. Everything fit great on mine when I installed mine a week ago. I did have the smaller studs on the manifold from my previous HTT install, so I am sure that helped, but the bolts they shipped were the perfect length. Maybe some of the fitment issues were due to your new manifold. I used my stock manifold and the fitment was great. With the HTT I had a tough time getting the elbow and exhaust to line up. With the Garrrett everything slipped in great and fitment was great. The only problem I had was getting air in the coolant and that took some time to get it bled so the coolant would flow.

I thought spool up was a tad slower than stock at first, but after a 500 mile round trip it is faster than stock. Maybe it took a bit of time for it to break in.

What did Tom set the wastegate at?

I had mine set at 40.

BigBore050

Now that I think about it, it could have been worse. The turbo fit well once in the truck. i just get a little heated sometimes when a company does the R&D in a kit like that one that is such poor quality and charge us for it. Now that I have done it that kit was not that complicated and could easly be made right.

I did compare my ATS to the stcok maifold and they were the same except the threaded holes were not counter sunk as deep as the factory manifold which allowed the stud to stick out another 1/16" but 1/16" was nothing compared to the 3/8" the stud was too long.

I did read your thread KKB about your install before i did mine so i left that inlet banjo bolt loose durring the install and after filling the radiator i waited for it to start leaking before I tightend it.

40 psi is what mine is set at.

KKB

Garrett should definately send the shorter studs for the manifold, I didn't even think about it since I had them on my manifold already from the HTT I used to have. Hopefully after everything is said and done you will be pleased with the turbo. I would like to win the lottery so I can put a big Garrett BB under my stage 2.

BigBore050

Every time I dive it I like it more and more

and when you win that jackpot you shuld buy me a big BB too.

KKB

If I win it I will do that. If you win I hope you do the same. I like mine more and more every time I drive also.