I'm new to the forum and to moding my truck. I have a few ideas about what I'd like to do but wanted to get some input.

I have already made some minor adjustments to the star wheel and the smoke screw. So far so good. I am looking at getting a 14cm turbo housing and 2300RPM spring. Latter I'd like to change the gears from 4.10s to 3.54s. My goal: wake the truck up at lower RPM, get more top end, MPG about the same (unless I drop something heavy on the accelerator), and keep the smoke modest.

I don't have any gages on the truck other than stock. Am I going to blow my truck up if I don't put pyro and bust gages in? Thanks for the insight.

 

anytime you mod without gauges you are asking for trouble... especially with a non-ic truck. With the money you would spend on a 14cm wg.... buy a full set of gauges and a used 12cm wg... then drill the divider and port out the twelve a little. it will flow just fine....

 

Would I have to go waste gated or would a non-WG work?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by drilling the divider and porting it out. Would I need something other than the pyro and boost gages?

 

no you don't need anything more... you should have the 18cm housing if it's an auto leave that alone for now. get the pyro on then dial in the pump... turn up the fuel, that will give the power, then bump the timing, that will give the throttle responce. report back after that.

also, don't go any smaller than the 16cm NON wg, it's not worth it. and the 18 is so close to the 16, a little fuel will make up the difference

 

Mine is the 5-speed. Would I still have the 18cm? I'll have to search the forum for timing adjustment instructions. Thanks.

 

Yes, the housing is the same. A 12 cm wastegated housing will make it feel like a whole new truck.

 

where can you get the 12cm wastegate housing, are the stock turbos wastegated, can you put a blow of valve one diesels

 

DTR and TDR classifieds are good places to look for a 12 cm wastegated housing. They also come up on Ebay regularly.

1st gen turbos are not wastegated.

Yes, but a BOV is unnecessary on a diesel since there is no throttle plate.

 

so what is the advantage of having a wastegated turbo, so the blow off valve woundnd work

 

The wastegate keeps you from making too much boost.

A BOV on a gasser keeps the turbo from stalling when you close the throttle. We don't have a throttle, so we don't need a BOV.

 

where can you get external waste gates,