I have my current mods listed in my signature and now I'm ready to go a little further.

Question...

Should I go BHAF and upgrade the inlet tube next, or 4 inch straight pipe exhaust?

What about turbo housing changes or turbo upgrades? I sure loved the turbo whine of my previous truck (2002 with no silencer ring and 5 inch straight pipe exhaust). Can I get similar whine from my current truck?

 

If it were me I think I'd invest a little in the proper dial gauge and mount so as to set the IP timing proper (you'll know exactly where you're at). That way you could take better advantage of the fuel presented with the POD's.

Otherwise, get a BHAF and box it in so as to get cold air exclusively. If the budget's tight, skip the intake tube and run the stock OEM for now.

Air in, air out. Get a turbo back 4" exhaust system.

As far as the turbo, get a 16cm housing off a later model truck. I'm not 100% sure but they may come with a waste-gate, and if so, include a manual boost controller adjusted for you compressor set-up.
On that note, many appear to get very good results with upgrading the compressor side. Others will chime in with exact specs on that I'm sure.

Hope this helps.

 

Those are good suggestions, but from my experience with the POD's I have found that they like all the timing you can give them. Shove the pump over to the head.

I wouldn't bother with a 16 cm housing, with enough fuel the 18 cm runs pretty darn good - especially on an automatic where you only have to spool it once.

If you want whine get a compressor upgrade, even with a BHAF the stock compressor is pretty quiet. The extra air won't hurt anything either.

 

Lets talk turbo swaps then. Would there be anything to gain by swapping to a later model turbo like the HX35 my 2002 truck had? This turbo upgrade stuff is still voodoo to me. There's so many different options to choose from.

 

An HX-35 is an excellent swap if you can find a good one for a reasonable price. You want one off a 12 valve or an early 24 valve unless you plan to swap turbine housings. The later model HX-35's have a bolt-on elbow instead of a clamped on elbow and are not easily adaptable to the 1st gen downpipe. The earlier ones bolt right up, you just have to shove the exhaust back a little.

 

Instead of the BHAF, consider something like an AFE filter unless you drive on lots of dirt or gravel roads. The AFE will flow better than a BHAF, although maybe at the cost of a little filtering. Also, with either filter, it's a good idea to do as BC847 said and make a setup to get cold air to the filter.

If you want whistle, an HTT upgrade (Stage III or IV) will be great. The Stage IV/18cm cools well and spools fine on an automatic truck. The HX35 would work fine too, but it does have a slightly smaller compressor.

 

I didn't really notice the turbo whistle until I did my exhaust. Good exhaust made a big difference in how loud the turbo sounded to me. I can hear it spinning up and down all the time now, whereas before it was barely noticeable at all.

 

I would go with the AFE way befor the BHAF even on a dirt road, It will out flow and it is washable and can be mounted the same way. Or AFE makes one for your stock box that works great. I only use the K&N becous it was already in the truck. Others may disagree but I think you will like the 12cm or a 14cm way beter than a 16cm or 18cm and even though it is smallet I know on 2 of the trucks I have worked on they didnt run any hotter becous they had the extra boost and it came on faster. A larger exhaust will make a lot of differance in EGT's and whistle. I made a full 4" but let a friend have it becous I made a new 5" full turbo back and I love the sound.