will gds 60mm upgrade be enough
All I can tell you is my truck came alive with the 16cm. You can get them for pretty cheap. With my 18.5 (and before the 3,200 spring) my truck was barely hitting boost just as it started defueling! The 16 is floating like the 18.5 so you won't have to worry about a wastegate, and I get 40 PSI out of my HTT Stage IV. The 14cm is expensive, and the 12 will spool instantly but kill your top end and make your EGT's unmanageable.
I can see where the 12 is recommended for a std trans but not so much an auto though.
i think for the coin the 60 wheel is a good upgrade. when i put it on it made a huge difference compared to the 54 wheel, then the 16cm later really woke it up. i have a ps cooler, just sitting on the shelf so no expeirence there. for reference though, my truck is heavy, probally about 12,000, or more, and in the summer months with the snow kit i can pull any grade holding about 1200f in 4th.
I have been very happy with my GDS 60mm upgrade i used a 14CM gated exhaust housing and with the Bosch 190 injectors i am running a lot cooler then it did with the stock injectors, stock compressor and stock 18.5 non gated housing. The upgrade made the truck a lot more fun to drive.
Thank you guys for all the input on the gds upgrade. After mulling it over Ive decided to go with a Holset HE351CW stock turbo for the 04.5-07 cummins. I found one for $325 on ebay plus a few things to make the swap work put me at about $400 instead of $290 for the gds plus $250 later for the 14cm exhaust housing most likely. 400 vs 550 .
Plus the HE351CW supports much higher hp and will cool much more efficiently as its makin the power. From what i read they have a 9cm undivided exhaust housing which sounds small but its supposed to feel like a 12cm divided. Its also a wastegated turbo so I can get a boost elbow and dial in my preferred boost #'s. I was already gonna purchase a new turbo back 4" exhaust so I just went ahead and got one to work with the he351.
I think Im gonna be very happy with this setup, at least for a little while. Should have this truck somewhere between 325-375 hp i think. Should be fun.
Thanks to Builtit for putting that thought in my head. I did a lot of research and in the end I feel that this was the best bang for the buck.
Plus the HE351CW supports much higher hp and will cool much more efficiently as its makin the power. From what i read they have a 9cm undivided exhaust housing which sounds small but its supposed to feel like a 12cm divided. Its also a wastegated turbo so I can get a boost elbow and dial in my preferred boost #'s. I was already gonna purchase a new turbo back 4" exhaust so I just went ahead and got one to work with the he351.
I think Im gonna be very happy with this setup, at least for a little while. Should have this truck somewhere between 325-375 hp i think. Should be fun.
Thanks to Builtit for putting that thought in my head. I did a lot of research and in the end I feel that this was the best bang for the buck.
Just keep in mind you cannot use the wastegate in stock form, you need to clock the turbo differently to make it work on our 1st gens and that means disconnecting the wastegate or building a different linkage setup. Its not a big deal though because we really dont need the gate unless pushing some crazy amount of fuel. I have my gate tacked shut and make a max of 39psi.
So after all the back and forth i went ahead with the he-351 and what an awsome choice it was! I installed an intercooler from a porsche and some custom pipes to hook everything up. I also made a custom bracket to keep the wastegate working with a boost controller. I wanted to be able to run boost at where i felt was the most fun to drive.
Long story short i had it all together for about a day and a half and smoked the trans. I knew the trans. was the weak link but i figured it would last longer than a day. Any way the cummins is amazing with my setup and i appreciate all the knowledge.
As of now my truck is running with:
134,000 mile 1989 cummins motor
he-351cw turbo at 38psi
porsche intercooler custom 3" pipes
ddp IV injectors
dynamic timing spacer
366 spring
denny t "1" fuel pin
pump tweaked
holley black electric uel pump
4" turbo back &
BHAF
I think i should be 350-400hp maybe 750lbs tq.
{What do you guys think for a hp/tq guess?}
It was enough to kill the turbo 400. So now I've ordered a high performance turbo 400. Should be here today for install soon. Im gonna do a thread based on turbo 400 behind 6bt soon to go over what needs to be done to make it work. Heres some pics of the completed cummins installed and done right with the he351 turbo.
Long story short i had it all together for about a day and a half and smoked the trans. I knew the trans. was the weak link but i figured it would last longer than a day. Any way the cummins is amazing with my setup and i appreciate all the knowledge.
As of now my truck is running with:
134,000 mile 1989 cummins motor
he-351cw turbo at 38psi
porsche intercooler custom 3" pipes
ddp IV injectors
dynamic timing spacer
366 spring
denny t "1" fuel pin
pump tweaked
holley black electric uel pump
4" turbo back &
BHAF
I think i should be 350-400hp maybe 750lbs tq.
{What do you guys think for a hp/tq guess?}
It was enough to kill the turbo 400. So now I've ordered a high performance turbo 400. Should be here today for install soon. Im gonna do a thread based on turbo 400 behind 6bt soon to go over what needs to be done to make it work. Heres some pics of the completed cummins installed and done right with the he351 turbo.
Last edited by quickrip; May 8, 2013 at 10:32 PM. Reason: pics upside down
If you get rid of that intake horn I bet you'll get more power.
Just a note; if you could get an intercooled water neck your top radiator hose will be much nicer (at least I think it will. The pictures are messing with my thinker).
Just a note; if you could get an intercooled water neck your top radiator hose will be much nicer (at least I think it will. The pictures are messing with my thinker).

Does the intercooled neck do something different? Fill me in here.
Fixed my pics. Sorry.
The later intercooled metal radiator necks have a 90* bend that directs the neck behind the fan rather than the NON intercooled neck that send it forward.
It just would cut down on the custom radiator hoses you have set up.
That is a wild intercooler set up - nice work !
It just would cut down on the custom radiator hoses you have set up.
That is a wild intercooler set up - nice work !
The later intercooled metal radiator necks have a 90* bend that directs the neck behind the fan rather than the NON intercooled neck that send it forward.
It just would cut down on the custom radiator hoses you have set up.
That is a wild intercooler set up - nice work !
It just would cut down on the custom radiator hoses you have set up.
That is a wild intercooler set up - nice work !
Never had any exp. with the 60mm upgrade as I chose the 351cw also, but did a lot of searching on the subject. The general feeling is that the 351cw is better in every aspect. It has better flow faster spool and can support more hp. I think you've got the better setup.









