I have an 03 5.9L common rail. I want to wake it up a little bit so I am lookin for some upgrades to do just that. Would a stock 04.5 and up 5.9L turbo and exhaust work for this or would it be better to look for some aftermarket mods. Im lookin at a 450hp max limit as this is my daily driver and i tow MAYBE 10 times a year. I also want to be able to run it at truck fest when its in town and know the parts will hold up. But I am mostly lookin for mild fun power for it. Please let me know what you guys think some good options would be..turbo? clutch? Any and all help is appreciated.

 

I would recommend the following in order of priority. That will get you going but once it starts you may have to get a second job......
1. Gauges
2. SMARTY
3. Clutch

 

I did gauges first and turbo second. The turbo made a big difference by itself so that's a great place to start. Then changed the 3" (inside) muffler to 4" and GDP lift pump to get ready for fueling mods. Craig

 

Thanks for the replies. Bhuffstutter with the list I have right now I could already use a second job..lol. What is a cool blue tube?

 

Search Cool Blue here and you will find some pictures. It is an aftermarket hose from the airbox to turbo. It replaces the stock, some what restrictive tubing.

 

I just saw you have a 6 spd. That clutch will take more than the 5 spd clutch. I ran a Diablo Pred/Puck stack on the highest custom tunes and now a TST PMCR with the stock clutch. I've even had a little fun towing on the high power tunes and it sounds like a Saturn 5 rocket under the hood! I never mash the throttle at low rpm and never had the clutch slip. The 351 turbo is supposedly a 50hp bolt-on, in place of a 341 but it's still a 9cm2 turbine. You might want to think about something bigger once you have the fuel and a night job. I moved the batteries and built a huge filter/intake but I'd probably check into the later/deeper paper element for the oem box and swiss cheese the bottom. Does Hockmiller still have the wrecking yard at Hudson? Craig

 

Yeah that wreckin yard is still active. I have an AFE intake instead of the OEM. What brand of turbo would be best for what im lookin for? And the OEM clutches will really hold up?

 

If you do get gauges, Let us know what you got and how hard it was to install.
I really want some but have been confused as to what to get.

 

There's several good ones - phatshaft, htt, BD, garrett. 62/65/14 was the biggest I wanted with stock engine/fuel hardware. My phatshaft is good quality, good driving, cool egt towing with the fuel turned up and both sides of the turbine are wastegated. It's good to ~550 hp. The 14 turbine is a little slower spooling than a 12 around town but it's great for heavy towing and I'm more intersted in that. You just have to shop/read a lot to pick what's best for your hp and use. 351s are usually cheap and they're a jump up from the 341 - cost effective mod for a tight budget. The 351 has an electric wastegate but guys have figured out how to make them work on the 03s. Craig