Help with mods ?
 

Hey Y'all,
Not sure if this is the correct place for this but I figured I'd start off here with the locals.
Looking for some advice and opinions on what direction I should go next in mods.
I have a basically stock 2005 QC SB Auto.
I would only like to do things only once so I am asking for some help here.
I just added Boost and ETG gauges I have a tranny gauge but have not hooked that up yet.
Not 100% positive on where to cut the tranny line for the sensor.
I plan to get bigger tires, somewhere in the 33-35" range in the "near" future (probably before next summer).
Exhaust is stock but I think I may go with a Donaldson M090535 51" Muffler.
Not sure what to do with the Cat.
I would like to improve the performance and fuel efficiency but not looking to go too crazy probably stay < 500hp so a chip/programmer will be necessary. Looking for something easy to use, that is safe and efficient.
Is a Smarty the way to go? If so which one?
Tranny – don’t like the way this stock tranny works, but I guess I am stuck with it for the time being,

Any and all advice is appreciated.
TIA

**Warning** its a slippery slope when you start to mod your truck.

That being said I am not sure about the trans line, someone will chime in. The exhaust I just have a muffler delete with cat still in place and I think it sounds great. Others have full straight pipe, some have mufflers also. The Donaldson is a nice muffler but a little more than I personally want to spend. I have the Smarty SR and it works great, set it and forget it. The Smarty JR will get you to 500 if it is stacked with a Puck. As for the trans, depending on your plans for the truck you can get away with a upgraded TC and VB usually.

god id love to get an updated VB and convertor. MY convertor slips when I pull my toyhauler and have the JR on anything but economy........sucks

My bro has a TST on his 04.5 and it does pretty well. Anything over 3 on the box will slip the tranny (it goes to 10). The timing on the TST is fairly aggressive.

i would suggest upgrading the trans first. then adding the power in it you are only going for 500 rwhp i would say you need a vb, converter, laminate flex plate, billet input and intermediate. talk to garmon directly for the trans. i would run a edge hot juice with attitude and a edge ez i dynoed 507 rwhp with that combo and you can upgrade the turbo and do the bag of parts for the cp3 to get more rwhp.

as for the trans line i have one that is off my 05 already cut and is just sitting in my garage you can have in trade for your trans line.

I also have a TST but dang they are dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. That is how I blew my HG.

i also have a tst stacked with the smarty and its how i scored the tops of my pistons. got close to starting the meltdown of the pistons.

I am well aware of that, put butt tons of $$ into my last Truck (Chevy gasser).

Thought about straight pipe, but didnt want it too loud, but I do wanna be able to hear the truck. Hoping to get a nice deep tone. I guess I need to meet some of y'all and listen to the various exhaust configurations.

why do you recommend Garmon?
How are they different/compared with Goerend, ATS, or any other Tranny builder?

What the pro/cons of a Smarty vs Edge

Pardon all the questions... just tryin to learn, been reading a lot over the last couple months but this is my first diesel build.
Done a fair share of cars, trucks, jeeps, but new to the diesel world.

You should stop in at Wilson's Tire and Alignment there in town and talk to Brian. He will get you hooked up...

travis, what setting were you on when you popped it? For my bro's sake.

I turned off the boost control. I believe it was 6/4/2 for the settings.

garmon or goerend i would stay away from the others. there are alot of people out there that are very happy with their garmon and goerend transmissions. smarty is a downloaders the edge is plug and play. the smarty programming can be a little wilder than the edge tunes. you can update the smarty using your computer edge you have to send it away. smarty has to be reloaded in order to change the power levels edge is just a push of the button as you're driving.

I noticed in older thread I think you also mentioned HTS?

i have a HTS and one of the other guys here runs a HTS after i broke a second gear band and rebuilt the trans it has been ok but not like it used to be. going to look at the clutches and all again when i replace the output shaft.