I will be going with a remote turbo setup myself by this time next year. First i am going to get a air gap intake manifold and double roller timing chain hopefully within the next couple of months. When i do these mods i will do a thorough check over the motor and see if it is up to handeling boost, i would suggest you do the same. Compression test at least. I may try to throw a rv cam and nee headgaskets with ARP hardware as well. After all of that all i will lack is larger fuel injectors and a megasquirt then i will be ready for the turbo setup.

 

Pikers......

The stock cam sucks. There are a host of aftermarket cams that will be computer friendly, and may not even need a custom tune, that will be orders of magnitude better than the stock cam. Chat with the cam manufacturer of your choice, tell 'em what ya got, what ya wanna do, and see what they suggest. Find out if the cam is computer friendly or not. If it's not gonna be friendly, chat with hemifever before buying.

Hemifever is the ONLY tuner that I am aware of that will do the 96 and 97 trucks.

 

sweet

 

But it all goes back to what you want to do (and how much $ one has to throw at it)! If it is just going to be a DD for going to work, not much return. Wanting performacne for wheeling or something - better utility for the $....imho.....not that best bang for $ has been my greatest concern....

 

You forgot to budget for a Mega Viper

 

I am probably just jaded by past experience. Factory cams are a compromise, a "one size fits all" type of deal, not to mention the constraints the manufacturers are operating under... so, by design, the factory cams are trying to "do it all", and therefore, don't do any of it as well as they could. Installing a cam specifically matched to how you want to use your truck, (along with all the supporting parts*....) is indeed more expensive than it used to be back in the day of flat tappet cams.... but, given some of the prices folks pay for mods that really don't return much at all in the way of performance, (e-fans..... especially the purchased kits...) for that kind of money, I could do a cam and such that would make a REAL difference in my motor.

*supporting parts: Heads, intake, exhaust, valve springs, etc.

 

$110 for my E-fan setup was well worth it to me just to drop the weight of the front of the water pump for good (and all the other benefits that come with that). Also, I couldn't get my old clutch fan off, so I would have had to buy a new one anyway.

 

No i didnt, i think i will be having to purchase one come tax time. We will see if my current tranny makes i through the next week. I got 3 or 4 almost 10k loads to pull on a 30 mile journey.

 

Just stay outta overdrive and you'll be fine! A trans temp gauge would be extremely useful if you don't already have one

Edit:

While looking at another thread it would appear that you already have a trans temp gauge... Doh!