Ive been looking into turbo charging my 1999 ram sport. Its a 1500 with the 360. However, I am planning on changing out the headgaskets for a much tougher gasket to handle extra pressure as well as hughes plenum. My question is after I do this, what would be my max boost PSI?

Also, heres a couple other questions that I can't seem to find...
1: I got a turbo off a JD 4430 which is a 6.6 diesel and its free because the tractor got junked and is just setting in the junkyard. Can I use the turbo on my 5.9 without harming it? Id have waste gate and probably a BPV for efficiency. Id rather not use to small of a turbo though because Ive heard too small means to much stress and youll rip em' apart.
2: My plan would be putting the turbo under the bed or something similar. Yall think itll work with my truck?

HERE is a really good link for what I am trying to do, just on a much much tighter budget. There is not going to be a project if I can't use the turbo I have though unless I get lucky and find a used one out of a junkyard. We have a lot of trucks laying around that I can get 3+ inch exhaust off as well as cats. Ill probably make a true dual exhaust with a 4-5 inch collector somewhere for the turbo and then split back off (somewhat contridicting to a "true" dual exhaust).

Engine Specs Here

Price list as of now:

BPV and wastegate (PSI pending on answers I get)-100$
Hughes Plenum Gasket-120$
Headgasket-100$ (Estimating, I don't know which ones I should get)
Misc-probably whatever it costs for a program plus intake adapter for throttle body.
Im almost sure I am missing something but...
I feel that I am being conservative (or I am lying to myself) when I estimate 500$ for a setup with some searching for parts and jumping on good deals. Itd be a "get the parts over a period of time and then do it" project.

 

If the engine survives boost at all, your transmission won't if it's stock.

 

You can't do forced induction on a shoestring budget PERIOD. You need to replace the stock intake with an M1 or Air Gap cause if not you'll continue to blow plenum gaskets.


And as Greywolf said, no sense in building the engine without first building the tranny. And you're going to spend $2,500 min to get a tranny that will live behind any boost.

 

I built my trans behind what at the time was a stock engine...cost me more than three grand. Even then it's a 46RE it WILL NOT SUPPORT more than 500-550 ft lbs...even major companies who build say...the megaviper will tell you flat out 600-700 hp sure... 550 FT LBS is a different deal, transmissions have a torque rating for a reason.

 

Yea, Ive considered that and already decided I wouldn't turbo without a manual being swapped in first. I have been toying with the idea of swapping out the ECM, wiring harness, and put a 2500 5 speed out of a chevy. Id have to make an adapter and probably switch clutches depending on input shaft. It may not work, but I haven't done research to show that it won't. As far as the air gap, I figured I could put a pretty big TB spacer to help and the intake tube from under the truck would be fairly long. I don't know much about it, I have just done some research and tried to get an idea.Hopefully I can get some more answers here.

 

TB Spacer? Why? It doesn't do a darn thing on our trucks. Boost or no.

The two piece kegger intake won't take boost. You will blow out gaskets every time you step hard on the gas.

 

welded hughes plate is about all you can really do...and I for one hate welding cast.

 

Great info guys. Thanks. However, and I am really not trying to argue here, but what is the reason for why I can't do the kegger mods, install the plenum gasket, replace the head gasket with a thinner and stronger gasket, and keep the boost low? I don't know much about this kind of thing, so I can't do anything but assume and do research. Also, forget about my budget, I just wanna see what the minimal is. Im not looking for a race truck, just some quick and easy power with a cool turbo ;P
Also, Ill probably do a tranny swap once this one goes out. Its got a 159978 miles on it and its NEVER been rebuilt. Its had 3 owners and the last one asked the original and neither of them had done anything to it except adjust bands and change fluids. I am a manual guy though, so Ill get the ECM, wiring harness, clutch assembly, flywheel etc. off another truck and figure out which tranny I wanna go with. Probably a 2500 tran like the NV4500 or NV3500. I found a excellent conversion thread from auto to the NV3500.

Again, Thanks for the help.

 

Mostly it's the design of the engine and the head itself. The head is prone to cracking already from exhaust heat and adding a turbo will only exacerbate the issue. Truly if we stop and talk about JUST the engine...Even with the stock plenum plate you could probably boost 6psi, I've seen a few 360s run with centrifugal superchargers to 6 psi or so pretty reliably.

 

Ah, ok. Now I am understanding. Thanks.