Hello, I am new to this forum thing a friend recommended it it to me said that he gets a lot of feedback from his forum so i thought i would give it a try. So, here are a couple of questions for those of you who know; I was thinking about upgrading the cold air intake to an Airaid System and i am not sure what the difference is between brands and what to look for. As well as a new exaust with a flowmaster muffler, i would like to go true duels with two Mufflers but not sure if i need to or if it would make a difference in power as opposed to just duels with one Flowmaster, gas, and so on what would be the benefit either way. I would like to include new headers and i am also not sure what brand to get. My overall goal is sound, apperence and HP, as well as possibly get better gas milege although that is not a main concern. I do not want to upgrade the computer chip, but was told that i may need to if i do the other upgrades. I own a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7L Quad cabshortbed pickup. It is all stock and would like to just make these few improvements. Last improvement i would like to make would be a tonneu cover fiber glass color matched by ******* would like to know if is worth the money or if there is another brand that would look just as good and cost less. Thanks for the help i will use extra money from here to purchase the upgrades.

 

Everything you stated sounds good and would be good for the truck. You will notice a huge difference from the headers to no headers, as for the single to true duels, if you get the headers, get the true duels. It will allow the truck breathe a little better. As for the CAI, I have an airraid unit and like it. I do not think that there is much of a difference between brands. They all look, mount and run the same. Anything is better than stock though. Getting more air in, and allowing more air out will increase your gas mileage a little bit, not much though. The only way you will see a noticeable difference in MPG is to get a tuner of somesort. This will improve throttle response and detonation. Any exhaust you get with will improve your sound, but the big question would be how loud do you want it and how much money are you willing to put into it. I myself just wanted a nice rumble when I got into it but at the same time, wanted a quiet ride when I was at cruising speeds. I have the Flows catback single to duel out. Works great for me. As for the Tonneau cover, you will get mixed answers on this as well. Look, find the one you like, and buy it. Take into account if you like to haul alot of big stuff then, you might want to look into a cover than can be rolled or folded out of the way.

Hope this helps alittle and I am sure there will be others that chime in for some great advice.

 

Good thing your a Marine,

People love to argue here over which productis best.

Some people will post HUGE amounts of information they found on the internet to support their claims only to not have read it fully themselve and end up inserting foot in mouth.

You have picked a good Forum though, most of the people here are honest and helpful.

I'm not a Marine but I respect the hell out of em!
Glad you made it home bro! OooRa!

 

Sounds like you've got a great start there, by doing the intake and exhaust your going to feel a HUGE difference in throttle response. Also as stated above your truck with breathe alot better. This is going to help you with HP and gas mileage (but only if you can keep your foot out of the gas with the new sound) Have you checked out any certain flowmasters yet?

 

a tonneau cover will help out the MPG. and it looks good. i prefer the fiberglass ones. they can cost anywhere from $1000-1300 w/ installation.

 

the headers will help but long tubes are the way to go. they will also lean your af ratio out pretty bad, id recomend the 6.1l cam first as its simple bolt in and compatible with no codes or tuning. works on completly stock truck and most see gains of 25-35 rwhp stock. Plus it cost less than 200 bones for the whole swap. if your gona do the headers look into an arc-1 or a psc-1 they allow you to tune the af ratio at certain rpms. oh and an wideband af ratio gauge. It poitnless to add 10 hp only to have the pcm take it away as it leans out the af ratio. our trucks lean out pretty bad in third gear at wot to begin with so the arc-1 would really help out

 

If you have the SRT Ram then you would have the V10 Viper engine.

To talk upgrades it helps a lot to know what engine you have. If you have the 5.7L Hemi and you want to run Long Headers you will need to have your computer re-programmed or do other mods to off set the changes. I know of 2 cams that you can run with out needing a new program. 1 is the 6.1L cam and the other was talked about here about a month ago. It produced more power then the 6.1L cam.

As for exhaust I am sure the true duals will help add more power as you add new parts but the difference in the change will only be minor until you start doing BIG power upgrades. Like stroking the engine, adding forced induction. And if you go with a Turbo you do not need to worry about an exhaust or intake since the STS Turbo replaces the intake and the exhaust will power the turbo near the end of the system (STS Turbos are rear mounted).

You should decide how much money you want to spend and what your goal is on the track or in HP/T. If you can give a dollar figure the guys here will start shooting out part names for you fast.

 

Pappy... you are always good at making me laugh!!!

 

 

I'm modding as I go, not as fast as I would like, But I'm taking my time.

The first thing you should do is decide what you want your truck to do and from thier set some goals. I don't have a endless supply of cash for larger injecters, 6.1 hemi cams, long tube headers, ect.

So far I have added dual ex and removed the y pipe, dynomax has a ultra flow mufler that has two inlets, two out lets that X in the middle, the mufler is not loud but I'm convinced it's a improvement in mpg over stock.

I have switched to mobil 1 and noticed a slight improvement in mileage.

My next debate is a CAI, I'm convinced any thing you can do to lower the intake temp of air is better and more efficant for the engine, my hemi runs stronger with a stock air box when the temp is cooler in the morning than in the heat of the day.

As for who has the best CAI for the money, I'm more confused, than ever.

I use mid grade flue and will never run reg in my truck, the chips and the tunners scare me, I'm of the old school thought, if I replace a part with a better part that I can see, I know what I'm doing, to trust something out of the box that interfaces with the holly working's of my truck scares the hell out of me.

IF your not careful, you can spend a lot of coin thinking your improving performance and mileage and not accomplish much of a improvement.

2006 Dodge Ram reg cab 2500 5.7 6sp reg cab 4x4 SLT, 373 lt slip 18,000 KM best milage to date 23 MPG high way 60 mph..

Installing a cab high Apex topper ( the style that looks like a SUV- Flush mount glass ) seems to have been the best improvement for milage.

This truck is not a racer due to the gearing of the 6sp,