I'm doing a little research for my brother-in-law.

He is wanting me to turbo his 05 Ram. He is wanting to bump his 5.7 from 345 HP to 450-500 and still be daily driver capable. I believe his ultimate goal is for his truck to keep up with his dad's Fifth Gen SS Camaro.

I decided I better do some research and find out what the stock bottom end can hold, what the weak links are and also the weak link in the transmission. I doubt that 500 HP is going to be an issue on the stock bottom end. I'm more worried about the transmission.

Are there any other oddball issues I might run into during the build/tune? Maybe PCM limitations for MAP sensors, etc? This is my first Hemi setup. Far from my first turbo, so I don't need the usual beginner info.

 

I would do a supercharger over a turbo any day.

 

I fabricate everything myself. I can get the entire turbo setup finished (turbo, wastegate, blow off valve, hotside and coldside piping, and intercooler) for far cheaper than a new supercharger head unit.
We are working on a $2000 budget, and that has to cover a hand-held tuner and fuel injectors. You're not going to be able to offer me a supercharger setup for that price.

 

If you use the same specs as an STS kit that should put you in the ballpark.
http://www.andysautosport.com/produc...AM57ST-NT.html
STS has their own site but I can't access it at work.

 

I'm not worried about the specs of the turbo kit. I have all of the parts laying around already. It'll be getting a single 70mm that will be mounted where the factory air box is now.

I'm worried about bottom end strength and any tuning concerns I might run into. A few people have told me to keep it no higher than 8 PSI, but that doesn't translate into any meaningful power/torque figures.

They also blame cast pistons as the weak point, but I've been putting the cast pistons in the LS motors through some insane hurdles at 20+ PSI on pump gas and they don't seem to mind. As long as you keep a cast piston cool, they live much longer.

 

Gotcha. Go twin turbo then .........weeeeeeee!

 

When even the moderators are trolls, its pretty obvious nobody is going to give me a straight answer on bottom end/trans strength or trans tuning tips lol.

 

Pretty quick with the troll trigger huh?

 

You proceed at your own risk. The engine wasn't designed for it, and no one is going to be able to condone putting a turbo on a Hemi. For what it's worth, my Hemi is going strong at 220k with the original transmission. I doubt I would be at that number if it was turbocharged! Why don't you just buy a secondary vehicle, instead of building something that will probably fail and cost you more?

 

Its not my truck. When someone pulls in saying they want a turbo, I don't always have much choice. Its a shame to hear that the stock internals in these are so weak.