So, I've acquired a victim for this project. '05 2500 LT, 6.0/4WD from AZ. I spent a few days after it arrived changing the oil in the engine, trans, and differentials. Still need to do the transfer case.

Slapped on a 41930 hitch and put it to the test towing my M3 300 miles round trip down to Watkins Glen for an HPDE weekend. I slept in the truck for 3 nights at the track with plenty of room for all my overnight and cooking stuff. The rig was comfortable and towed great, no doubt due to the long wheelbase and heavy weight.





My only gripe was that I wished for a bit more power up the hills. Which brings me to my next thoughts regarding the turbo build...

Definitely going to stick with a stock cam, but will be upgrading valvesprings. I've had good luck with the PAC1218s in my turbo 6.0 Jaguar but may use a high quality dual spring from BTR for extreme reliability.

The two big things I'm still pondering are the turbo choice and torque converter.

I am brainstorming for the turbo build and still need to talk with Viren at VSR, but I'm thinking a cast 6673 or 7875 would be good. I don't plan to exceed 10-12 lbs or 5500 rpm as this is a towing rig, so I think the 7875 might be overkill. The goal is reliablity and instant boost response at a low RPM (2000 or so). Don't think I want or need more than 500 whp.

Regarding the converter - research has told me that sticking with a stock converter for towing is the way to go. I agree with this on the premise that a low stall will heat the trans fluid less, but my concern is that towing up long hills under boost with the stock converter clutch locked may chew up the clutch and trash the trans.

On the other hand, a looser converter like I have in my 6.0 turbo Jag is amazing for getting up to 3000rpm quickly and lighting off the turbo rather than lagging off the line. A triple disc will also allow me to lock the converter under boost up hills, although I'm not sure even that will survive under boost with 6000 lbs of truck and 7000 lbs of trailer behind it.

Other random thoughts...
-HD2 kit in 80E, Trucool 40K mounted low up front
-The 4.10 gears in it will help get the big girl moving
-Cast china log, small 2.25/2.5" crossover and 3" DP into a straight through muffler
-Enable Flex fuel with sensor, run blend of 93 and E85 depending on availability and need
-Suggestions on injector? I like the Deka 80s.
-Wally 450 in tank in the stock basket
3" A2A I/C

Open to suggestions on turbo and converter.

 

12psi might be a little much for stock pistons...it can be done but I wouldn't chance it. 8psi max is what I'd shoot for, for reliability. 80lb dekas will be fine but you'd be ok with 60's and they will be easier to idle tune. Although I turboed my son's stock 5.3 and we run 80's.

Convertor: I'd keep the stock one and manipulate the lockup setting to NOT lockup going uphill.
Cooler: Biggest trans cooler you can fit.
-HD2 kit in 80E, Trucool 40K mounted low up front meh, not a fan of shift kits. You can do what you need in the tune file.
-The 4.10 gears in it will help get the big girl moving I agree
-Cast china log, small 2.25/2.5" crossover and 3" DP into a straight through muffler good enough
-Enable Flex fuel with sensor, run blend of 93 and E85 depending on availability and need not a bad idea but not needed
-Wally 450 in tank in the stock basket will be too much if you don't have a return system. heats up the fuel and strains the pump if you don't use a pwm controller on it. I don't think you need that much pump.
3" A2A I/C sounds like a plan

 

How would you tune the ECU to not have the converter locked going up a hill? I'm guessing you'd just set the lock/unlock with amount of throttle?

 

that’s correct. Going up a hill will require more throttle. Nice thing is he has a tow/haul button and that gives him two completely different transmission maps at the press of a button. The stock converter is tight enough to not lock it up going uphill. Heat will be the problem if he doesn’t have a big enough cooler.

 

Yeah that's how I do it in Terminator X on the Jag. Anything over 30% and it unlocks to save the converter. Actually helps spool because the engine can flash up and drive the turbo more quickly. I also have it set up to only lock in 4th gear.
Not sure how to do all this in HPTuners, so I would need to look into it.
The reason I bring up converter lock is because the factory strategy for towing is to lock the converter under load, presumably to prevent heating the trans fluid quickly. Not sure I want to do that on a single disc stock converter that has 200K on it.

 

12psi too much for stock pistons? Come on dude. I ran my Gen 3 6.0 in my Crown Vic on straight 93 running 14 psi all over town for years with no issues. The E85 is a safety net due to more vehicle weight, load, and towing conditions.

The reason I was thinking 450 was the relative availability and the additional headroom for E85 flow. Ran that on 2 other builds as well, and with a boost referenced regulator I can dump the return fuel back to the tank. Tank holds 38 gallons by the way...might take a while for a 450 to heat that up.

I also don't see any negative in the HD2 kit. Ran them in a couple different builds and they always behaved predictably while increasing the torque capacity of the trans.

 

if you need help with the lock settings, just message me.

You do want it to lock as much as you can, but going uphill is not a good idea unless your over 3500ish rpms. Being locked up real low rpm is hard on everything, you'd also want to faniggle your shift points and have it hold out rpms in 3rd gear uphill. I would not let it shift to overdrive except when you are cruising on a flat highway or very very slight grade. Keep in mind the stock convertor diameter is later than a aftermarket stall with a triple disc. The stock stall lockup clutch should hold more than a single disc stall convertor. the triple disc is probly to make up for the lack of clutch with a smaller diameter convertor. The factory convertor clutch lining is also tougher in which it can withstand slipping due to pwm setting...however, I'd turn pwm off in this situation. you'll set the tcc duty cycle to a max of 100% and a min to 98%.

 

I’m only speaking from my own experience. I had a 5.7 on pump 93 and I was running the timing at 11 degrees at 12 psi. I gave it one more degree of timing at the track and it broke a ring land. My thought is if you are at 12 psi in a suburban pulling a car up a hill, that’s probably a harder load than I was seeing in a car. If you are running e85 it’ll probably be more safe and running e85 I WOULD go with the 80lb dekas. I had a aeromotive 340 before I went to a return system and it would over heat the pump after about an hour of driving and it would lean out if I got into boost. It ended up destroying that pump. In my opinion, a 450 on a dead head system without a pwm controller is going to be too much. But hey, you might get lucky. I’m just giving you advice based on my personal experience. YMMV

i build transmissions and I’m basing that on the crap shift kits I’ve seen. People swear by an hd2 kit which increases pressure but you can do that in the tune for free and less hassle. If it were me, I wouldn’t put that junk in there. I avoid shift kits in all my builds. I don’t like blocking valves and putting spacers in places they don’t belong. Just my opinion.

 

I've boosted sbe ls1's to 15 psi with no problems. On pump gas it is doable and on e85 it's even less of a concern.

 

I am not sure the reliability of the source, but I read that the factory tolerance for the ring gaps has a range of .008". If correct, the tight end of the range would not be safe for nearly as much boost as the loose end of the tolerance range. Too much variability to give any reasonable "max boost" answer. And of course towing uphill would create much more sustained heat load than most acceleration runs.

 

I'm not sure if it matters, but I was also procharged and my IAT's have always been within 10 degrees of ambient except long periods of idle time when it will slowly creep up then drop once I start moving. This is with a hood on the car too LOL. I also keep my ECT at 180-185 even during the hottest day of summer even during long periods of idle time. I think that and the tune are the biggest factors. I've found that with E85 you can even run much more boost without gapping rings.

 

The 6.0 in this truck is original and has 195K miles so I will consider them "pre-gapped". I have plenty of E85 around me so that would get splashed into the tank while towing.

The worst hill I have encountered in my towing adventures is Rt 414 headed South right out of the town of Watkins Glen. It's about a 6% grade and a mile and a half up the hill.

Bone stock, I held the throttle at about 50% for about 2-3 minutes sustaining 50mph in 2nd. Had some more left in it but definitely was working.

 

I've messed with the converter lock tables in HPT with a past car, I think given your proven abilities you'd be able to figure it out.

 

At only 195k miles, I’d doubt the ring gap is that loose. I’d regap the rings if I was worried about thrashing the engine. Yeah it sucks to pull the motor just to regap rings but you’ll probably save the motor considering how heavy the tow rig is AND the added tow weight.

 

At what point is ring gap a necessity? I don't plan to run more than 10psi, and will have E85. Gotta go brush up on Richard Holdener's videos again...

 

My 180k mile lq4 is ungapped and runs 15.5 lbs , pump gas and WM injection. Opened up another 200k mile 6L and checked gap , top ring was .023 don't remember 2nd ring but my buddy ran the same set up as mine without issue . Lot of variables possible there , with your potential for minutes of boost at a time I would keep boost very low and probably gap at .025 minimum. E 85 gonna be a big help too