Non-Studded performance?

[william_ace]

Hey guys, I wanted to pick your brains on some things that I am wanting to do. My truck currently is not studded. I just replaced the oil cooler, blue spring update, egr delete, full flush with ELC, 4" turbo back. Basically a good bit of preventative maintenance for the truck. I'm wanting to order a stage 1 or 2 MTW turbo soon and run a non studded tune on it for a while before i tear into it again to replace the bolts with studs. Do you think this will be a problem for the stock head bolts on what I consider to be a very healthy motor? Will the new turbo cause it to boost too much? The deltas are good and there is no egr to deal with anymore so I'm hoping this will buy some time before I do the studs. What would you do if you were in my situation? Thanks in advance.

- Will

[windrunner408]

I think you'll be fine even if you went with a Stage 2 turbo from MTW. They seem to be able to drive just fine even with stock tuning so any other tune that is safe for non-studded trucks should be fine even with the Stage 2. JMO.

[Dirty_Stroke]

I say you go for the turbo if that's your plans to eventually do it anyway. Since your planning on studding it in the future if it don't hold out and it starts blowing coolant now then oh well, you was going to stud it anyway.

[colo_dually]

I would normally consider getting the studs installed before adding the additional power of a newer turbocharger. Even then I would only run a 'street' level tune on stock bolts. There are some folks who will disagree with me on this, but the philosophy I hold is don't push more power than what you know the motor can handle. Tuning is only going to accelerate the stretching of stock bolts, a turbo will hasten that effect.

If you feel you are comfortable with getting a turbo, I would choose the Stage I from MTW. However, consider your long-term power goals. If you want to push that 500RWHP mark with a MTW Stage 2, and will be doing studs in the future anyway, I would simply hold off on the turbo until you get the studs installed.

[william_ace]

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess a safe option would be to do nothing until I have the studs installed but as we all know its hard to spend 6 grand all at once so I was hoping to ease the pain a little and gather and install parts slowly and over time. I'll probably end up going with a non studded tune for now and collect parts until TSD puts in the new studs. Opinions are always welcome so keep them coming!

[onebadcoastie]

Originally Posted by william_ace

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess a safe option would be to do nothing until I have the studs installed but as we all know its hard to spend 6 grand all at once so I was hoping to ease the pain a little and gather and install parts slowly and over time. I'll probably end up going with a non studded tune for now and collect parts until TSD puts in the new studs. Opinions are always welcome so keep them coming!

That's pretty much what I did, gather parts up but in the end, $6K is $6K, whether we spend it over a period of time or all at once. hahaha

[windrunner408]

EXACTLY. There are guys out there running 190s with factory head bolts and no problems so saying that adding power is going to blow head gaskets is like saying eating fried chicken will make you fat. It will only do either if done over a long enough period of time. Since you have the EGR gone and the oil cooler is good, you should be totally fine with a non-studded tune and the Stage 2 turbo. The additional air flow is not the problem. Higher cylinder pressures from the increase in timing in the tuning is pretty much what will cause you to blow head gaskets now. JMOs.

[BubbaJ]

I would have to say hold off on the turbo until you get studs... once you get studs.. have them slap the turbo in there while they have the old turbo out..

I wouldn't want to risk running a stage 2 charger with stock bolts... You will drive the truck differently with a stage 2 on it.. and you will decrease the life of your studs dramatically..

[turbotibbo]

i say dont worrie about the stock tty head bolts they could last the life of the truck . people get too hung up on what happened to others . as long as everything else is running good u should have no problems . just my 2 cents. good luck with what ever u do

[william_ace]

I spoke with Truck Source Diesel today and I think I'll be going by there tomorrow or early next week to buy the SCT and some tunes from them.