Well guys... I'm headed to the Dark Side...
 

The Maggie kit has been an absolute blast and has performed flawlessly in the year and roughly 8k miles its been on my truck. It is now for sale (with extras) and I will detail that in a thread in the Parts Classified Section when I can get the pics and extras together and posted. Been thinking long and hard about this... and want to return to my original dream and make it a reality.

I am going to go with a Full-Race Single Up Top Turbo kit. The mostly complete kit I obtained today was their display model. Full-Race found it difficult to market the kit...

Below are some pics of the exact kit I bought... but I didn't get turbo, waste gate, intercooler, and crossover pipe. I will spec my own turbo. The intercooler shown was just a mockup intercooler for the display... not one speced for the kit. The waste gate was sold off the display... and the crossover pipe was robbed for an emergency to fab some race car piping. I got the kit for an awesome one time deal and will not complain about missing parts. I also received all the cold section black powdercoated aluminum piping and silicone couplers. The cold section is setup for a truck with a waterpump driven fan. Both exhaust manifolds are constructed of Schedule 40 304L and roboticly TIG welded. The head flanges are 3/8". The turbo flange is 1/2". The primarys are 1 5/8" ID. Collecters are the race merge style. I tried weighing the passenger manifold on my bathroom scale and its says 18.1 pounds. I really think its more than that... damn its heavy. I will need to come up with all the ancillary hardware... that will be cake as I know exactly what I need. I will probably have GHL Motorsports fab up the rest of the down pipe from the existing c-clamp to the stock location cat-back entrance... with more than likely a very large high flow metal matrix cat. The Corsa Sport cat-back I have should more than suit my exhaust needs for now. Right now I'm figuring 5-6psi of boost... as I am in no hurry for a motor or tranny upgrade. Wussy boost I know but its my daily driver... and I can turn up the wick when I can afford to put together the LS6 I have and go with a 4L80 conversion.

Anyway, enjoy the pics... more to come soon. Gotta sell my Maggie now so I can buy a nice turbo:D

Bill :cheers:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT1.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT2.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT3.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT4.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT5.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...stall/FRT6.jpg

nice looking kit

if ya dont mind sharing, is there a website to look at there kits and what does a kit normally cost

I will PM you the website and full kit retail price as Full Race is not a sponsor of Performance Trucks. Just to let you know publicly though... Full-Race is probably not real interested in getting back into the GM truck market... hence the reason they cut the display loose to me. I will not speak for them though...

Bill :)

bastards never knew they had a kit

Its to bad they couldn't produce more, but I can see the expense that would come with hot parts of that quality. That looks awesome.

No doubt... their hot section parts are a work of art - WELL engineered... and I expect them to outlive the truck their going in. Their import stuff is truely amazing. FWIW their main guy holds a BSME from ASU!

Bill :cheers:

glad somebody finally got it. i called them awhile back and he said they would make another crossover and sell me just the hot parts for $2400. i thought about it a couple of weeks and when i called back he said he wanted $4200 for just the headers. i'd like to know what you ended up getting it for if you don't mind. shoot me a pm

Purrrdy, look at those welds. Damn they are nice.. Looks like it will be a nice setup man.

With all due respect I would rather not discuss what I paid for the kit. Chad at Arizona Power and Sound had called them and alerted me to a possible deal. Chad knew I had a high interest in the kit. Needless to say what he was quoted and what I wound up paying for it were not the same. I paid more. When I walked in and asked about the kit I was quoted more than the $4200 (cost by the way - not anywhere near retail) you were. But I had Chad with me and the guy that originally quoted him was there so we struck a bargain. It was a one time only great deal... why I would rather not disclose the price publicly or privately. And I think they let the display go to me as they had not found public interest for the kit. When I picked the kit up today and talked with them... they seem to have no real interest in building the missing crossover pipe... but I didn't press them too hard on it as it really isn't a problem. These guys are PLENTY busy building highend import kits. Feel free to call them though :)

Bill :cheers:

Great looking kit, glad that I could help you out and hope that this kit becomes.......different story. :bang: :bang:


Chad

Thanks for looking out for me bro... much appreciated. We have alot of work to do ;) :devil:

Bill :cheers:

Those are some very nice welds. Hot parts look great. I think you made a good decision. You've got the only one ever built.... :)

If it were from the U of A, it would've included a cross over pipe. :jest: JK.
It looks like a very nice kit to say the least, and swear I've seen it before somewhere. Like in a dream or something. It's easy to see why it wasn't cost effective for them to produce. There's not a lot of corner cutting or compramising going on there. :judge:

So is full race a AZ/Phx based company?

welcome to the dark side :devil: :devil:


Man.... I loose the magna charger 2 years ago for a turbo and now everyone is doing it. And people said trends dont start on the Eastcoast :jest: :jest:

Yes, Full-Race is in Tempe :)

That I know/heard of... there is one other kit on a 4WD 1/2 ton ECSB Silverado here in town... and the only one currently on the road. I could be wrong. My understanding is that truck dipped deep into the 12's... but kept losing tranny's. Also, this guy tried to sell his kit here on the forum I believe at the beginning of last summer for around $6k complete because he was breaking tranny's... but was unsuccessful cutting it loose. Last I heard is the guy was gonna do a new motor and tranny combo built to handle the power reliably.

Bill :)

Well... we try to not let the tumbleweeds grow underneath our feet :jest: :devil:

Bill :cheers:

Sweet Turbo Kit Bill!!! :nod: Good luck with it! I can't wait to see some numbers. :burn:

Man bill it looks really good. Wana trade hot parts? :jest:

Cant wait to see how your build goes. If you need anything for the build up let me know I have a friend of mine that runs a turbo shop that can get really good deals on stuff.

Thanks bro... been keeping a close eye on your progress. Good job!

I need to sit down and determine exactly what I'll need... but I may hook up with your source :cheers:

Bill :)

that kit is amazing. in responce to your pm about what turbo to run.. i dont know much about the gt turbos so i can't say on those. of the turbos i know something about i think a t70 or t72 with a .83 ar would be a moderate turbo, not too big or small. i would skip the ball bearings. dont get stuck too long on picking just the right turbo. they aren't all that expensive and you can sell your old one for at least half of what you pay for it so trying a few diferent turbos wont cost you all that much. if you go with something like i got(gts70, 850fwhp, really probably ~600max rwhp on a 5.3) you can upgrade all the way to a gts76 wich is rated at 1150fwhp and will bolt right in place of the gts70.

Thanks Parish! Does the GTS70 have a 3" band clamp exhaust setup?
Thanks Again :cheers:
Bill :)

Bill did you find out if the 70 has the 3" band clamp exhaust setup or 4''?

Innovative doesn't have that info on their website. Maybe parish will let us know... or I can call Innovative tomorrow :)

Bill :cheers:

I went with a precision GTQ72 on mine with a .96 A/R and it is capable of 900 fwhp. It uses a 3" v band on the exhaust side. I havent been able to get on it yet, but under very conservative driving it doesnt seem like it will take much to get it spooling, especially with the 2800 stall.

the gts70-gts76 all still have the 3" vband exhaust.

congrats Bill! sounds like good fun bro!

Thanks grippy:)... I almost pulled the trigger on an MP122... but finally got the turbo kit I dreamed about but could not afford at the time. Finally had some good luck roll my way:D Now I just gotta keep the wick turned down until I have money to upgrade the motor and tranny...

Bill :cheers:

Got to see the hot parts in person today. Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks Keith...nice to meet you yesterday :)

Bill :cheers:

now that I'm home and can post more than 3 words without it taking 15min to upload, ahhhhh, WTF over? first Brian, now you? they are two seperate roads for making power, why the change, obviously your happy and have thought it out Bill, I just don't remember you talking of Turbo before, spill the beans brotha :judge: of course congrats again :)

grippy,
The story starts a little over a year ago... :D

Initially when I considered forced induction for my truck I was entertaining several options. I had my heart set on the Full-Race turbo kit when it was available at the time but the price was almost double that of a Magnuson kit and the turbo kit was not complete in that I still would have had to supply fuel upgrades (including injectors) and tuning. I also looked into the Livernois kit... even chatted with Rick a little bit. But a year ago Livernois halted shipping on their turbo kit to redesign it. I called W2W and asked about their truck turbo kit... as described in Will Handzel's book. But that kit was a W2W install only... and they wanted $10k installed (not including expenses of getting the truck there and back). I also looked into the Kenne Bell kit. I tried calling, faxing, and emailing Kenne Bell inquiring as to the release and/or availability of their intercooled truck kit. I pretty much surmised that the KB product wasn't an option based on their TOTAL lack of response. Another option I looked at was the Magnuson kit. I have installed several Magnuson kits on C5 Corvette's, a GTO, and trucks/SUV's. I have always been impressed with how complete Magnuson's kits are and the fact you could purchase a drivetrain warranty. Magnuson powered vehicles are fun to drive and very reliable. Here I was holding cash in hand and it appeared at the time that my personal choices had dwindled down to one option. A local Magnuson distributor had a kit on the shelf. So, I pulled the trigger... drove down to the distributor, picked up the kit, faxed Magnuson my calibration info, and called it a day. I felt comfortable with my decision to purchase the kit... because my intention was to install the kit... and leave it. Indeed, I owned a 98 Z71... put a 4" Pro Comp Lift Kit on it, some wheels and tires, and drove it for 5 years doing nothing else to it. So, it was my intention to do the same with my 06 Silverado. For some reason though I couldn't leave well enough alone. Once news of the MP122HH came out and then the TVS... the little mouse wheel in my head started turning. Pretty soon I had an LS6 block in my garage and was biting at the bit on a decision to purchase an MP122 retro kit from Tony or wait for the TVS. I had thoughts of going with a forged LS6 (maybe 382) and a 4L85 conversion to support the new found power somewhat reliably... as this truck is my daily driver. But I had a friend (Chad@AZPS) called me last week and told me the Full-Race display kit was For Sale (minus a few items) at a one time reduced price. The price I was quoted was almost too good to believe... so I headed down there the day I got the phone call and wound up walking out with the kit. It was an impulse buy... but this turbo kit was a top 1 or 2 choice all along... I just couldn't afford it at the time. grippy, I was happy with the Magnuson kit. I have no complaints. And I felt comfortable staying with a Magnuson (based) product because of the support it has... hence I was getting ready to follow basically the path you are pioneering. You are addressing all the concerns I had about screwing with a great kit and try to keep it reliable and high quality. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity of this turbo kit...

Bill :cheers:

ahhh, I understand now, thatnks for taking the time to explain things. Sounds like the Turbo was the first choice all along so you ended up where you started! Awesome, I'm glad that deal worked out so well for you brother, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

So are you going crazy decided on the perfect sized Turbo for good throttle response and power? Lot's of research to do now :judge: :bang: :jest:

Ya, turbo sizing is a chore. I want 550 crank horsepower on my stock 5.3. I want full boost by 2500-3000RPM. I want roughly 6psi... with the ability to go to about 9psi without boost drop off. And when my drivetrain is upgraded (346 or 382 with 4L85E) I want to go to 10-12psi. Kinda hard to spec a turbo to meet all of those requirements. What will wind up happening is I will buy a turbo for the stock 5.3 motor. And when I am ready to shoehorn in the LS6 I will sell that turbo and buy a bigger one... just like what parish was talking about. So far I have gotten alot of ideas on turbo's... Innovative GTS70, Precision PT67, Turbonetics T62-1, a Garrett based T4 based T60-1 with a .70 exhaust A/R, and a T4/T04E 60 Trim Garrett based ballbearing turbo a .82 A/R. Hard requirements are an undivided T4 flange with a 3" v-band exhaust. What I don't know yet is if Tangential and On Center exhaust havings have exhaust exits in different locations. My turbo kit was fabbed with a Tangential T4 housing... so may wind up with that anyway. I have been told by several people that ballbearing turbo's are not necessary... but I want the best possible throttle reponse along with the quickest possible boost. I am willing to spend the money on a ballbearing turbo but only if it truely does help me. Seeing is how my first turbo purchase will be more/less a transition turbo... maybe a cheaper journal bearing turbo is the way to go... I don't know.

Bill :)

lol, that sounds like work!

What about a GT37 like the stock Livernois kit comes with, should be good for your 5.3L.

Isn't that a T3 turbo? If it comes with a T4 exhaust housing I would certainly entertain it :)

Bill

It is a t4 housing. :)

3" band clamp too? Ballbearing option?

I'm pretty sure it had a 3" band clamp housing, have no idea about ball bearing option. Put up a post about the GT37, someone should know. :D