You dont have to put the turbo under the truck. I am going to flip my shorties upside toward the front. I will run the driver side into a Y on the passenger side. I have already made the mounting flange with 1/4" steel plate, and 3" pipe. It will basicaly mount onto the passanger shorty.

The minumum i think you need for a turbo kit is...
Waste Gait....$300
FMU(if you go over @4-5psi)....$289
Inline FP....$250
Intercooler....$490 (new duramax intercooler)
Piping and hardware....$150

Total @ $1,475 Plus what ever you get the turbo for.

Still cheaper than the 5-6K for a built kit. As good though, that depends.

 

My concern is even with the stuff listed above you will still have subpar performance unless you get the right turbo and at that price you are almost at what some of the dealers will give you an STS kit for. I had another shop in my area wanting to give me a kit at cost so he could check them out before becoming a dealer. I guess I am getting lucky because I have 3 STS dealers willing to give me the kit DIRT cheap just to get their names out there. You might wanna look into that sort of thing also.

the $5K I am spending inlcudes the turbo kit, the Meth injeciton kit, 42lb injectors, tuning, install, dual-stage boost controller, new turbo cam, etc.

So there is gonna be a huge power difference that I'll be capable of. Junk yard turbo or not you're gonna spend some serious cash to attain any respectable power levels.

Although I'll get $400 of that back when I sell my AS&Ms

 

Dont get me wrong, i do think a turbo kit would be better, in alot of ways. One of the biggest reasons im doing my own kit is ive had this turbo sitting around for a few years, and its just the right size for my 5.3. And i already have some of the other parts needed. When i get it installed, if i get that sweet turbo sound and 100 more HP i will be happy. Anything more than that is a bonus.

 

Flanges can be purchased, rather than fabricated. Look at some site like Turbonetics, Cartech, Innovative Turbo Systems, etc. They are quite cheap. I have seen several people use the Cummins turbos with great success on their own jy turbo systems. That turbo maxes out at about 500 rwhp or so.

 

Yeah I wasn't seeking more than 100 HP jump. Just want a little bit more power. Think I'll need some tranny upgrades with this?

 

BTW, if you're spending that much on a wastegate, you're spending too much, you can get an awesome Tial wastegate for less than $300. And of course you don't have to run the turbo underneath, just seems like it would be less fabrication if someone were to do it themselves.