Turbo Time
We had some ideas on which drop-in turbo would be best for Blue, but when it came down to it we wanted to go with a company who really knows Fords. Beans Diesel Performance in Tennessee recommended its Dominator 66 turbo, which features a 66mm comp wheel and machined comp cover. It also has an upgraded turbine wheel (69mm exducer) and a 1.15 non-wastegated turbine housing.
With the noticeably larger wheel, we knew this turbo would be perfect for our truck and the Stage One injectors.
Dealing with the boost leak prior to this install, we speculated that it might be coming from the stock intake manifold. So we went ahead and contacted CFM Plus. The system separates the hot turbo-charged air elbow from the air return intake manifold. The two-piece system eliminates the effect of heat transfer back into your cool air flow. A cooler system means lower EGTs.
It's available in a more conservative color, but we like the red and the splash of color it brought to the engine compartment. Plus this red color inspired us to powder-coat the valve covers the same color. It's really hard to see once everything goes back together and covers it up, but we figured since we had it out we might as well put our own touch to it.
To do the powder-coat work we called up Raleigh Houpt, a local guy who runs Rals Powder Coating in eastern Idaho. He perfectly matched the color of the CFM Plus intake manifold so the valve covers would be identical. He did such a great job we hated to cover up his work, but we were more excited about just getting the truck back and running again.