Pro Turbo Systems - Install

airtroop01

airtroop01

Active member
The plan for this weekend is to install the Pro Turbo Systems Gen 2 Lightning Kit, PI 2600 stall torque converter, and maybe finally put the JLP Ultra Cooler on my truck.

The KB, JLP upper plenum, Dynatech LTs, cats, Magnum Powers idler bracket are coming off and going to ACWALSH. This setup gave me 577 SAE rwhp, 594 STD rwhp.

I'm excited to test this out considering Frank5L's impressive stock block performance. If I get just a 50 rwhp gain boosting me to 625-650hp that would still be pretty good, but I'm eventually hoping for a 700-something number without nitrous.

I'll try to take some pics for you guys and post em up as we have progress.

Good, bad, or otherwise, I'll let you know how the turbo works out for me.

Below are some pics from Day 1 of the install




Put the truck on the lift



Check to ensure we have all the parts



This is the last time I'll see my engine bay look like this with a KB in it. Boo hoo.



Stripped a ton of parts from the truck. You can see my old and soon to be ACWALSH's KB and JLP upper plenum



Stripped the fairly new Dynatech LT's I got. Have fun with it ACWALSH!



Test fitting the lower sheetmetal plenum adapter.
Notice that Pro Turbo Systems didn't powdercoat the top.
What's up with that? - Guess I'll need to paint it. The rest looks great!



Test fitting the C&L chromed plenum and the PTK lower plenum to see how it looks.



Going to be pretty isn't it?
 
You guys got a lot done in one evening, did you guys even take a break? Looking good, keep the pics coming.
 
have you called them and asked them why the the top of the box isn't black... If I end up getting this, I want that box all black...

also, I have heard in the past of some severe problems in meeting deliver dates from them, have you guys experience that or am i confusing them with someone else?
 
thats gonna be 1 mean HD

i got some stuff done tonight too, took off my hood, pulled the eaton, plugs, injectors and installed my kb, plugs and new injectors and just pulled the kb back off to beat on the firewall some cause of a loud knock i was getting... long night, been up since 3:30 yesterday
 
Looks great Phil,, I bet you can't wait to get out and test it. I am going to buy a Nav. motor this winter and start a build up on it for some T action also. When I get done testing the Cool Flow System you should get a set up for that bad boy. Keep us posted Bro,,,Lookin Good. GG
 
I haven't called them about the plenum yet. Something like that is not going to hold up the install for me. You don't see much of it with the upper plenum on, so some gloss black paint might suffice. Or maybe I'll send it back to get fixed if it bugs me.

As for delivery dates and meeting them... I think Jody ordered this kit way back in May. Besides the prototype kit, I think this kit is their first "production" kit. The instructions are a 132M Windows Media File movie.

Thanks for the well wishes and support.
Hope to post some more interesting pics this evening.
 
Looks great can't wait to hear some numbers.

If mine stays on schedule it will be about 9 weeks, about 1 week longer then they told me.

sucio, when did you order yours?

Driven
 
Day 2 -

What can I say? Today was a rough day. Between being teased for my preference of using adjustable wrenches instead of "getting the right tool for the job" (yeah, okay, I'm lame like that!) and fighting different problems with the truck, I'm glad the day is over.

We started out by installing the turbo headers.
They were well built and went in with minimal issues.
The kit didn't come with any header bolts or header gaskets. I had to reuse the ones off my Dynatechs. (Don't worry Chris, I'll get you some header bolts)

If you do this, make sure that you have someone with small hands to work some of the bolts in (esp. on the passenger side, lower flange). Believe it or not, that turned out to be the easiest part of our day.

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The instructions are a Windows Media file that you play on your computer. They leave much to be desired since they skip over some important things and you have to keep replaying the pieces over and over and freeze frame it so you can figure out where they put things...

These instructions called for modifying the AC dryer bracket and bending the bracket from being 90* to 180*... well, my bracket wasn't oriented in the same way. I'm not sure if that is a HD thing or if its a model year change for 02 and later L/HD trucks. Motor is the same, so I don't know.

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Next, we had to put a T on the oil pressure sensor to tap the oil feed for the turbo. Okay, where's the T? Checking boxes. No T. Crap they forgot. Go to the trash and check to make sure it wasn't stuck in the box... nope. Not a problem, Jody went to the hardware store and found what we needed. Kinda upsetting not to have it in the box though.

Then, we had to extend the coolant hoses for the oil cooler.
They get in the way of the driver's side collector. This part wasn't technically hard, but again the instructions didn't make it clear exactly where to cut. Knowing that its much better to quadruple check and cut once, that's what we did... losing time in the process.

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Okay, once that was done, we could install the crossover pipe.
The vband clamps were hard to get on. We spent ages trying to get enough threads to pop out the other side of the clamp so we could thread a nut on the end. Why they couldn't have the screw be just another 1/4" longer, I don't know. It would have made the process take just a few mins. I'm embarassed to say how long it did take us.

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After that, we had to drill and tap the oil pan. Truth be told, I didn't wanna do this. I admit, the idea of punching a hole in the wrong place or doing some other damage to the pan made me a chicken, so Jody did it.

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However, there's a big fitting that had to be screwed into the hole. That fitting hit a oil pan bolt, so we had to grind that down to clear.

Then, you have to install a bracket to relocate the tranny lines. This bracket didn't fit quite right. Jody ground this bracket down to fit.

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Now we are getting to play with the turbo.
We had to clock the turbo housing so it moves and also the directions didn't make it clear how to mount the rear bolts. So we removed the exhaust side in order to allow a bolt to clear and drop in the hole.

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Mounting the turbo.

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Pretty isn't it?

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Here we are installing both springs in the Turbosmart wastegate.

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Houston we have a problem!
The downpipe's tube that connects to the wastegate is pointing down. The instructions show it is supposed to point up. The other tube that connects to it, won't line up. Crap!

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Here are two other pics that show how the two tubes are oriented from the crossover pipe and the downpipe such that the wastegate won't connect properly.

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Overall, the kit has some bugs to be worked out.
There were missing parts but we managed to workaround most of the issues until we hit the showstopper with the downpipe.

As a result, the truck won't be running this weekend.

:(

One good thing...
So I was a bit disappointed the sheetmetal plenum didn't have the top powdercoated black too. The rest of the box looked perfect. Seems to have been a mess up. Well, I spray painted the top with laquer black spray paint and it came out perfect.

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That doesn't mean we'll quit, still a lot of stuff left to hook up on my truck. Besides, need to find out if we're going to hit any more issues.
 
Last edited:
Is that my towel? Looks great, I hate it when company's leave the little over sites for the end user to figure out.....
 
Great write up guys and keep with the pitfalls and tips. That's a bummer on the pipe being wrong I hope they get it corrected quickly.

Could you elaborate on "There were missing parts" so I can pick up what I need B4 I start in on mine.

Driven
 
driven to build said:
Great write up guys and keep with the pitfalls and tips. That's a bummer on the pipe being wrong I hope they get it corrected quickly.

Could you elaborate on "There were missing parts" so I can pick up what I need B4 I start in on mine.

Driven
Click to expand...

Well...

The parts that were missing which were to be included with the kit are:

No boost controller (we thought a manual Turbosmart one came with it and that was promised. No biggie, I'll get an electronic one like ShockTherapy suggested)

Missing 50-inch 02 extenders (this part you can't just pick up at the local hardware store! Luckily, I could have made the tune run in open loop mode only using the SCT ProRacer and at least been able to drive the truck)

a T for the oil pressure switch (need to ask Jody the exact size)


The parts or things the kit didn't have that it should have:

gaskets and bolts for headers

electric fan instructions (they pretty much supply you the fans and you figure it out)


The things I need because of my truck or my previous mods:

Upper plenum bolts and Upper plenum gasket (I don't know where the stock bolts are and I didn't even think about it since I had the JLP sheetmetal plenum on the truck)

Some catback modification. This is my issue. Because its a HD, the L catback needs to be lengthened to meet with the midpipe. My muffler shop had welded together the kit instead of using clamps. Now I need to hack the exhaust off to reposition everything.
 
airtroop01 said:
No boost controller (we thought a manual Turbosmart one came with it and that was promised. No biggie, I'll get an electronic one like ShockTherapy suggested)
Click to expand...

I know you probably know this, but look on ebay. I found mine in about a week and paid almost 250 less than retail
 
mhays26 said:
I know you probably know this, but look on ebay. I found mine in about a week and paid almost 250 less than retail
Click to expand...

question is what do I need?

There are so many of them out there... and plenty of them do all these cool whiz bang things on them from flashing lights to having their own on-board computer and playing mp3's while showing digitized dolphins swimming (kidding).
 
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