Turbo Help!

I need to get a turbo figured out for my truck ASAP.

The truck is my 03 manual 6.0. It is studded, deleted, and running Gearhead tuning.

My 277k stock turbo finally destroyed the bearings during my last AutoX and I need to find a replacement quick. Here is what I am looking for:

I want something that is going to spool quick. I don't need ,or want, to make a lot of boost on the top end. When I am racing, I am bouncing off of the rev limiter quite a bit and don't really want to be playing the head gasket game again.

Also, being a manual, due to the nature of AutoX, I am thinking that I need to run some sort of BOV to help alleviate the pressure when I shift or engine brake.

And of course, I am trying to do all of this for not a whole bunch of dollars. Again, I am not looking for any more power over a stock turbo necessarily, but rather, faster spool and more reliability.

Thanks for looking.

That's a hard one. The 05-07 turbos seem to spool a touch faster. Other than doing a very small non vgt you're pretty limited. 05-07 turbo with a billet wheel and call it a day imo. Maybe Charlie @ kcturbo will chime in. He's the vgt spool guru lately.

I have been leaning towards a stock frame with a billet compressor wheel. I do not if the 10 or 13 blade turbine wheel spools faster... hopefully someone knows the answer to that. Also I am trying to wrap my head around how to make a BOV work... so if somebody is smarter than me on that end of things, I am all ears.

13 blade spools faster. My dad's 13 blade spooled quite a bit faster than my 10 blade with the same tuning.

My dad had an 03 6.0 Dually with a 6 speed now I have an 05 with a 6 speed and mine seems to spool faster than the 03. There seemed to be a little more lag with the 03 turbo but man do I miss that sound!


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

If you do decide on an 05-07 turbo I dont believe your pedestal will work I believe u need the 05+ pedestal


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

You will need the newer pedastal. Also if I'm thinking right the 05+ were smaller on the compressor side so at least a billet wheel maybe a custom turbo from one of the builders.

i have a used pedstal if u need one. PM me

Does a billet wheel on a stock 05+ turbo make much of a difference?


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

Strokin89 said:

Does a billet wheel on a stock 05+ turbo make much of a difference?


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

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Well my dad ran 14.1@94 with his late model 04. Only mods were exhaust and innovative anarchy tune. Trucks on 35s too! It spools super quick.

swinky said:

Well my dad ran 14.1@94 with his late model 04. Only mods were exhaust and innovative anarchy tune. Trucks on 35s too! It spools super quick.

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I figured the billet wheel might spool a little quicker because it's lighter. Is that the only difference?


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

Talk to James Barder @ Barder Turbo. He will be able to help for sure. The BD and Turbosmart BOV both work off of the TPS and a boost reference which tees into the map sensor hose IIRC. Either should work for you. Weld in the flange, wire it up and set it up and go.

Do you have any HP goals in mind?

The 13 blade spools much faster... but it also chokes out much faster on the top end and limits HP.

What injectors are you running?



I would use your 03 turbo as a baseline and go from there. How did you like the 2003 turbo? Did it spool fast enough for you? Did it flow enough air on the top end?

KCTurbos said:

Do you have any HP goals in mind?

The 13 blade spools much faster... but it also chokes out much faster on the top end and limits HP.

What injectors are you running?



I would use your 03 turbo as a baseline and go from there. How did you like the 2003 turbo? Did it spool fast enough for you? Did it flow enough air on the top end?

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I do not have a specific HP goal, I just want to have manageable power for my type of racing.

Injectors are stock.

The 03 turbo that I had was a little laggy, but it wasn't anything that I could not manage.

My stock turbo bought the farm after my last race, so I might as well upgrade a little.

What I ended up doing was buying a rebuilt 03 turbo that came with a billet MTW wheel, and 360* thrust bearings from a member off of here.

The wheel has made all of the difference so far, but I would really like to implement a BOV to help alleviate my turbo surge issue. I have seen some of the options out there, but have not heard from anyone who actually runs a BOV.

A BOV can also hurt your times. If you shift quick enough you can actually keep boost up a bit and cut down on lag. If you have a BOV you have to start from the beginning and built that boost back up from 0. Just my 2 cents

Stroked777 said:

A BOV can also hurt your times. If you shift quick enough you can actually keep boost up a bit and cut down on lag. If you have a BOV you have to start from the beginning and built that boost back up from 0. Just my 2 cents

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Agreed I wouldn't want a bov with a manual tranny.


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.

If you are getting a ton of turbo bark when shifting then you should be able to adjust your vgt duty cycle a little bit. Your tuner should know what to do. Just tell him about the problems you are experiencing

KCTurbos said:

If you are getting a ton of turbo bark when shifting then you should be able to adjust your vgt duty cycle a little bit. Your tuner should know what to do. Just tell him about the problems you are experiencing

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I can attest to that. kEM tunes on my 6.4 would surge during Tc lock up. But now with Gearhead tunes I can't surge it no matter how hard I try

KCTurbos said:

If you are getting a ton of turbo bark when shifting then you should be able to adjust your vgt duty cycle a little bit. Your tuner should know what to do. Just tell him about the problems you are experiencing

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My current tuner has no interest in making any adjustments to help out, so I am in the market for a new tuner. I did order a BOV today. I am really thinking that a properly tuned BOV is going to help the turbo spool faster when I roll back into the throttle because it will let out only the EXCESS pressure, allowing the wheel to continue to spin rather than to stop all together.

Again, If any tuners are reading this that would actually like to help out in making my truck run as well as possible in AutoX settings, please let me know. I am tired of "use my [whatever] tune and it should run just fine."

Just wondering where do u instal a bov?


2005 F250 6.0 powerstroke, 6 speed manual, egr delete, arp head studs, new oil cooler, aftermarket coolant filter, custom intake, 4" down pipe into dual 6" stacks, 8" lift, TSD super panty dropper tune.