I was wanting to go bigger, power wise, but started weighing my realistic uses for the truck. I tow with it, long distances, and usually in the 20k-25k gross area. The stone cold reliability of the way the truck behaved stock injectors, and turbo was one of the most important things, but I wanted to be able to put a cummins in it's place as well if the need arose. Tryin to stay within my budget, and not get into swapping rods out, etc., I figure a 160cc with a slightly bigger nozzle, good hpop, and a 38r would do just that. It seems that everybody on this site now, says go with a 250/200 and some t4 mount turbo, when you factor in the mount, good rods if you need them, and everything else, you're ~$5k just in connecting rods, and a place for the turbo to sit, before injectors, oil, etc., and then youve got a truck that can't do what it's intended for..tow, without having I'll side effects. Throw a 40' enclosed gooseneck behind a truck with that setup, and try to roll 75mph across I-44 in Oklahoma or Missouri..and tell me that egt's or smoke aren't an issue when pulling those damn rolling hills.
A 350-400rw 7.3 truck, especially a much lighter 2wd truck would be plenty of "fun" for 90% of your average guys out there, IMO.