Turbo time! Installing 6.5 turbo

Finally got some exhaust on the truck. MUCH more pleasant to drive!

Is that a 3" down pipe to a 4" exhaust? While I am not a fan of the stack in the bed (eats valuable space), i do like the big exhaust. Does it have the good rumble/whistle?

Ridgeback said:

Is that a 3" down pipe to a 4" exhaust? While I am not a fan of the stack in the bed (eats valuable space), i do like the big exhaust. Does it have the good rumble/whistle?

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Yes. 4/3 reducer at the front. ODdave welded it up for one of his trucks and originally ran straight back to rear bumper. Nice exhaust but close to my rear tire due to offset of the H1 wheels on my truck so I cut it and put an elbow in it with weather flap. Sounds good!

Being that my mechanical experience with engines is limited, but growing, I might hold off on doing the head studs and head gaskets for right now. Maybe just tackle the turbo. Haven't compeltely decided yet.

Twomorestrokes, what's the reasoning behind double exhaust gaskets? I just mocked up my turbo setup I bought from ajsmith184, using basically no gasket, and I have zero interference with injectors or the steel lines. A couple the rubber ones will need shortened, but otherwise no issues.
It is a 6.2l engine, but a HMMWV take out

It's a real tight fit on mine but I just went ahead and did it as all of the posts I read were done that way. I was actually looking to have a 1/4" copper spacer made but the guy I was emailing never came through.

Ok, I'll keep an eye on it when I perm mount it, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in the installation.
I stuffed a 6.2 into an M37, so I cant space too far, as the manifold will hit the shock mount tower

I have been looking at doing the same to an 86. I just cant see the down pipe off the turbo fitting between the motor and the framerail. and the crossover exhaust pipe seems like it would hit the front driveshaft if you hit a bump offroad. im looking forward to see how you solve these issues. i just finised a Banks setup in a different truck and love the preformance increase you get from adding a turbo.

The down pipe puts the exhaust OUTSIDE the frame rail, not inside. Easy to fab up a system but you won't get one out of the box a NAPA. For really serious off roading you'd probably want to modify the crossover for more clearance but I drive this truck through the woods with heaping loads of logs and have yet to see any contact marks from the shaft.

twomorestrokes said:

The down pipe puts the exhaust OUTSIDE the frame rail, not inside. Easy to fab up a system but you won't get one out of the box a NAPA. For really serious off roading you'd probably want to modify the crossover for more clearance but I drive this truck through the woods with heaping loads of logs and have yet to see any contact marks from the shaft.

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That makes sense. I had looked at that option briefly but it is not feasible on this truck because I added a second fuel tank on that side. I was toying with removing that tank to run the exhaust. thanks for the info on the crossover pipe. I also toyed with the idea of just putting a short stack through the hood . I have put a banks kit in a different truck but I have the whole turbo setup from a 97 6.5 turbo motor and I would like to save a couple grand by using it instead of buying another banks kit. Do you know of anyone who has installed an intercooler on one of these trucks?

Everything I have read about intercoolers for these truck basically says the cost benefit ratio is too high. Essentially no real gain for the added cost.

Some things to help as I did this awhile ago.
Use short injs. Then you dont need any ex manifold gaskets. They are a BAD idea. They will blow out and you saw how much fun getting that manifold off is. You do NOT need to jack up the motor to do the right side manifold. Take the new ex manifold bolts and cut the studs off the end of them then put them in the manifold first. Use small zip ties to hold them in. These can be removed later.
The crossover issue can easily be solved by a 4 inch lift.. mine has plenty of clearence.
I would STRONGLY recommend ARP studs and new 6.5 HG's. The fire rings are better and the factory printoseal Headgaskets GM used in the 6.2 are garbage. You will blow them. While you already have both ex manifolds off doing the turbo swap it is an ideal time to do the HG's. Imagine having to take all that apart again when your HG's blow, and they will. I run 15 psi boost on mine. he GM turbos are junk and you will find the motor chokes quickly but it is still a major improvement over N/a. I'm gonna play around with an HX35 when funds allow.
Also grab the fuel filter setup off the 6.5. It is far superior to the Box filters these things came with and will eliminate all the problems they cause. Now that you have a 6.5 intake, it will bolt right on. As far as the Battery I used a stock civilian drivers side tray and a smaller batt and kept the one mil batt. The big batts look cool but they are not that great. A civilian batt works fine. I took the coolant bottle from the drivers side and relocated it to the pass side. I had to add one bracket and it looks almost factory.

Also the K47 aircleaner from the 6.5 works quite well. You can kinda see my coolant bottle relocate.

Also I recycled both the crossover and the downpipe fom the 6.5 to make my exhaust

Also if you have an M1008 there is an extra frame support bracket by the drivers side rear spring hanger. The drivers side 6.5 manifold will not fit because of it. I used the 6.2 one. It worked fine with a little massage with the rose bud to the crossover.

And the award for reviving an old thread goes to...... lol

I'm looking at 95 Chevy with the 6.5 turbo diesel that has the parts I need to swap to my M1008. Hopefully it will work out....... btw, good thread with a lot of useful info

Should work just fine just need the turbo right exhaust manifold turbo and intake. Let me know if you need any help. Also need customer cross over pipe and make a waste gate. Good luck.