[Spring1898]

Was perusing some listings and saw a low miles truck that was reasonably priced, looked in good shape, but was built up with 60% injectors, water/meth inj, stage 4 trans, upgraded turbo, valve springs, studs, fuel system, intercooler stuff, basically it looked like it was built well and not cobbled together.

I haven't seen many posts on "deconstructing" built trucks, so what could stay and what would have to go to make it back into a comfortable daily driver? And how much might that cost me assuming the take off parts are in decent shape and could be resold?

 

[2001 Hypertech Cummins]

Depending on the size of the turbo, you can probably just get by with getting a good custom tune on it to make it more street friendly. Many people on here that are daily driving a lot more power than that.

 

[Spring1898]

How does all that affect fuel economy and such?

Was thinking I might be able to pull/swap and get some money back and make a nice comfortable sub 15k tow rig.

 

[N of 60]

Who said it wasn’t built to be a daily driver?
What parts could you sell out of that that would not benefit you other than possibly the larger injectors?
What Turbo does it have now?

 

[Spring1898]

I think maybe my biggest concern was the Trans and how comfortable that would be, the water/meth system, and turbo which I think is a 74/84 whatever that means.

Don't know too much about performance parts but from my experience in other applications there is always a trade off in either street/work/towing driveablity, longevity, and fuel economy.

 

[krs]

I think maybe my biggest concern was the Trans and how comfortable that would be, the water/meth system, and turbo which I think is a 74/84 whatever that means.

Don't know too much about performance parts but from my experience in other applications there is always a trade off in either street/work/towing driveablity, longevity, and fuel economy.

That depends on the level of which components were installed as well as the supporting mods. Many people run out of money half way through and some very important supporting mods are overlooked. My wife's truck was half way there and I have done a fair bit of work to get it back to being a proper work truck. Only thing left is 1st and 2nd gear syncros. Suspecting previous owner couldn't drive a stick up a dead dogs ass.

 

[spooled05]

Everything will be fine dd and towing except the turbo , you need to verify that than we can get you an estimate of what to go with .

 

[Spring1898]

I don't get the impression this was done half assed.

Another concern is repair, how much more expensive are these upgraded parts if/when they break?

Oh and it looks like it has compounds s745 and 362?

With new turbo, what level would it be detuned to?

Do the bigger injectors and supporting fuel system mods play well with milder levels of power?

Oh someone mentioned how could the parts not be beneficial. My thinking is that if I could pull and sell the stage 4 trans at or more than the cost of a new more mildly built trans that would be cheaper to work on in the future and more inline with my use case.
I don't know how long the trans has been in the truck and I assume something built this way doesn't get treated gently.

 

[spooled05]

You’ll have no problems with what’s done , I’m 62-80 compounds with 130%injectors and I tow around 24k combined .

You need to find out what it has for tuning .
I’ve made just over 1k hp and tow like a champ

 

[vcv]

You’ll have no problems with what’s done , I’m 62-80 compounds with 130%injectors and I tow around 24k combined .
View attachment 963950
You need to find out what it has for tuning .
I’ve made just over 1k hp and tow like a champ

Nice looking rig!!

 

[BR3500]

Why is the current owner selling and was anything done to the engine innards? I'd ask the owner who did the work too. If a shop did it, I'd check with them to see what their thoughts are. Which vendor/builder transmission is in it?

 

[David_411]

Imho used transmissions have little extra value.
You have no idea how it was treated (everything can break, nothing is bullet proof), very hard to ID internal components, and even the torque converter can very difficult to pin down the vendor and stall.

 

[2001 Hypertech Cummins]

I don't get the impression this was done half assed.

Another concern is repair, how much more expensive are these upgraded parts if/when they break?

Oh and it looks like it has compounds s745 and 362?

With new turbo, what level would it be detuned to?

Do the bigger injectors and supporting fuel system mods play well with milder levels of power?

Oh someone mentioned how could the parts not be beneficial. My thinking is that if I could pull and sell the stage 4 trans at or more than the cost of a new more mildly built trans that would be cheaper to work on in the future and more inline with my use case.
I don't know how long the trans has been in the truck and I assume something built this way doesn't get treated gently.

I don’t think you you will come out ahead, really. Used parts are not worth nearly as much as their purchase price. If you have a stage 4 trans rated for high hp, then I’d recommend just keeping it. I have a moderately built trans and it does drive a little differently, but it is still perfectly comfortable to daily drive. Even with paperwork, it will be hard to remove it and sell it for what it would cost to get a milder build. Plus, most trans shops require a core, which you will not have if you sell it.

For the other parts, it’s going to be a pretty similar story. Used turbos have a far degraded value from what they cost new. Plus, if you go from compounds to a single you will need new piping, which isn’t cheap. Used injectors are rarely worth much more than a core price because of how sensitive they are. People would rather buy new injectors than pay a deeply discounted price for used ones. Most of the other stuff, like head studs, just add reliability with no change to performance. Downgrading those would be pointless.

My recommendation would be to keep the truck as is and enjoy having the power and upgrades that it already has on it.

 

[Spring1898]

Welp, sounds like someone offered more than I did, so it looks like it won't be mine.

Thanks everyone for the info, I still learned something

 

[2001 Hypertech Cummins]

Welp, sounds like someone offered more than I did, so it looks like it won't be mine.

Thanks everyone for the info, I still learned something

Sorry to hear it fell through for you. I just recently went through the struggle of finding a good truck at a decent price. It took me over a year, but it was worth it. Good luck in your search.