Black Beauty Build Thread

Well I've had a build thread on my other truck so I thought I would start one on the truck I just got.

I call her Black Beauty because for a 9 year old truck, she is really clean. But not fast at all, my 2nd gen and both my dads will smoke her.



170k miles, May of 2006 build. 4wd. Very clean inside and out but it does have a few minor things I'll be fixing first.

-rear driver door unlock doesn't work.
-mirrors are auto and don't seem to adjust at all, like the motors are hung up or something
-driver seat foam is pretty worn out
-the 4wd linkage is missing.

Other than that everything else seems to be working great. Drives great too, handles well. I thought when I first looked that it had no programmer or chip, but come to find out it has a little grey box under the dash that says Quadzilla on it. All the wires are disconnected and rolled up under the hood though. I'm going to pull it off and get rid of it.

Just put on a new set of 285/70/17 Toyo AT2 10ply and I think I like them so far. Already ordered a set of front and rear Husky X-Act countour floor liners.

Next on the soon list is:

Edge Insight CTS with add-on sensors, they have a 10% off sale going on until April 15th. I'll also get the dash pod I think.

Bakflip Fibermax bed cover.

Under cover swing out toolboxes

Cover king Kryptex seat covers.

Then I'm thinking of getting EFI live which im still a little puzzled about. I just want to tune it for MPG right now and make a safer tune. I think I'm leaning towards the Flashscan V2 and a license because I would like to tune myself but will probably get the first tune from someone else.

Next I want to do a mild build on trans and get head studs, BMS injectors(undecided on spray pattern and size), and a turbo and tune it for about 450HP.


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You can do 500rwhp with just efi live, no turbo or injectors needed


Truck looks good btw

ramthiscummins said:

You can do 500rwhp with just efi live, no turbo or injectors needed


Truck looks good btw

Click to expand...

Thx, yeah I know you can do that, but I believe it would run different than setup at the same power but with injectors and turbo. I'm not crazy about stretching duration out really far, but I've got a lot to learn with common rail also.


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On the rear door I bet your wire harness is broke in the rubber where it goes from the cab to the door. And dodge should be able to get you a new cushion and cover for the seat. They are a simple install.

RDPsmoker said:

On the rear door I bet your wire harness is broke in the rubber where it goes from the cab to the door. And dodge should be able to get you a new cushion and cover for the seat. They are a simple install.

Click to expand...

X2 - guaranteed wires from cab to door are damaged inside the flexible rubber sheath. Peel that back and closely inspect wires. My truck and many others have had same issue.

:agree2:
My driver rear didnt have sound from brand new speakers, unlock wouldn't work, and the window would work occasionally. It was kind of a pain to get to fix it, IMO, but in the bend there was 5 frayed wires.
Repaired and worked like a charm.

Thx for the pointers on the door. I'll look into that.


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ramthiscummins said:

You can do 500rwhp with just efi live, no turbo or injectors needed


Truck looks good btw

Click to expand...

I agree with this. As I don't do any EFILive tuning myself, I've read about others being very successful with a tune only on these trucks. Maybe save that money on turbo/injectors and put more into the transmission.

I like watching the videos on this website about how they test their tunes on the dyno. http://cummins-tuner.com/

Ghostman said:

Thx, yeah I know you can do that, but I believe it would run different than setup at the same power but with injectors and turbo. I'm not crazy about stretching duration out really far, but I've got a lot to learn with common rail also.


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Click to expand...

I agree with that, I was running 240hp (Mach 7s) with a 66 74 .9t4 my 01 vp44,
So you could run a slightly larger than stock turbo, 100hp bms injectors, and tune accordingly

Plus if I decide to run compounds later I'll already be setup.


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This is the quadzilla box that was in the truck but not hooked up. Anyone know what it was?



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Floor mats came in. Very impressed with fit and quality. Kind of a softer rubber feel to them compared to the classic husky liner and much more flexible.








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Just bought a CR with efi live and a 64/71/14. It spools amazingly fast and runs super clean, I never have to think about driving around it, ever. I believe the converter is a couple hundred rpm below stock.

My only complaint with these 3rd gens is expensive, unreliable injectors until you pay good money for new ones and appropriate fueling.

That box looks like an xzillaraider= JUNK, in my opinion.

straight 6 roar said:

Just bought a CR with efi live and a 64/71/14. It spools amazingly fast and runs super clean, I never have to think about driving around it, ever. I believe the converter is a couple hundred rpm below stock.

My only complaint with these 3rd gens is expensive, unreliable injectors until you pay good money for new ones and appropriate fueling.

Click to expand...

Yeah these darn injectors are very expensive. I'm thinking I might run some additional fuel filtration. Seems lots of people think that helps prolong injector life and since I already have the popular bases I might as well.

diesel_importer said:

That box looks like an xzillaraider= JUNK, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Yeah I figured it was junk, had no intention of running anything but EFI live. In fact I already called and talked to one tuner.

Watching. :rockwoot:

Congrats on the new (to you) truck!

Did you take a look at your mirrors? Mine stopped working and at the same time my 4wd hi and low light stopped working. Fuses are ok. I don't know what to look at next.

davem3261 said:

Did you take a look at your mirrors? Mine stopped working and at the same time my 4wd hi and low light stopped working. Fuses are ok. I don't know what to look at next.

Click to expand...

I haven't got that far yet. They should have power because they will just barely move out/in on each one.

Picked up an Edge Insight CTS and EGT starter kit on the cheap.

How high does the ECM MAP sensor read, I've seen some mixed info on this?

Probably get one for lift pump pressure, and I'm assuming they need a snubber or no? Any good place to tie into on a stock truck?

What else is good to monitor on these trucks? I think the 06/07 already read rail pressure and transmission line out temp.

I know I can always expand it pretty easy and add some more sensors down the road if I want. Does the insight actually data log any or just records highs?


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40psi is my experience