Upgrades for my 5.9 Cummins

[big pappa b]

After the trip to Moab hauling the K5 up the 2 passes on I-70, I think I may want to make a few upgrades to my 2005 Dodge. it is currently all stock with 104k, auto trans.

Here are my issues:
1. 2005 was the bastard year for the Ram. My turbo has no exhaust brake from the factory. Coming down the mountain I have to rely on the trck brakes and trailer brakes. An exhaust brake would REALLY help.

Do I try to get just a exh brake up get an upgraded turbo with brake?

2. Coming home up Independence Pass (11,500ft peak) it did not overheat but I was smelling antifreeze being pushed into the overflow. Temps hit about 225 (stock gauge). I'm still running the original antifreeze. I'm due to change it and thought about adding some Water Wetter during the change.
Maybe a Snow water/meth setup??

I will be adding a cat-back exhaust soon and some form of gauges for sure.

Thoughts

 

[DEMON44]

You don't need to upgrade the turbo if you're not adding more fuel. I would put a pacbrake after your stock turbo.

For sure change your coolant. the additives will be long since gone after 7 years. as long as the water pump is still in good shape, you should be good to go. water wetter couldn't hurt.

I would check the headgasket for leaks before getting into anything else. water/meth absolutely cools the charge and aides in burning the fuel. But it also spikes cylinder pressures. which there is no guage for.


be aware of the piston bowl and injector injection angle. it is very very easy to melt a piston in an 05-06 cummins. even bone stock.

 

[DEMON44]

The left side is an 03-04 engine. the right is an 05-06 NON re-entrant style design combustion chamber. the is very very little material between the radius of the bowl and the top ring land.

its no surprise they went back to the earlier style re-entrant pistons in the 6.7L. same as the proven reliable 12v, 24v, early HPCRs.