Magnuson 2650 ordered 9/14

This is great to hear! Nice peace of mind.

 

Here's a couple. They're 3 or so years old and have been in OR and AZ, so zero road salt exposure. A couple Baja trips, beaches desert, and mostly PNW woods. I'm happy with how they're holding up. You'll see I don't go searching for rocks.

 

Thanks!
They look great. Holding up very well.
I'm in MD and although we don't get a lot of snow, MDOT likes to salt the everliving shit out of the roads with the new brine they've been using over the past several years. It's why my old one is off and the bolts rusted and broke off when removing for the first oil change (I think that's how it happened).

Are the plates on the side for cat protection?

 

They are, they almost fully protect the primary cats and would make the 2nds super hard to get out.

 

Are they also RCI? I don't see any listed on their site. TIA

 

They should be listed as an option somewhere. Mine was old enough I had to drill holes for them, all the new ones are pre-drilled.

 

Ok I ordered the aluminum powder coated black skid plate from rci. Will see how long it takes to deliver. Now to suck up, drill out, and re tap the nuts on the truck so I can install it.

 

OK I figured I would type up some sort of 'write-up' or 'install recap' for anyone interested and for anyone that may tackle this job as a DIY in the future.

2 weeks prior to install

· Magnuson was very quick with getting a tune over to me once I sent the truck's ECU file. I got a file back within 2 hours.
· I forgot to mention I was on 35" tires and informed Magnuson of this and was sent a revised file to compensate for the larger tires vs stock.
· This was now the file I would use on install day. Set aside and ready...

Tear down

· Everything came apart easily – with the exception of my a/c compressor.
· I would HIGHLY recommend removed of fan and fan shroud when doing this job. I had to remove mine because I was replacing my water pump and thermostat... but I would have done this at SOME point regardless during the installation. Magnuson's instructions did not have this step... but you really do need the clearance to be able to do the job well.
· Removal of the a/c compressor was not the most ideal. my bolt snapped when trying to remove it... but was able to get enough clearance to remove the screw holding on the coolant hard lines that need to be removed from the truck... (replaced by new hardlines in the magnuson kit).
· The magnuson kit did NOT come with new gaskets of any sort... besides a new throttle body gasket and new gas tank cap and fuel pump gasket... so I would highly recommend new intake manifold gaskets and new coolant bypass gaskets. I replaced mine and was very happy that I had those parts on hand for install day.

Blower Install

· The blower was pretty heavy as a whole, but once broken into two pieces, it was very manageable. This part could have been done by 1 person... if required.
· My idler pulleys were absolutely trashed, so we had to take a break to run to autozone to grab two new ones.
o One of the pulleys did NOT fit, although it was the right one. There is a lip on the back of the pulley that did not allow it to sit flush and instead would hit the mount. So we pulled the bearing out of the new pulley and pressed it into the old pulley with no clearance issues. Fit perfectly and spun quietly.
· The bags of hoses with the magnuson kit were nicely sealed and organized (kind of) but they were NOT grouped together. You would want 1 hose from this bag and 1 bolt from that and then a gasket here or there. Magnuson could have put these together in a way that went WITH the directions so you weren’t constantly looking for each item for that next step.
· The coolant lines for the LTR were very nice, but ended up needing to be cut and heat shrinked for proper fit. This was OK and went well, but for 8k I would think these hoses should be tailor fit for the truck I purchased it for.
· I purchased the 07-13 kit… which (somehow) differs from the 14-21 kit… therefore I don’t think there should be ANY steps for a 14+ in my directions… although there were PLENTY… and some were wrong and DID pertain to my 2013 even though it said to ignore if you have a 07-13… not the end of the world if you’re paying attention but something to think about.
· Spark plugs were easy… nothing hard here
· Injectors were easy… though the small rubber gaskets that hold each one in place – those little guys are easy to drop. Be extra careful when removing the fuel rail since the injectors stay attached and come out as one unit.
· New air box is easy… just swap over the MAF and rubber grommet that keeps the lower piece of the air box secured and not bouncing around.
· Drive belt routing is nice in the way that it provides 80% contact with the SC pulley. Huge belt though.

LTR and coolant pump Install

· The brackets for the LTR are very nice and the LTR is made VERY well. I was impressed with how well these items came together.
· Coolant lines ran nicely through the shroud on the drivers side to the right of the radiator.
· Coolant pump was a pain to position properly with the mounting strap and small clearance between the LTR, bracket, and bumper… but it does end up fitting well once you find the right orientation.
· Coolant pump relay, ground, trigger wire, and battery wire were very clean and put together well. They even supplied a nice bracket to mount the inline fuse and relay near the battery. Gives an extra post to mount another item too… that went together nice and clean.

· I had my ignition fuse already tapped for my DRL’s on my Morimoto headlights, but was able to slip the trigger wire under the fuse and get it in there so the pump kicks on with the key turned on.

Fuel Pump Replacement

· Tank dropped easy… although my rear supporting tank strap was a rusty piece of garbage… so it broke in half when removing it.
· Tank cap came off fairly easy and the fuel pump was swapped out in a few minutes. Nothing ground breaking here.
· Put everything back together and then put on a nice bright yellow rachet strap where my rear tank strap used to be… had one on order and just installed it yesterday so now that is DONE.

Coolant Fill

· I forget what the device is called…
o Radiator fill- my brother attaches his air hose to the radiator and puts it on vac to remove all air and it pulls in the coolant from the bottle… took almost 2 gallons.
o Blower reservoir fill- same but it pulled in almost 1 gallon

Boost Gauge

· MAP sensor ran through the firewall and mounted to the brake lines (zip ties… high tech) because there aren’t many good mounting surfaces to keep that sensor upright.
· Brass boost tap that was in the side of the blower was TIGHT AS F&CK and almost stripped out when removing. Someone put way too much on that when tightening. I bought a NPT fitting not knowing if magnuson would include it… and I’m glad I did, because they did not. Connected the Innovate supplied vac line from the boost tap to the MAP sensor… done.

AFR Gauge

· Bung weld in… right before the first cat on the passenger side – easy install
· Wire was ran down A Pillar, over to passenger side carpet, and through 1.5” cap in the floor – gave me quick access to where I needed to be.
· The gauge / sensor needed to be calibrated before it would read anything worth looking at. Simple calibration instructions that came with the gauge… good to go.

FIRST START

· Started up RIGHT AWAY… but a little unbalanced and with a CEL on… what is going on. Read the code and I have cylinder 6 misfire … WTF
o Of all the things to cause it, it was the best one… it was unplugged.
o Cleared the code, started it back up, smooth as butter.
· First drive was smooth… quiet at idle.
· Pulls hard and was very happy… and tired.

100 miles post install

· First impressions… I don’t regret a thing. Glad that I got the blower… and glad I went magnuson 2650.
· IAT’s after multiple long pulls stay around 15 over ambient (60 ish ambient)
· Idling at a stop they go up but this is not a surprise.
· Coolant temp sits at 192.2 most of the time. Sometimes goes up to 195.4
· Fuel milage has gone up… oddly. BUT I also had two leaky injectors so I would losing fuel. We will see how many miles I get on the first full tank.
· PSI is around 8/9 at WOT
· AFR is around 10.5 at WOT

 

Nice write up! Reading it left me with 2 questions/comments. 1) Does this kit come with a separate IAT sensor installed somewhere post intercooler and an MAF breakout harness to read true IATs, or were these IATs measured at the MAF sensor as usual? 2) The other was in regards to the fuel economy readout, just an FYI it lies now due to the larger injectors! You can get an accurate MPG readout to reference by properly programming a scan gauge via the fill up procedure, or something similar. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the blower and feel it was money well spent. I would have to agree, best money I ever spent on the truck. It’s like 2 vehicles in one, you can do your truck stuff but also have a fun toy at the same time.

 

Thanks!

1- no, it does not come with another IAT sensor. IAT's were measured at stock location, at the MAF. It would have been nice for the kit to include that, but it was nowhere to be found.
2- ahh this makes sense!! glad you said that. I will have to see what I calculate from fill up vs miles on the tank and just do the math... which is what I did before since my onboard data has always been wrong. Usually says 12.4 but is really 14.0.

Oh yea, it's hands down the best upgrade. No regrets at all! Can't wait to tow heavy and feel how little the truck strains

 

Do you have a link for the vacuum fitting you needed to get?

 

Yessir- Amazon special
https://a.co/d/7phMIFU

 

I drilled out the snapped off bolts from my OEM skid plate and tapped the frame for the new rci skid bolts. Came out well. Got anti seize on everything lol happy with how it looks. Ordered the trans cover just now.