I spent all of last night reading thru 4 very long threads, and have them jumbled, so I'm not sure if it was written in this one or not but...
DO NOT RUN OVER 200 PSI FUEL PRESSURE as anything more than 200 will shear off the cam lobes on the Small Cams.
The 290 I bought is locked up, hence why it was cheap. Cheaper than just a new turbo even. The only parts of it I'm not sure about messing with are the injectors or pump. I would actually expect these NA pumps to produce a lot of black smoke off idle since they lack any type of AFC/ALDA to limit fuel till boost arrives.
After watching several videos of 800's and 900's, it appears to me that the 800's with the Deuce-like stack in front of the window makes for a very loud, obnoxious truck. I straight-piped my 923A2 with a straight piece of 4" and rain cap on top. The 8.3 is quiet enough that I don't mind it. Definitely have to keep the rear window closed if you want to have a conversation. The 855 is the one and only engine in my life I ever put a muffler back on! Holy loud, Batman! I don't imagine the turbo is going to quiet it down enough that I'll want to keep the stack behind my head. I'm thinking of either dumping it out the side behind the first mud flap, or running it all the way to the back and dumping it down. I saw a picture on here with someone who ran it all the way to the back with a muffler. I would sure like to hear a video of it driving/walk-around etc.
As for the intake, you pull a lot of vacuum with all that snorkel tubing. The 800's certainly have the better setup with the fender-mounted air cleaner. Unfortunately, our 900 fenders are just too narrow for the Ø16" housing. Plus, you'd have to make some type of grommet coupler like the heater air intake uses, and I just don't trust that as much as these hoods can move side-to-side. Either way, I'm going to experiment with relocating the air intake to the RH side somewhere. I'm not driving this off a ship, thru the sea, onto the beach, and I doubt any of you are either. Only things I see it being a benefit for are mud bogs and hurricanes.