Gears for sure is a step in the right direction. Anything high strung like that needs a gear.
Interesting how 2 engines (cathedral verses square port heads) run nearly identical ET's yet the square port heads run 3 mph faster.
Just shows how the square port headed motor is lacking torque in the low and mid ranges. That's definately a "more gear" type of scenario.
In all honesty, what is a truck used for??? Towing and hauling. I'd rather have a torquey motor making grunt down low. But that's just me.
My father has an 03 with the 6.0 and it tows his open car trailer with a 4,000 lbs car pretty decent. He's been pretty happy with the truck for what he's using it for. I'm still using my trusty 79 1 ton with a 454 to pull mine around :lol:
Just for a giggles comparison, it runs 14.60's at 94 mph and weighs 5,300 lbs. compared to your 15.2. Interesting what grunt does for a heavy vehicle.