MsChevy's 1997 Chevy Silverado ECSB aka Big Blue

[vaporlock]

Damn. I love Texas

Send some of that heat over here, damnit!
I wouldn't mind having summer year around here, if I want snow and winter I could just go up north to the mountains, it's only 4-5 hour drive.

 

[vaporlock]

Mornings like this are why a remote start is on my list. Wouldn't have helped with the doors being frozen but it would have been warm by the time I chiseled the door open. Lol

The sad thing is, it actually has both an electric and gasoline engine heater but we don't have any power outlets in the parkinglot and I have no idea how to turn on the gasoline heater or if it even works...

 

[vaporlock]

I got two suprise deliveries yesterday, new wires and aux rear LED's for my roll pan. Hopefylly my dad can help me fit the aux lights in the roll pan this weekend so I can get the pan painted and installed soooon!

I forgot, obviously I got my truck back.. I picked it up last wednesday. I now have new keys that work, after 18 years of use there wasn't much left of them and after the truck was stolen and the looks where replaced I only had one working key and it could be removed from the ignition while the truck was running. Now it works like it's supposed to! :thumbsup: <- Y U No Worky?

Also somehow they fixed my interior lights! When I bought the truck they worked, then I switched to LED's and after a while the courtesy light in the driver door stoped working and the interior lights stoped coming on. It took a while until I realised the door jamb switch thing was glitching, when the truck was in the shop they had to remove the door panel since there was something rattling in there (a 2" tip of a knife), so while the panel was off he turned the LED bulb 180° and now all of a sudden that light works and the interior lights come on everytime I open a door, weird but I likey!

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[vaporlock]

This past month I've been driving my Magnum alot and I've realized my truck is annoyingly slow! I forgot how big of a differense it is between them.

While both the Magnum and the 'Rado originally had the same hp (254hp), the Magnum still has all it's horses but the truck has probably lost half of its over the years and weighs half a ton more and has zero aerodynamics, there is a HUGE differense in power...

So I'm wondering, is there anything I can do with the enigine I have, that won't cost a fortune, to get some more power? I was thinking maybe somewhere around 300-350hp...
The engine is a 350 5.7L Vortec with 240k km/149k miles.

 

[Nathaniel2g]

Engine/performance upgrades (especially when you're increasing power) are always going to be costly, in my experience. I don't know what the part situation is like in Sweden, but here in Canada is roughly $450 - $500 just for a ram air kit. They're supposed to give you somewhere around a 10 horsepower boost at 4500RPM, but it guzzles a lot more fuel and works out to almost $50 per horsepower.

I'd say you're right that your truck has probably lost a lot of it's horses. I'd start by just doing a general tune/clean up. Get new plugs, wires, distributor rotor & cap, ignition coil, oxygen sensors, etc. Check all your filters and replace as needed, especially your fuel filter. Check your fuel injectors and pump, and if cost allows replace. If you know someone or somewhere you can use a dyno for free or cheap, run it over the dyno before and after. If you can, give it a good tune and play with your curves. I don't really know anything else that is going to help bring lost power back and I don't know anything 'cheap' to give you more power.

 

[vaporlock]

Yeah that's what I thought... Parts situation i Sweden is somewhere between non-existant to ridiculously expensive, I buy pretty much everything from the US and whatever it costs there you can multiply it with 2 for taxes, shipping and custom fees... so still pretty expensive.

I will defenitly start with the general tune and clean up, thanks for the info!

We have these two chemicals at the local part store, one you put in the engine instead of engine oil (run it for a few minutes, drain it, replace oilfilter and fill up with new oil) they call it "internal engine cleaning" and the other one you mix in the fueltank with regular gasoline to clean the fuelsystem. Could this help any?

 

[Mangonesailor]

Yeah that's what I thought... Parts situation i Sweden is somewhere between non-existant to ridiculously expensive, I buy pretty much everything from the US and whatever it costs there you can multiply it with 2 for taxes, shipping and custom fees... so still pretty expensive.

I will defenitly start with the general tune and clean up, thanks for the info!

We have these two chemicals at the local part store, one you put in the engine instead of engine oil (run it for a few minutes, drain it, replace oilfilter and fill up with new oil) they call it "internal engine cleaning" and the other one you mix in the fueltank with regular gasoline to clean the fuelsystem. Could this help any?

Internal engine cleaners are not going to boost or bring back lost HP from miles (kilometers) of use. Those are for cleaning out an oil system that did not have regular changes in its life. Some of it is just "snake oil," and some isn't that bad but if you use it you use it before your oil change, then change you oil and filter, then run the vehicle up and down the street, then change the filter again. I've done this to free sticky lifters in cars, and it works. It is no solution for a lack of power though.

When shopping for horsepower, the basic principle is boosting the "big three." Air, fuel, and spark. Whatever you can do to those guys to get more, then you'll get some more HP. I would stat with a basic tuneup (if that has not been done in a while) but I would gap the plugs at .045", not .060" like the manual says. You may not notice it, but a 454 on a dyno will pick up 5hp by just doing this and you'll get a smoother idle.

Do you know the service history of the motor before you got it? Plugs, words, cap/rotor would be where I'd start, maybe a nice ACCEL or just a replacement OEM coil would do good here. The factory intake is actually pretty good the way it is, its heat soak from the filter box to the engine that's the problem. You could wrap it in some sort of thermal wrap to drop the intake charge a few degrees.

Any V8 will like a set of headers, there's no doubt about that, but that's relatively expensive... considering Europe and VAT and all that. Not a bad idea though.

You could always see about a "mail order tune" from a reputable company. They'll take your ECM and play with the ignition timing, torque converter lock, etc and you can get a few ponies from that, plus a nicer driving truck.

If that interests you, you could also do a "0411" upgrade, which is swapping the black box to a newer Chevy computer. Doing this will allow anyone with any idea of how to dyno tune a vehicle to tune yours. The black box is not easily talked to... the 0411 is. Plus, you can get a "tow mode" integrated into it, and all you need is a momentary ground to activate it.

You could always look into doing a camshaft swap if you are down for that.

 

[vaporlock]

Internal engine cleaners are not going to boost or bring back lost HP from miles (kilometers) of use. Those are for cleaning out an oil system that did not have regular changes in its life. Some of it is just "snake oil," and some isn't that bad but if you use it you use it before your oil change, then change you oil and filter, then run the vehicle up and down the street, then change the filter again. I've done this to free sticky lifters in cars, and it works. It is no solution for a lack of power though.

I was thinking more like if it was a good thing to do while doing maintenance? I need to replace the oil and oilfilter anyways, it's cheap and doesn't take a whole lot of extra time. I don't know when the oil was last changed.

When shopping for horsepower, the basic principle is boosting the "big three." Air, fuel, and spark. Whatever you can do to those guys to get more, then you'll get some more HP. I would stat with a basic tuneup (if that has not been done in a while) but I would gap the plugs at .045", not .060" like the manual says. You may not notice it, but a 454 on a dyno will pick up 5hp by just doing this and you'll get a smoother idle.

Do you know the service history of the motor before you got it? Plugs, words, cap/rotor would be where I'd start, maybe a nice ACCEL or just a replacement OEM coil would do good here. The factory intake is actually pretty good the way it is, its heat soak from the filter box to the engine that's the problem. You could wrap it in some sort of thermal wrap to drop the intake charge a few degrees.

I will look into this, basic tune and maintenance is on the list. Does the .045" gap apply to a 350 too?

Unfortunatly I don't know alot of it's history, all I know is that it has a new airfilter and a new starter since the old one died. The 7 years before I bought it the truck was barely used, about 6000miles during the 7 years, so alot of the parts are still the original ones.

Any V8 will like a set of headers, there's no doubt about that, but that's relatively expensive... considering Europe and VAT and all that. Not a bad idea though.

This has been on my list since I bought the truck. It has 2 3/4" dual pipes to behind the cab, then a massive muffler and a single 3" pipe over the rear axle now, I want headers with 2.5" or 3" duals and smaller mufflers, I want my V8 to actually sound like a V8.

You could always see about a "mail order tune" from a reputable company. They'll take your ECM and play with the ignition timing, torque converter lock, etc and you can get a few ponies from that, plus a nicer driving truck.

If that interests you, you could also do a "0411" upgrade, which is swapping the black box to a newer Chevy computer. Doing this will allow anyone with any idea of how to dyno tune a vehicle to tune yours. The black box is not easily talked to... the 0411 is. Plus, you can get a "tow mode" integrated into it, and all you need is a momentary ground to activate it.

You could always look into doing a camshaft swap if you are down for that.

I'm not sure we have any companys like that here, they're more into japanese cars... I know we have places that tune diesels but not sure on gasoline once. I will search.

I've read about the 0411 upgrade, what year Chevy should I look for? I'll start with looking into what the computer would cost, junkyards are very expencive here.

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[vaporlock]

Little update, since winter is coming whether I like it or not I had my winter tires put on this weekend. The snow has already arrived in the northern half of the country and the southern 3/4 of the lower half of the country (makes sense, right?), it’s only us in between that hasn't gotten any snow yet so it's just a matter of time. It was actually snowing when I was walking to my truck this morning but it was so little it was barely noticeable, I did see a few cars on the freeway that had a little snow on them tho so it’s not that far away...

I was a bit productive this weekend also, me and my dad cut some holes in my roll pan for my flush mounted LED's so now it's ready for paint, just gotta find a shop that has time to do it. I didn't take any pics but I think it turned out great!

Bye Bye Summer Wheels

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Hello Winter Wheels

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[Mangonesailor]

I was thinking more like if it was a good thing to do while doing maintenance? I need to replace the oil and oilfilter anyways, it's cheap and doesn't take a whole lot of extra time. I don't know when the oil was last changed.

Yes, they are a good idea every 30-50kmi. At least in my opinion. However, you can do basically the same job using automatic transmission fluid in the oil. Just pour in a half bottle, let the engine just warm up, and proceed with your oil change and double filter change. This is what I do whenever I purchase another vehicle.

I will look into this, basic tune and maintenance is on the list. Does the .045" gap apply to a 350 too?

My father has a the same engine as your truck. He started with .060" and the engine had a little shutter to it like it missed, but when I hooked up my scanner to it there were no misses recorded. He regapped them and now he says "Its not gone, but its way less often."
Unfortunatly I don't know alot of it's history, all I know is that it has a new airfilter and a new starter since the old one died. The 7 years before I bought it the truck was barely used, about 6000miles during the 7 years, so alot of the parts are still the original ones. [/QUOTE]

Well a few other good things to do would be changing the differential oils. The front has likely never been changed, and is usually the one that will absorb the most water since it is not used often (yes, in the snow it is, but it must get the oil warm enough and long enough for the water to evaporate). Changing the rear requires the rear cover to be removed, and it will give you an opportunity to inspect the insides. Use brake cleaner to clean out the nasty in it.

This has been on my list since I bought the truck. It has 2 3/4" dual pipes to behind the cab, then a massive muffler and a single 3" pipe over the rear axle now, I want headers with 2.5" or 3" duals and smaller mufflers, I want my V8 to actually sound like a V8.

I wouldn't do more than 2.5" on a 350. Even my 454 with could not utilize a full 3" of exhaust.

I'm not sure we have any companys like that here, they're more into japanese cars... I know we have places that tune diesels but not sure on gasoline once. I will search.

I've read about the 0411 upgrade, what year Chevy should I look for? I'll start with looking into what the computer would cost, junkyards are very expencive here.

Thanks for all the tips!

Yes, make sure you have someone available to tune it that knows what they're doing before swapping in a 0411. At least you have the 350, there is less to modify in the tune to make it suit your needs. You will need a "CASE" relearn dome by a dealership or tuner, but they have to follow specific directions. I had 3 dealerships (one twice) say "we can't do this for you, everything we've tried doesn't work" but a mom and pop shop was able to perform the relearn for me. I got a load of misfires after I installed mine, but apparently the 0411 is more sensitive to picking those up and I ended up having a bad distributor gear. Just keep that in mind

I think they are out of 01+ Chevy trucks and vans, and Lextech is the one you need to talk to in order to get a wiring diagram for your truck so you can plug it in. He also sells a kit with connectors, and the conversion took me 6hrs or so but I made sure to take my time and make it look professional.

Not sure how much a 0412 is going to cost you over there, but here from a junkyard its probably $30, but no guarantee that it works ya know.