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.
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Damn. I love Texas
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
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.
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 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.
I will look into this, basic tune and maintenance is on the list. Does the .045" gap apply to a 350 too?
I wouldn't do more than 2.5" on a 350. Even my 454 with could not utilize a full 3" of exhaust.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'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!