4.3L HP upgrades

[HeavyAsAChevy]

I’ve got a 4.3Vortec and I’ve been trying to figure out ways to get a little more power without a whole ton of $$$$ or stripping my engine. Anybody who knows a few ideas to try?

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Nitrous

 

[HeavyAsAChevy]

I suppose that would do something to satisfy my wants.

 

[kennythewelder]

Start with the simple. Have you done anything with the exhaust? A high flow cat, and a free flowing muffler will help a good bit. The OE muffler and cat are restrictive.

 

[LC2NLS6]

Start with a budget, go from there. You can do cam, headers, intake, exhaust, chip, but it'll be just as slow as anything else out there. LS swap, turbo kit and tune if you want to go fast.

 

[Nad_Yvalhosert]

Turbo or supercharger? Depends on what you want to spend... How deep is your wallet?

 

[HeavyAsAChevy]

I’m looking for anything but turtle speed, which is this truck. I’m not looking to spend a grand on part and what I do I will do myself. I’m new to most of this and don’t know where to get the parts for a good price. Is there a recommended website?

 

[HeavyAsAChevy]

I’ve looked into getting a chip for it, but haven’t been able to figure out where to get one.

 

[df2x4]

What year is the truck? If it's a '96+ you can get a mail order tune from Black Bear Performance, PCM4Less, Nelson Performance, Wester's Garage etc.

My red '97 has the 4.3L. It's bone stock inside but I've done some small bolt on upgrades over the years. Without dumping a whole ton of money, I'd say a good exhaust setup and a tune would be the way to go. I'm running Pacesetter shorty headers (don't buy these) with a Magnaflow Y-pipe/cat and a Gibson single 3" cat-back system, and a tune from Black Bear Performance. I did the exhaust before the tune and it did seem to make a difference, but after the tune I was pretty impressed. It's definitely not as fast as a V8 but it's a lot peppier than it was from the factory now. Or at least it was, before I 4L80E swapped it.

All that said... I have an LQ4 sitting on an engine stand for whenever the V6 gets tired, or I finally decide I want the truck to actually be fast.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I have an LQ4 sitting on an engine stand for whenever the V6 gets tired, or I finally decide I want the truck to actually be fast.

You know what they say - Go fast or go home