Question from a new member/lurker

[matttahoe53]

I wanted to thank all the members of the forum for all the helpful info on here without all the nastiness you get on other forums. You guys were especially helpful with diagnosing a steering problem, turned out to be the speed sensor.

So I just installed a new exhaust system with thorley headers and so far have really been impressed with the improvement. My truck moves effortlessly now with my larger tires and the transmission does not have to hunt for the proper gear as much. So my question is now what?



I still want to do more I am addicted. There is an e fan on the way, but after that I am not sure what to do. My goal is to boost performance in the 1000-3000 rpm range I don't want a drag racer I just want better throttle response without having to thrash on the engine.

I am thinking new heads and a cam, but am not sure what will be the right choice. A new intake seems pointless on the vortec, too much work for little gain, from what I have read. I will be doing a tune but want to wait until it's my last mod. Also, I don't want to re-gear I want to keep 3.73 ratio.

Please post your suggestion and be specific thanks.

99 tahoe 5.7 vortec
Mods done
- CAI
- headers
- complete custom exhaust
- MSD wires

Planned mods
- MFI spider if intake stays the same
- E fan
- BB tune (last mod performed)

I was going to do a tune once I completed the cam, heads, or both.



These are the cams I was looking at:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/crn-109811

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/lun-20080660/overview/make/chevrolet

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cro-00462/overview/make/chevrolet

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-08-409-8/overview/make/chevrolet

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-08-525-8

 

[scmsltn]

You have a pretty good list of mods planned it seems like. After you get the efan in, you should do the BB tune...not sense in waiting for future mods since lifetime revisions are free. Plus, a tune will really wake the truck up, so you might be happy enough with the acceleration to skip out on the more expensive heads/cam mods. When I got my tune I was really happy with the way the truck performed.

Some servos in the transmission would be good, cheap upgrades...you should do those.