Some self learned tips for the 96-98...
new old stock fuel pumps, terrible. Just swapping the whole assembly for anything built after 2008 is a noticable power gain. Once fuel average is at 17mpg or so.. you'll know when you got that right anyway. (my own creeped up to 22-24mpg in the summers- that is NOT good)
Another oddity.. the ignition is thrown off by unequal length wires. After swapping my fuel pump, I was getting an oblong sounding idle out of my nv3500 bearings making their noise. I have 30 years with a smallblock and made a beeline to the wires.
the first year obd2 is quite a rock.
(it knows there is short and long wires). I by chance swapped a bad wire out for a whole kit I made myself (8.8mm accel - yes expensive), equal length. I'll be darned.. you might think it was an LS coming.
20 below and cold starts.. kaboom. Very confident.
the lighting circuit.. go LED. Just the front parking is a hog enough to steal the computing power. That chore was not about looking pretty at night.
the last thing I found was factory perforated mufflers, especially temperate climates. The little holes fill in with rust leaving a nice looking muffler from the outside. These trucks are a real case for flowmaster or other good brand. Not to make noise, but to fix a problem.
