Landspeed Racer

I am getting my 03 SS Silverado ready to go back to Wilmington, Ohio at the end of April. I am going to replace the Goodyear Eagle ls ll tires that are on it and I want a directional tire with a speed rating of H or higher. I have looked at tread patterns and tire specs and have narrowed my choice to either Nitto NT 420S or Kumho ECSTA STX in 285/55/20 mounted on the original wheels. I am leaning heavily toward the Kumho tires now and both brands are a bargain and only $1.00 total difference. The truck is never driven in rain or bad weather unless I get caught on the road to or from Ohio. I will landspeedrace on two mile airport runways, dragrace it around three weekends a year and after some suspension upgrades I may try a little autocross in this 5800 lb. truck.
Does anyone have any experience with the Kumho tires or the Nitto tires and if so I would appreciate your input.
Second Question: I want to pick up 25 to 40 hp before my trip in April and budget is a consideration. I know about the reviews and dyno hp of the FAST intake manifold for LS engines but they are over $1,000.00 and all reviews I read on the BBK manifold indicate they leak and don't perform as advertised. Does anyone have any experience with the Power Plus aluminum intake, how much HP it produces and if it leaks. The Fast intake dynos at 25 to 30 Hp.
Any help any of you can help me with will be appreciated and thanks,

Garrell Patterson

Tx5spd

I think you would be happy with either of those tires , never had kumho's on my truck but bought plenty of then for my wife's mustangs and have always been pleased . Had Nittos on my truck an loved them and have some Nitto 555's on my g8 that hook very well . As far as more power what all is currently on the truck ?

N20zuki

I have had the Kumhos for about 15k miles and have to say they are hands down better then the Goodyear Eagle II's I had before. Rain traction is much nicer and good wear, although they do make a little more road noise then the GoodYears but for the price and performance I didn't mind...

RS/SS 4.8

iTrader: (13)

Had those kumhos didnt like em. Nitto 420s on the other hand are freakin awesome. U will be alot happier with the nittos.

Landspeed Racer

Looks like the majoriy like the Nitto tires best so far.
Up to date the performace modifications to my truck consist of:
Volant cold air induction, ported throttle body, 1:8 to 1: fulltip roller rockers with beehive valve springs and 3/8" .100 wall thickness pushrods for reliability. BBK headers with Dougs Headers remote control electric cutouts, An HP custom tuneup, tonno cover for aerodynamics for approximately 445 flywheel horsepower.
The headers are new since I ran 134 mph with a 25 mph quartering wind hitting me in the left front fender in the standing mile. I figure the headers are worth 15 hp so I am looking for another 15 to 20 hp so I rhought with a good wind with another 20+ hp I should break 140 hp. Any advise anyone has to add more horsepower woul be appreciated. I can't use nitrous or change cams or heads but I can change intake manifolds.
Thanks,

Garrell

Dmarian907

nittos ftw!

Landspeed Racer

Since the last post I had my tune-up shop change to a Comp Cam kit designed to build power in the 2,500 to 5,000 RPM. I also ask him would he install a F.A.S.T. Intake manifold if I furnished it and paid the Shop for the installation, this intake also was a mid to high RPM component.
I did not get to run back in the spring after I had added headers with the cut outs behind them because after spending all day Friday registering, going through tech inspections and a drivers meeting I got a call from my Wife at 10:00 PM that my Dad had been rushed to the hospital in serious condition. We left at 4:00 the next morning, Dad passed away about six weeks later.
I have studied the cam specs and I have actually lost them and F.A.S.T. Has dynoed a 20 HP gain with the LSXrt intake. On paper with the headers, cut-outs, Cam and intake I had an additional 100 HP in real world maybe 75 and yes I had another HP tuneup. On Sat . Sept. 28th there was a measured 15 MPH headwind and my truck is an aerodynamic brick but I had ran almost 135 MPH in a 20 MPH quartering headwind. I made four runs that were within .5 MPH of each other averaging around 131 MPH. I was sure that I would run 138 and really thought I would see 140 MPH. The truck left hard and pulled strong with no miss, popping, bogging and no less than six other participants on pit road came up to my window and wanted to know what I ran because they said it sounded like it was going to run 150 or over. The only thing I noticed was on one run in low gear, a 4L60E, the truck shifted at 6,200 RPM's the tach dropped to 4,000 ,
Opinions? What did I do wrong and I can't keep throwing money at it but how do I get back to where I started at least. I have suspenshioned Torque Converter.
On another note after adding some tasteful red pinstriping, a 6.0 Billet badging on each front fender with a red hockey striping dieing out to a sharp point in the middle of each back door, black billet grille with blacked out headlight, parking light and taillight covers. Problem is they don't make you go fast. The truck has 51,000 miles and I thought after I saved enough HotRod money I might add a supercharger to it because I love the truck
I am open for the "You shouldn't haves " now.
Thankyou