so i have been wanting to get more power out of my truck for a while now, i think its about time to figure out what im gonna do. so here is a little background on the truck and what i am gonna use it for. so its a stock 05 silverado 5.3 ext. cab 4X4 w/ g80 locker & 3.42 gear ratio. it has the aluminum L33 engine. i have not done any performance mods to it yet. i do plan on doing the corvette servo. it is my daily driver back and forth to college and work. i will be doing a little light towing here and there. i dont go street racing or anything, just maybe the ocasional beat runs and races against my budies trucks. i would like to get the most horsepower and gas millage out of it as i can, but i would like to stay budget minded.. also down the road i may put a 4 inch lift on it with 34 or 35 inch tires.

so, i am thinking about doing lt headers, cam, torque converter, rear axle locker, and a custom dyno tune.

Headers- for the lt headers i am looking at the pacesetters w/ off road y pipe into a magnaflow or corsa catyback OR the stainless works lt headers and y pipe into true duals.

Cam- then the cam is where i need your guy's help. i am not sure what cam to run? when swaping out the cam do i need to do different valve springs, rockers and pushrods?

torque converter- i would like to not HAVE to get a different torque converter till down the road or beef up the trans. i would like to keep this all as cheap as i can since i am going to college.

Dyno tune- I know a guy that dyno tunes diesel and gas trucks, he said he can tune mine on the dyno for $400. Could i have my truck tuned first, THEN do the cam and headers after? or do i need to do the headers and cam before the tune? or lets say i dd the headers now w/o the tune, then the cam swap later w/ a tune, would that be a better route?

i am gonna need all the help i can get guys! lol this shoudl be a fun build tho! i am going to school for auto technician and work at a shop, so i have all the tools i could need, just need the advice. also just want to add that i would like to keep this on a budget and still get the same, or gain mpgs. i am currently getting around 14 city and 19 hwy.

thanks guys!
nick

 

would doing all this decrease the life of the engine?

and one other thing for the cam, i would like to get a cam that gives it a choppy idle. i think the chppy idle sounds awesome! but if i went with a cam that does this would it sacrafice my low end torque or drop my mpg's?

 

The choppy idle will drop torque off idle and gas mileage around town, but with a good stall, you won't notice the torque drop. I think how you drive and maintain the engine will determine the longevity more than mods. If you are going to do everything at once, do the tune after. If you want to start with the little things, do a CAI and the tune. Then I would do headers and exhaust. Next would be the stall, once you have a cam pretty locked in so the stall speed matches the cam. Last would be the cam, springs and pushrods. Especially after the cam install, it will need to be re-tuned. Most places offer re-tunes as you make changes later.

 

yah thats probably the route im going to go cause i dont have the money to do everything at once. so ill do the cai and tune first, hopefuly next week. what is the best air intake for the money? then headers after that. then what would be a good route to go for the cam and torqueconverter? i dont want to sacrifice to much bottom end torque, but if i could get just a light choppy idle to it that would be sweet.

thanks!
nick

 

As the horsepower goes up the gas mileage goes down. Remember this site is performance truck not help me get better gas mileage. You will only see gains with a CAI above 5000rpm's

 

Well theres two sides to that deal..
My MPG didnt drop when i did the turbo and cam.
I got 24mpg before and after. so it all depends on the mods, how well the tune is setup and how you drive.

Like right now, my wideband died and mine is running rich from what my last log showed.. my MPG went from 17 to 13 on my daily commute. afr was in the mid-high 13s vs mid high 15s. and i pulled some timing till i can get the tune squared away.

 

as the horsepower goes up the gas milage goes down is not always true... im not looking for 500 hp... i just want to wake this motor up a bit, get more hp and torque while keeping the same gas milage or improving mpg.

 

I'd look into the 212/218 Comp cam and either an I6 trailblazer converter or a Circle D.

 

yah ive been told to use the trail blazer tc, what can i expect for gains out of that cam?

 

I think you should look at this, before camming your truck.

https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...-112-a-456461/

Say you just bolted it on in your driveway and got it tuned. It would out perform any cammed setup on your truck. And at $2800, its a good deal. You'd actually be saving some money.

Also, leave TM in the tune. Until you get transmission upgrade/work done.