4.8l budget modifications
10-22-2017, 04:42 PM
#3
Agreed.
But if you wish to keep the stock motor you could do gears, go from the 3.23/3.42 or 3.73's to some 4.10's to wake it up. A mild cam or something to add some power and idle chop. The idea's are endless it just what your goals are and wallet can handle.
But if you wish to keep the stock motor you could do gears, go from the 3.23/3.42 or 3.73's to some 4.10's to wake it up. A mild cam or something to add some power and idle chop. The idea's are endless it just what your goals are and wallet can handle.
10-23-2017, 03:04 PM
#5
All of these suggestions so far have been pretty extensive... turbo, engine swap, cam, etc. I think the question was more about the basics.
Air intakes are overrated and overpriced. Take a 3" holesaw to the bottom of the stock air box (below the filter) to open up flow on the side that doesn't face the engine. Replace with your choice of performance replacement filter.
Look into a catch can setup to clean up the intake air so it's not sucking oil through the PCV. I got mine from ebay for about $75.
Replacing a stock muffler with your choice of performance muffler will compliment your modded air intake box. Faster in, faster out. If you go with a straight through muffler design like a Magnaflow, your cat converters will then be the greater point of restriction. You may also choose to upgrade those to high flows or delete them if you don't have emissions or inspections to pass. I prefer to have cats on my vehicles due to smells, inspections, resale, and honestly they do enough to make a difference in noxious emissions that it's the right thing to do.
If you have the 4L60e automatic, look into the servo upgrade. Parts are about $30 and fairly easy to swap out for slightly firmer shifts.
The re-gearing the rear end suggestion is good too. The 4.8s were often paired with shorter gears (3.08 vs 3.73, 4.10, or 4.56)for highway fuel economy purposes, but it's a bit counter productive in all other scenarios due to the 4.8's lack of low-end torque. The engine has to work against that shorter gear to get moving and keeps the engine loaded in a less than ideal RPM range. Think of it like trying to pedal your bike from a stop when it's in a high gear. Selecting a lower gear to downshift the bike to make pedaling easier is the equivalent of putting a taller gear in your rear end. It will really change the driving dynamic of the truck. The benefits in overall driving will outweigh the minor efficiency you may have lost cruising at 70 mph.
Once you have those items installed, look for a local tuner to do a street tune and/or a dyno tune. This will be several hundred dollars, but will definitely wake the truck up. They'll adjust fuel settings, timing, rear end gear calibration and shift points to make the mods you've done to the truck's performance shine.
Air intakes are overrated and overpriced. Take a 3" holesaw to the bottom of the stock air box (below the filter) to open up flow on the side that doesn't face the engine. Replace with your choice of performance replacement filter.
Look into a catch can setup to clean up the intake air so it's not sucking oil through the PCV. I got mine from ebay for about $75.
Replacing a stock muffler with your choice of performance muffler will compliment your modded air intake box. Faster in, faster out. If you go with a straight through muffler design like a Magnaflow, your cat converters will then be the greater point of restriction. You may also choose to upgrade those to high flows or delete them if you don't have emissions or inspections to pass. I prefer to have cats on my vehicles due to smells, inspections, resale, and honestly they do enough to make a difference in noxious emissions that it's the right thing to do.
If you have the 4L60e automatic, look into the servo upgrade. Parts are about $30 and fairly easy to swap out for slightly firmer shifts.
The re-gearing the rear end suggestion is good too. The 4.8s were often paired with shorter gears (3.08 vs 3.73, 4.10, or 4.56)for highway fuel economy purposes, but it's a bit counter productive in all other scenarios due to the 4.8's lack of low-end torque. The engine has to work against that shorter gear to get moving and keeps the engine loaded in a less than ideal RPM range. Think of it like trying to pedal your bike from a stop when it's in a high gear. Selecting a lower gear to downshift the bike to make pedaling easier is the equivalent of putting a taller gear in your rear end. It will really change the driving dynamic of the truck. The benefits in overall driving will outweigh the minor efficiency you may have lost cruising at 70 mph.
Once you have those items installed, look for a local tuner to do a street tune and/or a dyno tune. This will be several hundred dollars, but will definitely wake the truck up. They'll adjust fuel settings, timing, rear end gear calibration and shift points to make the mods you've done to the truck's performance shine.
10-23-2017, 04:05 PM
#6
All of these suggestions so far have been pretty extensive... turbo, engine swap, cam, etc. I think the question was more about the basics.
Air intakes are overrated and overpriced. Take a 3" holesaw to the bottom of the stock air box (below the filter) to open up flow on the side that doesn't face the engine. Replace with your choice of performance replacement filter.
Look into a catch can setup to clean up the intake air so it's not sucking oil through the PCV. I got mine from ebay for about $75.
Replacing a stock muffler with your choice of performance muffler will compliment your modded air intake box. Faster in, faster out. If you go with a straight through muffler design like a Magnaflow, your cat converters will then be the greater point of restriction. You may also choose to upgrade those to high flows or delete them if you don't have emissions or inspections to pass. I prefer to have cats on my vehicles due to smells, inspections, resale, and honestly they do enough to make a difference in noxious emissions that it's the right thing to do.
If you have the 4L60e automatic, look into the servo upgrade. Parts are about $30 and fairly easy to swap out for slightly firmer shifts.
The re-gearing the rear end suggestion is good too. The 4.8s were often paired with shorter gears (3.08 vs 3.73, 4.10, or 4.56)for highway fuel economy purposes, but it's a bit counter productive in all other scenarios due to the 4.8's lack of low-end torque. The engine has to work against that shorter gear to get moving and keeps the engine loaded in a less than ideal RPM range. Think of it like trying to pedal your bike from a stop when it's in a high gear. Selecting a lower gear to downshift the bike to make pedaling easier is the equivalent of putting a taller gear in your rear end. It will really change the driving dynamic of the truck. The benefits in overall driving will outweigh the minor efficiency you may have lost cruising at 70 mph.
Once you have those items installed, look for a local tuner to do a street tune and/or a dyno tune. This will be several hundred dollars, but will definitely wake the truck up. They'll adjust fuel settings, timing, rear end gear calibration and shift points to make the mods you've done to the truck's performance shine.
Air intakes are overrated and overpriced. Take a 3" holesaw to the bottom of the stock air box (below the filter) to open up flow on the side that doesn't face the engine. Replace with your choice of performance replacement filter.
Look into a catch can setup to clean up the intake air so it's not sucking oil through the PCV. I got mine from ebay for about $75.
Replacing a stock muffler with your choice of performance muffler will compliment your modded air intake box. Faster in, faster out. If you go with a straight through muffler design like a Magnaflow, your cat converters will then be the greater point of restriction. You may also choose to upgrade those to high flows or delete them if you don't have emissions or inspections to pass. I prefer to have cats on my vehicles due to smells, inspections, resale, and honestly they do enough to make a difference in noxious emissions that it's the right thing to do.
If you have the 4L60e automatic, look into the servo upgrade. Parts are about $30 and fairly easy to swap out for slightly firmer shifts.
The re-gearing the rear end suggestion is good too. The 4.8s were often paired with shorter gears (3.08 vs 3.73, 4.10, or 4.56)for highway fuel economy purposes, but it's a bit counter productive in all other scenarios due to the 4.8's lack of low-end torque. The engine has to work against that shorter gear to get moving and keeps the engine loaded in a less than ideal RPM range. Think of it like trying to pedal your bike from a stop when it's in a high gear. Selecting a lower gear to downshift the bike to make pedaling easier is the equivalent of putting a taller gear in your rear end. It will really change the driving dynamic of the truck. The benefits in overall driving will outweigh the minor efficiency you may have lost cruising at 70 mph.
Once you have those items installed, look for a local tuner to do a street tune and/or a dyno tune. This will be several hundred dollars, but will definitely wake the truck up. They'll adjust fuel settings, timing, rear end gear calibration and shift points to make the mods you've done to the truck's performance shine.
All the accessories swap over, tune it and it'll walk all over the 4.8 with headers, cam, blah blah without having to put a cam in it.
Think smarter, not harder.
10-23-2017, 04:50 PM
#7
A. Not everyone is up for a motor swap straight out the gate.
B. He didn't state specific goals other than wanting to make his current setup run well.
C. Nothing I suggested would have been a waste if done along with an engine swap at a later date if he ultimately wasn't happy with the 4.8.
D. Not everyone is trying to race their pickup truck. While the 4.8 isn't as strong as a 6.0, that doesn't make it an unworthy motor. He may prefer the gas mileage that the 4.8 is capable of that the 6.0 is not.
E. It's a lot easier to leave a running motor in place and do a couple of minor mods when time and money allows than it is to research what engines are compatible, source said engine, buy it, disassemble it, remove current engine, swap over all the parts, put it back in, wrestle with a wiring harness, break things in the process, fix mistakes, spend a bunch of time in the process while the use of the truck is probably needed... it's not as simple as it sounds.
Which sounds smarter vs. harder?
B. He didn't state specific goals other than wanting to make his current setup run well.
C. Nothing I suggested would have been a waste if done along with an engine swap at a later date if he ultimately wasn't happy with the 4.8.
D. Not everyone is trying to race their pickup truck. While the 4.8 isn't as strong as a 6.0, that doesn't make it an unworthy motor. He may prefer the gas mileage that the 4.8 is capable of that the 6.0 is not.
E. It's a lot easier to leave a running motor in place and do a couple of minor mods when time and money allows than it is to research what engines are compatible, source said engine, buy it, disassemble it, remove current engine, swap over all the parts, put it back in, wrestle with a wiring harness, break things in the process, fix mistakes, spend a bunch of time in the process while the use of the truck is probably needed... it's not as simple as it sounds.
Which sounds smarter vs. harder?
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10-23-2017, 07:53 PM
#8
TECH Fanatic
Good lord! Last time I checked engine swap wasn't on a budget build list. Might as well have said blow it... Lol. I think he was thinking intake, exhaust and tune...
10-24-2017, 08:34 PM
#9
The big ones in there are intake, exhaust and tune.
Headers, long tube from Speed Engineering or Texas Speed, followed by exhaust of your choice. Not knowing your budget, the SE long tubes and their true dual exhaust kit is about $700, which for all you get isnt bad at all. For a bit more budget minded, there are cat back kits or have a local shop cut off and weld in a new muffler and some pipes.
Intake, BudRacing said you could cut a hole in the intake box with a performance drop in filter. Also in that thread it is mentioned about making your own intake kit. The benefit of a new intake tube with a kit is freer flowing air, no ridges or baffles or whatever.
Tune, do some good research here, just dont buy an Edge or Superchips "tune-in-a-can", they do make a difference, but they are "safer" by not getting as far into the areas that can make a bigger difference (as in they play it safe so it will work for every truck, whereas an in-person tune bigger adjustments can be made to make bigger differences)
Corvette Servo - firms up shifts (I have one on order now) and have read that it will feel a lot better with the way the entire truck feels