DumpedChevy

Looking to add more HP to my 05 1500 ext cab. Was looking at exhausts, cams, CAIs, and having it tuned. Believe my truck has the LM7 which has the iron block.

I want to keep it stock internals and still have it be very reliable as its a daily driver and I don't want to be skeptical to take it on a road trip somewhere...

swathdiver

Best bang for the buck is the engine tune. The CAI won't do much of anything, an improved exhaust will free up a little power. Go BlackBear.

madmann26

iTrader: (7)

You picked the wrong ****** hobby.

FFDP

iTrader: (2)

Here my opinion. Do a small stage 1 or stage 2 camshaft from texas speed, matching valve springs and pushrods if needed. Do whatever intake you want and whatever exhaust you want. To save you some grief find some flex fuel truck injectors that flow more fuel. Get a tune and call it a day. Should be 35-50hp added.

DumpedChevy

was looking at the 220/220 112 (standard options) cam on tsp website for $400. Still trying to research if I would be fine with stock springs, etc with that cam... as far as exhausts, id probably do like a cheaper magnaflow or MBRP with a side exit with dual tips. I saw stock injectors are good up until like 375-400? Could be wrong there... Never thought to use flex fuel injectors though, ill look around at them. As far as tunes go, I want to take it to somewhere that specializes in tuning trucks (if possible) or has done a lot of them and know what they are doing. I live around Charlotte NC, tried googling some tuners but most do cars only or virtual tunes. Any recommendations you know of local to me?

FFDP

iTrader: (2)

I'd go smaller on the camshaft if it's a daily driver. Like a 212/218 camshaft.

Stock injectors are 25lb/hr and are basically taxed with a camshaft swap. You gotta figure the truck makes maybe 260-270hp to the tire right now, no way they are going to support another 100hp to the tire. Flex fuel injectors from another truck are 33lb/hr, they'd give you all the room you need.

RedXray

The 50lb/hr Flex injectors are from a 2010 Silverado (part number 12613412) will work but they need Multec to EV6 adapters to connect to the engine harness. I'm running those injectors with no issues. Careful who you buy the injectors from as a lot are Chinese knock off junk.

The tuner will need to scale the injector data from GEN 4 to GEN 3. If you're only doing a small cam and exhaust you may be able to use the stock injectors, but they will be near the end of their duty cycle with zero room to grow. IIRC the stock 25 lb/hr injectors are good somewhere between 300 to 380 hp... there are online calculators that will help with injector sizing.

As far as tuning... PCMofNC out of Mooresville, NC can tune the truck. When I called a couple years ago they said I'd need an upgraded driveshaft to be allowed on their dyno. They did say street tuning would be no problem. Another local with a good rep is LSX Performance in Indian Trail, NC.

I wound up just buying HP Tuners to correct a mail order tune.

DumpedChevy

Thanks. Will look into injectors. Funny enough you mentioned PCM. I called them yesterday and they told me 500 to street tune my truck. They also told me no dyno without a upgraded shaft. I forgot to ask them but another thing with tuning is, do I pay 500 each time to have it tuned? Or is that just for the 1st tune and the software license? And then tunes after are cheaper? I had a car tuned one time and you paid for the software license and every tune after was whatever the tuner costed to work on it.

RedXray

Tuners like PCMofNC that tune enough specific vehicles usually have unlimited licenses for that year/make/model. Most tuners have a minimal cost for changes that requires a simple reflash like tire size, converter, different gears etc. Those take only a few minutes without the need to even start the engine. Swapping a lot of parts that change the airflow, fueling and timing... you'll be paying for a complete tune again.

Summitracing

OP, some great advice from the community. Agreed the 220/220 cam is on the big side for a stock 5.3 with your budget and goals. Our Pro LS Truck stage 1 High-Lift SUM-8719 would be a great option. Specs on it are .550/.550, 209/217, 112+1 with -10* of overlap. This cam produces good off-idle torque with a strong mid-range and good top-end. Idle speed can be tuned for a smooth idle or noticeable lope. It pulls hard past 6500 rpm with budget-friendly LS6 springs. Being budget-minded this will work just fine with the stock converter. It's daily-driver friendly with great driveability and efficiency. Don't let that fool you though it's sure to pack a punch.

We know our customers like combos so we put together thought-out cam kits. You can get cam and springs or cam, springs, and install kit.

Just changing the cam and springs will provide a noticeable difference. For add-ons, we'd vote long tube headers with a full exhaust system. Definitely a custom tune to optimize everything. CAI would be nice to do after that. A TBSS intake would be a great benefit if the budget permits. That intake will require additional parts such as fuel rails, a 4 bolt throttle body or throttle body adapter, etc.

A light-hearted version of madmanns post. This hobby like many others takes money to play. The faster you want to go the more money you'll need. It doesn't mean you can't play. It might take longer to get there than others, but there's nothing wrong with that.