Hey guys, my first post here with a few performance questions. To begin with, I have an '02 Silverado 5.3 EC. I figure it is about the time to begin modifying my truck. I am no car amateur, but I do not know enough about the Gen III small block. My dilemma is this: I am a senior in college, but since dad is paying for it, I am not 'allowed' to make major modifications to it...which in his mind means exhaust.

I have ordered a Gen 2 FIPK kit in the mail, which should be here soon, and I know that I can swap LS1 heads/cam onto my truck, although it is still under warranty. Would Silverado SS pipe/muffler make a significant difference in performance? Has anyone done a Rocker arm swap, or an LS1/LS6 intake manifold swap? Also, what is this LS1 edit that everyone keeps talking about?

thanks.

 

i have the comp 1.85 rockers in my motor, you get a quicker ramp rate with these, and it changes the lift of your cam. well not really change the lift but gives it a slight lope because of the bigger ramp rate.
LS1 Edit is a must if you are gonna do a heads and cam swap. it is a more in depth program than the HPPIII or the predator will ever be.
it allows you to totally change anything and everything in the computer that has to do with performance. i have it with mine and knock off a good 6/10 -8/10th's of a sec with a good tune, and there is still room for improvement.
deffinatley worth the money.
you can check it out at www.carputing.com
or go to www.ls1tuning.com and read about what other guys are doing with there edit.
it doesnt come with instructions and looks like a foriegn language when you use it, but you can learn how to use it bit by bit.
also you will need ATAP or EFILIVE to log onto the truck while you are driving so you can see how the truck is running and it's also good for finding SES codes and clearing them, with edit.

 

welcome to the board. my first mod was my K&N. that is a good start. don't anticipate HUGE performance gains from exhaust, but it does help. it was my 2nd mod. don't go for SS exhaust unless someone is willing to give it to you. you can get a pretty cheap catback exhaust for your truck. magnaflow would be a good choice. they are not too exspensive like a borla, corsa, or B&B triflo. they sound good and are easy to install. just bolt it on it a few hours (taking stock off takes up most of that time). just use the factory hangers. dads can always be a pain when it comes to modding a vehicle. they always ask "why do you need one of those". any easy way to increase performance without noticing anything new on the truck would be to get a programmer. that you could easily do without your dad even knowing, unless you are using his credit card . i have the HPP3. it gets the job done and is a cheap way to go. and easy to get rid of when you don't want it anymore. as for Edit, i don't know too much about it, but i know it costs alot more, is tricky to use if you don't know what you are doing, and needs a computer like a laptop (i think, like i said i don't know too much about it)

where are you from?

 

for got to tell ya, you need a laptop to run the program or you will have to lug your computer out to the garage everytime you want to long onto the truck.
dont get a predator tuner it marries it self to your computer and you will never be able to remove it, except for buying a new pcm for your truck, if you want a little performance gain for now HPPIII is the way to go, i have seen that they are now offering a model similar to the predator that allows you to scan for SES codes and what not. havnt heard if this model marries to your computer, but the HPPIII that i had did not and i resold it to help me purchase edit.

 

the rocker arm swap would be an easy way to conseal a change, so would headers unless your old man is going to be looking under your hood often. you can have a cutout welded into your exhaust also so you can go loud when he's not around if you want. p&p the throttle body (wont do much but it's free) and he wont see that. the manifold swap is pretty involved as far as parts and the work involved. gears and/or a converter would also be an easy way to conseal a modification. you can go with an LS6 cam also and it idles pretty much stock sounding and gives some pretty decent gains. if you keep stock muffler (but put a cutout in front of it) you could probably run a slightly lumpier cam that will make a little more low end and the stock exhaust might just conseal a little lope. say something like a cam like smokeur50 has that made pretty good low end with a 114 something that doesn't lope a ton. then just open the cut out whenever you want to hear it. ASM headers can be welded in front of the cats, or you can remove the cats. i've never heard stock exhaust without cats, hell, it might be interesting. there's a bunch you can do really as long as you do it where you have a way to cover it up.

 

The important thing is that the truck doesn't sound too different to him where I can't pass it off on something like the air intake. I imagine I will go with the rocker arms, and an LS1 edit, I am definitely going to look into that.

 

just know that rocker arms arent going to give you alot of extra HP i did mine in preparation for a cam. but it does sound nice.
but you are on the right track.
like slow said there is a ton of things you can do that you can conseal.
i do it all the time to keep my wife from finding out

 

my other car is quick..11 seconds quick, but i have not taken the time to learn much about computers yet.

 

werd, i use to do my stuff so that my dad wouldn't bitch to much. then i said to hell with it and went with some sweet headers, bad *** exhaust and a decent size cam and now he tells me how good it sounds and is giving me ideas for my new motor and showed me some different ways to hook up my nitrous (he's a hot rodder from way back)

oh yeah, what's your other car?

 

he'll notice the intake. it is a bit louder for the 1st few weeks, then for some reason i think the motor adjusts to it and tends to quiet down a bit. sounds cool though, then you get used to it. exhaust will be hard to conceal