Hello all, great site, seems to be a wealth of info here. I have a 5.3 in my Sierra, it is an ECSB. It is stock except for a VR stack and a FM muffler. My truck is my daily driver and I want to increase power and mileage. I'm having a difficult time with some of the claims made about aftermarket parts. Can anyone recommend mods that they felt are worth the money or have seen dyno results from? I already plan on ditching the Flow for a Magnaflow, but thats about it. Thanks for any help.

 

nelson tune

 

Its good to see that you will ditch the flowmaster for a magnaflo, I dont know anything about the VR stack. But if you wanted to really give your truck a kick in the a$$ get a Nelson Tune at www.nelsonperformance.com He can do alot for you truck to really make it move by computer tuning. Or if you wanted to spend a little more $$$ one of the best mods to get is a cam. A 212/218 comp cam grind #265 will give you around 30 rwhp and with a Nelson Tune you would be looking at around 295 rwhp. I would also recommend a KN air filter just to make your engine breath a little better.

Just for comparison my 2000 rcsb 5.3 put down 255 rwhp and 300 pounds of torque with a Borla exhaust, a very crappy superchips tune, ASP pulley and a KN FPIK. The difference is night and day.

 

How much money are you looking to spend? Just about everyone here agrees that the best bang for your buck will come from:

Long tube headers(ASM, TOG, Thorley, Dynatech) $500+
Camshaft Kit $450+
Custom tune (Nelson, LS1 Edit, etc) $450
Torque converter(Yank, Vig., TCI, etc.) $500+

Each one alone gives you a very nice performance increase. If you can afford to do all of them at the same time, no one will be able to wipe the grin off your face

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Nelson tune. Does anyone happen to know if the Truck will still smog with this tune..i'm in California?

Also what is Torque Management?

 

I dont know about the smog? But torque management takes timing away from the motor when it shifts. When I had my truck dynoed it took away 20rwhp when it shifted! AGAIN do not buy a Superchip tuner they suck! But you might not want to remove all or you torque management because you will spin the tires when it shifts, and it will fry ithe trans pretty quick. Allen at Nelson Performance knows what he is doing, when he gets done with the tune you will be very happy. Also I would invest in a trans cooler.

 

cool, my truck has the tow package and the factory trans cooler in front of the radiator, is this good enough? It also sounds like everyone like the Transgo kit and servos. Does this kit make a difference without the tune, or is it just so you don't kill the trans with the tune? Is a K&N FIPK worth the money?

 

I have seen the stock trans cooler and it is very small I bought the Hayden cooler that was rated for a motor home and other large vechiles. If you do want all the torque management removed you have to get the Transgo kit and servos. I had problems with the trans slipping when it shifted. So after the when the dealership rebuild it they put in a aluminum accumulator piston in it. The piston I am talking about controls the line preasure when it shifts. Stock ones are plastic and when you up the line preasure in cracks them leaking shift preasure and that is why I had the trans slipping. After the rebuilt trans I had installed a corvette servo and uped the line preasure for the shift and bought a cooler. No slipping or problems since.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Any opinions on the FIPK?