Txsilverado, Where are you from in Houston? I go there alot. (when I'm in the US) I am from the Beaumont area. anyway, Yeah, I know its a lot of cash just to go 16's.... and thats even if you have the driving ability. I am going to recommend the standard list of proven bolt-ons. maybe he'll be happy. If not then I guess he's just going to be forced to go get a big boy truck with a 5.3 or 6.0... then he might have the desired results. You have a clean truck man. I almot got those 17's when they came out for mine but I already had avalanche 17's... I wanted something a little different. I like keeping mine clean just the way you do... keep up the beautiful truck... Thanks

 

well all mine has was a eletric fan , hurst shifter , msd coil , 9mm wires , 160 thermo , open element k an n , dleeted the air breatherpiece around the tb , then 3 inch off the y pipe with no cat to a daytona muffler out the side lightning style . i ran 16.5 none of my friends could get better then a 17.2 in it with there driving and i didnt let just anyone they knew what they were doing just none of them could lanuch a 3.42 open diff with a short *** first gear and lot of low end torque .

 

thanks for the complements im in the humble/kingwood area. theres a few guys here from beaumont. say something in the southern section when you get back and maybe we can get a cruise/gtg set up.

 

Doing a 4.3 (w/ TH350) swap to a 5.3 (w/ 4L60E). Old 4.3 had "potential" as a nice mid-to-high torque motor, but power wasn't great. Can't wait for my my new setup. If ya think a stock 5.3 is nice, mine'll be saucey!

 

I had an 01' reg cab sb base + model with a 4.3L. It was an auto though, but after mods I got it to run a best 15.1@88 in the 1/4. Stock it did suck though.

My mods were, and what I suggest for your friend:

1.6 rockers
Mach UD pulley
Free flowing exhaust (mine was dual in/out 2.5" flowmaster)
Gutted cats
SCU 2000 (to control my auto tranny)
4.10's with locker
K&N filter with box chopping.
Cut the restrictor off the TB blade. (really improves throttle responce and top end)
Jet Stage II chip
Comp 270HR cam and spring kit.


All of which was less than $2k and made it run pretty good. It had more TQ than a 4.8 for sure and better throttle responce than my 5.3L stock. Sometimes I wish I still had that old truck with the 4.3 to see if I could spray or boost my way into the high 12's.

Maybe one day I'll find one used cheap and try it out.

 

I have seen full weight FS chevy 4.3's run into the 11's with drag radials. One of which was a twin turbo. the other was a vortec s-trim. both truck were clean and still got over 20MPG and ran awesome numbers for what they were... I wish I would'nt have totalled my first NBS chevy. it was a 00 SCSB 4.3 5spd. and It was torquey and would definitely surprise you. I would have turbo's slapped on that thing faster than you could turn around. My buddy is pulling a boat and stuff so he wants useable power and mods that will actually get good results. A free-flowing intake and exhaust, some computer tuning and simpe things will do the best for him. As I mentioned, I will be the one doing all the mods so I would like to keep them fairly simple as well. LOL !!! Thanks for the input.

 

He shoulda got the 4.8L 5-speed, they're a blast to drive a much better platform to build on.