zippy

his amount to spend to me came out in the don't have alot of money to spend on the truck and that usually involves no more than 500 or so per modification (such as minor bolt on's). a converter is a great bolt on, but not so great on a vehicle towing a race car. if he goes mild on the converter he's ok, but without programming and a shift kit a converter can be very little gain. programming to me is the best place to start and from there simple mods such as a cold air intake, shift kit, cat back exhaust, and some type of stall for the application. in his case if he got stuck with a 3.42 gear it may also be a good swap to consider down the road to a 4.10 or 3.73.

moregrip

iTrader: (8)

it's all relative

parish8

iTrader: (6)

tt3000 is a great converter that will tow a car easy. it makes the truck way more fun to drive. i agree tuning goes well with a converter. both would be best.

tdogg5.3

iTrader: (6)

Yeah higher stall torque converters kick ***, it has been my best mod yet so far, did the exhaust and intake and it was alright but Yank tt3200 was way more of a difference than the exhaust and intake performance wise. i think if you did a mild camshaft and a converter with those 2 combined that would be the biggest bang for the buck.

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

Custom tune! Mine is awesome (see sig)

TnTrk53

A good tune is worth the money. I tow with my 5.3 also and the 4.10/1 with stock tire height is very good investment. It will cost you a mile per gallon.

deano

Thanks for the input guys. I should have stated that I would definitely not want to spend over $700-$800 right now. The Radix would be way too rich for my wallet. I mainly want more towing power and, if possible, better towing mileage. Just looking for a strong tow vehicle, not necessarily a street rod. I don't really want to change to a looser converter either since my towing rpm range will be pretty low. I always tow in OD. I would consider a cam swap and an exhaust system upgrade though.

Does a custom tune usually include changes to the trans shifts as well? This thing shifts like a grandma grocery getter. Any recommendations on "tuners"?

What are the FI changes that some of you are referring to? This engine is completely new to me, so I appreciate all the advice.

parish8

iTrader: (6)

you need a tuner way before a cam. the shifts are pitiful on these things and a tuner fixes that up nicely. there is probably .3sec+ with a tuner most of it coming from shift point changes, rev limit changes, tq managament changes. there are more gains to be had with a tuner by messing with the tranny stuff than anything else(my $.02)

ridnlow

iTrader: (5)

I let Allen Nelson @ Nelson Performance do mine and this thing is a totally different vehicle.. I know what you mean by the granny shifts.. and after my tune all of that is gone.. If you read around some you will see that there are a lot of great tuners on this forum. I dont think you could go wrong with any of them just letting you know about my experience with Allen..

ALL UC2

iTrader: (4)

well, im not into raceing my truck(but i have), but i have a gibson 3" cat back and thats it. i bought it used for 100 bucks. it gave me about 1 mpg. and sounds good too. i have been wanting to do a few things to my truck but all i really do is drive it and its an extended cab.

but, i have a ls1 car that i am building right now, and i think i am going to put the ls1 cam and springs in my truck, and a electric fan. also will probally build a air intake for it as well. all of this i shouldnt have hardly any money in it. i know hp tuners and a stall would probally help more, but oh well. thats money i could spend on my 240Z