are these any good

 

Headers with no cats and an aftermarket exhaust will be freaking loud, so be prepared. Either keep the stock muffler to try and quiet it down or add in 1 or 2 really nice resonators or a helmholtz tube to reduce the noise on an aftermarket system. Heck it may even require a resonator with the stock muffler in some cases.

No idea on those headers, not sure what brand they are. If you want cheaper headers go with speed engineering headers. They "fit" with some help, you'll need better clamps than what they come with. Or you can step up to maybe like texas speed headers or go all out with American racing headers or Kooks long tubes.

Or stick with stock manifolds but still see a power increase of factory with the camshaft upgrade.

 

NO


Go with speed engineering headers and Y pipe or Texas speed.

Also I would stick with VVT instead of ditching it. You'll have a broader power range that you'll really want with a truck and a small motor.

Honestly the best thing to do for a truck is more motor. If you can swing a 6.0 or 6.2 swap that would really be the best. It gets pretty expensive trying to make a 5.3 move 5000 pounds. It's kinda like trying to make a 4.6 2 valve fast. It's so expensive it's just better to start with a better platform. But it can be done.

A little more cam and a little more compression, and a good exhaust can go a long way though.

 

Before you going tearing into the engine, I'd suggest doing your gears first. 4.56 gears should wake your truck up with 33's. I noticed a bigger seat of the pants gain going from 4.10 gears to 4.88's, than I did from any of my engine work. I wish I would have gone to 5.13's honestly. You think your truck is a dog now? Wait until you add a cam. You'll need a high stall torque converter for sure without gears. Sure it will be fun to drive over 3K rpms, but it will be a dog down low. I'm not saying don't do a cam or headers, or what not. I'm just saying wait until you do the gears before you go down that road. You will see a bigger seat of the pants gain from gears, than you will a cam and headers in a lifted truck with big tires.