I gave you honest and real advice. You are honestly and really selling yourself and your build short by not optimizing the tune for 91. There is no other way to say it. I have given you evidence, provided suggestions to maximize the tune potential, even given you dyno backed-educated guesses on HP differences when the tune is optimized for the given octane. Also, your "early" motor is lower rated because of the factory calibration. The hard parts are same between that engine all the way up to '07ish when they got flat tops and 799s. So.... you could just do what @RDF1 suggested and put the '02 OS on your ecu and bam you have the 295/330 (or whatever) the 02+ are rated at. I've had my Tahoe on 91 since 2012, and its currently a FBO 5.3 making 302 at the wheels with a timing curve mapped specifically for towing, because we towed a car around for half a day making pulls and making changes to the bottom of the map. My tuner doesn't have an Eddy current dyno, so this was our solution. Then we put it on the dyno, maximized peak power and here we are. ~5yrs later, still no problems. Still on 91. Still pulling cars and rocking hard. Im a dick, I don't care, but I am an educated dick with years of experience and ~160k mi in tuned LS's with 0 tune related failures. You can either decide to heed the fact I am providing facts and real results/data based on years of experience and actual miles- or you can choose to think that because my delivery is dry and concise and isn't full of a lot of "make you feel good fluff" that I don't know what I am talking about and I am just an idiot ******** online. You did come to performancetrucks.net asking about performance. We are here to provide you.... performance. If money is a concern, the real solution is to simply not modify the truck. And thats the fact.

We assume he already has the parts. And you can make an FBO 5.3 make tuned 6.0 power. I have the dyno graph to prove it Torque at stall speed is a little lower however. Cam and intake a lot easier to swap than engine, however

OUCH but to be clear, the car did not hurt the new motor because of the tune! And, I am also not naive enough to think I can make any type of power with the new 12.2:1 motor on 87. Hence why that engine will be on ethanol. Because I know performance costs money

 

That's super cool of you, I wish you had a spare lane around too!

This is the cam: https://briantooleyracing.com/btr-ca...-30202112.html

I have not installed it yet, so technically it's not too late to change to a different cam but the price was affordable in my opinion and seem like a quality, well researched and tested cam.

 

That sounds like emergency’s to me. If this is something you want to rely on in those situations, I’d just do a tune on it and leave the hard parts factory or swap in a bigger factory motor. When it comes to reliability it’s hard to beat the factory stuff and if I’m counting on my vehicle to get my family and I out of bad weather conditions or not leave me stranded on the road with a trailer in the middle of no where, I’m sticking factory. I get wanting the extra power but sometimes the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. A tune on 87 octane would get you 15-20hp and then you wouldn’t have to worry about the added cost of 91 and you’ll have a bit more power. Just my two cents from a couple decades of modifying and driving vehicles.

I’d skip the shorty headers and do long tubes and a tune and that would get you a decent power bump without going into the engine but I’d still recommend high octane tune to get the most out of it but you could do it on 87 and still see power gains. Skip the cam. It’s unnecessary for what you are trying to accomplish.

Have you thought about different gears? That’s where I would start. Gears and a tune would wake the truck right up.

 

Again, this is the 3rd time I'm telling you that I am willing to do a tune for 91 octane yet here you are, essentially still calling me cheap and unwilling to do so 🤦

I will plan to do 91...Now, can we move forward to my next issue? All of the tuners in my area seemingly specialize in performance cars, not trucks. Since this is my first tune ever on a vehicle, I don't really know how to properly communicate to them to know who is best to help me for my needs. What sort of information do I need to tell my tuner to make sure that I am optimized for both driving the truck around town like a normal vehicle and also towing? All seem to use HP Tuners.

My tuner choices are:
Frost in Richmond
Dave Katz, EFI Specialities in Fredericksburg
Matt Shue in AshlandJeff Lowry, Performance Specialties in Maryland

 

I appreciate the advice. I now understand where you're coming from looking at my vehicle as emergency use. I didn't purchase a wild cam so I think my combo choices will be reliable. The transfer case and transmission have been professionally remanufactured recently but I have no desire to redo the rear end gears. The shorty headers were inexpensive. I need to remove a few broken bolts and replace manifold gaskets so I might as well put the shorties on If I have nothing to lose. Just to note, I've been doing a lot of random work on the engine such as replacing a lot of gaskets from oil leaks. I've owned the truck since 2009 and the top end internals look great. Very clean, no sludge or burnt oil except on the actual gasket areas, which I am cleaning and replacing.

Also, I replaced the vacuum power brakes with a hydro boost system that I pulled off of a 3500 and rebuilt myself. I no longer need vacuum to power my brakes of that is a factor for the cam.

Also totally willing to do a tune for 91, I was just asking for a thorough explanation as to why because I'm ignorant and don't understand what the benefits would be versus possibly the added cost. I'm starting to understand the benefits of 91 now.

I could use help choosing a tuner in my area. And a reply earlier this morning, I listed out the options in my area. I would appreciate any advice you could provide on that.

 

No, I will not replace the truck I've had for over 13 years nor am I going to replace the engine at this time. If my engine ever takes a dump on me, I will replace it at that time with an LQ9 but it's in good shape and going strong.

 

If you weren't cheap and unwilling you wouldn't have come in here even mentioning the fact that you've done the math to determine that 91 is $13 a tank more lol. Gotta pay to play. You would have bought the parts and said to yourself, "whelp 91 it is" and never gave it a second thought

HPTuners is fine. I prefer it. My tuner prefers it. Tuning cars/tuning trucks is the same. The major difference comes from asking if you can load up and tune for knock off idle while towing. Unless you have a tuner with an Eddy current dyno, there isn't really a way to tune for off idle load except on the street, hooked up. Also, most tuners will do a 3000-6500 pull. Ask for a pull from ~1500 (stall speed) to redline, that way you can make changes in the bottom of the map where they matter the most

Ask them to work on the trans tune, holding gear longer and changing shift mph to allow WOT shifts to drop down into the meat of the torque band so you dont "fall off" the cam

 

Do I need to call uncle Joe..

 

So was mine at 225k. Replaced it with an LQ4 with a cam and didn't look back. Even driving a GMT-900 5.3 feels sluggish to me now lol

 

hahaha.. you know i was just picking on you.
I just give folks options. i know how this game works and folks here if you tell them they can pick 87 octane vs 93 octane tune for a $10 worth of switch and wiring they usually bite. They think its the most awesomeness thing.