Ways To Increase Gas Milage In 04 2500HD

KMGZ400 · January 23, 2013

Abuse aside that makes them good?????? Lol.. I forgot what website this was for a moment so I apologize.......

Not the point of the thread and you won't change my opinion nor experience with them.

settle down... no need to be so defensive, im not trying to change your opinion. i was simply expressing my own opinion.

dizzle6988 · January 23, 2013

I like this forum. You guys know how to put it out there and let it fly. I really wasn't sure about the rear end, which is why I put it out there. Once I clean what little crap that is in my truck bed, out. I will test a theory that I have now that I have knowledge of it being a gov lock. It will put my mind at ease as well. I'm going to do the tune. Not sure if I'll do it before or after the exhaust though. If I run true dual exhaust I might do the tune first. I personally feel that the best sound, power, and overall performance comes from having true dual exhaust. If someone can prove me wrong then feel free to do so. Anyways, I like the idea of having multiple programmed options with a tuner. I think that's all for now.

kstruckcountry · January 23, 2013

If you do true duals, you mIght consider an x pipe or h pipe. It will help your sound and economy.

dizzle6988 · January 23, 2013

If I don't just run it straight back I'll have it run x pipe. I still haven't figured out if I'll come straight out the back or off to the sides or shorten it up and come out before the rear wheels. I'd like nice big chrome tips and for it to be run as 3 or 4 inch pipes so long as that is what is required.

Chris · January 23, 2013

3" single or dual 2.5" is lreey much the best for a basically stock 6.0

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dizzle6988 · January 23, 2013

What about with a tuner? And with cold air intake? 310.00 for a magna flow exhaust with lifetime warrenty. 229.99 for a flowmaster exhaust with only a 2 year warrenty. The lifetime warrenty is very enticing for the extra money. Everything is free shipping. So I don't have to worry about that extra cost. Now the other part is the tuner..... There is one that I want and it would work but it's 600 bucks. All because I like the modern look and feel of a touch screen programmable tuner. Go figure! Both investments are a long ways off other than putting the money into the exhaust is possible to happen sooner.

Chris · January 24, 2013

Go with a custom tune. Its better for the money you spend. With Black Bear and the autocal, Justin can make changes for you. I had a flowmaster, AVOID IT.

dizzle6988 · January 24, 2013

Why no flow master? I personally like them and don't really trust magna flow. I think they are to restrictive and loud enough. I've never once hard of black bear. i trust the bigger names.

tanked_darren · January 24, 2013

Why no flow master? I personally like them and don't really trust magna flow. I think they are to restrictive and loud enough. I've never once hard of black bear. i trust the bigger names.

LOL

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Chris · January 24, 2013

A lot of people on here use black bear performance. Justin is good at what he does. They are a site sponsor here and on many other GM related forums.

As for the flowmaster thing, I ran one for a few years. The sound gets old fast in a daily driver. Magnaflow out flows flowmaster and has a better warranty. Also the flowmaster will drone in the cab BAD on the highway. I personal run MBRP right now. When I move on to bigger mods it will be Magnaflow or a MBRP diesel muffler if I can find the correct size. Flowmaster will rot out, but you're in the Phoenix area I thought you said so that's not a huge worry. I put 400-500 miles a week on my truck and that flowmaster made the 300+ highway miles of that miserable.

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ATMINF · January 24, 2013

The stock exhaust on a 3/4ton gasser (Both 8.1L and 6.0L)is a dual 3inch that dumps into a muffler with a 3.5inch single out. So you really already have a dual exhaust on your truck until it goes to the muffler. That is why in my case I put on the Flowmaster big block muffler only and then put a custom exhaust tip on it. Is it the best flowing system?, No but I did not care, I liked the sound of it and the look. As for the drone, yes it is there, but again in my case it is not too bad, and I really don't mind it. My truck is a daily driver and my current drive (Wash DC AREA) is about 45min into work and 1-1.5 hours going home(just 11 miles each way), so I hear it everyday, and really don't mind it one bit. If people really want a super fast truck, I say okay, but you know fast o me is a 11-12 second street car, a 15 second truck is not fast. Its good for a truck, but I got my truck to tow, haul, and carry stuff, not be a "fast truck". So for me it is what it is.

Also for a tune, I can't speak for BlackBear as I have not used them, I got a tune from Charlie Wheatley, and it has been great. I emailed him and he told me what he could do and it worked out great.

All in all this is just my 2 cents and that is all its worth, I hope it helps. Have a great day.

Badass69 · January 24, 2013

Why no flow master? I personally like them and don't really trust magna flow. I think they are to restrictive and loud enough. I've never once hard of black bear. i trust the bigger names.

Flowmaster just doesn't have the flow rates or the drone control. You may as well leave the stock garbage can on there if you do a flowmaster muffler. I am with you though and I don't like Magnaflow either...... they still drone and are generally quite loud.

Flo Pro is probably the best muffler made for these trucks. They aren't loud, and depending on the muffler in the big oval series sound stock basically. They are however a lot more free flowing than GM's muffler.

http://www.flopro.com/bigospecs.html

The 2505 is a direct fit on your truck. It's not 3.5" single out on a 2500HD... it's 2 7/8" dual like the front except the one side is a resonance chamber and actually doesn't go anywhere. So really it's 2 7/8" single out that jumps to 3.5" after the Y. On any of the Flo Pro versions both sides flow. I have a 2503 on my 1500HD and it sounds pretty much stock. I only swapped because my stock one started rattling.... and I can't stand loud.

Tunes are only Blackbear on this site generally because of site sponsorship. However there are a ton of good tuners out there that can do a tune for your truck. You can look at Wheatley or Nelson as a couple other big name email tune options as well. Hand helds really are just trash..... the closest to being anything is a Diablo which you can get custom tunes for. However by the time you buy a Trinity and pay someone on top of that to do a tune for it you may as well buy EFILive or HP Tuners software and learn yourself. I did with EFI and will never worry about getting someone else to do it for me again. Most people however can't be bothered to go that route and for one truck only it's a waste if you are just doing bolt ons.

But as long as you are happy with whatever you choose, that's all that matters!

Big Whiskey · January 24, 2013

Your trust issues crack me up, lol. As others have stated, if you're going to spend money on a tune, go with Black Bear. The other 'bigger names' just use a generic tune, while Black Bear uses a tune that is custom designed for your vehicle. It's much better. Plenty of members 'trust' Black Bear Performance. Also, many, many people 'trust' Magnaflow over Flowmaster. Your stock muffler probably flows better than a baffle-filled Flowmaster muffler, while many Magnaflow mufflers are a straight through design, and have less drone than Flowmasters. And don't waste your money on a 'spacer', no matter how cheap, or easy they are. The gains from those are about as noticable as peeing in the ocean.

If it were me, I'd give the engine a tune up (plugs, wires, air filter, and run some fuel injector cleaner through it), change to the more free-flowing muffler, then get a black bear tune....in that order. The reason I'd do the tune last is because you can have Justin at BBP design your tune to get the most out of your air/fuel mixture....after your other improvements.

dizzle6988 · January 24, 2013

Wow, OK. Sorry about that guys. I meant no offense to Black Bear at all. Or anyone else for that matter. And well after reading al those responses I think when the time comes I may just go to a magnaflow exhaust system. I mean honestly I could do that or just be really obnoxious and get a cherry bomb exhaust. I just think my wife would hate how loud that would be. LOL. Anyways, the warrenty would suit me better in a magna flow. And well I wouldn't mind being able to hear the exhaust rumble as I drive. I'm a lover of clasic muscle cars and that true sound you can get out of the motor as it translates into the exhaust is music to my ears. Anyways, I'm going to go shop some spark plugs and wires today and see where that lands me. Just so happens that I need to do an oil change too so everything can get done at once honestly. I wouldn't mind learning how to do the custom tune myself. And yes the diablo was what I was looking at for 600 bucks. It has way more features than I would ever use, like the 1/4 mile time and everything else. I was just thinking with something like that sitting in front of me that I could change things on the fly as the situation called for it. Now, yes I live in Arizona....but don't mistake that for nothing but a hot ass desert. I'm 5 hours from the beach in Cali, 6 hours from Vegas, and 2 hours from the mountains and woods. It's everything someone could ask for in a place to live I think. Anyways, my reason for saying that is because I go up north and camp and hunt and fish....ALOT. So I use my truck for what it's made for. And I will continue to do so, so a fast truck is not what I want all the time. Do I think it's cool to light the tires up from time to time just because I can? Hell Yes! So I will take everything that is said and has been said and run with it. I've already learned a whole lot of stuff in just my short time of being a member. Again I apologize for any offending that I might have done.

dizzle6988 · January 29, 2013

So after a little further research into the parts and pricing I have figured out that my 3,000 dollars was a bit high. Not as much as I originally thought but it is up there. I also found that neither magnaflow or flow master have true dual, dual exit exhaust for my truck. The only option for cat back is single exit. So if I go with a heart throb exhaust I think I remember it being dual exit. Problem with that, is their exhausts cost more than the other ones. Also I looked into MBRP and they only do diesel mufflers and exhaust. I have a gas motor so they won't work for me. I guess this brings me to my next thing. I was about to go ahead and start grabbing the gear for the tune up but ran into a road block for myself. I'm not one to ever just put stock whatever back in my vehicle. I always go with the better oils, the better coolant, and the better oil filter for just a few examples. Now I can get around the road block on the wires part of my issue with the tune up. I can even get around the air filter one because if I'm going to do a cold air intake, why buy a stock fit K&N air filter? I'll just deal with it. When it came to spark plugs though, that's where I hit the wall. E3's are suppose to be the best and give a slight milage increase. I've used bosch before and I like them. I refuse to use AC delcom or Auto lite. Now I'm not ordering my plugs online, I'm going to Auto Zone or O'Reily's. I want to buy and install on the same day. So in my quest to get better gas milage out of my beautiful rig, what are the honest opinions on spark plug choices? What wire and plug combo will yeild the best results?