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Most Bang For The Buck: Modifications

bb123

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bb123 Enthusiast

bb123

Posted
Posted

Just curious as to what all your experiences and opinions are.

 

Ok, so I have an 08 5.3L chevy but was made during that time frame and order request which has the corvette LS6 heads.

 

I replace the exhaust with a Magnaflow and removed and replaced my stock air box with a nice and pretty clean PVC pipe setup we did with my k&n filter.

 

Now, what's the next best mod to go for while on a pretty strict budget. Something to work towards.

 

Some say, get the corvette cam and will see a very decent gain for the price of parts and install time. Another says go for the edge evolution programmer and so on.

 

Another note is the truck has 8k miles on it and has plenty of warranty life. Some after market upgrades may void the warranty and/or may be difficult to remove and replace with stock parts in the event of needing factory maintenance.

 

So what is your suggestion knowin the circumstances at hand?

 

Also, After the next mod, what would be your second and third move?

 

 

Thanks and have a stellar evening enjoying a beer like I will in about 45min...

Z'06 Enthusiast

Z'06

Posted
Posted

As you already have the intake/exhaust part of the equation dealt with:

 

1. Tune (Wheatley or Black Bear, and turn off AFM) = best bang for the buck

2. Servos to prolong transmission life, though I would probably add these *before* the tranny part of the tune

 

As far as the cam, the LS6 cam is too mild to make the cam swap worth it. Even if you are towing, you can handle more cam than that one. PerformanceTrucks.net is the best forum for learning about cams, by the way.

 

You will need to tune out AFM if you want to select from the historical variety of cams (you will otherwise be limited to a handful of AFM-compatible cams), and you will want hardened pushrods and upgraded springs. You will also want to first get headers (LTs ideally, but shorties at a bare minimum) to allow the higher rate of exhaust out that a decent cam will be pushing. And depending on your cam selection, you may need to first install a higher-stall torque converter.

 

Check my sig for ideas to improve a normally aspirated 5.3L.

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