Need More Power

[varmint2506]

I recently upgraded to 35s on my 98 GMC. The truck was already a little sluggish before I went up with it. What would be the best route of power gain for he least bucks? I have an 89 that I put headers on and spaced the TBI. What would I expect to see from the headers on the 98. Headers really made the mid to high range come to life on the 89. I basically need a little all around boost. ???

[varmint2506]

Come on guys, I know some of you are bound to be running headers on a later model chevys.  

 

I was looking at a set of Summit shorty type headers. They are fairly cheep and you know what they say...

[CMNTMXR81]

What kind of gains are you looking for?  To be honest, bolt on mods probably won't net you much individually, but together might add a few.  Not enough to offset the sluggishness you have.  Headers, for their cost don't give a return on investment unless you have increased the volumetric efficiency of the engine itself (I.E. Heads, cam, oversizing the engine, turbo's/superchargers).  They will only minimally affect performance of a stock compressioned, stock flowing engine and really affect only the sound.

 

Without going into building the engine itself or installing a supercharger/turbocharger, doing bolt on mids such as changing the gear ratio (both front and back with a 4x4), installing a torque converter, opening up the intake, doing a cat-back would be more cost efficient in terms of return on investment.

 

And of course, there's always NAWWWWSSSSSS...  

[varmint2506]

I'm just looking for a little more kick on the low end. The truck really has pretty good power but you have to basically floor it to see it. I saw that Summit was offering a plug in module for the throttle position sensor. They said it would improve the throttle response. Have any of you guys heard of this or tried it??

 

I come from the more of an old school engine performance buff. I built a LS6 454 and put in a 72 Chevelle. We ended up in the mid to high 12s (no bottle) right off the street. The new computer tech. in vehicles just kinda leaves me scratching my head.

 

Thanks for the help!

Jason

[CMNTMXR81]

Well, despite all the fancy electronics, mechanically they are still the same.  Removing bottlenecks in airflow will wake them up.  I'd do a cold air induction setup and a cat-back to start with. No need to go up to the headers yet as I said before, they won't give you much benefit on a stock motor.

 

From there, I'd check out installing a higher stall torque converter and if that's not enough, gears.