What chould I do to increase power besides tuning of course

[Snakehearts]

Vehicle info 200 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3 4wd

 

i was wondering what everyone is doing for more power in these old 5.3s mine feels slow and doesn’t seem to pull worth a crap I eventually will get a tune but I am wondering what other mods help 

[Mikebtte]

Were to start. On a 2000 you don't have AFM, so good on you.

 

What are the specs? Do you have 3.08 Gears? That will dog you down on towing. Sometimes a good tune up can go a long way in not spending much and freeing up a few pony's. I have seen a lot of 5.3 with 200K miles and the spark plugs from the factory.

 

For fast and easy power a cam swap followed by the Tune you are talking about. That will wake that engine up fast! But that would be nicely paired with a nice air intake and exhaust system. 

 

[Snakehearts]

9 minutes ago, Mikebtte said:

Were to start. On a 2000 you don't have AFM, so good on you.

 

What are the specs? Do you have 3.08 Gears? That will dog you down on towing. Sometimes a good tune up can go a long way in not spending much and freeing up a few pony's. I have seen a lot of 5.3 with 200K miles and the spark plugs from the factory.

 

For fast and easy power a cam swap followed by the Tune you are talking about. That will wake that engine up fast! But that would be nicely paired with a nice air intake and exhaust system. 

 

It has the 3.73 gears it just feels like it can do more tho I’ve already straight piped her and what brand of cam do you recommend? 

[Mikebtte]

Cams are personal preference. I use a lot of Summit brand stuff as it is cheaper. Summit has a variety of cams from Mild to wild that work good in the 5.3 trucks. If its high miles you would also think about doing oil pump and water pump while making the swap. Worth it while in the engine. I also do oil pan gaskets as well.

[Logan Lanfear]

1 hour ago, Snakehearts said:

It has the 3.73 gears it just feels like it can do more tho I’ve already straight piped her and what brand of cam do you recommend? 

Id be willing to bet your losing power with only a straight pipe with no restrictions.  They benefit from a little back pressure.  Do you still have your Cats or any muffler?

[Snakehearts]

3 hours ago, Logan Lanfear said:

Id be willing to bet your losing power with only a straight pipe with no restrictions.  They benefit from a little back pressure.  Do you still have your Cats or any muffler?

I was thinking about some black widow mufflers not sure tho 

[Mikebtte]

5 minutes ago, Snakehearts said:

I was thinking about some black widow mufflers not sure tho 

Mufflers are nice and can give a little more power on the bottom end but I would not think this would solve the issue. Also, you should run cats, do your part. 

As for power, you should have it with 3.73 gears. sounds like another possible issue. Some people report low power when the MAF is dirty or when the transmission is not shifting correctly. Have you installed larger tires? Larger tires with old shift parameters can suck to drive.

[Snakehearts]

6 minutes ago, Mikebtte said:

Mufflers are nice and can give a little more power on the bottom end but I would not think this would solve the issue. Also, you should run cats, do your part. 

As for power, you should have it with 3.73 gears. sounds like another possible issue. Some people report low power when the MAF is dirty or when the transmission is not shifting correctly. Have you installed larger tires? Larger tires with old shift parameters can suck to drive.

The tires I got with it are 265/70/17 little bigger then factory and I checked the maf it’s fine the tranny sometimes very rarely bucks 

[TXGREEK]

Tunes are the fastest and easiest way to up your power. New gearing will need tuning as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CamGTP]

Lol back pressure, give me a break. Even if that mattered it's making plenty on back pressure just with the factory y-pipe off the manifolds. A properly working exhaust system with no restrictions is likely to make maybe 1psi of back pressure, tell me how removing the muffler or cat converters is getting rid of back pressure and making the engine lose performance.

 

Pipe diameter, exhaust velocity and exhaust scavenging have a far greater impact on power output. If he has the same diameter pipe off the exhaust manifolds as factory does, nothing is lost.

 

A 2000 5.3 is kind of a turd, it's rated at like 285hp/325tq at the fly wheel. Minus 15% and it's far less at the rear tires where it matters.

 

A proper engine tune up should be done before anything. Fluids, plugs, fuel filter, checking for vacuum leaks, watching a live data scanner to make sure things are working correctly.

 

Then think about adding power and getting a tune for the computer. It's only going to feel better if you add 50-75hp through camshaft, headers, larger injectors and a tune.

 

Or swap to 4.56 or 4.88 gears and then it'll scream for 0-70mph. (don't do that though)

[Silverado/Sierra guy]

6 hours ago, Mikebtte said:

Were to start. On a 2000 you don't have AFM, so good on you.

 

What are the specs? Do you have 3.08 Gears? That will dog you down on towing. Sometimes a good tune up can go a long way in not spending much and freeing up a few pony's. I have seen a lot of 5.3 with 200K miles and the spark plugs from the factory.

 

For fast and easy power a cam swap followed by the Tune you are talking about. That will wake that engine up fast! But that would be nicely paired with a nice air intake and exhaust system. 

 

How hard is it to do a cam swap on that truck, I have a 2002 with the 5.3. I’ve never done a cam swap before.

[Snakehearts]

1 hour ago, CamGTP said:

Lol back pressure, give me a break. Even if that mattered it's making plenty on back pressure just with the factory y-pipe off the manifolds. A properly working exhaust system with no restrictions is likely to make maybe 1psi of back pressure, tell me how removing the muffler or cat converters is getting rid of back pressure and making the engine lose performance.

 

Pipe diameter, exhaust velocity and exhaust scavenging have a far greater impact on power output. If he has the same diameter pipe off the exhaust manifolds as factory does, nothing is lost.

 

A 2000 5.3 is kind of a turd, it's rated at like 285hp/325tq at the fly wheel. Minus 15% and it's far less at the rear tires where it matters.

 

A proper engine tune up should be done before anything. Fluids, plugs, fuel filter, checking for vacuum leaks, watching a live data scanner to make sure things are working correctly.

 

Then think about adding power and getting a tune for the computer. It's only going to feel better if you add 50-75hp through camshaft, headers, larger injectors and a tune.

 

Or swap to 4.56 or 4.88 gears and then it'll scream for 0-70mph. (don't do that though)

So basicly I should just save my money and get a duramax? 

[CamGTP]

I can't really tell you what to do. I'm just giving you some facts is all.

 

If you want to sink $1,000-1,500 in just parts to gain 50-70hp, that isn't a huge chunk of change. It will be a whole new truck that and a tune.

 

You still need to keep in mind that you have a problem prone 4L60e transmission that typically requires some beefed up parts if you really go at it with power.

 

Or just slap a junkyard 6.0 in it to gain 20-40hp and 40ft ft/lbs of torque. The price would be similar to a cam swap.

[Mikebtte]

1 hour ago, Silverado/Sierra guy said:

How hard is it to do a cam swap on that truck, I have a 2002 with the 5.3. I’ve never done a cam swap before.

It’s very easy depending on how you want it to turn out and experience. I like to think anyone could do it, but I am biased as I was a Diesel engine tech for some time and my standard comes from Cummins experience.

You can be cheaper and only swap the cam. This will most likely give you ok performance and a nice life span. 

Myself, I like to remove the heads and install new lifters, head bolts and extras and follow it with a tune. This will give you the best results but that is how I like it done. 

Many people have swapped the cam only with good results and made it a few hour job.

[Silverado/Sierra guy]

8 minutes ago, Mikebtte said:

It’s very easy depending on how you want it to turn out and experience. I like to think anyone could do it, but I am biased as I was a Diesel engine tech for some time and my standard comes from Cummins experience.

You can be cheaper and only swap the cam. This will most likely give you ok performance and a nice life span. 

Myself, I like to remove the heads and install new lifters, head bolts and extras and follow it with a tune. This will give you the best results but that is how I like it done. 

Many people have swapped the cam only with good results and made it a few hour job.

Nice, I also like to do a good job. If your gonna do something do it right. I purchased Silverado with 130,000 miles and it needed a complete tune up. Now that I’ve got it up to date I installed electric cooling fans, cool air intake, catch can, duramax single exhaust, corvette servo. I’d like to do some more things to it, like a cam or some new rear end gears.