02 5.3L performance

peppersac · February 23, 2005

I have a 2002 GMC sierra 5.3L, and was wondering if anyone knew if they make a performance distributor for my truck. Also what are some good upgrades I can do to it? I have K&N intake, Air raid throttle body spacer, FlowMaster exhaust, hypertech chip, and just bought a MSD 6A ignition and blaster SS coil but have not installed the ignition and coil yet.

99Silver6.0 · February 23, 2005

I have a 2002 GMC sierra 5.3L, and was wondering if anyone knew if they make a performance distributor for my truck. Also what are some good upgrades I can do to it? I have K&N intake, Air raid throttle body spacer, FlowMaster exhaust, hypertech chip, and just bought a MSD 6A ignition and blaster SS coil but have not installed the ignition and coil yet.

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Did you buy 8 coils??

Mark_in_Tulsa · February 23, 2005

Well change the flowmaster out to anything else.

Also you can scrap the throttle body spacer. Or use it as a paper weight.

Those will free up some weight and power.

And there is a coil for each cylinder on these trucks. So what you bought wont do any good bud.

peppersac · February 23, 2005

well that a good thing to know. what are some good coils to get. would i have to buy 8 ss coil blasters? or 8 coils? also can i still use the msd 6a ignition, if so can i use it without the coils?

mjgjr72 · February 23, 2005

well that a good thing to know. what are some good coils to get. would i have to buy 8 ss coil blasters? or 8 coils? also can i still use the msd 6a ignition, if so can i use it without the coils?

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msd makes coils for our trucks

http://www.msdignition.com/2005/2005_2.htm

you will need 8 of them

they are currently working on a controller that will work with them but i havn't seen any news on release date yet

peppersac · February 24, 2005

thanks alot for the info. it will help alot! sorry im such a rock, but i just got this truck and know nothing about it. so can i still hook the msd 6a ignition up??

budhayes3 · February 24, 2005

I'm pretty sure that the factory coils are more than adequate for most performance mods. My first suggestion would be to get a custom tune. I had my truck tuned by Bryan Herter from PCMforLess and it's like night and day. There's a link to the left, they're a sponsor of this site.

99Silver6.0 · February 24, 2005

I'm pretty sure that the factory coils are more than adequate for most performance mods. My first suggestion would be to get a custom tune. I had my truck tuned by Bryan Herter from PCMforLess and it's like night and day. There's a link to the left, they're a sponsor of this site.

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Very true. Stock coils are mroe than hot enough for anything you want to throw at it. I would maybe get some better wires but thats it. Nology does make coils and wires for our trucks but that setup is not by any means cheap or necessary. A tune by far will yield about the best gain.

peppersac · February 24, 2005

Sweet, awesome advise! I will have to try the tuning. Has anyone had it done? If so do you know what kind of gains it gave you and how does it differ from the hypertech programmer? I really appreciate all of the advice you guys are giving me!!!!!

Butch 02 Denali · February 24, 2005

A custom tune is the #1 improvement you could make in your truck. I highly recommend Wester's, he has far more experience tuning than all the others, and his lifetime free updates and lifetime 100% trade in credit toward the tune for your NEXT truck just can't be beat!

I agree on the coils, no need to change then for a near stock engine. As for the distributor, you don't have one!!! The computer controlls all that and takes a signal from a crankshaft sensor in the oil pan.

peppersac · February 25, 2005

so could i use a DIS msd box?? and if so would it help?

Butch 02 Denali · February 25, 2005

Honestly, a mostly stock truck isn't going to see much from a MSD. Add a cam and hedders and you might see a little. The stock ignition is pretty good in the LS1 trucks!

peppersac · February 25, 2005

Cool. Thanks a lot. How hard is a cam to install? I am a pretty good wrench turner! Would it be better to get it professionally installed and would I have to do anything else to the motor to when I do the cam? Also what kind and size of cam would you suggest?

budhayes3 · February 25, 2005

Cool. Thanks a lot. How hard is a cam to install? I am a pretty good wrench turner! Would it be better to get it professionally installed and would I have to do anything else to the motor to when I do the cam? Also what kind and size of cam would you suggest?

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To me, the cam install wasn't that bad at all...there's a great webpage that has a step by step cam swap on an F-body that's a great reference. I'll try to find the link later. I think it's www.ls1howto or something like that. The main thing that you may have to do, depending on how big you go, is changing the valve springs. I have Comp 915's which are fine for a mild cam like mine. More agressive cams would require LS6 springs or Comp 918's. If you really want to get into it, you could change the timing chain to a double chain, get a ported hi-flo oil pump, etc. I didn't need all that. As far as what kind and size of cam....there's dozens of different grinds out there for different needs. If you just want a little extra, maybe some increased bottom end, then check out the cam in my sig. Great for a daily driver, and it's really a torque monster ever since Bryan at PCMforLess worked my PCM over and brought it to life. Check out what Comp and Crane/Vinci are putting out there, among others. If you really want to go bigger, you're gonna have to get a stall converter, and maybe even some steeper gears if you go real nuts! Spend some time in the Truck Performance section at www.ls1tech.com, you'll learn alot about what cams people have and had, and the results. Good luck!

peppersac · February 25, 2005

Thanks again for all of the info!! Helps alot!! What kind of gains did you get from your cam? Also have you ran your truck at the track, if so what kind of times do you have?