Well if you wait to change the t-chain till its broke you will have to replace the motor also, they are interference motors. That being said while yours will probably have some slack it should last for a long time.

 

Really though, check out your plenum. You might catch it before it gets real bad. Take off your air cleaner, look down the throttle body with a flashlight and see if there's oil down there.

 

You cant tell if your plenum is blown from looking at the outside of the motor....you have to remove the air intake hose and look down the throttle body with a flashlight while the engine is off and your holding the throttle plate open...if you see an oily mess your plenum gasket has failed and was never replaced this a new one with shorter bolts or the aftermarket "fix" kits that addressed the design flaws that cause it to fail....also its a 2001 which means it has the death flash...(factory computer software update which retarded the timing to cover up the pinging you get from the blown plenum and also takes like 30hp away from the engine in the process) so your biggest improvement would be to first make sure the gasket is okay (this may not have anything to do with how it was driven or maintained ) and then get an aftermarket tuner to reprogram the pcm and get the motor running right again....

btw other symptoms the plenum gasket is bad could be burning oil and your cat converter will plug up with soot fast....

 

damn it! I have to learn to type faster...lol

 

Hahaha! Finally I do it to someone else not the other way around!!

 

If your going to do exhaust you almost want to do a full system if will sound way nicer then just muffler. But that is totally up to you

 

assuming your plenum is not blow and you've had a recent tune-up here's what I'd did with mine

Superchips tuner $325
Fastman Throttle Body 52mm $300 (i think)
Harland Sharp 1.7 Roller rockers ($300)
Flowmaster 50 series $80
14x3 round air intake $30-80
EBC Sport Rotors $200 i think
EBC "Green Stuff 7000 series pads $105
Track bar $100-300
steering pump $350
shocks $80-400
change diff fluid and tranny fluid (w/filter)
If your steering is sloppy then replace the tir-rods, tie-rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, steering damner, and maybe the steering shaft... go with Moog

These are just some commmon mods people do to their rigs.. feel free to PM or others for more info on them.. or better yet.. use the search function!

 

me 50mm poorman tb........14x3 air clean.......... cut off cat........kegger mod

things that i play underpullys,e-fans

 

We can go easy on the kid about the plenum. At least he is not thinking heads and cam on an engine with 110K.

THe lift is a good choice, HOWEVER you need to insopect the steering linkages and your ball joints. If they are good, lift the truck. If they are getting bad or worn, lifting the truck will ensure that you break them in 10K miles and myou wilol need new parts. Check the tie rod ends, and ball joints. If they are good...lift away.

As far as exhaust, wait to do it right. Shorty headers, high flow cat (at 110K it is getting bad, and you won't be getting anything from the exhaust), and muffler.

Do not do too much at once. Pace yourself and surf this forum for ways to do things cheaper. And only do a mod if the surrounding parts can handle it.

--Dan
BTW, the plenum will need to be changed at that mileage. YOu will know when it gets bad when you step on the gas with your AC on (or plain fans) and the air switches from blowing out of the front vents, to it blowing thru the defroster. Ussually at around 3000 RPM.

 

The vents changing to defrost are the vacuum check valves, not the plenum. That's a different type of vacuum leak.

Remember, you'll only know if you have the leaking plenum if you see oil at the bottom of the intake manifold.