Yes, first loosten the entire houseing by useing a flathead screwdriver and loosening up the metal hose clamp around the base of the air box. Remove the entire assembly, unclip the metal clips, and pull out your airfilter. (make sure you put it back on so it sits flush and level)

 

How much money do those run, because I mean if I can get a free replacement or have to pay for the cat and installation, I think I would most likely choose the free replacement since I'm strapped on cash (entering college in the fall). Anyways, this is all based on the cat being the problem, I hope something else isn't rattling down there.

 

Nothjing else should be rattleing. As as far as I know a high flow is about $150, maybe even less plus instalation. Its has to be custom installation since they're generic too.

It would probably be a little over $200 for it total (I could be wrong though)

I paid like $300 for a direct fit + installation. Wish I would have knew about the high flows when I had to get mine replaced.

 

Some of the whole acceleration and gearing thing depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to put some ricer down in the first 30 feet, get new gears. Gears, when you're talking about half a turn, don't translate into better ET's in, say, a 1/4 mile race though. In trying to decide where I am going to get the most bang for the buck, I have researched this extensively. Most, if not nearly all (with the exception of newbees) on the drag racing forums say, that while taller gears give you a kick in the seat, they don't do sqaut for 60' times and may even hurt 1/4 times. Granted if you are running tires way out of stock you NEED taller gears, but with something close you may be better off going with a high stall converter. This will get you into the power quicker, after 15mph you won't be wasting power, and at the end of the run you will be throwing out the mph's.

Steve, 3 cats? Is that a California thing? I have never seen that.

 

I'm basically going for just a better acceleration for everyday driving and it seems like the best solution for me would just to have smaller tires. The tires I have now are still in very good condition with lots of tread left so it would be pointless to just get new ones, would it be possible to turn in my 4 for 4 smaller ones to get some money off or something?

And about the cat, I did the test today, drove the truck around the block and then had my friend get under it and shoot it with the temp gun while it was at about 2200 rpm and he said the intake varied from 440-480*F and the output varied from 550-600*F. Are these normal results?

 

Does anyone know of some good tires I should look at , most likely stock size. Something that has a nice tough look to it, I don't know much about styles of tires.

About the rattling, my friend's dad (mechanic) said the rattling under my truck might be coming from the needle pin in the universal joint, but he has not personally heard it/looked at it. Does it seem like it could be this? I'm still going to have my cat looked at, but just wondering about this.

 

The stock cats are ****. I would replace it just for good measure. You can probably get a good high flow cat installed for ~$200. The stock TC's are also, well, sub-standard. That's what you are looking for. A good high stall TC will cost the same as a new meats, and deliver more performance than gears or tires, especially if you have any engine mods that shift the power band up into the higher rpm range. .Do the math

 

it is your fuel pump / filter almost garuntee it. i had the same problem. went crazy figurin it out

 

I think he figured it out, 2 and 1/2 years ago.

 

but at least he was trying