If making your own is as easy as installing a fabricated one, why not do it yourself? There's plenty of info out there to do it efficiently and for a lot less. Not only that, but it feels awesome knowing you made it yourself, got basically the same performance, did it in the same amount of time and for a LOT less money. I'm going to keep my drop in k&n and modify the inlet to the tb with PVC like mentioned above.

 

Scratch that, you'd be able to do it in a lot less time because you aren't ordering any parts, home depot has what you need.

 

Thanks for all the input everyone, so based on what ive heard i ordered a semi-cheep one for about 50$, considered making my own but just deicded to order the parts instead as im not in a hurry. Just headed to do my exhaust/cap/plugs upgrade right now, also looking into a chip at the moment. Maybe while i got ya guys attention ya could help me out a bit more.

Lookin for the best bang for my buck for the next upgrade. What would ya guys reccomend? Also lookin at a Superchips Flaspaq, is there a better option?

 

I just installed the superchip flashpaq 3865 with performance tune and I can't figure out what I was thinking for not buying one of these a long time ago. I can't help you as far as different brands go since this is my first tuner, but I have to say my truck runs great right now. I will also give it a transmission tune and disable the mds once I get the catback installed.

 

I have a chrome metal pipe on my K&N and where I live is right in the desert here in New Mexico. During the summer months it gets up to 120 degrees some times. And the performance of my truck doesn't seem to suffer. Maybe on a really high performance motor that might be true, but it sure doesn't seem to effect my truck

 

Biggest gains I've seen from a tuner / gas engine combination is the Superchips with the 5.9 engine. These engines were seriously de-tuned at the factory as a cheap plenum fix without having to deal with re-engineering the plenum.

If I'm not mistaken the Superchips gives about a 50 HP gain and 60 lb/ft of torque over stock tuning. That's almost getting into diesel like tuner gains.



Just be forewarned, that 5.9 (LA360) gasser engine is basically late 1960s technology with a few enhancements over the years like fuel injection, etc. It is a tank that can take a beating and last damn near forever with good care, BUT fuel economy was never it's strong suite. I had one in my '98 Ram 4x4 and with a lift and 35" tires I could only see double digit fuel economy on the highway IF I kept it around the speed limit.

Keep it tuned up, maintain good air in the tires, free up the breathing (intake and exhaust) and you'll see about the best fuel economy it can give you. The tuner is GREAT for power and won't hurt your fuel economy, but don't expect it to help it much in that aspect. No mods you throw your money at will gain enough fuel economy to pay for the mod with that engine. So if you want the tuner for power gains, great, you'll get them. Just don't throw down a few hundred bucks thinking you'll make it back in gas savings...