OK guys, I need some help deciding on what my next mod will be. I am not sure when I will be buying this mod but I am hoping sooner than later, just depends on when I can sell my other house. Ideally I want to be ready to buy one of these mods the day that I go to settlement so here are the choices I have it narrowed down to. If you have any suggestions of good brands in each category like a good TC, I am all ears. Basically, I am looking for the best performance bang for my buck.

Choice 1: Cam. I am looking at the FRI sidewinder cam. It has good low end torque which my heavy truck needs to get moving. It also will run on the canned SC tune which I like bc I will be able to run it without custom tuning. I have also looked at a few other cams like the Crazy Spartan, Comp 260, KRC 210 and the HHP260 but the sidewinder seems to be in the most 4x4 QC’s, has a lot of positive feedback and has shown good dyno numbers. I will not be going the custom tune route so all cams that need a custom tune are being ruled out.

Choice 2: Torque Converter. Haven’t made a decision on what brand or stall I would install, plan on talking to some people at whatever company I choose to go with to decide on my stall. The TC seems like a good choice bc I know the stock TC steals a lot of power from our trucks and it is also a pretty simple install. If anyone has had successes with a certain brand of TC or stall make sure to post it up bc this is the choice I still have to do the most research about.

Choice 3: LT Headers with y-pipe and cats. Thought about putting some shorties on but if I am going to do headers I am going to do it all the way. Now if I go this route with LT’s I will either 1) buy a kit that replaces everything back to the muffler and comes with the headers, cats and y-pipe or 2) just buy the headers and have the rest fabbed up at an exhaust shop. If I go the second route I will reuse the old cats and have a new y-pipe made. I kind of like the full system that I can bolt on bc like I said I am selling the house that has my shop so I won’t have a welder to fab up the rest of the system after the headers, and I am not a fan of going to shops. If I go with this choice I might also throw a wideband in there too if I have the extra cash. Also, cats are a must bc I live in an emission state.

Choice 4: Nitrous Kit. This option would clearly give me the most HP gain out of all the options listed but I have reservations about this choice. Mainly my concern is that while this mod would be great when I am running the truck at WOT in a race or something, 99% of the time I will be getting no benefit from it. Just not sure if this is a practical choice for me since this is my daily driver and I never go to the track, although having that extra 75-125 HP on demand would be nice and the install would be simplest out of all the performance options listed.

OR

Choice 5: New Hood and Roll Pan. I could always go completely the other direction and finish off the exterior of my truck with a new hood and roll pan. While it would do absolutely nothing for my performance it would finish off the outside of my truck to the point where I would finally be happy with the appearance. The hood would be an SRT 10 hood or the Double Snorkel style. I am almost certain that I will be going the performance route in the end but I thought I would throw this exterior option up here and see what you guys think.

So this is where I stand, any help or input would be greatly appreciated so let’s hear your opinions.

 

choice 3. bc it will setup done the line for cam and tc

 

I would definitely do the converter first. Adding power by adding a cam and exhaust will just be more power lost in the converter!!

 

You are basically on the same track I was on before the folks got sick and I had to quit workin for a time.

Because all the cams I was considering either said "headers required" or "headers recommended" I put in the headers. Then was gonna be the cam and a custom tune (yeah I was gonna go that route, still will, I think), then the torque converter.

So I guess I'm gonna say do the headers first...

 

I'd go with the converter first. Mine is an APS 2700 stall converter and I love it. Reason behind going this route first is that no matter what you put on you will loose power through the converter and not be able to get the best gains out of the other performance parts you put on.

Headers and a wideband would be second. Both the cam and Nitrous kit would perfom much much better with them on, also most cams reccomend or require the use of headers with the install. And since they will be out of the truck, and would more than likely be welding in new O2 bungs throwing in a wideband would be perfect timing.

After that then go Cam or Nitrous, constant power vs push button power. Also if you go with nitrous, make sure that both the converter and cam will work with it. Most that I have looked at need a specific cam/tc to work with nitrous applications. I do not know at what level they need to be upgraded to to the nitrous specific parts though (50 shot vs 150 shot ect.)

The visual mods would be last in this case, your truck already has a good agressive look to it. May as well make it run as mean as it looks now.

 

You and the rest of the guys are kind of thinking along the same lines as I am. While a cam would be a nice power adder, it needs other supporting mods before I should really be installing it.

 

Saying that is basically saying the same for the headers. The reason why they tell you to install a cam in an engine with headers is so their numbers will appear as promised. headers do increase cam hp/tq just the same as a cam increases the overall hp/tq from headers. Doing one before another never would have crossed my mind as they are all the goal in the end.
If your stuck on that, then get the supporting mods first. TQ'verter.

 

Hammer, how much of a gain did you see out of the headers? Truckin, same thing, how much did you see out of the new converter?

 

the converter took a little over .3ths off my 0-60 times. On top of that the trucks overall feel during shifts feels much better and launches from a dead stop are wonderful. The tc in my opinion was better than doing the 4.56's

 

I'll let you know in about a week how the torque converter and headers perform together too.