F*ck cold air intake and exhaust..

red9535 · #1 04-29-2007, 01:00 AM

I did both of these mods, and noticed (although very minimal.. I did notice) a small performance gain.

Overall, spent a couple hundred bucks for a good sound, but not much in the way of performance.

So, F*ck intake and exhaust. For the same amount or maybe a little more (I paid $250 for parts and did the work myself.. if you don't know how, labor will be a couple more hundred), you can do a gear swap.

I have a V6 3.9 and I just went from 3.55 to 4.56. The difference is NIGHT and DAY. I have some traction problems with the tires breaking loose everywhere from a dead stop to about 25-30. I'm still figuring out how to drive it and work the pedals to try to avoid that - I only drove it for about 15 minutes, home from my uncles. I'm going out again soon.

But, all in all, about 13 hours of work because we had 2 big **** ups, and about $250. It was completely worth it. On my way home, even when I wasn't getting on it at all, I could feel a very significant difference. I couldn't keep a big toothed grin off of my face the entire way home.

Everyone dying for more power: Do your f*ckin gears. A 30+% gain in acceleration is MORE then enough to satisfy your seat of the pants dyno. Let me repeat again, NIGHT and DAY. Do it. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.

InDeCLiNe · #2 04-29-2007, 01:30 AM

I bought a K&N CAI and I bought an extra tube which set me back 20 dollars but it was worth it because now its near the bottom of my bumper to where those holes are near my licence plate

imnothot02 · #3 04-29-2007, 01:45 AM

if ya dont want fuel milage..

red9535 · #4 04-29-2007, 02:34 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: imnothot02

if ya dont want fuel milage..

Actually, you're wrong. The fuel milage has increased. I gained approximately 300 RPMâ€™s at 60MPH... going from 3.55's to 4.56's... but donâ€™t look at the RPMâ€™s alone if your looking for best fuel economy. Its the load on the engine which has a much greater effect on the fuel economy. At 2600 RPMâ€™s I still get 20+MPG on the highway because there is NO load on the engine what so ever. For some reason EVERYONE thinks RPMâ€™s are what determines fuel economy... while RPM's do have a SMALL role in fuel economy you should be more concerned with decreasing the load on the engine at speed... many times this requires you to raise the RPMâ€™s to lessen the load as with gears. You move the mechanical advantage to the rear end and by doing so you lower the load on the engine.

99% of the people who have actually gone to 4.56's have increased fuel economy... I have yet to hear of someone getting worse fuel economy.

After you get over that... you get to consider the fun factor... You will have a NEW truck. It will dive like a completely different truck... It will snap your head back like no other, you will fall in love with it all over again (And your transmission will live longer).

chris1974 · #5 04-30-2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: red9535

Quote:

ORIGINAL: imnothot02

if ya dont want fuel milage..

Actually, you're wrong. The fuel milage has increased. I gained approximately 300 RPMâ€™s at 60MPH... going from 3.55's to 4.56's... but donâ€™t look at the RPMâ€™s alone if your looking for best fuel economy.

First off....i dont believe that you are getting better fuel milage. I think you are incorrect on that. To keep the truck going at highway speed, the engine uses about 30 HP (give or take). You expect me to believe that swapping your gears to "decrease" the load is saving you on gas. Sorry...im not buying it. Redo your math.
Second....what other upgrades have you done other than CAI and exhaust? Where is the filter located on your newly installed CAI? Is it right there above the exhaust manifolds, sucking up all the hot exhaust air?? What size did you go on the exhaust? What kinda muffler did you install?? Did you do anything else to open up the intake other than CAI??? You put on a "CAI" and nothing else to open up the intake, and expect this major HP difference?? Did you upgrade the TB, or you still have the stock (constrictive) set up???
RPM has everything to do with fuel economy. Think about it.....
Third.....swapping gears doesn't increase power. Your still putting out the crappy power you had before.
Fourth.....If you wanted "snap your head back" power, you should have bought the V8.

horatio102 · #6 04-30-2007, 03:30 PM

Swapping gears doesn't increase the power you're making, but it'll divide the power required to do an equal job - it's like starting in first instead of starting in 2nd.

I know that when I'm cruising down the freeway with O/D turned off I'm getting worse fuel economy than with O/D on.

chris1974 · #7 04-30-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: horatio102

Swapping gears doesn't increase the power you're making, but it'll divide the power required to do an equal job - it's like starting in first instead of starting in 2nd.

I know that when I'm cruising down the freeway with O/D turned off I'm getting worse fuel economy than with O/D on.

My point exactly

red9535 · #8 04-30-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: chris1974

Quote:

ORIGINAL: red9535

Quote:

ORIGINAL: imnothot02

if ya dont want fuel milage..

Actually, you're wrong. The fuel milage has increased. I gained approximately 300 RPMâ€™s at 60MPH... going from 3.55's to 4.56's... but donâ€™t look at the RPMâ€™s alone if your looking for best fuel economy.

First off....i dont believe that you are getting better fuel milage. I think you are incorrect on that. To keep the truck going at highway speed, the engine uses about 30 HP (give or take). You expect me to believe that swapping your gears to "decrease" the load is saving you on gas. Sorry...im not buying it. Redo your math.
Second....what other upgrades have you done other than CAI and exhaust? Where is the filter located on your newly installed CAI? Is it right there above the exhaust manifolds, sucking up all the hot exhaust air?? What size did you go on the exhaust? What kinda muffler did you install?? Did you do anything else to open up the intake other than CAI??? You put on a "CAI" and nothing else to open up the intake, and expect this major HP difference?? Did you upgrade the TB, or you still have the stock (constrictive) set up???
RPM has everything to do with fuel economy. Think about it.....
Third.....swapping gears doesn't increase power. Your still putting out the crappy power you had before.
Fourth.....If you wanted "snap your head back" power, you should have bought the V8.

Sorry, you're just wrong. I don't know how else to say it. My gas milage is better around town by 2, and it's about the same on the highway. I'm getting on it more now then I used to. You can sit here and tell me that it's not, but it is.. lol. I did the math before and after.

Try to understand the mechanical advantage that I was talking about. Moving it to the rear end instead of from the engine decreases load on the engine, helping your fuel milage. Think of it like switching gears on a bicycle - If you put it in a different gear, your feet can turn the pedals easier and your body won't get as tired while you maintain the same speed. That's the whole point of having gears in the first place.

I havn't done anything aside from CAI and exhaust. I have a K&N intake which isn't sucking in hot air right from the exhaust manifolds.. it's actually down by the bumper pulling in the coldest possible air. I have 2.5" pipes, no cats, with a flowmaster muffler then 2.5 out the back. I didnt expect MAJOR horsepower - but I expected to get a little more then I did. I'm doing more upgrades in the future, but the gears are my favorite so far.

As far as RPM's go and fuel milage - you're wrong there, too. I never said it had nothing to do with it - I said it doesn't have everything to do with it, like most people seem to think it does. You need to consider the load on the engine relative to themechanical advantage the gears give it.

Third, I'm entirely aware of what the gears do and do not do. It changes the powerband to a much more effective range. Have you done your gears? If not, then don't act like you have first hand experience on the topic. I'm telling everyone here the substantial difference that it made. Whether I made 50 horsepower, lost 50 horsepower, gained 5 million torque, or lost 150 torque by putting in the 4.56 gears, It's 30% quicker then it was before, the tires break loose when I put it to the floor, and it's anEXTREMELY noticable change. You can argue me all you want, but that's just the truth.

And fourth - I wish I'd have gotten a V8, but I had no choice. My stepdad bought it for me. I've driven my grandpa's stock 4.7 though, and I will say this. Before i did my gears? No comparison. After I did the gears? 0-60 i'm ATLEASTthe same, if not quicker. It feels like I'm driving a V8. Now that I have an effective powerband, Its time to work on putting more power to the wheels. My mods list is as follows:

Headers
Throttle Body
Injectors
Supercharger (yes, i'm not just dreaming out loud. It's in my uncles garage right now, waiting to be put on at the beginning of the summer)

mb18 · #9 04-30-2007, 05:42 PM

The gear change will help it feel stronger off the line...especially making that big of a gear change. Whoever equated it with starting off in 1st (higher numercial gears, like the 4.56) vs. starting off in 2nd (lower numerical, like the 3.55) was right on.

The fuel economy, around town, should go up significantly when making that big of a gear change...the rear end is doing more of the work in starting and accelerating. I believe that red9535's reported 2 mpg around town is pretty realistic. Highway mpgs would be expected to go down, so I'm not sure what accounts for his reporting even mpgs, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

As far as putting out more power, though, you're not--you're noticing the gear changes. They make it feel like there's more power, but the engine hasn't changed at all (except the CAI and exhaust, which won't account for much).

chris1974 · #10 04-30-2007, 06:09 PM

i fully understand the concept of gearing. No need for the bicycle explination... Differential Gear Ratio determines the number of times the drive shaftwill rotate for each turn of the wheels. For example: if you have a 3.73:1 gear ratio, the drive shaft turns 3.73 times for every turn of the wheel.I just cannot understand how an engine turning more rpms (wich is what your doing by changing the gears) can INCREASE your MPG, expecially now that you are "getting on it more". I'm not arguing the fact that you aren't getting better milage...maybe you are. Only you would know that. But i do know this...and engine turning 2800 is gonna burn more gas than one turning 1800.
Really, it just depends on what kind of driving you are doing. If most of your driving is in the city, with alot of stop and go traffic, then maybe smaller gears would improve fuel economy. However, your gear set-up on my truck would suck. I do alot of highway driving. Meaning, the lower the rpms, then the better fuel milage i will get.

No...i have not changed my gears. There is no need. I can lite up the tires from a stand still, just as easy as i can at 20 mph-without the gear swap. I might be tempted to change them just for ****s and grins-if it wasn't going to make my fuel milage worse. But, it will.

My point was just that the CAI and exhaust upgrades wont be utilized to thier full potential until you start doing other upgrades. For example, headers, heads, intake manifold, throttlebody, cams....etc. Just to bolt on some exhaust, and a CAI and expect to feel major power...well, it's not gonna happen. Dont get me wrong, that is a good place to start. Now youjust have to build from there....
You didn't move your powerband. Your engines powerband is still in the same place as it was before. It just takes less effort to turn the wheels.
By the way....not "acting like i have first hand experience"....just my .02....