Questions regarding initial upgrades to a brand new engine.

[Jeremy09LTZCrew]

First off, I'd like to say that I don't know as much about the intricacies of my engine or the performance upgrades as I'd like to. However, I'm working on spinning myself up as quickly as possible.

I've been the proud owner of my 2009 Silverado LTZ for exactly a week now. It's the crew cab, 4x4, 5.3L. I plan to have this beautiful truck for a while and fixing it up quite a bit, but I'm looking to start relatively easy. I want to squeeze out some performance without going crazy financially right off the bat. The primary things I'm looking at for the moment are the intake, some headers, exhaust and a chip. I'm looking for recommendations on each of these items. I have a friend who's very knowledgeable on the topic, but his specialty is tricking out little VW engines, so he can't really help in regard to a chevy. That being said, he looked at the pipes coming off the exhaust manifold and said they looked like decent pipes so I might be able to get away with a cat back system and skip the headers. I've been looking at getting some nice headers, but I'd hate to spend the money and see little to no gain. The truck is also a single exhaust. Therefore, is there a benefit to going dual-exit exhaust beyond just the aesthetics?

I've looked at a fair number of programmers. Some are plug n play and others much more involved. I'm not comfortable enough personally to go in and begin adjusting the settings manually. Does anyone have any recommendations on programmers to use, or should I have it done at a shop?

Lastly, I'm curious what type of realistic gains the community thinks I might be able to expect from the above-mentioned adjustments and if there are any additional relatively simple performance upgrades I might be able to make.

Thank you for any insight anyone can provide.

Jeremy

[99'HEARTBEAT]

The Performance mods you are wanting to do,CAI and Catback Exhaust.There are many to choose from.It comes down to what you are wanting to spends.IMO there is No one best CAI and Catback Exhaust.They all will give you some Amount of H.P.and M.P.G. Gains.Have you looked into during a Custom Tune?They are a Better upgrade over the Handheld ones,They will give you a Better Buck for your $$$.As far as Realistic gains will Vary from Truck to Truck,But These 3 Mods are a Big improvement over your stock setup.

[Jeremy09LTZCrew]

After reading some of the other threads on here I'm looking at contacting blackbear performance for a custom tune as tht certainly seems the way to go and much more complete than the handheld. I'm definitely looking at getting a CAI and exhaust. I plan to get some headers as well. I was playing with the idea of an edelbrock intake mani as well just to finish off the whole intake and exhaust system. I just want to make sure it's all done well. I'd never have even thought of the custom tune without this site, so that's a uge help already.

[99'HEARTBEAT]

Blackbear is 1 of the most well known.Good luck and BTW Any Pics of your Ride? :glasses:

[Jeremy09LTZCrew]

I have some pictures on my camera, but haven't uploaded them yet. In addition to gettinga new truck last week, I've also been moving. I should have them this week. =)

[99'HEARTBEAT]

A New Truck and Moving,I would said your a little busy.:glasses:

[sobelive]

Gratz on your new truck. I picked mine up 2 and a half weeks ago and I am in the same boat; looking to see where I start with the upgrades.

I got a 2009 GMC Sierra 5.3L Crew Cab, 2WD, Stealth Gray, Ebonay Interior, with the Convenience and Preferred packages.

I am loving it too!

[heavy chevy]

Check into wait4meperformance. They do custom tuned hand held from sct. This is what I have and they are great. There are many more people on the site that have the wait4me tune and they are happy as well. As far as your hp gains i would say you could squeeze at least 55 hp from all of the stuff you are talking about doing. If you are gonna go headers make sure you get the good ones you dont want em rusting on you. As far as exhaust go with cherry bomb they sound nice and mean. Dual will help you with the performance mods you want to do. You dont want to try and shoot a rockett throu a 22 barrel.

Wait4meperformance.com talk to jesse or hannah they are great and will get you what you need. They can also help you with what additions you want to add. You can go to cherrybomb.com to hear what the exhaust sound like or check out cherrybombs on youtube. Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

[2ToNe04]

cold air intake
exhaust
blackbearperformance.com.......... they have mail in tunes, justin (tuner) is great to work with.

[Jeremy09LTZCrew]

Thanks for the suggestions. Sadly, blackbearperformance can't help me yet. I've been in contact with Justin and he doesn't have all of the equipment for the 2009 yet as it hasn't been released. I'm finding this issue with many of the manufacturers.

That being said, it looks like for the moment I'm going to be looking at a CAI, headers and exhaust. I was looking into some long tube headers and high flow cats to turn it into a true dual, but two different shops (both of which were recommended to me by friends in the area) told me there wouldn't be much, if any advantage over the 3" pipe on the single I have now so I'm thinking of just doing a dual exit. Though I haven't fully decided yet.

Once I get this stuff done I'll be getting back in touch with Justin at blackbear to see what he might have at that time. But, I have a little time.

[cascott325]

welcome to the club. congrats on your new truck

[Jeremy09LTZCrew]

I finally got some pictures of the truck. I'll get more as weather up here in Seattle allows. =)3107

3108

[200mph]

In the "good old" days of Chevy Performance, exhaust manifold priority was FIT first, and performance was a much lower priority.

Today's V8's have a much freer flowing exhaust manifold that actually is quite efficient. Also, keep in mind that headers made from thinwall tubing wont last nearly as long as your truck will.

Here's what we did on our last Silverado, and what will be done to our next one...

I'd do these modifications in the following order:

1 cat-back exhaust... Gibson has a really good one that is long lasting and has a nice mellow tone, that everyone recognizes is not stock.... if you want louder, I like Corsa. Their systems are $pendy, but worth it. Nice growl without the annoying freeway drone.

2 cold-air intake... as reference above, there are lots of choices.

3 hi=performance cats... the catalytic converters are the biggest restriction in the exhaust system. A set of hi-per cats will open it up, and you'll stay on the legal side.

4 custom tune... to maximize the effect of all of the above

I'd also add for good measure:

5 tonneau cover and a deeper front air dam... good looks and proven better gas mileage

6 lighter wheels and tires... by reducing both unsprung weight and rotating mass, your truck will accelerate, brake and handle better... it'll feel like you added an extra 30 HP!