Best Performance Addons

**Luke56** · 04-29-2009, 07:55 PM

I've always spent all my money on my snowmobile but I've got the thing set up about perfect right now so I figured its about time to start throwin cash at the truck. It's a 1997 Silverado Z71 with a 350 currently all stock. What performance addons will give me the most bang for my buck? Obviously a whistle or a supercharger will add some serious power but I don't exactly have ten grand to be throwin around.

**ct9a** · 04-29-2009, 08:09 PM

Intake/headers/exhaust/programmer seems to be where most start.

**Luke56** · 04-29-2009, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by ct9a

Intake/headers/exhaust/programmer seems to be where most start.

I've looked into programmers quite a bit but everytime I'm about to get one I get talked out of it because someone tells me its pointless to put one on a gas truck
whats a good intake or set of headers

**norcalbear05** · 04-29-2009, 08:55 PM

K&N or AIRAID are the intakes most go with

i got a K&N 57 series CAI on my silverado

was very happy with it, better gas milage, improved passing performance, ect.

since yours is a later model you may be able to go with the 77 series, only diff is the induction tube is chrome instead of black plastic but then again ive heard that it defies the point of a cold air intake bc the chrome can heat the air going in. plus the black dosnt look bad anyway. just a thought.

you can also take it a step further with a throttle body spacer, it makes it easier if you do the intake and spacer at the same time. the spacer enables the fuel and air to mix better before going into the intake maifold.

**1st Synthetics** · 04-29-2009, 08:58 PM

Injen makes one of the best intakes on the market look here for information: http://www.gmtruckclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20265

**bareback316** · 04-29-2009, 10:10 PM

i would just get heads a cam and intake to start with

**silveradotrailblazer** · 04-29-2009, 10:12 PM

A throttlebody spacer works very well on that year engines (1996 to 1999). If you put headers on the spacer brings back the bottom torque you lose with the headers. I had 96 Suburban with K&N cold air, t/body spacer, Jba short headers and magnaflow cat-back. I had a hypertech programmer strictly for the gear change and taller tires, the hypertech did nothing for performance.

**masterfoxscout** · 04-29-2009, 10:45 PM

Intake/Exhaust/Programmer/TBS

You can do headers, but if you don't know what your doing or the shop that installs them is crappy, then they may leak. Plus they are the most expensive of all the upgrades once you figure in labor.

**Luke56** · 04-30-2009, 12:51 PM

i really appreciate everybodys help, im new to this site but it already seems like it has a lot of good people
so it seems like a cold air intake and a throttlebody spacer are the way to go and also the cheapest and easiest to put on so what are good brands for both of those items and what kind of performance gains could i expect from these
also what is a cam which was mentioned earlier

**banditz** · 04-30-2009, 07:18 PM

a lot of people go K&N or airaid for intake. i imagine you could pull a good 10hp gain from the intake, but you'd have to look it up (most auto parts stores should have the gain catalog for K&N) to be specific.

cam is short for camshaft, meaning to put in performance camshaft(s) to replace your stock. they look like this:

and can sound like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/fMxEs3LeFgU