New 99 Tahoe owner--what mods first for easy power/mpg?

[Goldhawg]

Just bought this rust free 2 door tahoe from CA that's coming to Ohio. Gonna have it Ziebart'd on day 1 that it gets here. Has 120k miles and has had maintenance needed, including intake gasket replacement. But its bone stock. Has good power, but I'm always open for more. I want to do everything I can to squeeze mileage; its 4wd and has 3.73s (which I want to keep for towing).

So thinking about the volant air intake, a mail order tune (is black bear the best/Only one I should consider?), possibly a cat back, and the Mark VIII efan replacement. Also so the throttle body blade replacement and that looks pretty easy to do. If I go cat back, I'm not looking to make it louder (especially at idle/cruising), just more power/mileage.

So shoot me your thoughts at how best to proceed.

 

[SunlitComet]

kn fipk, Black bear unless you can find a local tuner. black bear can fine tune it but it may take longer and cost a bit more. flowmaster 17165 will get you some power gained but quieter then most of there mufflers.it will sound like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSb-ztiiPmc. personally i use the flexilite 280 efan setup and a ported throttle body.

 

[Goldhawg]

Also, I want a nice set of nerf bars; what do you all recommend that's a great value?

 

[SunlitComet]

you know i have not done enough research on them right now so i really cant recommend any specific one yet. sorry. maybe later in the few months i will get around to it.

 

[Goldhawg]

Another random ?. When my 96 Impala SS had 110k miles, the valve springs were so worn they could be compressed by hand quite a bit--had valve float above ~4500. Do these vortec engines have similar issues? Should I put in new valve springs and add roller rockers given the mileage? If so, is there a standard package most people use?

 

[SunlitComet]

no loose valve spring issues but you can add 1.52 norrow body aluminum full roller rockers or roller tip only. 1.52 will bolt right in 1.6 require elongating the pushrod holes to avoid rod rubbing. for full roller rockers i would keep an eye on your valve train periodically to make sure studs dont come loose. if they do convert to screw in studs. 1.52 have a slightly increased ratio and can get you a 10-15hp boost over stock depending on other mods.

 

[19Yukon97]

The force exhaust that sunlitcomet commented about has the 50 series muffler. The 70 series is the 'quiet' muffler from flowmaster. Goes like this: 40 series=loud, 50= moderate, 70 series- mild.
I have personally have the 50 series delta flow. Mine is much louder than it is supposed to be, as i have longtube headers and a 3 inch exhaust to a y-pipe going into the muffler and a 3.5 inch tailpipe.

 

[Matt06Yukon]

Glad this topic was started, I'm looking to add a 2 door Tahoe/Yukon to my fleet too and was wondering the same thing. I'd love to hear from Vortec guys who have had a Blackbear tune done, wonder if its made a difference or not. I have a 97 K1500 with the Vortec 350, tons of bottom end torque. Long tubes are definitely on my list, they should make a big difference. The LS engines have basically short tubes from the factory, I think the Vortecs are still log style manifolds. After a tune, long tubes and good exhaust, a mild cam and/or head work is probably the next step.

 

[96redsport]

Nick, did those long tube headers have any clearance/fit issues??? Do they have the EGR valve bung?

 

[SunlitComet]

i should clarify that the flowmaster 17165 is a complete cat back kit for a two door model and not and individual muffler. i have a 4dr unit and used the 17166 kit.