Performance mods in order of importance

[American Dream]

I have a stock 2014 Yukon XL 5.3 I have read forum after forum about performance mods. I have learned quite a bit but I'm still undecided where to begin. First off I'm not looking to spend $10-15,000 on performance. Very easy to do I know. I want more pep but I don't want to replace the rear tires every year either. From what I've gathered I decided on (insert your votes here) cold air intake (CAI) and Borla sport exhaust (because I love that deep throaty sound) and also a tuner to go with it. Diablo or Blackbear?? I've seen bad reviews on the Diablo.
I hate the AFM/DOD and want it shut off but read that after people install the aftermarket exhaust the AFM actually performed better and more seamless. Transmission shift points make me drive like I'm a 94yo on a Sunday drive to a after church dinner. Push the pedal to make it down shift and it's like I poked it in the ass with a cattle prod. There's no happy medium.

I drive mostly city and the V4 mode gets used a lot. I plan on lots of highway miles this summer so I don't want a noisy exhaust for hours on a road trip with the kids. They are annoying enough without adding another catalyst. Sorry kids... I love you very much but DAAANG!!!

Also I have a catch can that I plan to install here soon. I haven't removed the intake yet to see how much oil is there yet. I'm scared.

Future mods ,if it ever happens, would be headers (insert your votes here) and if I'm doing that then I'll pull the engine and rip out that AFM guts and put in a performance cam. Who knows if I'm that deep into I might bore it and add other performance engine parts. Dolla dolla bills yall!!!

I want to have a list of order of importance as far as what works best with which. I'm leaning towards the exhaust first plus the CAI.
If I'm missing something please tell me. I need all the help I can get!

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Sounds like you are pretty spot on. Intake, exhaust, black bear tune. Go from there.

 

[iamdub]

Nix the CAI- the OEM filter box already is one. Replace just the tube (Airaid Jr or equivalent) unless you just have the extra cash to blow on appearance. A quality, non-oiled drop-in filter wouldn't hurt if you wanted that. But, if you want the full aftermarket CAI, actually get a CAI and not a cheap shiny tube with an open element filter stuck on the end. There's NO "cold air" to be had with these falsely-labeled "CAI"s.

Intake tube or full CAI, long tube headers, your muffler of choice and complementing tune are the biggest bang-for-the-buck mods. A good tuner can fix the sloppy OEM shift tables, the unresponsive throttle-by-wire and reduce torque management. A catch can is not a performance mod, but is too necessary, too cheap and too easy to not do it.

Oh- make sure all the normal maintenance items are up-to-par (spark plugs, clean MAF, clean throttle body/intake manifold, etc.)

 

[Matt_]

Step one, black bear autocal... it'll give you the most noticeable improvement in performance & shift points. Then after you do intake/exhaust you can log some data and have your tune adjusted if need be.

 

[Big Buttons]

Air raid Jr., longtubes, exhaust, cam, amf/dod delete, stall, gears, boost. Boom 600+ to the wheels.

 

[American Dream]

Dub is 100% correct with the snake oil "cold air" intake. I never planned to open the intake to the engine compartment. That's the warmest spot to draw air from. The salesman that convinced anyone of that must be the same one that sells Rhino lining for your truck bed

I appreciate all the comments so far but I'm also hoping for name brands and favorites. There's a lot of knowledge here and I want to get a list and order of importance for install

 

[DWebPro]

I'm in your same boat, my problem is I'm in California with strict emission laws. If you don't care about it then you are golden.

I went exhaust first for the sound, and will go airaid next followed by shorty headers. I want to get the 1 7/8(don't recall exact, the widest I can find is what I'm doing) headers so that when i go s/c i can get more out of it.

By the time all of the above is done autocal will be on shortly after to bring it all together. Gears and sway bars go on next.

All of the above won't break the bank when spread out over a few months.

I really want the 6.2, 6l80e and the manual shift on the shift lever. It makes no sense for me in my 5.3 to do can work, it gets crazy from here for me.

I've seen full 6.2/trans/ecu/harness for 4k-6k and I know there will be little parts I'll need to get it to work right, a new supercharger I say 7k-8k depending on options. My thought is just go s/c from here and run this 140k mile motor until it pops then go for 6.2 swap. Since all the parts I bought for the 5.3 would work on the 6.2 of be in a sweet spot to have a tahoe that can give those skat pack cars a run for the money.