TBSS intake on gen III 4.8 5.3 6.0

[MSU BullDAWGz]

Richard Holdener has done LS engine dyno comparative testing with stock truck, tbss & the LS6 intakes. He compared the Trailblazer intake to both the stock, cathedral port truck intake, and the LS6 Corvette intake. The truck intakes were designed to enhance low-speed power in the rpm range where trailer towing puts a heavy emphasis on torque. Conversely, the early LS Corvettes and Camaros used a much shorter intake that gave up a little torque to make more peak horsepower. The Trailblazer SS (TBSS) intake is tall like the early truck manifolds but a little wider. The GM engineers did their homework on this intake as Holdener discovered. The TBSS will make more torque than the earlier truck intakes and yet will make more horsepower than the old LS6 intakes. Unless you're building an LS to go above 7000 RPM's this is a cheap, great option for many.

I can only go by what I've read though as I've never installed one. So I ask all those here to chime in and tell us the good,the bad and the ugly on your installation.

Here are some issues I've read about.
1. Uses 90mm tb but it has different wire harness (different # of pins) adapter is an option. Different tb.
2. Injectors are relatively small, flex fuel or 60 lb injectors are an option. Also factory injectors use different wiring. Using other injectors like L59 flex or 60lb will require modifications to fuel rail and or adapters.
3. I'm not sure if sensors all can swap from truck intake to tbss intake. Even "IF" they can fit I'm not sure if they are in same places and reroute wires or extending the wires to the sensors is necessary.

I'm amazed about this intake. Because back when I was a teen you had a choice of either an Edelbrock Performer intake that helped low end. The Victor Jr. intake that helped top end and the newest one was the Performer RPM that helped some on bottom and top BUT wasn't nearly as good at bottom as the Perf. or top end as the Vic Jr. The TBSS though did better than both the truck and corvette intakes in torque and hp @ all rpm. It even did as good as a "FAST" intake with a 105mm tb. up to 6500 rpm. Note the TBSS had either a truck 87mm or the TBSS stock 90mm in all the articles I've read.

So please let's hear your installation tips, tricks, what worked or doesn't work.

 

[THarber]

You can get a 201X intake with flex fuel injectors and they are almost identical to the TBSS intake and half the price. The flex fuel injectors should flow more than enough. You will need injector conversion pigtails which are cheap as well as an X link. Pay attention the to throttle body, I don't remember which is which but there is a gold blade and silver blade tb, the X link is specific. From what I researched, save your money on all the fancy throttle bodies and stick to AC Delco versions for trouble free tuning. Then you need a corvette fuel regulator in some cases to connect the fuel rail to your fuel line. Its nothing difficult, I did the conversion on my 05 H2 and it was easy.

 

[Buggdave]

Some trick i learned in my instrallation of a TBSS on my 2002. I found that the cross over tube from a 2004 flex fuel Tahoe fits over the TBSS and allowed me to keep the stock fuel rail and return fuel line. The Flex Fuel Injectors are also taller than the stock injectors that helps in this clearance.
Pre 2003 Drive By Wire throttle bodies do not need the xlink. I just had to re-pin the connector that came with the 87mm TBSS throttle body. The original TB 8 pin connector uses separate 5 volt and grounds for throttle position sensor where the TBSS TB only has a 6 pin connector that shares the 5 volt and ground.

 

[MSU BullDAWGz]

You can get a 201X intake with flex fuel injectors and they are almost identical to the TBSS intake and half the price. The flex fuel injectors should flow more than enough. You will need injector conversion pigtails which are cheap as well as an X link. Pay attention the to throttle body, I don't remember which is which but there is a gold blade and silver blade tb, the X link is specific. From what I researched, save your money on all the fancy throttle bodies and stick to AC Delco versions for trouble free tuning. Then you need a corvette fuel regulator in some cases to connect the fuel rail to your fuel line. Its nothing difficult, I did the conversion on my 05 H2 and it was easy.

Couple of questions. Is that truck intake on all models or only SS, is it on only 6.2 or 5.3s or what? Is the vett fuel filter for return type systems (99-03) or when like my 2005 L59 flex fuel suburban? Which is return-less.

 

[Buggdave]

I'll chime in about the vett filter. It is used to take the return less fuel rail of the NBSS (TBSS) intakes and make a return type system. The filter has a built in pressure regulator to keep the fuel rail pressure at 58psi. Here a picture i found wen i was doing research on my swap.

 

[THarber]

Its on all trucks with cathedral port heads.

Check this site for more info: https://www.glennsautoperformance.com/pages/intake-faq

 

[MSU BullDAWGz]

After more research (thanks to ya'awl helping me to ask Google the right thing) yes the vett filter is when it's a return fuel type on our trucks (99-03) and nnbs is confusing IMHO, instead just say gen IV LS engines with cathedral port heads. So it's most trucks/suv's. Only L76 engines had car style intakes and/or tbss style intakes.

What about injectors connection's? Are L59 flex engines same connected as gen IV flex ? Are only the TBlazer different?

 

[Buggdave]

The flex fuel injectors I found (25326903) has the EV6 connectors. These are the same connector as the GenIV injectors and I believe the GenIV flex injectors. The 99-06 truck typically use an injector with the EV1/Multec II connector, so an adapter is required. Theses pictures are of the EV6 connectors

 

[RAMurphy]

I will be doing this mod/conversion as I build my 6.0 engine. The TBSS intake was recently delivered and I have done a ton of research on how I will build this manifold up for my 2002 drive by cable Tahoe. I have thoughts on the direction I want to go and have bought a few components for this mod (such as the throttle and cruise cable bracket) from Glenn's Auto Performance. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a 2002 or a 2004 fuel rail to adjust or modify. So I most likely will go with the fuel rail listed for this intake and make the necessary adjustments.

 

[iamdub]

I will be doing this mod/conversion as I build my 6.0 engine. The TBSS intake was recently delivered and I have done a ton of research on how I will build this manifold up for my 2002 drive by wire Tahoe. I have thoughts on the direction I want to go and have bought a few components for this mod (such as the throttle and cruise cable bracket) from Glenn's Auto Performance. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a 2002 or a 2004 fuel rail to adjust or modify. So I most likely will go with the fuel rail listed for this intake and make the necessary adjustments.

*drive by cable ("DBC")

Drive by wire ("DBW") was an '03+, often considered a mid-year '02+ thing.