Well for starters I have a 2001 Chevy Silverado 1500 Ext Cab 4.8l. Fresh or somewhat fresh Motor and Trans about 25k ago.
It's the 4.8l w/ 4l60e Stock other than I've cut the exhaust off for now, moved the pipe to the rear, and put a resonator on it, still have stock cats, and i have a CAI installed, nothing fancy, do have a heater mod, but that's beside the point.
So, I'm thinking of adding some hp, I'm a disabled Vet, and not rich, so I don't have a lot of cash but was hoping someone here could help me pick out the best option that adds HP/TQ for cheap, but I don't per say like cheap jobs.
I think a cam kit, with a decent Exhaust will be the way to go, put unsure.
Facts to consider
I want to retain fuel milage or boost? not really possible, I know.
I have changed the tire size: Stock was 235/75r16 I have LT245/70r17 now, almost 2 1/2 taller difference.
I have POS 3.42 Gears, that I can't change because I am scared to, because everyone says you have to get the right. and not paying someone $2500 for one set "NOT 4WD". when a gear set costs $500 or so.
I want to improve power overall, to pull, and accelerate faster, and not be beat by some idiot who does 45 in a 55, I'm in Louisiana so there's a lot of idiots here no offense. but where I live, all over Louisiana really. people love to go 10+ under the speed, then try and race you, these newer trucks with the 8 speed and 10 speed are getting harder to beat , not really beatable at all in my pos. anyways. I went Stright to cam because the kit i could get for about $500 to $1000 and could possibly get it done from someone or do it myself. Its the cheapest thing imo to add power for cheap without a bunch of work, I have no knowledge of Turbo setups, so I dont think i could do that, as a part changer sure, but no knowledge of diag or anything. I cant see just adding an exhaust because it doesnt add as much power for about the same price or more as a cam. But either way is someone willing to help me if not a cam figure out a parts list? so far this is what i got.

LSXceleration Stage 2 NSR Truck Cam 212/218 .522/.529 HR12+4
$300
LSXceleration LS6/LS3 Valve Spring Kit 83265K1 - .560 Max Lift
$140
LSXceleration Sportsman 7.400" Length, 5/16", .080" wall, Hardened Pushrods
$109
Email tune with HP Tuners MPVI3 " I OWN" $200-$300

or

Sloppy Mechanics Stage 1 Camshaft - Choose Kit to Include PAC 1218 Springs, Seals, Gaskets and Pushrods 4.8 5.3 5.7 6.0 6.2 LS LS1 LS2 LQ4 LQ9 Elgin 1838-P (269motorsports.com)

Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks inadvance!

 

Define "performance".

What I see in your truck is, an engine that's too small to begin with, gears that keep it at too low RPM to produce what power it can, and then, larger tires that just make those other handicaps worse. If I were the betting kind, I'd bet that the ONE attribute you'd most like to improve, is ACCELERATION, especially at zero/low speeds. I have a 4WD 5.3 with 3.73 gears and stock size tires. Much heavier truck than yours, but still; that's its EXACT weakness.

Putting a cam with longer than stock duration in it will just make all that worse.

Never heard of "LSXceleration". Not that that's definitive, or that I've heard of everything there is, or that anything I haven't heard of can't be any good, or any such; only, this being a forum for people who work with this type of engine, that it might ought to have come up somewhere or sometime. Not an entirely good sign.

If I had your truck, I'd look FIRST at gears and a torque converter. Maybe 4.56 and 2500 RPM or so. I'd leave the engine itself alone for the time being. There's no "there" there, without boost. Next thing would be, long-tube headers.

 

makes sense. I get it but let's stay clear of boring to 5.7 or change engine size, that's not what I'm looking for. I totally understand what you're getting at, I purchased the engine and trans, I should have gone with the 6.0 at that point but I had no interest in doing so or going fast at the time, next time lesson learned. if this truck/engine had 180k this conversation would stand 200% more as we would be looking at an engine upgrade or rebuild.
What I'm looking Todo, along with a strong tune possibly even 93 octane+ only tune is add power, I'm not looking for 500HP, I don't need 500hp to beat the guy in the stock Honda civic... I already match him... but I can't beat him... or leave him from the line... I keep up with them right now.
what I expect is an additional 50 tq or so. which would put me at about 335 more than enough to get by, then maybe leave room to go more, with like an exhaust, plenty of cams are advertising like 60+ HP. so why wouldn't this be possible? I have a fresh engine that doesn't have a lot of miles on it that will last.

***Also side note/story. I have a 2002 Yukon 5.3 w/ 3.73 Gears Everything stock except CAI & Handheld Tune. Beats even the newer stock hondas. especially if i already hit my powerband. aka or " go to pass them because they are going to slow"
at a stop light they have a change but i normally pull away after 40 to 60 and get in front of them. its 700lbs heavier than my truck, but that thing has 100k+ on motor, its been replaced and total milage on yukon is 400k+ and ive put 3 trans in it, well two were bad, the shop that did it replaced cause under warranty, nothing i did...***

Also another reason, as mentioned above I stated in my first post the goal was to improve acceleration and I also dont want to swap trans just yet, im gunna go untill this one goes out which it only has 25k on it, so no, I dont want 500HP, I aint trying to blow the trans, and I wont be hard on this thing, just tired of the idiots and want more power. thats all.

 

Pretty much what I thought your goal would be.

Larger cams don't increase low-RPM torque. They increase upper-RPM horsepower AT THE EXPONSE OF low-RPM torque. More cam will REDUCE low RPM torque. Wrong direction to go in. You don't need horsepower; you need TORQUE. Changing a cam to one "advertising like 60+ HP" will NOT increase low-RPM torque. Doesn't work like that. Don't corrupt what I just told you with talk about "500 HP". That isn't what I said.

The ONLY mod you can do, besides some form of boost (specifically, a blower of some type OTHER THAN centrifugal), is long-tube headers. Butt even those aren't going to give a 4.8 50 more ft-lbs. 20, MAYBE.

"93+ octane" isn't going to help. Lower-octane fuel actually contains more energy. The advantage of, and reason for, higher octane fuels is, they don't detonate as easily, therefore are tolerant of higher compression. As long as your long block is anywhere near stock, your compression isn't high enough to need it, and it will REDDUCE engine output while INCREASING fuel consumption, at the same time as making each unit of fuel that it DOES consume, more expensive. The only measurable improvement that putting higher octane through that motor will give, is to make it slightly faster, by way of weight reduction centered at the driver's wallet.

Gears & converter aren't going to "blow the trans". Fear of that isn't rational.

If you want acceleration from low speeds, leave the engine as-is; and concentrate on letting it get off-idle. Gears & converter FIRST. No need to swap the transmission, not sure where that idea came from. Don't put words I didn't say into my mouth to then give you something to argue against, or do it to others who are trying to HELP YOU.

 

Thats why i figured id pair with a 2800rpm stall to help move it from line. and i believe the truck cams help from 2000 to 4500rpms am i wrong?

 

also, let me clear, ive seen alot of people go the direction with Why not... just bore it or replaced with bigger engine, or build it to 500hp. except the issues are.. I dont want 500hp so no... i was just covering it from wasting time before it was said sorry and everyone loves bigger engines, but there are some people like me who like making the 5.3 guys hate life you know the ones who dont have modded engines per say.. and find out i have a 4.8 that beat them. thats my goal

 



 

"Gears & converter FIRST. No need to swap the transmission, not sure where that idea came from. Don't put words I didn't say into my mouth to then give you something to argue against or do it to others who are trying to HELP YOU."

I understand your going pull the were here to help no one else has posted. I can leave, I came here for help, not to argue against what I was asking, your wrong here not me. I can go elsewhere, you Stright out the gate ignored what i was asking, and then you put words in my mouth not the other way around read the entire post first. i never said gears and a converter would blow trans, everyone knows the 4l60e can't withstand 500hp stock I've replaced enough of them to know. I was trying to get off the subject your biased about. immediately went to **** on the 4.8l. Jesus. I didn't come here to start a war about which v8 this or that, I asked for cheaper price. to performance mods which was not really directly asking to go another direction if you can't tell from that from my original post then that's on you. it was VERY clear i wanted to go this path unless there was evidence of a better price to performance, if you chose not to help then 3 things will happen
1. I will notate what I know about you on this forum long time member, admin or owner or not. this isn't the 60's anymore, respect and such is two ways not one way you don't own me, and I don't own you.
2. I will gladly leave and let everyone know about it. there is one simple rule when someone asks for help. stay on subject don't come here to trash it. I am the OP! original poster. which means I ask for help. you didn't offer said help, you offered for me to walk into an argument, now I will assume maybe you're having a bad day. and I DONT KNOW ABOUT you, but I'm a veteran and a grown *** man. I say how i feel, and I will also be the first person to tone down an argument and be civil the decision is in your hand how you react.
3. if all above still doesn't make any sense to you, I won't argue any further ill just leave. I have no ties to this place. plenty of other places that will help.

Gears are too expensive vs the performance you get. again, said in original post. *Just replying as I reread all of it

 

So, put a cam in it. Obviously that's what you want to do, whetehr or not people who have EXPERIENCE, warn you otherwise, and tell you what WOULD advance your cause, instead of what your heart's desire would do, which is, DEFEAT you. Which is of course TOTALLY OK; after all, it's your car, you can do whatever you want.

I suppose, if you're lucky, someone will come in here and tell you what you want to hear, instead of giving you TRUTH. Won't change the actual outcome. (try a stopwatch over a familiar MEASURED distance: go capture it now) Seems to be a pretty common theme these days. Not that that will change what will REALLY happen when you do the cam swap; obviously you just want the music into your ears, to validate what you've ALREADY decided and are determined to do.

Sorry, that would NOT be me.

As long as you think that, you will FAIL. You will waste your money on things that work AGAINST you. You will use your money, however much or little that might be, as the weapon to shoot yourself in the shorts. Which of course, doesn't hurt ME in the slightest. YOU are the one who will suffer from the "benefits" of poor decision making.

Best of luck to you and your project. Go forth and multiply fruitfully. Peace out.

 

I put over 300,000 miles on a 2002 silverado with the 4.8 that originally had 3.42 gears. Any of the cams you are asking about will make the truck slower for 99% of your driving. After the first 125,000 miles, I needed to start towing with it, so I put on a Whipple supercharger. It still sucked with the factory gears and torque converter. I put in 3.73 gears, and that got it to where I could at least tow comfortably, but it was still not speedy by any means. Without 4.10 gears and probably at least a 3200 stall converter you would need boost to make that truck outrun anything. Truthfully you need all 3 of those things to keep up with the newer trucks. And any cam you put in that does significantly increase horsepower will need to rev over 6000rpm to really shine, and that will kill your 4l60. Believe me or not, up to you.

 

I get what you're saying yes cams. seem to make power up high not off the line etc. I've done that research. I understand that. What I'm after is specific. I'll explain further.
CAM
CAI
REALLY GOOD TUNE --- KEY TO ANYTHING STOCK OR NOT
HEADERS & EXAUST
Should put me about 75 TQ after all is said and done. maybe more depending on cam, of course they do have Truck TOW Cams worth noting? not sure if that helps in low to mid towing, but a tuner can fine tune throttle responses to make any truck rather it be 3.42 or 3.73 or higher feel 5x better at stock. mine was done it tows so much better than it did beforehand. but with all above I'm after a specific target range, ALL I DID WAS ASK FOR HELP TO PUT A LIST OF PARTS AND COMPATIBLITY. Now you say just do it your truck still being sour and beating around the bush of what I'm asking. Also, I will say this...
Turbo To much money, costs $1500 to $4000 TO MUCH HP/TQ BLOWS poor 4l60e trans. NO GOOD
Supercharger Same! Costs $5000+ Blows Trans....
Bigger motor? Cost $3000 puts my torque where I want but that's money upfront... Stock 6.0 makes about 360 torque but hey! it works right!? doesn't blow trans per say. right away. but costs $3000....
all the items I mentioned above puts me right about what the stock 6.0 gives me but costs me what....
maybe $2000? idk didn't price it. I see the ADVANTAGE there... IF I NEEDED A NEW MOTOR. BUT NOT WHEN I ONLY HAVE 25K! MILES ON IT NOW! makes no sense to move to bigger motor whatsoever on any planet unless your just wasting money. I paid $2500 for this motor brand new and $2500 for the trans. both same times. I ABSOULETY regret not getting the 6.0 for $1000 more. but I didn't. and here I am!

THANKS AGAIN INADVANCE

 

The others have provided sound advice. For what you're wanting last thing you need is a camshaft. First gears, then convertor, then headers. Preferably in that order if you're doing it in steps. Then once you have that supporting hardware, throwing in a cam to improve acceleration more is possible.

Could not tell if you have a 4WD or 2WD with the wording but currently Motive Gears on Amazon are only $200-225 from 3.73-4.56s. I'd recommending calling some shops in your area and getting some quotes. As other said, this is the mod that will give you the best bang for buck. Although you'll probaby want low 4s, as the sizes you gave us: are only about 1/2" difference. With your 30.5" tires I'd use 4.11s or 4.30s which would get you ~2220 or ~2325rpm @ 70mph in lock-up. You might lose some economy on the highway, but your city may improve because the engine doesn't have to work as hard accelerating with normal driving.

It's well known these trucks could use more stall from the factory. Now that you have the gears, you can put in a stall of about 2500-2800rpm. Also recommend adding a larger aux trans cooler if you don't already have one.

Next do the headers. A set of Speed Engineering headers are relatively inexpensive and will definitely free up some ponies. I wouldn't even worry about the rest of the exhaust. It's going to flow enough for a mild 4.8. But at most, instead of doing a full cat-back, install a Magnaflow or Borla. Great flow, great sound. The rest of the exhaust is sized well (same sized exhaust as 5.3L trucks).

Gears will get you most of the acceleration, converter will complement it, headers will further enhance the whole powerband. Once those are all done then a camshaft will have less notable effect on the low-end. You go straight to camshaft with your current setup, you'll be horribly disappointed.

 

i had 4.88 gears and a yank ss3600 converter on my 4.8 (mind you it had 35 in tires) and made a ton of difference , felt like it picked up 150+ hp. these guys are right , its going to make a huge difference in the way it performs. think mechanical advantage or longer breaker bar..... some 4.56gears/3400 to 3600 converter/tru cool 40k tranny cooler/tsp or speed engineering headers/tune will make it a million times better. later you can focus on a cam set up that can get your power upper in the band, (the best attribute of the 4.8 is it likes to rev and gears/stall will allow that) again the guys here are 100% right weather you like it or not......

 

ok gears... so best fit?
What would top speed look like? with 4:10 or next size?

 

Easy to calculate:
(rear gears x mph x 336 x trans gear ratio)/ tire diameter (inches) = rpm
Too speed capability may actually increase since the steeper gear will put you at higher rpm when trying to push a heavy brick through the air with a 4.8L.

So for example, a 2001 4.8L makes peak power (270hp) @ 5200rpm stock. Assuming that's enough to overcome mass, rolling resistance and most importantly aerodynamics, with 4.30 gears it theoretically could reach ~155mph. With 3.42 gears, it'd be down to ~4100rpm, therefore much lower in the hp curve.

Motive gears are strong and quiet. Richmond from what I’ve heard, can be noisy.

 

other than a big power adder, gears and stall are your best friend. dont be modest and go small (like 3.73 and 2600stall) go mid size (like 4.30 to 4.56 and 3500 or higher stall) i have buddys with 4000+ converters and daily drive em no problem.

 

i feel like 4th gear will top out at like 110 with that setup maybe im wrong, my yukon 5.3l with 3.73 tops out at 118 or so

 

next how hard can i do gears myself aswell. cause im not paying $2800 for them todo it in a day. The guys over at

Zimmer Gears in BR said like $2100 i feel thats to much. he said it would be in and out in one day, and done right. idk. is that really fair?
or can i just change the gear and leave the rest.

just change ring and pinion? or do i have to change everything else, besides the seals?

 

Let's do the math. In and out in 1 day? Shop rates vary by region, but let's assume $150/hr (which is conservatively high in most areas) @ 8 hours (workday) = $1200. Then let's say they mark up the gears, seals,rearend oil, grease, and gasket 100% over cost, that's still ~$600. So $1800 total max, he wants $2100? And it doesn't take anywhere near a whole day worth of time. With a lift and all the proper tools, even someone being meticulous, it shouldn't take more than 3-4 hours. To be clear, it's not a 4WD, right? I could easily see that for 2 axles. Either that or they're charging a whole rearend rebuild with all new parts and not just a ring and pinion swap. Hell, you can buy an entire new 12 bot rearend from Moser for $2555. All they're doing is swapping a r&p in your existing rearend.

Shop around for cost, and then look for shop reviews of the reasonable ones, talk to other customers that have used them, etc. That's why getting at least 4 quotes is helpful. You'll quickly get a feel for who is overpriced, what is a legitimate cost, and who might not really know what's really involved and under-quoting the work (which means it might not come out right and/or might try to come back for more money).

And yes, as mentioned doing will require axle seals, grease, rearend oil, and a gasket. Any automotive gearhead vets in your area willing to help out another vet? Someone who works in a local base car pool?

Another option, would be to research compatible rearends by year range and vehicles (all make GM trucks, Full-Size SUVs) and go junkyard hunting for rearends that have the RPO ratio and RPO limited slip/posi you want (look up where to find the codes, but usually on GM it's in the glove box).