New owner / member

[RenegadeTahoe]

Hey guys ...

New Tahoe owner and member of the forum.... not new to cars / performance, etc.

Here's my '03 Hoe 4wd (I THINK it's an LT, but I'm not 100%) 5.3l

My first item of business is to do some mods for mileage. Been reading about tuning, etc. (I'm hoping Jennabear will jump in here to tell me how she gets 19MPG city)

If I can gain 3MPG, I have about $680 to spend (as of right now, it's not all at one time, but more of a collective amount)... if I can gain 6 MPG (to 19MPG city) I have just over $1100 to spend. (gotta cover costs). The performance gains will be appreciated, but not main factors.

Future mods:
Dark tint (possibly this weekend... depending on schedule)
DVD Nav / Carputer w/ Double-din or 7" touchscreen LCD in dash (Stealth, if possible)
22" Rims... looking at some of the Foose rims, but I'm not sure which ones yet.

 

[boostaholic]

Tune - $200
Exhaust - $350-$500
I love my blackbear tune and my magnaflow catback, you'll be anywhere from 2mpg-3mpg realistically.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Tune - $200
Exhaust - $350-$500
I love my blackbear tune and my magnaflow catback, you'll be anywhere from 2mpg-3mpg realistically.

What about CAI? I was reading somewhere that someone was getting a small 1MPG approx. from a CAI? The physics would make a little sense, but I'm not so sure about which one... I'm thinking either K&N or AEM...

I read about your Blackbear tune. I also read about a different, cheaper tune without the cable? I have 4 laptops, not including the one at work, so that's not a problem, but it is the wifey's car and she'd kill me if it were out of commission for a long period of time.

I've seen some experiences with the Diablo tuner... anyone care to comment? I'm looking for the best bang for the buck. I don't have an unlimited supply of money, but if I can piece it together, I can spend it.... especially if it means I'll get better gas mileage as well as more HP.

 

[05Yukon]

Sorry to bust your bubble but its not an LT. It might have leather but the LTs have body colored trim.

 

[JKmotorsports]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new purchase:beerchug:. Your truck looks nice and clean.
To help your mileage; the biggest gain (aside from your driving habits) is probably going to come from a custom tune. Opening the exhaust and intake will help a bit as well.

 

[boostaholic]

Electric fans and an intake will help but the tune will make the most difference. I didn't notice any gain in mileage with my intake but I had it on a day or two after I bought the truck. Don't buy a programmer, they're a waste of money get a tune from blackbear, nelson, or wheatley.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Sorry to bust your bubble but its not an LT. It might have leather but the LTs have body colored trim.

Ah, it doesn't hurt my feelings any.... it's got all the options I care for. If I were going for trim level, I wouldn't have settled with anything less than a Z-71. I didn't buy it as an LT, but I wasn't sure what the differences were between the different trim levels.


As for the other posts... thanks... it's EXTREMELY clean for a 6 year old truck. (built 9/02). I've seen many people on here have great opinions of blackbear tunes... what about the others... what's the best bang for the buck? (Keep in mind, performance takes a back seat to MPG at this point). I don't drive it like I stole it... but I can't vouch for my wife (who is the primary driver) What is involved with a tune? I'm pretty mechanically inclined.

 

[Polecat]

welcome to the forum!

 

[JennaBear]

Welcome! You have already gotten some pretty good answers here from the folks as far as gains both performance and MPG. The big 3 will be intake, exhaust and tune. The rest will be up to your right foot!! There are some little things here and there that you can add, headers, cats, cam, or a supercharger, but that takes a few more $$$s!

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Welcome! You have already gotten some pretty good answers here from the folks as far as gains both performance and MPG. The big 3 will be intake, exhaust and tune. The rest will be up to your right foot!! There are some little things here and there that you can add, headers, cats, cam, or a supercharger, but that takes a few more $$$s!

Thank you for the response. It is my wife's Tahoe, so I don't want to go crazy on it (cats, cam, supercharger, etc) I just want to get the most beneficial MPG improvements. It looks like CAI, cat-back, and a tune is the route I'm going to take. How do you like that AEM Brute Force? Did you notice a LOT of improvement, or what? The Magnaflow is much more expensive than the Flowmaster counterpart.... since it is my "family" vehicle, my wife is rather opposed to loud exhausts... BUT... if I can convince her it's worth it... and it's not too loud... she can get over it. :smilielol:

Is there any benefit to the Magnaflow vs. Flowmaster? Borla is out of the question... but I've used Flowmaster in the past... on my '95 Z28... and I liked it. Gained a little bit of seat HP.

 

[boostaholic]

My magnaflow is quiet, or you can have a shop build you a system with a fairly long magnaflow muffler and it won't drone at highway speeds like the flowmasters are prone to do.

 

[JennaBear]

My suggestion would be, dont buy a CAI without an exhaust or tune. You need to keep the air coming in with the same flow out, and also let the computer know the amount of air that is now coming in since you are not OEM.

I did a lot of research on exhausts for my Tahoe as it is my DD and I didnt want anything loud. Justin had true dual SpinTechs on his SSS and it drove me nuts. The Magnaflow system gave me the performance and sound I wanted, nice and mellow til I mashed the pedal in. As a girl, I would like to be able to hear my music over my exhaust!! In reality, exhaust is all personal preference, I would let your wife decide.

I will say, that I just had a 3 month old and a 3 year old in my Tahoe for a long road trip, and they both sacked out immediately, no issues with the exhaust at all.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

My magnaflow is quiet, or you can have a shop build you a system with a fairly long magnaflow muffler and it won't drone at highway speeds like the flowmasters are prone to do.

Hmmm... any East Valley AZ owners out there with a Magnaflow exhaust I could listen to? I'm all for some noise, but the wife HATES it. Just like I'm all for the 4wd, but the wife wants to stay on level ground... hehehe opposites attract, I guess.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

My suggestion would be, dont buy a CAI without an exhaust or tune. You need to keep the air coming in with the same flow out, and also let the computer know the amount of air that is now coming in since you are not OEM.

I did a lot of research on exhausts for my Tahoe as it is my DD and I didnt want anything loud. Justin had true dual SpinTechs on his SSS and it drove me nuts. The Magnaflow system gave me the performance and sound I wanted, nice and mellow til I mashed the pedal in. As a girl, I would like to be able to hear my music over my exhaust!! In reality, exhaust is all personal preference, I would let your wife decide.

I will say, that I just had a 3 month old and a 3 year old in my Tahoe for a long road trip, and they both sacked out immediately, no issues with the exhaust at all.

So, it kinda seems that I want to do them all within a short amount of time of eachother for best results... if you had to pick one to do first, what would it be? By your comments, I'd think Exhaust? I had a CAI on my Z28 before I threw exhaust on it... but I never tuned it (didn't have a laptop back then... it was much simpler and cheaper for the LT1... program called LT1edit... and a special made cable to interface with the OBD connector)

Edit: Oh, btw... I used your pics to convince the wifey of the need for new 20-22" rims / tires...

It's amazing how much you lose when you don't use it... I used to be the KING of performance when I had my Z28... sold it in '02 to buy a house... lost the touch after that.

 

[JennaBear]

You will definitely get the nice rumble if you get the exhaust first. An intake will "enhance" the exhaust sound, so I would do that second.

We have an 02 TA WS6 here so I know what you are talking about as far as having fun performance stuff. Definitely a fun vehicle to drive, but the SSS takes the cake.

The Tahoe is just the Pavement Princess that gets babied! I am glad you were able to put my pics to good use!! Let her know that the Eibach kit is a good thing to get too, as you wont feel like you are tipping over when taking a sharp turn, SAFETY FIRST!! :smilielol:

 

[JennaBear]

Hmmm... any East Valley AZ owners out there with a Magnaflow exhaust I could listen to? I'm all for some noise, but the wife HATES it. Just like I'm all for the 4wd, but the wife wants to stay on level ground... hehehe opposites attract, I guess.

Here is a video Justin made of my Tahoe after all the new stuff was put in. She wasnt fully broken in, but you can hear the exhaust under partial throttle. :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYPH74eaJk

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Here is a video Justin made of my Tahoe after all the new stuff was put in. She wasnt fully broken in, but you can hear the exhaust under partial throttle. :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYPH74eaJk

That got me excited... but the wife didn't like it... I reminded her that the windows were open (I thought they were open...since I thought I heard a car pass by) and you were on the gas hard... Maybe I could take her for a hard throttle ride... to give her an idea.... this is going to be a tough one.... I REALLY like the sound of a V8 w/ good exhaust... it's been so long since I've had a good V8... I even like the stock exhaust sound. :thumbsup:

 

[JennaBear]

Yes I do believe the windows were open. As Justin says, it sounds like the end of the world when I mash it, but that is from the outside. Remind her, there is an intake, an exhaust, new cats, and a cam in there. If you listen close enough at the idle, you can hear the lope and the slight exhaust leak. We hadnt tightened down the bolts for the 100 mile check up yet.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Yes I do believe the windows were open. As Justin says, it sounds like the end of the world when I mash it, but that is from the outside. Remind her, there is an intake, an exhaust, new cats, and a cam in there. If you listen close enough at the idle, you can hear the lope and the slight exhaust leak. We hadnt tightened down the bolts for the 100 mile check up yet.

Yeah, I thought I heard the cam in there... beautiful lope... I found a few more YouTube vids of 5.3's with Magnaflow... and they don't sound as loud... could be the camera equipment as well.

 

[JennaBear]

I believe you are hittin that one on the head! :yesnod: The Magna is one of the more subtle systems out there IMO.