Regular Maintenance Concerns

[Phat LC]

I have a 2001 Chevy Tahoe LT, and I am planning to add a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system, along with a K&N Cold Air Intake, to make it run smoother, stronger and sound better too!!!

This is along with a regular 100,000 mile tune-up which includes a transmission fluid change, motor oil change, seafoam addition, and brake fluid change....

But I was reading about headers, and I just know they're expensive, but will it make a difference and is it worth the price?

I was looking at these Doug Thorley's for about $700...

What exactly do headers do to a truck?
Should I go with it or just settle for the exhaust and intake?

 

[EasyRyder]

I have a 2001 Chevy Tahoe LT, and I am planning to add a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system, along with a K&N Cold Air Intake, to make it run smoother, stronger and sound better too!!!

This is along with a regular 100,000 mile tune-up which includes a transmission fluid change, motor oil change, seafoam addition, and brake fluid change....

But I was reading about headers, and I just know they're expensive, but will it make a difference and is it worth the price?

I was looking at these Doug Thorley's for about $700...

What exactly do headers do to a truck?
Should I go with it or just settle for the exhaust and intake?

headers give you more exhaust flow.

they would pair up good with your magnaflow system and intake. honestly if i were in your shoes i wouldnt get them, yeah theyre cool for what they are but i would spend my money on a black bear tune instead.

 

[Phat LC]

what's a black bear tune?

 

[EasyRyder]

what's a black bear tune?

some dude that re-programs your factory computer and turns your truck into a fkn beast!!! so ive heard.

 

[Yuke2K]

LC, check out www.blackbearperformance.com

Justin's work is top notch, or so I've heard. The actual tune is only about $200, but to get the most bang for the buck, get yourself a laptop and rent all of his tuning equipment. He'll send you a diagnostic cable that you hook up to your OBDII port and then plug into the laptop, and then you drive around for two weeks or so. You send the data back to him, and he makes a chip completely tailored to YOUR truck, not some cookie cutter tune that everyone and their brother has. He can take a whole bunch of individual factors about your particular truck into account when burning the chip, including elevation, mods, reprogramming for bigger wheels or tires, ect. The equipment isn't cheap to rent, but if you can spare an extra $400 or so for a couple weeks, you get it back when you return his stuff. You have to have your own laptop though.

And just so you know, I've never ordered a chip from him. This is all on his website though, and everyone I've talked to who has one of his tunes has nothing but fantastic things to say. I'm doing this as soon as I get some mods done. I'd rather do it after I get my exhaust and intake done, that way I get the most out of the tune.

Oh, and if you change your mods in the future, retunes are free. You just have to pull your PCM and send it to him, and he'll send you an updated one with your new mods programmed into it. Pretty slick deal, IMO.

 

[Phat LC]

This is definitely being done on my Tahoe....

I already have a laptop so dishing out $600 and getting $400 of them back later is well worth it for the benefits it brings....

But yeah, I am going to first upgrade the exhaust and intake so I can get a better result....

Thanks a lot for this info Yuke and Easy....

 

[boostaholic]

I'd go with the aem intake, way easier to maintain or at least get an aem filter for the k&n. The aem uses a dry synthetic filter rather than the oiled k&n which is much easier to clean (15 minutes), doesn't require oil, and won't lose shape since they're made of synthetic memory foam. A tune from justin will make the most difference, buy all your mods before the tune tho.

 

[sstahoe22]

Careful with the AEM intake. I put on one my 06 tahoe and now im getting a CEL "system too rich bank 1&2" anyone else heard of this?