Time to kick it up a knotch.

I have an '02 Tahoe w/ 40,000 miles, and it's time to kick it up a notch.
Any reccomendations for starters?
Chip, Filter, ect.
Would like some relitivly simple bolt on stuff to 'wake her up' a little.

Supercharger is the way to go

The simple bolt-on stuff is 100% ineffective with many actually causing a loss in performance or a negligible improvement at best.

A quality blower and professional install is the best way to kick it up a notch.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ZX1100F1

The simple bolt-on stuff is 100% ineffective with many actually causing a loss in performance or a negligible improvement at best.

A quality blower and professional install is the best way to kick it up a notch.

Wow do you just pull this stuff straight out of your ass or something?

Not all easy bolt on hurt your performance. Granted their are some out their like throttle body spacers are fuel injected vehicles are pretty much crap.

What you should have said was just about all of the bolt on stuff cost alot more than what kind of power you get out of them like cold air intakes and stuff.

Next time think before you type.

Thanks for telling me what I should have said. but I said exactly what I meant!

I have yet to see any (so called) "bolt on mod" do much other than maybe kick up the noise level, although some associate noise with power.

I agree about the throttle spacers and the devices that supposedly induce swirls/turbulence are also a joke. None of these devices have ever shown any documented hp/torque improvements. As to the gauze air filters aka K&N, Airaid, etc, I suggest you look at trueflow.com for another possibility. For the record, I've tried none of these. I like the idea of supercharger best. Probably should free up the exhaust and also get one with an intercooler. Two Guys Garage (Spike TV) had an episode several months ago where they installed a supercharger on a Tahoe. Since it was 4WD, it was an E85 truck and therefore had the hi-capacity fuel pump (according to them) and therefore didn't require a new fuel pump. Don't recall the numbers but it provided an significant hp boost.

Personally I prefer hi-compression, big cubes, and low restriction exhaust for more hp.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ZX1100F1

Thanks for telling me what I should have said. but I said exactly what I meant!

I have yet to see any (so called) "bolt on mod" do much other than maybe kick up the noise level, although some associate noise with power.

Where do you get your information from? Do have some sort of a dyno and you have tested every single available bolt on for this vehicle and every vehicle. Your statements are rather vague and over generalized.

I work for a company that has a dyno.
We have tested several (bolt-on) items over the course of the years:
Recently on a 2005 Tahoe 5.3L we tested a device called the Tornado at the request of a local Television station that slips into the intake track, the device caused a 4hp loss along with an almost 1 mpg reduction in fuel economy even though the manufacturer claims an up to "28% increase in fuel economy and 13 more horsepower."

We also tested the K&N drop-in replacement filter element in a similar vehicle with a 5.3L, the K&N filter produced virtually no detectable difference in power over a stock high capacity AC/Delco element. We then tested the K&N FPIK on the same truck and found that it provided slightly better power in the upper rpm (4k+) range but slightly less in the lower range.
GM recommends against the use of oil coated filters as the MAP sensor can be damaged from oil mist coking on the sensor element

We have not tested the throttle body spacers because there is no need.

We actually got some pretty decent results from a set of under drive pulleys (Power Pulleys) on a 2004 5.3L of about +5hp across the rpm range but since the new 5.3L has gone to electric fans this mod would probably lose all of its effectiveness on the 2007 Tahoe, we did notice some side effects from the use of the pulleys, the A/C would go noticeably warmer at idle and the alternator would not hold the load up on its own if the headlights were on at idle.

We've tested numerous pre-fab cat back exhaust systems on various GM SUV's and trucks as well with most of them providing no measurable hp increase, the few that did were less than +3 hp in the upper rpm range but typically lost a few ponies in the lower rpm range.
GM's performance exhaust systems are manufactured by a very well known and respectable company and you'll notice that they make no claim to improve performance.
The trouble with freeing up the exhaust is that the cat(s) are the bottle-neck but also required by law and also to maintain your manufacturer’s warranty.

The days of installing a high performance ignition, set of 1.6 roller rockers or large bore 4-barrell on the weekend and enjoying the end result are gone I'm afraid with respect to modern day automobiles.

i know the old school way when bilding a 350 you can do most anything to them short of pulling apart the bottum end and still consider it a "bolt on" project so to speak.(i think the term is getting overused nowdays) with new comuter controled cars and trucks its getting harder and harrder to do things yourself. it takes me a few hours just to chang the plugs in my 99 blazer cuse you have to drop the inner fender to get to 1 or 2 of the plugs if i want to do it myself. i tend to lissen to ppl who have to be trained for years to work on the new cars when they say what does and dosent work. i dont know the hsitory ither of you have working on cars and trucks (zx1100f1 or nchevyhevn) the origan ? was what works to hop up his truck if you both have an opinion then great but dont judge by what you think is right or wrong. sorry for the long story.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nomad76lj
i dont know the hsitory ither of you have working on cars and trucks (zx1100f1 or nchevyhevn) the origan ? was what works to hop up his truck if you both have an opinion then great but dont judge by what you think is right or wrong.

Please tell me that you're "just joking", you are joking right???
Otherwise would you please explain your definition of the word "opinion"?

i said if you have an opinion then thats great but so do other ppl. from what i can tell you can back up what you say and thats great. my statment was geard more twords nchevyhevn about snap judjing you for stating your opinion. i dont know what bolt ons work for all cars and trucks. if you have had a chance to test them then so much the better for us right?

Ok, that makes perfect sense to me now.

I didn't mean to 'stir you guys up'.
Thanks for the replys. I still am not sure what direction to go, but am beginning to think this may get deeper than I first thought.

The cold hard reality is that; if you were to spend hundreds of dollars on a cat-back exhaust system, free flow intake and maybe a Hypertec Power Programmer and now you’re sitting at the light and another 2007 Tahoe pulls up next to you and you both go balls out, the truck with the least amount of weight in it or the lowest gear ratio is probably going to win the contest.
Now if you have a supercharger, then that’s all she wrote.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nomad76lj

i said if you have an opinion then thats great but so do other ppl. from what i can tell you can back up what you say and thats great. my statment was geard more twords nchevyhevn about snap judjing you for stating your opinion. i dont know what bolt ons work for all cars and trucks. if you have had a chance to test them then so much the better for us right?

I only said something because he was pretty much throwing stuff out without any info of where he got it from. If he would have said his company does dyno tests or something of that sort then all would have been well. Which all is well now though.

I see alot of times on the internet and in person people just throw stuff out of the air cause they heard one other person say it or something like that. Not vary many people actually research why something is. People say the sky is blue but you shouldn't just accept it you shoud ask why.

For the guy with the dyno runs does you company test any other GM trucks?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nomad76lj
People say the sky is blue but you shouldn't just accept it you shoud ask why.

For the guy with the dyno runs does you company test any other GM trucks?

I could have understood a snotty comeback from you had I posted something that was obvious bs or came off cocky..

Now trust me on this one; if someone tells you that "The sky is blue" go ahead and accept it, don't argue you'll just look like a damn idiot.

The division of the company I work for has tested all rear drive GM and a few other manufacturer’s products for various performance characteristics, although we don’t spend much time in the garage testing performance parts.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ZX1100F1

The cold hard reality is that; if you were to spend hundreds of dollars on a cat-back exhaust system, free flow intake and maybe a Hypertec Power Programmer and now you’re sitting at the light and another 2007 Tahoe pulls up next to you and you both go balls out, the truck with the least amount of weight in it or the lowest gear ratio is probably going to win the contest.
Now if you have a supercharger, then that’s all she wrote.

Since the topic of supercharger was brought up.... I have an '07 Tahoe LT2 4WD... Can I put a SC on my tahoe for more power when they become availible? If so.....what additional modifications must be made with the addition of the SC? What would be the effect on the 4WD? Would the SC make considerable (in cab) noise? Thanks for your help.

You can install a supercharger on the new 07 Tahoe's and you had better be able to hear some gear whine in the cab otherwise; what's the point?

The high quality kits available will come with every part needed to complete the install although the key here is to make sure that the install is performed by a mechanic or facility that has experience in the fine art of forced-induction.

Your power-train warranty is void at the first sign of boost and you must use the highest quality gasoline available to avoid launching a piston through your hood, which brings up another good point; avoid any system that uses water injection as a means to control detonation.
Use the extra power sparingly when locked into 4 wheel-drive or you could twist up some parts.
Whipple seams to be the one of the premier aftermarket supercharger manufacturers, I have owned their products and have been very pleased with the quality and performance.

Yea the really good kits will come with everything you need. The big thing on most from what I hear is getting enough fuel. I've seen some where the raise the voltage to the fuel pump, bigger fuel lines, or sometimes even a second fuel line. Depends upon your application. I havn't looked into it yet but it seems that a supercharger would be able to fit the newer 07 5.3s tahoes but I'm not sure.