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Chevrolet Silverado: How to Make Your Truck Faster

Sit down, buckle up, and get ready for takeoff. This brief guide covers some of the best performance upgrades and modifications for Silverado owners who have a need for speed.

By Joshua Leimkuehler - June 12, 2015

This article applies to the Chevrolet Silverado GMT800, GMT900, and K2XX (1999-Present).

The Chevy Silverado is known far and wide for its workhorse mentality, as well as its go anywhere, do anything attitude. Unfortunately, like most pickup trucks, the Silverado isn't exactly built for speed, but that doesn't mean you have to live life in the slow lane. Whether you want to transform your Silverado into a drag strip legend or simply want to increase your truck's acceleration and top-end speed, this brief guide will give you a rundown of some of the best performance upgrades as well as modifications for your Chevy Silverado. Some of these projects can be tackled in an afternoon with a few simple tools and some basic mechanical knowledge, while others may require more specialized equipment as well as skills.

Figure 1. Corvette-beating power awaits!

Aftermarket Cold Air Intake

DIY Cost – $100-$300

Professional Cost – $250-$550 (parts and labor)

Skill Level – Easy; requires replacing stock air intake with aftermarket cold air intake system.

Aftermarket cold air intake systems help your engine get the maximum, most efficient air intake possible. The very best cold air intakes promise monster gains of up to 50 horsepower. Some cold air intakes also add lots of deep rumble under medium to heavy throttle, so your Silverado will sound meaner while you're peeling off the drag strip or overtaking someone on the highway. For more noticeable torque and horsepower gains, couple your aftermarket cold air intake system with an upgraded mass air sensor. Mass air sensors like the JET Performance Power-Flow increase airflow by as much as 50% for instant gains in low-end torque and horsepower. Best of all, mass air sensors can be installed in less than 15 minutes with a few simple hand tools. Recommended for its horsepower gain.

Performance Headers

DIY Cost – $200-$800+ (High-end performance headers can cost thousands of dollars)

Professional Cost – $350-$1,000+ (parts and labor)

Skill Level – Hard; swapping out headers is labor-intensive, and requires deep mechanical understanding.

Installing performance headers can bring noticeable power gains to your Chevy Silverado. Larger-capacity pipes facilitate more exhaust away from the engine for significant torque and horsepower increases. Performance headers also regulate engine temperature to prevent overheating at high speeds. For dyno-proven power gains on late-model Silverado models, long tube headers are the way to go. Recommended for its capability to prevent overheating.

Performance Chips and Programmers

DIY Cost – $200-$1,000

Professional Cost – $600-$1,700+ (parts and labor)

Skill Level – Moderate/Hard; some performance chips are designed for "plug-n-play," while others require manual programming and tuning.

Performance chips and power programmers unleash the full potential that's waiting underneath the hood. Chips and programmers, also called tuner modules, provide massive boosts in horsepower and torque by optimizing your truck's ECU computer settings, which control almost everything related to engine performance. Dash programmers like the DiabloSport Trinity Programmer (image above) allow you to monitor and adjust engine performance on-the-fly as you drive. Recommended to unleash your Silverado's potential.

Pro Tip

You can test out the immediate impact of any performance upgrades and/or modifications by taking your Silverado to a dynamometer testing facility. A dynamometer, or dyno for short, is a device that measures force, torque, and horsepower in real time. Dyno tuning garages can also recommend mods and upgrades to improve performance, boost horsepower, and make your engine run more efficiently.

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