4.3 upgrades?

[chevyfan87]

okay...so i was planning a trip to florida, which got cancelled and now i have all this extra money to spend on my baby. i have a few idea but as nobody around here has quite the um...setup i have, i figured id check with you guys

i have a 2000 gmc sierra 1500 with a 4.3 vortec with a home made high flow intake (universal kit, modified to fit) a summit catback exhaust and thats about it, i bent a valve about 10k ago so i know the internals are sound because the top end has been completely redone.

now what should i do on a budget? i was thinking about getting a hypertech max energy programmer...but everybody says to actually get a custom tune, would the tune benefit me at all? does the programmer make a big difference on the 4.3? how much would a custom tune cost?

help me out guys

tired of hooking the chains up in 4 hi and holding it to the floor, just to have a 4.8 idle in 2wd and pull me backwards lol

[chevyfan87]

nobody has any opinion? has anybody had their pcm tuned professionally? im just looking for some help here...or if there is a better way to put money into my truck...

[Palf70Step]

A good motor, but the 4.3 is way behind the tech curve compared to the 4.8/5.3.

I honestly have not seen alot of reasonable/low budget ideas for the 4.3s. I like mine in my 2wd daily driver, but I don'tr think I would ever have ione in a 4x4.

You can probably get the computer retuned some, but other than the exhaust, not much in the lower budget range that I know of.

Far as costs go, I have no idea what one would cost now days. I had a friend do my 92, back in 93....so I got off easy.

[NONHOG]

This is spendy ? http://www.wynjammer.com/

No listing for 08 I e-mailed the guy and he said send me a picture of your engine compartment never heard back .

[bwood]

Here are some thoughts, you may have to do some research but,

Headers
Underdrive pulley kit
Custom Tune (the FSC guys seem to talk about Justin @ Blackbear a lot)
Gear swap (especially if you have gone to taller tires and you will have to both ends)
Go electric with the cooling fan

When you compare your Gen I based 200hp V6 to the Gen III 275ish hp of the 4.8, its not really apples to apples.

[chevyfan87]

well, i checked the rpo, and it already has 3.73's and i kinda like that. i dont want to do headers because i know im not going to like the sound this little terd makes with less restriction...already pops when i rev it up, underdrives is a possibility and im going to have jesse at wait4me do a tune...what would the e-fan do for me?

[bwood]

Electric fan would take some of parasitic load off of the serpentine system. When the fan clutch engages and locks the fan in, it takes some horsepower to turn it, so going electric could help to get that back. I don't know for sure, but I heard it is good for 5-8 hp depending on the engine.

[chevyfan87]

exactly what kind of work am i looking at for an install? i know i could just run a switch but is there a proper way to do an e-fan swap?

[chevyfan87]

is there any place cheaper than summit or jegs for underdrives and an e-fan? any vendors on this site??

[bwood]

The proper way to install the fans would be to activate them off a therostat so that they come on at the proper temp. Check over on the FSC forums, I think that they are using a dual fan setup out of a Ford Tarus (don't know what years). You would run a direct 12V to a relay and trigger the relay with the thermostat. Heres one more tidbit that I'm not 100% on, I think that the ECM on some of the NBS truck (maybe the NNBS truck) have an output to trigger a relay for the fans using data from the ECM, this way you would not have to install a thermostat. Do some research on this. Check you local autoparts stores and see what they stock. When I worked at Oreilly Auto Parts, we kept about 15 different fans, relays and thermostats.

[bwood]

Also, check eBay. I am going to bet that Summit/Jegs will be your best bet and will have good cust support.