Tow rig air filters...and other some mods

I have been doing tons of research trying to find the modifictions that are going to truly work on my truck. FYI I have an 01 K2500 Burb with an 8.1L. The conclusion is tires are going up one size to 265/75/16 Bridgestone Revo load range E to maintain shopping mall garage parking and decent milage. I am going to crank the torsion bars slightly to level it. I have a rock crawler already so no need to go big. A Westers Tuning PCM set up to run 87 octane fuel with torque management reduced and tighter shifts on the trans, for a true 26 HP gain. When I asked about exhaust changes on the dyno he said don't bother you will not gain anything unless you do headers and change out the entire system including the cats. Then it came time to learn about intake systems. I refuse to use a K&N due to many reasons of which the two largest are the oil on the MAF issue and letting way too much dirt through. Yet I want to be able to open up the intake tube a little for high RPM HP gains. I found that the UPD intake setup will allow me to run the stock filter, and it is easy to build a cold air ram intake for the factory air box. Simple reliable setup yet meant to tow most anything all the way up to 12,000 lbs.

So I wrote a short story yet all I really wanted to do was to share this info regarding these air filter findings done by truck owners who just wanted to be more informed, not read up on what the aftermarket manufactures claim. Air Filter Comparisions BTW If GM, Ford, Toyota, etc find an aftermarket air filter in the car they will note it in your files, possibly giving them a reason to void a warranty claim regarding driveability problems. At the least they say put it back to stock before they will work on it.

'03 Sequoia grocery getter / boat puller with K&N FIPK and TRD stainless cat-back. Very much increased throttle response. After all the money that Toyota (successfully) spent in quieting the thing, we've made it into an on-ramp screamer. Tundasolutions.com talks a lot about K&N degrading performance below 3 to 4K RPM and/or 75% throttle. They dyno'd mine but I can't find the darn printout.

I'm running a K&N in My ford and am thinking about taking it out. I've never really noticed a performance increase and with all the trips on the dirt road going to Lake Pillsbury I'm probably better off with the stock paper filter.

I ran a K&N 57i for a while while a cold air feed.

did diddly squat for my performance but did make my little Vdub sound like it held a bigger engine.

Then the filter broke (don't ask me how cos i have no idea!) so i took it out.

Derek, did they do a before and after dyno run?

I know on many cars the gain does not come from the actual air filter, but from changing the intake tube and or filter box. Even the dyno tuner said many people "feel" more power (especially from exhaust work) because the noise level goes up. One of the most important things is not to pull air from under the hood. Ram air is almost like turbo charging at higher speeds so why not build or buy something similar to get cold air into the engine.

Yep, they did a before and after. What I rememebr was the RPM curve wasn't plotted from like 600 rpm to redline - something more like 2 or 3 thousand up to redline, and over that range, there was a nice linear gain of 7%. At peak, that was like 14HP. Out of a 200 HP engine, 14 extra will do more than just make noise. At the time I was pretty sure mileage went up close to 1 mpg.

They dyno'd cuz it was the proto for the '03 Seq FIPK. Free for me, and I got a free dyno run. Wish I could find it, and also wish I'd have run it before and after the cat-back.

Try the tire size of 305-70/16. I put some on my 96 Z-71 that I owned at the time. They are about 1 inch taller and wider than the 265-75/16, and they make all the cosmetic difference in the world. I got a hand-held radar gun and tested the speedo. No change. I had the Goodyear Wrangler AT/S.

WakinVol, my truck has 245's on it now, so it would raise it over 2 inches. That would leave me with little to no clearance going into a garage. 305's would also rob power, which is what I am trying to get more of, as the 496 ci is gutless. My truck Suburban has the factory wheels on it that can only handle 285's max due to rim width, and even the 285's require cutting. Function before form.

I went down to Kragan's and let this 17 year old kid with a killer lowered and primered '93 Civic talk me into some new muffler bearings for my expedition. I put them on before I took them off. I did not hurt anything I think. Was that bad?

Rod, I know this kid - he sold me some hi performance blinker fluid!

Ummm, no Rod that could only be an improvement! Instead of washing it, did you primer your Expy like your new best buddy with the Civic?

That Hi Perf blinker fluid is SICK !

buy a diesel. thats my plan. you wont even know the boat is back there until you get pulled over by the popos.

Actually I am waiting for the sun to bake on the dust thus acting like a primer coat. I almost got the blinker fluid, but, I was waiting for it to go on sale. How did the blinkers work after the fluid install?

I was wondering...Is it worth it to get the 44 inch super swampers with the lowering kit? I figured some bad a$$ 13"'s with the supers and a lowering kit would be tight. Maybe even a ground effects package. What do you think?

what about new lower temp thermos or underdrive pulleys? You could always do a turbo....