zippy

If it comes with rectangle ports you won't be able to run it on a 5.3L since there aren't any rectangle port heads that I'm aware of that will fit a 5.3L. GM and Mast make small bore rectangle port heads, but made for 3.89 bore not the 3.78 bore of the 5.3L. Here is a link to the intake I'm assuming you're looking at. I don't understand why you call it a car intake though. It is the same style as a truck intake from the picture. What makes you pic that intake?

The best way to decide if you want sport or touring you just need to decide if you want to do headers. If you plan on long tubes buy the touring system. Assuming you are going to be running headers on a 408 you will for sure want touring by far and away. The sport is very loud with long tubes with a stock motor let alone with a 408. The touring is just right with long tubes and will be even better with the 408.

I would look into doing some tuning on it for sure. A cam swap on that will really show some good gains if tuned in properly and considerably more if you have the heads ported. As it looks like you're just getting started though I'd recomend starting off with a good shift kit and servo's along with a 9.5" single disc Vigilante converter. That will get you a really good gain in quarter mile times and even more the desirable ability to light the tires up. From there buy HP Tuners and have someone tune it for you. Those three mods alone will net a huge gain over stock. The 4.3L also really responds well to headers including shorties. I'd also shop around for a set of headers from ebay or something like that. Find out what gear you have and possibly look into a 4.10 gear. From there if you aren 't up for a V8 yet, look into a cam and head package or supercharger. As for the nitrous idea this is another thing that works very well on the 4.3L. They will take a 150 shot no problem at all with a properly setup nitrous kit

Before I'd throw a cam idea in the mix can you tell me what your goal is with the truck and what all you do with it? Also what mods do you plan for it in the future?

It would be interesting to see the difference. For all around sound the Corsa Touring is certainly my favorite when used with cats and long tubes. Unfortunatly Corsa is one of the only muffler companies that actually put's technology into their muffler. Magnaflow is one of many that use the perforated pipe and stainless packing which is a design copied from the 60's glasspack muffler. Seriously look at them as well as Borla, Edelbrock RPM, Dynomax Ultraflow, etc. There is no technology built into that muffler. It's just a simple system that does happen reduce noise although the resonance from them is horrible because what they do is the exact opposite of the Corsa muffler. The Corsa gets rid of the deep low frequency sound wave's which is where the interior drone comes from. The mufflers with perforated pipe and stainless packing simply by reducing un-even wave's and the frequency that they reduce is the high range frequency. This makes for a cool deep sound and yet a cool deep sound that rumbles it's way into every interior. If it were up to me Corsa would make it in a 4". The Duramax system is a 4" system, but is very loud due to the chambers used in the muffler. Not as much needs to be changed in sound frequency since the turbo on the Duramax gets rid of most of that and therefore the muffler design makes it loud as a result. Any sound clips of your new setup?

That cam is a bit small for a build with that much work done to it. I'd go a bit more on duration, alot more on lift, and try to get the LSA to the 112 range.

I'm going to list many different brands as I go, but NGK will be the main brand. This will likely bring many others to this site for information. Over the next couple of months I'm going to try to start posting up some tech info like this. I'm going to post the part numbers, brands, heat range, gaps, and common uses or recomended uses for a specific spark plug. Spark plug choice is alot more important than many may think and hopefully this list will be of some help to those who have a hard time finding part numbers or for those trying to figure out what is best for their setup.

I can agree with you. Flowmasters for most applications sound great, but they do so because they get that deep rumble. The deep rumble is what companies like Corsa eliminate since this is the horrible drone that you get inside your cab, your house, and every other thing near your truck. Go with the Magnaflow's along with the resonators and you'll be fine. Even Magnaflow has no technology in their mufflers which tends to create a drone issue, but not nearly as bad as Flowmasters. You won't likely see any loss or gain in performance other than the extra weight from so many mufflers. If you do some digging you'll find some done with multiple mufflers. What I'd look into also is the dual in/dual out 3" muffler into two short 3" mufflers and 2 short 3" resonators all coming out of the passenger rear with 3" tips. Here are some pic's and a post on it from PT.net. Mr. Sandog's pic is gone (formerly NakedAV), but you can see his if you google NakedAV Magnaflow and go to images. My link

He's in Canada, once the snow is gone he'll be out.

You've been over this many times. It's going to come down to preferrence. The converter for a Maggie with a 408 will be as tight or tighter than one for a turbo setup. Remember when you can make 10psi in less than a second you make huge torque and therefore need a loose converter. A stock 80E converter will flash to 3600 or so behind a maggie with a 408/427 making 12psi peak. The turbo needs a bit of stall to help in getting the turbo spooled. Go with a smaller turbo and you end up losing on the big end. The Maggie is huge cost, 7500 for the blower, 1500 for pullies, 1000 for spacer and 102mm throttle body inlet, 500 or so for 102mm throttle body, x-link for 200, etc, etc. As for the jackshaft, you order it with the jackshaft and cog drive rear right from Magnuson. It'll come ready to go custom ordered. This all btw is a one weekend bolt on and go. The turbo will be a month or more being built so be prepared. It will also end up costing about 7000 for the turbo system done even with help. They are not as cheap as they seem. It's the little stuff with them that adds up. The turbo will be a bit cheaper and a bit quicker at the track if you set it up as so. Both will require a bit fuel system, no savings there. For a problem free system it's going to be Magnacharger, for power and price it will be turbo.

Thank's, I will be adding in descriptions for sure. I will also be adding in part numbers for Iridium and other plugs.

I'm going to slowly make a list of spark plugs on here that might be of some use to tuners. I'll be posting a description of them as I go. Spark plugs heat range 5: TR5 TR55 Spark Plugs heat range 6: TR6: 4177 (Mostly used in GM's. Comes pre-gapped around .038 and most often used in low boost supercharger, low boost turbo, small nitrous shot, and strong n/a tuning on 91 octane and less) BKR6E-11: 2756 LZTR6AIX-13: 2315 (Chrysler spark plug. Commonly used in Jeep 3.8L supercharged) Spark Plugs heat range 7: BP7EFS: 3526 (Mostly used in GM's. Comes pre-gapped around .028 and is most often used in higher boost and nitrous applications. For those running high compression and trying to get by on 91 octane this plug may be a good option. This plug is very similar to the TR6 except heat range and base gap.) BR7EF: 3346 (Mostly used in GM's. Comes pre-gapped around .028 and is most often used in higher boost and nitrous applications. For those running high compression and trying to get by on 91 octane this plug may be a good option. The key to this plug is the non-projected tip.) 41-104: 12571165 (This is the spark plug that comes in the LSA and LS9's. If you want to use an iridium spark plug and run a supercharger this is the spark plug to use). Many more to come.

I'm really curious about the 3 intakes that have come apart. Other than a nitrous backfire I don't believe I've ever seen a Gen III or Gen IV stock intake seperate this includes running them to over 20psi.

Hot damn does that look good.

I would have guessed that I would see an internet article as the answer and this is the problem. There are too many answers on this site posted based on info read online which although can be full of good info, isn't full of experience and knowledge from engineering. To go back to vehicle at hand where the comment was directed that a colder thermostat would increase wear from being too cold. The 160 stat in an SSS with the clutch fan will commonly never see below 172 degrees and not over 200 with the majority of the temps being 175-185. The clutch fan increases engagement based on air temp going over the cltuch unit itself and by design will keep temps to no higher than 200 and not be engaged hardly at all at the 170's range the thermostat runs at. The electric fans in stock form don't come on until 227 for the first fan and 237 for the second fan. This allows the temps to be controlled just based on the 34" radiators ability to cool the motor. As for the stats themselves, the 160 stats are pretty much all made by motorad and the 160 stat for the LSx run 172 roughly fully cooled. Once in a while you'll see one that is ambitious that gets to 167 degrees, but in general a 160 stat for an LSx are 172 stats. With that being the case you'll usually see LSx engines run between 172-200 degrees. A coolant temperature of 172 degrees is not too cold to cause excessive wear as long as oil temperatures come up to temp. Oil temps cause more wear issue's that coolant temps. Boats are a great example of this. Many boats run 140-180 degrees as a result of running lake water for cooling the engines. Excessive wear is going to be more based on whether or not the oil comes up to temperature vs. engine coolant temperature.

Lets go with colder engines first. You're saying that an engine at 172 degrees will show a noticable amount more wear than an engine at 192 degrees?

I would use the Trick Flow cam TFS-30602001 for this. I've tuned a couple of LQ9's with this cam. The performance gain is very good and with good tuning it will pass emissions no issue at all. The spec's are 216/220 on a 114 and lift is only .560 which allows you to use LS6 springs. This cam works well also since the stock converter is enough (higher stall of course would be better though). The lift only being .560 gives you long life on the springs and valve seat life.

If you order it the new updated number should come in as 12615136.

I would do a shift kit and converter to start with then buy HP Tuners. Tuning is one of the most important things you can do for the truck. I assume you don't know how to tune, but if you know how to e-mail and use your laptop in general you are set. Purchasing HP Tuners allows you to e-mail your logs and tunes back and forth the tuner of your choice and short of a dyno tune that is the best way to have your truck tuned (and some dyno tuners aren't worth a crap either). After shift kit, converter, HP Tuners, look into doing headers, TR6 spark plugs, cat back exhaust, cold air intake, and thermostat.

More detail please. You must have all of this info from an engineering standpoint.

Thank you dan. Good catch on wrong section. If you are looking for a custom system that isn't just bolt on and go then I'd recomend a Magnaflow with two small round resonators also. The Magnaflow sounds great but does have a touch of the drone to go with it. If you want a bolt on system I'd recomend a Corsa Touring. They are pricey but they are made of the best quality stainless by far and away of any of the exhaust companies and have the least in cab drone of any. The Magnaflow, Flowmaster, Billy Boat, and Gibson are also all very nice and all make about the same power and all have just a small amount of drone with the Flowmaster being the worst for drone.

Two things to mention there. The first is that it sounds as if the remote start may have blown the "ign 0" fuse which will put the trans into limp mode causing it to take off in third gear and never upshift to fourth. This of course will create a very lazy take off from a standing start as well as give you the feeling like it isn't shifting. Many remote start's are wired in using this fuse for a power source and this is a result of that. Something else that will create the same simptoms for those interested is plugged cats. Plugged catalytic converters will create a lack of power condition causing a sluggish acceleration as well as very poor shift feel, including at times no upshift to 4th, no tcc, or very delayed shifts.

Going up one level per breakage. At this point you really should look into more on the cause. You aren't making enough power to break a 60E let alone a built 65E. Not sure what I can do for you, but if there is any way I can help feel free to call.

The detail that could be gone into on this is quite extensive. Lets try to relate this to your situation. Are you considering getting an intake and if you are give us details on your setup so we can go over what your gains on each would be. Your budget would also need to be an issue in deciding which to pick. I am planning to do a dyno test between the standard truck intake and an 08' cathedral port truck intake. If I can get a good enough deal on a Fast truck intake I'll also do a write up on that.

If you're worried about not enough heat you could by-pass the auxillary cooler so that the fluid only goes through the radiator which will in turn heat up the trans fluid using the engine coolant. As long as the engine comes up to the point of opening the thermostat it will heat up the trans temps. This is one area where the electric fans really come into play. Running a clutch fan always draws air in the radiator and past the auxillary trans cooler where as the e-fans will only do so when everything comes up to temp. Not only does the engine heat up faster when you use an e-fan, the trans does also.