[mjd1001]

I just bough a 2002 Sonoma 4.3, 2wd, and am looking for more performance. The problem is this truck is used everyday for work and I can't afford anything that is going to affect reliablity or cause it to idle rough, etc. ( no nitrous)
I have about $1600-1700 total for parts and installation (I'm not the best at installing stuff myself so I'd want to have someone else do most of it). So can anyone suggest some things you might do for that ammount and what kind of performance gain I can see out of it?
I'm looking for power mods, not suspension or appearance mods. Thanks.

 

[Twin-10s]

electric fan
exhaust
intake
programmer
those are the ones in order that helped mine the most.
all are reliable no problems at all. i drive 80 miles round trip evey day to work and back and have never had any problems im at 90,000 miles now on my 98 4.3.

 

[S10V6X]

eFan, chip, intake, exhaust, in that order, and the exhaust will be your most expensive project with the most price variance, so get a good chip (my Jetchip S2 kinda sucks, need to get the hypertech), get a good intake, and put the eFan on right... then spend what you have left on an excellent exhaust, should have about $1000 left over, and that should get you headers/highflow cat/muffler/ whatever you want... do some price checking though, I hear the 4.3's are tough to get headers on, and some people will mark up the price...

 

[crh428]

As far as headers go, edelbrock makes some, not sure if they're out for 02s yet, but in time they will be. They have all the hookups for smog crap so you won't mess that stuff up. Just make sure you get them painted witha GOOD High temp paint or they will rust out with a quickness. Check out www.jegs.com or www.summitracing.com they both want like 265 I think

For the efan make sure you get one that pulls as many CFMS as possible, or one thats made specifically for yer truck, or you may have overheating problems (or just run hot, which will hurt performance) You might also want to get a thermostat, 160 or 180 Deg, there is some debate as to which is better, buy them both and see which is better (they're less than 5 bucks each)

If you know somebody who's real good they could make an intake with parts from lowes or home depot, and a K&N cone filter, or you could just buy a kit, but stay away from APC cause they are shiit.

And a chip will do you no good, you have whats called an EEPROM, basically that means you can't take the chip out, you have to reprogram it. Check out www.hypertech.com It's only basic reprogramming, but it'll do what you need and it's real easy. (It'll raise your speed limiter, beter shifts, reprogram for all the new parts, etc.)

Anyways, thats all for now, except for one thing. Power mods are nothing without suspension mods. You might want to lower and do some other stuff to help you out with getting that extra power from your flywheel to the road. It'd suck to roll your truck cuase you vcan't take a corner in it.

 

[Twin-10s]

for the e-fan p/n flx-60 at www.summitracing.com will work on a 02 and probably the best price to.it is made for our trucks.

 

[B-Town Jimmy]

How about under drive pulley (Jet) about $90 & MSD 6A about -$150. iNSTALLED ON 1995 GMC JIMMY 4.3 VORTEC 4L60E 156k , 17 - 20 MPG ON iNTERSTATE, 4/5 DROP

 

[crh428]

The under drive pulley isn't really worth the money unless you already have a lot of $ in yer motor. Only affects the top end. and I wouldn't worry about an ignition till ya got it all breathin right and cooling properly.

 

[Wicked X]

You should not have any probs with the bolt on mods. I think i
have them all. But im still looking for more. Drive 100mi a day for work.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

hey wicked x......how much power are you making with all those bolt-ons....?

 

[Wicked X]

Don't really know, But i run hi 14s with them.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

hmmmmm......thats wierd, a friend of mine has a 97 with a 4.3L and he was running bottom 13's with pretty much exactly what you have.....+ a few other things that arent OBD2, i love having no sniffer tests.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

im thinking of a home-made ram-air setup that uses a C4 corvette airbox.......call me frankenstein

 

[Wicked X]

GMC01, I never heard of any S-10 running in the 13s with just
bolt ons. No s/c or nos. He would have to be making over
300hp on motor, and as far as i know it can't be done without
internal work. No flames intended. I have been working on these trucks since 1988 so i know a little bit about them.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

high 14's......????????????????? and how much $$$ did you put into it to lose a whole second off your ET??

 

[SS4Real]

hey GMC01sonoma whats your custom ram-air setup, mine is just a tube from my valance going through my fender to my cone filter.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

i cut out the air-tube from my air-box, bondoed the hole, cut a 3" hole in the right side, and ran a 3" pipe down under the truck with an air-scoop.....more like forced-air

 

[GodSpeed]

GMC01sonoma, Got any pics?

i cut out the air-tube from my air-box, bondoed the hole, cut a 3" hole in the right side, and ran a 3" pipe down under the truck with an air-scoop.....more like forced-air

 

[LOWRDS10]

Hey wicked x what a cold airpack

 

[destrier2]

Wouldn't nitrous be the most reliable bolton possible? there is no change to anything if the system isn't on. hell i could wrong. I mean you could break stuff if you a real big shot.

 

[GMC01sonoma]

Re: GMC01sonoma, Got any pics?

i can get you some pics very soon, the system is pretty much set up the same way as the March 5.0L mustang ram-air system. i noticed a nice difference in the power, if you know a good exhaust shop the will probably charge you a small fee of $20 to bend up a 3" intake pipe for the air-box :werd: