Bump

 

Hiya,

New guy checking in. I've been lurking here for a few days after buying my first truck last week, a 2001 GMC Sierra, 4.3L.

MrLM7 mentioned at this thread's opening that, "These mods are for the 99+ trucks/SUVs with V8 engines." Which brings me to my first question: Are any of these mods not advisable for my V6?

While I'd be tickled with improved performance, my primary interest is squeezing as many miles out of a gallon of gas as possible. From my reading so far, I'm considering:
Airaid Cold Air Intake, model 200-112-1, and MAF Descreening
Trans Dapt Throttle Body Spacer, model TRD-2564

I scored an immaculately-maintained pickup, with only 39,000 miles, at a reasonable price. Right now, it is a fairly blank canvas that I suspect I'll be tempted to mod frequently. Between this new obsession and my motorcycle, the desire to upgrade will likely keep me from ever achieving financial independence. I'm already eyeing audio improvements.

Anyway, thanks for reading, as well as, your contributions to this very valuable resource. I'll be hangin' here for some time.

 

these are all good mods but sadly we can only perform some of them on our 6'ers. you can do the redneck ram air, the descreen, the throttle body spacer, the port and polish of the throttle body and some others, just search the forum and you'll find stuff for the v6's

 

I forgot about the port and polish TB. Has anybody done it on a 5.3 yet?

 

I want to see how much it would cost to get it done. I know it would have to make an improvement cause the surface around the throttle body is pretty rough on mine.

 

I was informed from my drag racing buddies that a ported and polished throttle body is a good idea on modified engines, but not so much on stock engines. Take my truck for example, throttle body spacer, descreened maf, 3.5" intake. My truck is getting as much air as it can handle right now and changing out the throttle body with a ported and polished job will increase throttle response but won't do much of anything with hp (like 3 to 5hp max.). If you have aftermarket heads, cam, injectors, or any combination of the three then its a good idea. If done right you can get upwards of 10hp out of it.

 

If it is worth 3-5 hp, that's not bad... All you're doing, by removing the rough, is smoothing out the flow anyway. You can't REALLY "port it out" because the throttle plate's diameter won't allow it to be a larger port. By smoothing the inner surface of the body, you're just getting rid of some turbulence and making the flow more consistent...

 

A professionally ported TB will be "milled out" along the aluminum closest to the throttle plate as there is a step-down just before it. The rest of the "horn" is polished smooth. They also grind down the bump stop so the TB will open further. The last step is they sharpen the throttle plate to a knife edge and grind down the bar that the throttle plate bolts to. All-in-all is has a dramatic effect on the airflow into the engine. Its more velocity then volume.

 

Dumb question here ....how would I find a shop to port the tb?

 

Speed shop and/or machine shop maybe? Seems like a machinist would be the best bet for this.