Building a 99 Chevy Silverado 1500 automatic
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Free flowing exhaust (not magna flow), and a custom tune. Black bare performance for exple.
That is the best you will get for the money you want to spend.
Freeflowing exhaust, a BlackBear tune is going to run you a grand.
There are no magic bolt ons. You would need to get into a cam, headwork etc and it just isn't worth it. A 5.3 swap is the next step.
You can do the throttle blade mod. This gives instant throttle response. Here is a video. Its a 4.3 V6, how far do you want to take this engine. Yea you can do a rebuild, change pistons, put a can in it but why. If your going to put that much money in the truck, just do a 383 stroker swap. If you DIY the exhaust, you can do it without spending a lot of money. I have 2 old school glass packs ( about $40 each) then I made my second tail pipe out of pipe I got from the junk yard, I gutted my cats, (NO thats not legal) and I have a set of Summit shorty headers on my 97 5.7L. Did the throttle blade mod, I have electric fans, High flow air filter ( you only need to replace the air filter) In the video, it says tighten them as tight as you can get them, but what it doesnt say is be careful not to brake them. Everybody says do a LS swap, and thats OK, but you will need the ECM, the wiring, and the trans from a donor truck. The 4.3L will run decent with an exhaust swap and a custom tune, high flow air filter. By doing the tune and exhaust, you should gain about 35 or maybe 40 HP. If you want more power than that, you should look into an engine swap.
If i was to engine swap . What all would I need to buy? Engine of course but trans and what else?
It depends on what you go with. The reason so many people say do an LS engine swap (5.3L. 6.0L or 6/2L) is that there are so many trucks that are junked that you can use as donors. There are a ton of ways that you can go with a swap. It really comes down to how much do you want to spend, and how much power do you want to make. Engines can cost as little as a few hundred dollars for a donor truck to well over $10,000 dollars. You have to figure out what you want to do, and how much you want to spend, then if you do a donor truck, what you can find. Its not like the old days, where you just pulled an engine out of a wrecked Vette and put it in a truck. Do you want fuel injection, or a carb, how much HP do you want, and can afford to make. I had a 1993 Chevy WT with a 4.3L and a 4l60e trans. I drove it for 10 years. It was a grate truck. I gutted the cat, and put a high flow muffler on it. A co worker begged me to buy the truck. When the trans went out in 2009, I let him have it for a only $500. He put in a trans, and once it was running, He ask what I had done to the truck. He said man when you get to about 80 MPH, its like it catches another gear. Man that truck runs for a V 6. Well these trucks have a lock up torque converter, and about 80 is where the converter locks up to 1 to 1. Unless you want the truck to be FAST then there is nothing wrong with a 4.3L. Yes my 5.7L has a good bit more power. I have yet to come across a street truck 5.3L or a diesel that I can not out run. I have done a lot of little things to my trucks performance, but nothing inside of the engine. I love my old 97 Silverado. I am not out running a newer Camaro, Mustang, Challenger, its a truck. Your bigest bang for the buck is a free flowing exhaust system, and a custom tune. Yes replace the air filter, and get a set of shorty headers. But as mentioned before that will be around $1000 give or take. And like I said, you can DIY the exhaust system and save some money. Also a stainless exhaust system will cost more than a regular steel exhaust system will.
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Here is an example of what I am talking about in an engine swap. This engine will fit under the hod, but you would need to spend IDK another $8000 to $10,000 building the truck , trans, rear end, and suspension to support this engine.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mll-ps6320ctf1
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mll-ps6320ctf1
Just to set the record straight,(I saw I had a few typos in my post yesterday at 11:07) My truck is a 15 second 1/4 mile dailey driver street truck. I have never lost a race to a dailey driver street truck, 5.3l or a dailey driver street truck diesel. My truck at 15 seconds 1/4 mile truck, so it is not fast, it just runs good for what it is. The quick throttle responce it has, is what puts me infront of most who pull up next to me at the green light. It jumps to attention when you hit the gas. The 5.7l has always had more low end torque than the 5.3l. Like I said, there are a lot of cars and trucks out there that are faster than my truck. To take my truck to another level, we are talking about cam and head work, and if you are.going that far, may as well do a rebuild and replace the pistons with some that will bump up the compression, and so on and so on. It all depends on what you want, and how much you want to spend, or have to spend.
