I have a 2002 gmc 2500 hd with a 6.0 w/ gibson headers and exhaust and I pull a 26 ft. toyhauler with 3 bikes w/ cargo...I am looking for more power from this powerplant... I have a little trouble with climbing hills. the headers really helped but I need to squeeze out more power.......Any ideas are greatly appreciated!!

thanx,
JLew[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

A general rule of thumb is it takes four times the power to double the speed. The only ways to make more power is to efficiently burn the same amount of fuel in less time or more fuel in the same time. Having said this I would offer this bit of advice. Dont waste your time and money trying to squeeze the last bit of power out of the rig you have. Do the math on how much time you will save if you manage to go up a hill 10 MPH faster and learn to relax a little. Your truck will last a lot longer and so will you.

Easiest and cheapest way I have found to get more power is to get a bigger, stronger tow vehicle. Believe me, I have made about every mistake that can be made in trying to get the most out of a truck and in the long run it's cheaper to trade up.

 

What gears are in it ? Highway gears will really slow down one of these little motors ina hurry, a gear change, a chip, and a cold air box will be much less than the soaking you will take trading up. With the prices of used vehicles going down so fast you won't see me trading any time soon, you may be better off upgrading you're current truck, you will have to figure all that out.

 

I would definately say check out a gear swap if you can do it. You already have a HD so you're good to go there. You're probably also good to go on not being overweight, but I don't know what your GCWR is. You're going to lose fuel mileage with the gear swap. One way to make up for the swap would be to add an secondary OD unit like a GearVendors. You won't stress your motor out by making it put out more power. I think the Gear Vendors go for a few grand so that might hurt a bit. Next truck opt for the diesel if you can swing it, or the big block gasser if you can't.

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Jlew,
If your running 3.73 gears I would recommend swapping out to 4.10's. Also a lot of guys in the GM forums have seen pretty good results with Westers PCM programming http://westers_garage.eidnet.org/Index2.htm

 

According to the owners manual, it has 4:10 gears. I can't afford to upgrade right now. I will have to just slow down a little? What do you guys think about those turbonator devices that go into the intake and they are suppose to create a "cyclone " effect to the air/fuel mixture they claim to increase horsepower & fuel mileage, Do these things really work?? or are they all hype[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] Any info is greatly appreciated.

JLew[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

Those tornado/cyclone deals are snake oil. Don't waste your money. If you already have 4:10's then I would look into the Westers PCM programming. Some of the guys on the following forum have had pretty good luck with it. Do a search on Westers.

http://www.pacific-audio.com/perform...iscussion.html

 

With 4:10 gears you must be pulling some nasty hills, or you got a bigger right foot tan most of us, try a chi and an airbox. The turbinator is not what you want, stick to things that are proven to work, you'll be happier in the end

 

The hills that I climb if anyone is familar with is on the way to pismo. Some of the hills are pretty steep and on the way back there is the San Luis grade which is a 7 degree climb for 1-2 miles to a elevation of 1500 ft!!(1522 to be exact!) other than that It doesn't have no problem pulling on the flats.

thanx,
JLew[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

If screamin is going to say Pismo, he's going to pull some good hills.

Off the top of my head let's see:

First climb heading west from Kettleman City (on Hwy 41) after I-5 you have what I call a 2 stage climb with a flat spot at the WM Kettleman City Chemical Dump. You don't get much of a run at it. There's bascially a light at the base of it for the interchange. And this thing is nasty as it's like an asphalt washboard. Big rigs pull this at about 25-30 MPH. 7% wouldn't surprise me. After this climb you go back down and meet up with Highway 33 @ Reef City. Reef City (it's actually just a big Chevron Gas station) lays in a valley, maybe 2 miles wide. You then climb back up out of it (blew a tranny on that section back in Feb.), then decend into a another valley like the previous one. Climb back out of that valley and come back into another weird shape valley to meet up with Hwy 46 coming in from Bakersfield. The next several miles (actually most of it until you hit Paso Robles is nothing but rolling hills at best.)

You get a breather rolling through the Paso Robles wine country. US 101 south from Paso is decent for a few miles until you get to Cuesta Grade. It's not a bad climb, from this side. But it's a 6% grade downhill. Tractor/Trailers are limited to 35MPH down hill. It's steep. That's about 20 minutes north of Pismo. But, you have to pull it coming back up. It's at least a mile or 2 long. It's nothing to see HD trucks with big block gas motors pulling toy boxes or TTs and motor homes at 20-30MPH up the north bound side. Turbo Diesels pull it pretty good. And you take all those climbs going back as well.

Next time I head out I'm going to make sure I run the GPS with the track running and see if I can post a 3D line graph.

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