454 Vortec HELP!!!
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454 Vortec HELP!!!
Hey everyone, this is my first post. I have been a visitor of the forum many times, but thought I would post some info on my pickup and get some advice. First off I am from SE Idaho. We have rolling interstates and some good mountain passes. This is my first BBC truck. I have some experience with a 2003 GMC 6.0L and hated it. Here is what I have...
2000 Chevy Crew Cab Shortbox 454 Vortec, Classic Body style. Running 285/75R16 Toyo AT 10ply tires. The truck has a 3 inch body lift. It has an after market exhaust. (Not sure which one since I bought the truck a month ago with it on there. It looks to only be a 2" maybe 2.5"). The rest of the truck is all stock. 3.73 Rear end
I bought this truck to mainly pull with. I know the MPG on a 454 will not be the best, so I am not too concerned with that. I was told and from reading every where online that this truck should get 10mpg while pulling unless it's a big trailer.
I have pulled once with it. I was pulling a 2 place sled trailer open deck with a Polaris Ranger on it. The ranger is about 1500#. The trailer probably another 1500#. So I had a total of about 3000#. Driving to my destination I figured the load was light enough I tried pulling in OD. The truck did not really like that. I would kick in and out. There was at one point where it held OD at 70 for a good distance of flat ground. In OD the RPM was about 2200 going 68-70 Then when it would come out of OD into 3rd it would go to about 2600 RPM. When I came to a long steep pass, the truck wanted to go into 2nd and pull about 3300-3500 RPM up hill at 60mph. I feel like that is to much for this big motor. The trip there I got 8.3MPG (hand calculated) Coming home I just left it in 3rd. Driving 65-68 the truck ran on cruise control the entire time and stayed at 2500RPM. Then I got to I-15 I went to 72mph and it held cruise at 2800-2900 rpm. I tried to got to 75 and put it in OD but it popped right back into 3rd. So I just left it in 3rd. The trip home I got 7.2MPG.
I feel like this truck should have gotten a little better mpg. Do the RPM ranges sound about right? It is a 4L80E tranny. I felt like if it stayed around 2500rpm it would pull like a train. I want to put a CAI on it and a tune from like wait4me or black bear or something like that. What kind of exhaust would work best? 3 inch with a flowmaster? Is there anything else I can do? I was thinking Supercharger? I can get my hands on one pretty inexpensive I think. My motor has 184K miles on it. What about tranny? What can I do that is not to intense to help with it? I was going to add a high flow pan on it to keep it cool.
Any advice would be great! Thanks!
2000 Chevy Crew Cab Shortbox 454 Vortec, Classic Body style. Running 285/75R16 Toyo AT 10ply tires. The truck has a 3 inch body lift. It has an after market exhaust. (Not sure which one since I bought the truck a month ago with it on there. It looks to only be a 2" maybe 2.5"). The rest of the truck is all stock. 3.73 Rear end
I bought this truck to mainly pull with. I know the MPG on a 454 will not be the best, so I am not too concerned with that. I was told and from reading every where online that this truck should get 10mpg while pulling unless it's a big trailer.
I have pulled once with it. I was pulling a 2 place sled trailer open deck with a Polaris Ranger on it. The ranger is about 1500#. The trailer probably another 1500#. So I had a total of about 3000#. Driving to my destination I figured the load was light enough I tried pulling in OD. The truck did not really like that. I would kick in and out. There was at one point where it held OD at 70 for a good distance of flat ground. In OD the RPM was about 2200 going 68-70 Then when it would come out of OD into 3rd it would go to about 2600 RPM. When I came to a long steep pass, the truck wanted to go into 2nd and pull about 3300-3500 RPM up hill at 60mph. I feel like that is to much for this big motor. The trip there I got 8.3MPG (hand calculated) Coming home I just left it in 3rd. Driving 65-68 the truck ran on cruise control the entire time and stayed at 2500RPM. Then I got to I-15 I went to 72mph and it held cruise at 2800-2900 rpm. I tried to got to 75 and put it in OD but it popped right back into 3rd. So I just left it in 3rd. The trip home I got 7.2MPG.
I feel like this truck should have gotten a little better mpg. Do the RPM ranges sound about right? It is a 4L80E tranny. I felt like if it stayed around 2500rpm it would pull like a train. I want to put a CAI on it and a tune from like wait4me or black bear or something like that. What kind of exhaust would work best? 3 inch with a flowmaster? Is there anything else I can do? I was thinking Supercharger? I can get my hands on one pretty inexpensive I think. My motor has 184K miles on it. What about tranny? What can I do that is not to intense to help with it? I was going to add a high flow pan on it to keep it cool.
Any advice would be great! Thanks!
