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87BrnRsd

87BrnRsd

1/2 ton status
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Apr 21, 2003
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Boone, North Carolina
I have an 87 K5 with 350/700R4/NP208. It also has the stock tbi. I took the engine out to have it re-built 2 weeks ago, and am picking the engine back up on wednesday. I was thinking, since the engine is already out of the truck, it would be easy to do some minor modifications for power. I dont want headers, a new intake, or a chip. I was just wondering if there are any other cheap modifications that I can do to the engine before I put it back in the truck that will be pretty easy. I am on a tight budget, since I am a highschool student, and am looking for upgrades around or under $100. I know that for this price I cant make my truck a racecar or anything, just wondering if there are any easy mods I can do before the engine goes back in. Thanks for looking.
-Harrison
 
yeah harrison, I would definatly go with an edelbrock aluminum intake. there are some on ebay going for around $50..

-doc /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I 3rd on the intake. Very easy mod. Be sure you get the one for the TBI's. Go to edelbrocks web site and get the right part # before you go ebaying.
 
If you still have stock exhaust. Getting better exhaust should be the first mod you do. It is pretty much a waste of money to put performance mods on your engine if you cant get the burnt gasses out of your pipe.
You dont need headers but a good performance single 3" exhaust system dosent cost a whole lot and will give you the most bang for your buck.
If you have a cat convertor you should replace it. It is not wise to install a new engine without replacing your old worn out convertor. That will cost around 100 bucks.
If you already have a performance exhaust go here:turbocity.com
Get the Air Flow Enhancer, Injector spacer, and a 1/2" Throttle Body spacer. Total cost is around $100 and they work real good together to give a performance boost you can really feel.
 
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You dont need headers but a good performance single 3" exhaust system dosent cost a whole lot and will give you the most bang for your buck.


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What would you recommend for a good, and well priced exhaust system?? I was thinking Flowmasters, but am not completley sure about how much the price will be. Ive heard you can get them for around $160, but thats without cats. What is it with cats?
-Harrison
 
Those trucks came with a pretty good exhaust anyway, so I would not have that at the top of my list. #1 for bang for your buck is going to be a mild performance cam, since you have to buy a new camshaft and lifters anyway. Look for the ones that are advertised as TBI friendly. Next on my list would be the intake manifold. The cam will get you more additional HP than any other single mod you can make.
 
Thanks for all of the help guys. Right now, I have decided on a new exhaust system from Flowmaster. I checked on the prices of a new intake, but they were like $250 for my truck. I dont really have that kind of money right now, but hope to do that upgrade sometime near the end of this year. The Flowmasters are under $200, and say they add 10-15hp, and 26 ft lbs of torque. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif My B-Day is comming up soon, maybe I will get lucky and someone will buy me a new intake. /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Thanks yall.
-Harrison
 
Accually the stock exhaust is rather restrictive. They came with the old bead style cat They dont flow as well as a newer style high flow cat with the honeycomb type matrix. Also the stock muffler is pretty restrictive it necks down inside fron 3" to 2 1/2".
Replacing your cat with a Catco high flow cat and a 50 series flowmaster should only cost a little over $100. You should be able use your stock pipe if you want to keep costs down. I know flowmaster makes a muff that will bolt right in in place of the stock muff. The cat should be pretty much a direct fit. You might have to add a short piece of 3" pipe.
Or get the flowmaster system. I have installed them on a few trucks they fit good and bolt right up. in every vehicle I have installed them in they made a definate performance difference you could feel in the seat of your pants.
No mater what you do even if you do nothing else, I highly recomend dumping the stock cat and muffler getting a high flow cat/exhaust.
Having a good exhaust is the key element in bringing the most performance out of any future engine mods you will want to do.
Also as the above post says it sure wouldn't hurt to put in a mild cam while the engine is out.Now is the time to do it Contact your engine builder he may have one lying around his shop he can throw in for cheap. Usually a mild cam costs no more than a new cam.
 
I wasn't going to say anything, but was just reading an article on an '01 Corvette, that a magazine added headers and exhaust too, they got 40 more HP and 33ft-lbs more torque.

And if you haven't seen the exhaust the corvette uses stock, well, it puts the K5 to shame. Duals all the way back, with an H-pipe. even have factory "headers"...probably similar to shorty haders. With a system that well designed, if they were able to increase power by about 10% with just exhaust mods, it's still a great deal. Those numbers are *rear wheel*.

For those of you that might think the high performance exhaust harmed low end, the numbers were not negative ANYWHERE on the scale from 2600RPM-6000RPM (start-finish) Up 11HP at 2600RPM and +23.8ftlbs at the same RPM. Of course this is a much stronger engine than most truck ones, but there is still room for improvement.
 
Yeah, I was thinking with going with a high flow cat. Then putting in a set of Flowmaster 40 series. The only problem I am having is finding an exhaust system for my truck online. All I have found is the single exhaust with 50 series muffler. I am pretty sure that I want the louder 40 series, and I want dual exhaust. Would I need two cats for dual exhaust, or does Flowmaster have a dual exhaust that splits off of one cat? Also, does anyone know of any good sites to order Flowmasters off of, because I havent been able to find exactly what I am looking for. And I am looking for dual exhaust with 40 series. Thanks.
-Harrison
 
I looked into both factory new exhaust for my truck and aftermarket true duals and headers. I also looked into factory duals. Stock replacement with custom 3" single was about $50 cheaper because I didn't have to have so many hangers and didn't have to buy two mufflers.

I bought my Hooker Competition headers for $144. I then bought the Hooker pipe kit for $120 (2.25" pipe). I then bought two Dynomax mufflers that I didn't use for $40/each. I bought ones too short so I ended up buying Advance Auto parts el-cheapos ($20/each) because I went over budget.

You can't beat headers. On a 305 they're only worth around 7hp but on a 350 they're worth more like 20hp. The fact that your exhaust is no longer a bottleneck makes the investment worth it to me.

You can get monolithic (honeycomb) catalytic converters from $50-70 online. If you run converters then you don't really need mufflers.

The stock bead-type converter is a source for major backpressure and loss of power. You should have no more than 1.5 psi of backpressure in your system and a bead-type converter provides that all by itself.

You can buy a new Y-pipe from Walker for around $140 and then do a custom single 3" exhaust if you want. Walker also still makes "true dual" exhaust for 70s 3/4 tons that bolt up to your exhaust manifolds.




Single in dual out exhaust systems are gay. 100% poser. They offer zero performance, add tubes to route around your spare tire, and provide more [naughty word] to rust off.
 
I originally wanted headers, but with my 87, I dont really feel like messing with all of the sensor stuff and emission stuff. I saw headers for my year, and they were $340. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif I couldn't find any more, and those pretty much scared me off. Does anyone know how good just a single exit Flowmaster sounds with the 50 series muffler?? Thanks.
-Harrison
 
I removed the converter, and installed the Flowmaster single 3" system. I also flipped the air cleaner. This made a big improvement in performance.

The single biggest gain in all this, was removing that huge converter. My Sub runs cooler, and doesn't 'ping' anymore.

Freeing up the exhaust should be the first performance improvement, as everything done to the engine will be kind of pointless if all that power can't get out....
 
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Freeing up the exhaust should be the first performance improvement, as everything done to the engine will be kind of pointless if all that power can't get out....

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I agree.
-Harrison
 
I'm having a brain fart or something. You don't have AIR, right? I'm trying to remember if my 87 had it. If you don't have AIR then all you have to worry about is the oxygen sensor. A $10 bung can be welded in at the collector and then you've got $160 headers. My Dad ended up doing this for the headers on my Mom's 86 Monte.

If you've got AIR that makes things more difficult, especially if you want to keep it.
 
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If you've got AIR that makes things more difficult, especially if you want to keep it.

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Oh yeah, shes got air. /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif
-Harrison
 
I have got the Flowmaster 3" system with the 50 series SUV muffler, the only one they make for our K5s. I also installed the Catco high flow convertor that is a direct replacement for our blazer. I got all my stuff from www.summitracing.com. Good system and the cat fit perfect, total bolt on with just a couple little cuts I had to make to get the cat to seat properly on the Y-pipe and had to add a hanger to the new cat convertor. The tail pipe is also cut at a 45 degree angle, just FYI.

Made a big performance improvement on my '87 with 110K miles on it. Only other thing I added was a K&N filter. Sounds good. Nice deep tone. Wakes up when you put the skinny pedal to the floor, but is it no 40 series. I have had a 40 series on a '90 K5 with 3" pipe just like this system is, it was louder and I did hear it in the cab more. I like the 50 series behind a cat convertor, I like a 40 series with no cat so you get the true flowmaster sound. I think 40 series are really designed for a true dual application and do not have enough volume to just put one behind a 350V8. Just my opinion.
 
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