Waking up an LR4 on a budget

[speedmachine]

Hey guys, was hoping to get a bit more power out of my 4.8L ex-police Tahoe. 2004, completely stock except rims. It runs perfectly- doesn't leak or burn a drop- but being an former cop car it's getting tired with over 5000 engine hours. I live in the mountains of BC and going uphill she really works to maintain 60mph. It's not exactly a perfect vehicle with dents, scratches and rust so I don't want to spend a fortune, but I know it'll last another 5 years and would like a bit more performance. On the short list: cam, headers, exhaust, tune? I'd like to keep it under $1500 if possible. I have shop access and can do all the labor myself. Thanks in advance.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Hey guys, was hoping to get a bit more power out of my 4.8L ex-police Tahoe. 2004, completely stock except rims. It runs perfectly- doesn't leak or burn a drop- but being an former cop car it's getting tired with over 5000 engine hours. I live in the mountains of BC and going uphill she really works to maintain 60mph. It's not exactly a perfect vehicle with dents, scratches and rust so I don't want to spend a fortune, but I know it'll last another 5 years and would like a bit more performance. On the short list: cam, headers, exhaust, tune? I'd like to keep it under $1500 if possible. I have shop access and can do all the labor myself. Thanks in advance.

Put on a new intake tube, a new muffler, and have black bear performance tune it. You be rockin and Rollin. If you buy the autocal tune, they will give you lifetime free adjustments. You could do cam or headers later and get the tune adjusted for free.

 

[speedmachine]

Haha, just that easy eh? I've read that the intake and tune is kinda pointless without a new cam and that the cam is the most restrictive part of the engine, would it make more sense to just do that now? Any cam recommendations? I can stretch the budget if it means not having to ship a PCM twice to the states, but I also have a car so downtime on the Tahoe isn't a massive deal.