02 Tahoe bolt ons help

[Cameroncarbine]

Considering doing a CAI, shorty headers, and cat back in April. Should I expect any difference in power or mpg with these? Would adding a tune be worth it? Anyone have any recommendations for the CAI and headers? Eventually I’ll do a cam and springs.
Thanks in advance to all chiming in -Cameron

 

[drakon543]

shortie headers wont net you much but ive always read they do the best when it comes to mpg gains. without a tune to go along with those parts i wouldn't expect anything big but you should notice some actual differences. header recommendations you get what you paid for is all i can say. cai recommendations they are typically a big tube with a big filter. find one you think looks nice and has a heat shield or a box.

 

[adriver]

The nearly unanimous recommendation for CAI and shorty headers is, Don't waste your money. You won't get any reasonable power gains, (you really can't compare this to other vehicles). Shorty headers in general for these engines are damn near a waste unless you for some reason have to replace your manifolds anyways. Go long tubes or leave it alone. For CAI, you won't get a performance increase. For both of those, if you are cool with spending your money to improve the sound only, then go ahead.

This has been covered many times. If you are looking for performance gains, start with a custom tune. There are several companies that can do it, the biggest one on this forum is blackbearperformance.com. If you are 2000-2004, after that you will want to do Electric fans, 2005-2006 had them standard. After that its a cam and head work. From there, it depends on how you big you want to go, or how much your budget will let you.

 

[Chrismnj]

I think most will recommend long tubs plus ceramic coating. kooks or American racing headers. Definitely get a tune and you should see around 40HP gain. I would also recommend doing few power pulls on dyno to see your base numbers.