97 Bravada performance oooooo yeaaaaa

Hello, am a proud owner of a 1997 olds bravada just bought yesterday and already got things swarmin in my head. for the vtech what aftermarket exhaust do u recommend going to get k&n intake system...I know there are cheaper ones but I want a good one with heat shield and also getting the cfm ported tb with mod and other goodies down the road. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks :grinyes:

Read through the sticky at the top of the performance section to get some good ideas. Just keep your expectations reasonable. Its not going to perform like a muscle car with just basic bolt ons :lol: . Before you start buying aftermarket parts, make sure the truck is mechanically sound first. As far as the exhaust goes, flowmaster and magnaflow seem to be the best sounding on the 4.3 but it comes down to personal preference. Getting a cat back isn't required, just installing a performance muffler will give some gains in performance. A high flow cat is another cheap replacement that can yield maybe 5hp. Aftermarket headers and a custom y-pipe are options also. I don't recomend the the K&N intake because of 2 things: the oil can affect the MAF sensor and the way its secured to the TB is a poor design and the intake can pop off of the TB. One of the best you can get for the 4.3 is the AEM Brute Force. Includes a heat shield, filter uses no oil, and the intake actually bolts onto the TB and will not just pop off. As for the TB, remove the diffusor on the TB blade for a few free hp. Some people have had issues with the 75mm TB setting SES lights but its hit or miss. Then if you want to go further, there are a few more bolt ons like underdrive pulleys, electric cooling fan, 1.6 roller rocker arms, MSD/accell/malory ignition box and coil, and a custom tune from wait4me performance, or using efi live/hp tuners. Just consider if all of these mods will be worth the cost and work involved in doing them and consider how long you plan on keeping your truck. Hope this helps.

Yea right now looking at bolt on, I like k&n per the heat shield and heard that as long as you dont oil the crap out of it youll be fine; I tried to find headers online but couldnt for the 4.3l is there a good brand out there a local exhaust shop said for a flowmaster 50 series and pipe with labor would be 200.00 :grinyes: I plan to have it for awile so as far as interal engine like rockers thats more down the road. Thanks again for your info

edelbrock and jba make headers for the 4.3. They will not work with a body lift though.