Performance upgrades for 1995 Tahoe

[btk413]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum. I have a 1995 Chevy Tahoe that I would like to increase the performance. I am looking for the most bang for the buck however I am willing to spend what it takes.

I am open to dual exhaust, headers, new fuel injection etc.... I just do not know where to start and what logical progression I should take. Any suggestions? Is there a better forum to go to to get this type of info.

Thanks for your help.

[ice3186]

hey man i am doing the twin turbo project on mt tahoe. But i have done other things and i am in a 99 so i dont belive that there is any differnce. I will tell you what i got and i will tel you right now that i like to race and sometimes beat a mustange GT(esp. the old body styles). I have put on a gibson street prformance exhaust, Hypertech reprogramer, power pullie, a throttle body spacer, a K&N air intake system and JBA headers. For suspention issues so you dont kill yourslef with the new power you will have. I am running beltech anitways and edelbrok shocks and that lets me take a neighborhood turn going about 25mph. Like i said this will make you fast in the world of trucks but the only way to get more that that would be to jsut put a supercharger in or try and turbo it like i am. there are a few technical notes taht you might need to know about. First with gas prices going up you might have to run a higher octane. Second. If you so choose to put on a K&N air intake on and the throttle body spacer you will run into a problem. The K&N sytem uses a 6mm thread to go into the intake manifold, but the bolts that the throttle body spacer compnay gives you doesnt work. The K&N requires you to have a little but of thread sticking out from the throttle bosy spacer but they give you bolts not an all thread. The only problem is taht no one makes 6mm all thread. You ahve to go to your local Hardware store and find the longest 6mm bolt you can then cut the head off and thread the rest with a tap and die set. I know that when you look at it it will make sense and, with spacing under the hood-it will look tight but still fits. A recomendation with the K&N system-carry around a screwdriver for about 3-4 weeks because the connections will sometimes come loose and you ahve to readjust them and tighten them back down. Your batter gauge will run a little low with the pullies, so if you ahve any sound system work you amy need to get a CAP put in and or run a second batter(Optimas are really good).i am not sure how much this will help you but there is all of my knowlage on small perfromance things to do.
i also put on different spark plug wires but i didnt notice a difference, i only put them there because the JBA headers were mealting my others. Some little things, for your oil if you are going to run the truck high performance, go to Oreilies and find some stuff called Lucas Oil treatment and tell your mechanic to put that stuff in next time. it make things run smoother.
the most noticable performace increases came from the headers, air intake and reprogramer, but i did notice some wth the pullies. I hope you have fun with those GTs

[btk413]

Thank you for the info. I am not trying to create a street monster racing machine its just that my stock engine performance is sooooo sluggish.

Do you suggest headers and hi performance exhaust first? Does this really help and were you able to keep your truck smog legal? I am in California. BTW your 1999 had multi-port fuel injection. My 1995 is throttle body injection (TBI). My fathers 96 Suburban with stock multi-port injection kicks my trucks butt, has better road manners, and gets better gas mileage. This is why I am considering a new fuel injection system. I bought the 1995 new and it only has 54,000 miles on it.

[ice3186]

Yea i wasnt sure if the 1995 were still TBI or not, but the best thing that i have found was the programer and the headers,but the headers wont do as much good without better air intake becasue there isnt more air going through the engine. But the headers and the exhaust will give you about 40 hp and you will know a difference.

[Kevellis32]

ice, just so ya know, the set up on the air filter is different on the 99 than on the 95. I just put on my throttle body spacer and have the K&N set up and didn't have a single problem at all. Also, headers and exhaust wont give you more horsepower, they will free up the power. Forced induction like a turbo and supercharge will give you horsepower

[95tahoe4x4]

Now you all have me intrigued. I have a 95, I have ordered the spacer, the K&N is a toss up between just the filter and the whole system. But the headers really make that big of a diff? I have always shyed away from them with any vehicle because of the spark plug wire issue.

[Kevellis32]

If you are still tossing up the idea of the KN or whole system, you should really look on ebay for the set up which will run you about 200 less than the KN set up and you will get the exact same results. the only difference between the KN set up and one off ebay is the one off ebay will come with a generic filter, but then all you need to do is go buy the real KN or airade filter which will run you around 45 bucks. Not bad at all considering the improvement in power and a gas mileage. The spacer is what will give you the best gas mileage increase for the money. I know what you mean about the header issue, they are somewhat pricy for good ones, but i think they were worth every penny, especially when you like the growling sound at an idle. I run no exhaust with a high flow cat(75$), a decent upgrade but not worth 75$ and the pacesetter headers were 175+ shipping off of ebay. Only problem i did have with the headers was installing them which is quite abit tricky when you dont have a shop and lift. Was nearly impossible to tighen the bolts so i eventually had to go to a shop and was charged like 50-60 bucks to have them tightened correctly with the gaskets fitting perfectly which is very important.

[Danny Demon]

I have a 96 Tahoe. You are right, there is a world of difference in the performance between the 95 and the 96. 55+ hp and a bunch of torque and more. Sorry.

With that said Mr. 95 T I have some good news. I just saved a lot of money by switching to Geico Insurance.

That is a joke son. Seriously, if I had a 95 I would want to know where my best bang for my buck is for improved performance also. I don't know. But I do know that other than the Vortec heads and the OBD2 electronics that the biggest difference mechanically between the 95 and the 96 is breathability. This doesn't necessarily mean headers. First thing I would do would be to put a hi flow air filter in place of the OE paper filter. K&N is a popular choice. That is what I have in my 96. Use the stock box. We are talking bang for the buck. Next I would put on a high flow muffler. Just these two changes would make a significant difference in the performance of your Tahoe. You might also consider a hi flow cat converter. Shop the internet for the best price. If that isn't enough my performance envy friend then I would try a set of the new Denso Iridium Spark Plugs. Not what I use in my 96, I use stock Delco Platinums, but you need all the help you can get. If you don't want to spend that much on plugs then just go with some hot slightly overgapped copper plugs and realize that you will have to change them within 30,000 miles. You might then need to go with better ignition wires such as Borg Warner Select and may as well get their Cap and Rotor Kit while you are at it. If you decide to go to a hotter ignition system than OE then naturally you will need the appropriate plugs, wireset, dist. cap and rotor, distributor, etc. MSD comes to mind. But now you are starting to spend some real money and so only you can decide if that would be money well spent. The good news is that you can increase the performance of your 95 Tahoe with just a few bucks spent, but to rival a 96 you will have to spend quite alot.

As a side note, if you are thinking about keeping your Tahoe for a while then I suggest switching to synthetics. I use Synthetics in my engine, transmission and differential. I use 5W30 Mobil 1 in my engine. If it is good enough for NASCAR it is good enough for my Tahoe. For a variety of reasons you should probably stick with 10W30. You can get a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 at WalMart for less than $20. As you may know you don't change synthetic oil because you have worn it out, you change it because it has become dirty. Use a good filter and go to a 5000 to 7500 mile or 4 to 6 month oil change interval to break even on oil expenses while protecting your Tahoe better.

Another simple modification that is a favorite of mine is to install a mid-range thermostat. 170-180 Degrees. This simple tweak will measureably increase hp and torque. Also you might want to install a new O2Sensor. An old sensor is probably reading rich and so costing you performance and money. Or you could just put some Fuel System Cleaner and Cat Conv Cleaner in your gas tank and clean out your entire fuel system. Every little thing helps. PS. I know some one that has put over 500,000 miles on his 95 Tahoe. He uses synthetics and changes his coolant every year.

[95tahoe4x4]

O.K. I think I need to justify my needs here. I am looking to juice things up and add mpg, I know the standard 350 does not compare to the vortec. But this is what I have, a 95 tahoe 4x4, 4 door, wife's daily driver. We have had it one month, I have tuned it up, new ACDelco sp, spw, cap, rotor, etc. Changed all fluids, anitfreeze, gear boxes, etc. I work at a shop in the summer when I am not teaching school, so I can get things a little cheaper. It already has a Dynomax muffler with a mandrel pipe - 3". I think it does o.k. performance wise, I think it needs a little more, the wife would like to see more MPG, it is getting 12.5-13 right now. I have ordered the spacer, I am looking at the air filter kit, but I know I will get at least the K&N filter (I can get dealer price of $20). Has anyone tried that "Tornado" air cyclone thing?

http://www.myauto.tv/tornado/

I will add the headers if they really help, but I want real world answers instead of lab results. I do not want to change the Ignition, I have thought about synthetics, but I have also seen the leaks develop because of the switch. All of your replies are awesome, keep them coming.

[Danny Demon]

With all you have said I would consider replacing the stock heads with Vortec heads. Naturally this means you will need to replace your intake manifold as the new intake ports are too tall for your manifold. This, I believe, is where your money for performance would be best spent at this time. Yours is a third generation small block. My 96 Vortec is the final generation of the original 265 small block introduced by Chevrolet in 1955. Your block is well adapted to having a Vortec head job. If you just go with larger intake ports your low end torque will probably disappoint you for your efforts. You want hp and torq. You can get both with Vortec heads through any GM parts store at a fairly reasonable price. This will include new valves and springs already assembled. You can get the appropriate manifold for your application from the aftermarket. If you make no further changes you will have considerably increased the performance of your vehicle. I'm not telling you anything more. I can't have you passing me by. Long live Chevrolet.