New K3500 - Need More Oomph

[1972RedNeck]

Just got a smoking deal on a '98 crew cab K3500 with the L29 7.4 Vortec. It has 260K miles but it is CLEAN. Supposedly the transmission was bad - turns out the drain plug fell out of the Borg Warner t-case. $300 junkyard t-case and it runs and drives great.

Been driving it around a bit to see if I am going to flip it or keep it. I'm thinking this one needs to stay and one of my Fords will have to leave .

But as with any vehicle that gets added to my fleet, it needs to have a bit more power than stock. From what I have read, a tune is definitely worthwhile (gets rid of torque management in OD as well, correct?).

What about headers though? I'm not interested in long tubes, but shorties would be an option. I have read conflicting views on shorties, some saying they are a big gain and others saying either go long tubes or nothing.

Thoughts?

As for the tuning, who can get me the best tune for a stock L29? Sending off the computer is no problem if need be.

[special-K]

Get all the air in you can for starters. I'm sure you knew that.

[RatPwrd72]

I used BlackBear Performance to do the tune on my '96. I had the TM removed as well as the rear cats and EGR. It felt snappier and didn't downshift as much towing my enclosed trailer around. I still had the stock exhaust system on there, so I switched to a Magnaflow muffler and removed both cats. This for sure helped it breath.

Mine is a 2wd, 4L80E, 4.10 gears. Running the stock tire size it got 10 mpg empty and jumped up to almost 13 after the tune, exhaust and a new AC-Delco air filter (it had a K&N that was filthy when I bought it).

IMO, the price of the tune is well worth it.

Headers should be another increase in power and MPG, but I haven't really thought about it. Especially after pricing a name brand long tube for this truck .

[hotrodron]

That sounds good i need to do the same on my truck have you ad trouble with the injectors or water leaks on intake manifold

[RatPwrd72]

Originally Posted by hotrodron

That sounds good i need to do the same on my truck have you ad trouble with the injectors or water leaks on intake manifold

I haven't. Mine has a GM crate that was put in just before I bought it last year. Pretty sure they didn't do anything with the injectors, just stuck them on the new motor.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by RatPwrd72

Mine is a 2wd, 4L80E, 4.10 gears. Running the stock tire size it got 10 mpg empty and jumped up to almost 13

Annnnnnd I'm never getting a big block haha. That's just terrible.