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Muscle Trucks - What do you have?
- Thread starter H2O MAN
- Start date
My wife talked me into getting a new truck in ‘02, I wanted an extended cab (not a crew cab) Silverado or the F150 King Ranch. She talked me into an Avalanche though, I thought it was the ugliest damn truck I had ever seen. Then I drove one, the F150 rode like an OLD truck but the Avalanche Z66 rode like a freakin Cadillac! Okay, I told the wife if I’m gonna get a new truck it’s gotta be a 4x4 so I drove the Z71 thinking there’s no way it would ride as smooth as the Z66. Boy was I wrong! Then I drove the 8.1L/496ci MONSTER Avalanche, Holy Crap that thing would smoke a Vette red light to red light! I got the Z71 with the 5.3L/327ci version because I knew that big ass 496ci would get me in a WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE. Lol! Even with the nearly 7000 lbs that 5.3L was a beast of a truck. My wife and I and my oldest friend Tom (friends since I was 10) drove out to San Antonio Tx in Sept of ‘06 to see my son graduate from basic at Lackland AFB, even with my bad back it was an easy ride. I had it swapped out with true duals and a K&N cold air setup right after I bought it, don’t have any idea what the HP & torque was after that but it was a very noticeable difference. It was pretty damn fast for a big ol’ four door truck. I think I miss my ‘85 K5 Blazer more though, it rode like a buckboard but I could take that truck in some places I wouldn’t even think of taking the Avalanche and I took it in the woods too. The Blazer had a 350ci in it, lifted 8” and had 35” Super Swampers mounted on it. It wasn’t even close to being as nice as the Avalanche but I swear that K5 would damn near climb a tree. Lol!
I know about those options, but I am cheap so I added a DAP tune and a custom dirty deeds cat-back with a single tailpipe. Not a bad bang for my buck.H2O MAN
Look into dirty deeds exhaust with the jba long tube headers they sell. If I recall right he dyno'd at a 70 ft lb increase.
Beyond that you need to Magnusson that 5.7 and jump to the 500/550.
I have a 02 2500 avalanche with the 8.1, soon as I get some change gathered up, I hope to do cam & heads maybe even a pro charger
‘15 Ford F-150, 5 star tuned 5.0 on E85. Hope my next upgrade is 4.56 gears.
‘19 Ford F-250 stock on 35’s.
‘19 Ford F-250 stock on 35’s.
The 8.1 is pretty rare. I have an 02' 2500 4x4 and 4:10 posi. It's like driving a 60s muscle car. Love it, I've left it stock the whole time. It beats the 94' F250 460 by @110hp. When I bought the Ford it was king of the v8s except the Dodge v10. I waited long enough for the v10 to come out and drive one before ordering the Ford. I'm just a v8 fan. That v10 drinks a lot more fuel than the Ford. Mopars do like fuel. I did eventually By a Dodge, but I went with the Cummins. Best engine ever, but I bought it for pulling and fuel economy. Small truck fuel mileage, big truck performance. Just a note, the 8.1 will still smoke the tires even with a 12K lb trailer behind it....It doesn't care. I still have and drive all 3 trucks
Mine has a hundred horse program and cold air intake. It is beast but still gets almost 8 mpg... its fun to pull up beside one of the coal rolling mall crawlers and hurt some feelings.
