Get Up the Hill
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Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 5
Get Up the Hill
Question.....I have '07 H2. LOVE IT!!!
However, living in Phoenix I often travel "up the hill" to Flagstaff (or other places up North) and struggle with keeping speed while going up the steeper grades on the freeway. My H2 has almost 150k miles on it, and I know it's a pretty heavy vehicle at over 3 tons. Any suggestions on how to grab more power from this massive engine?
Some have suggested "chipping" the engine, or a cold air intake (which would expose the engine to the elements more).
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!!!
However, living in Phoenix I often travel "up the hill" to Flagstaff (or other places up North) and struggle with keeping speed while going up the steeper grades on the freeway. My H2 has almost 150k miles on it, and I know it's a pretty heavy vehicle at over 3 tons. Any suggestions on how to grab more power from this massive engine?
Some have suggested "chipping" the engine, or a cold air intake (which would expose the engine to the elements more).
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!!!
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,006
From: Deep South Louisiana
The engine is an LS based 6.0l and very capable,
Its all based on money as to how much power you want, a good place to start would be the exhaust as adding headers and a full true dual system will help a lot. Next I would look into an ECM tune by someone that knows what they are doing. If you want more then look at gears next which will shift the RPM's higher during cruise.
Altitude effects all NA engines which can benefit from forced induction but money is key
Neal
Its all based on money as to how much power you want, a good place to start would be the exhaust as adding headers and a full true dual system will help a lot. Next I would look into an ECM tune by someone that knows what they are doing. If you want more then look at gears next which will shift the RPM's higher during cruise.
Altitude effects all NA engines which can benefit from forced induction but money is key
Neal
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,320
From: SC
Cold air intake will make some noise (just replacing the intake tube has the same effect) but adds somewhere between 0 to 1 additional horsepower. Same as on the GM trucks, the factory air intake box is actually already an excellent and well engineered cold air intake that pulls air from the fender cavity.
Neal has the best advise. Bang for the buck, long tube headers combined with a good custom tune make a huge difference. The custom tunes also adjust the transmission shift points making that part much better as well. For mail order - get an Intune and pay Lewis for a custom tune. Well worth it. https://www.diablewtune.com/ He also sells the Intune devices but you can find them used pretty regular on SilveradoSierra, eBay, etc for about $225 or so.
Also make sure things are tuned up. If its on the original spark plug wires its probably a good idea to replace those. On plugs I will only recommend the factory AC Delco 41-110 plugs. Seafoam the throttle body and intake. Get a can of the proper spray cleaner for the maf as well. Just these few tuneup things can make a significant difference.
The hills will always have you shifting some though. With the 4 speed trans that is just how it goes. Only other option is an 08/09 model with the 6L80 trans instead. In your climate and with the frequent hills I'd also very strongly suggest an external transmission cooler and bypass the radiator integrated one. Heat is a big enemy of the transmissions we have which are already somewhat of a weak point on our H2's. If you ever do blow the trans a rebuilt one can be beefed up some as well to better deal with the sheer weight of our rides.
Neal has the best advise. Bang for the buck, long tube headers combined with a good custom tune make a huge difference. The custom tunes also adjust the transmission shift points making that part much better as well. For mail order - get an Intune and pay Lewis for a custom tune. Well worth it. https://www.diablewtune.com/ He also sells the Intune devices but you can find them used pretty regular on SilveradoSierra, eBay, etc for about $225 or so.
Also make sure things are tuned up. If its on the original spark plug wires its probably a good idea to replace those. On plugs I will only recommend the factory AC Delco 41-110 plugs. Seafoam the throttle body and intake. Get a can of the proper spray cleaner for the maf as well. Just these few tuneup things can make a significant difference.
The hills will always have you shifting some though. With the 4 speed trans that is just how it goes. Only other option is an 08/09 model with the 6L80 trans instead. In your climate and with the frequent hills I'd also very strongly suggest an external transmission cooler and bypass the radiator integrated one. Heat is a big enemy of the transmissions we have which are already somewhat of a weak point on our H2's. If you ever do blow the trans a rebuilt one can be beefed up some as well to better deal with the sheer weight of our rides.
I am in AZ myself and that trip up north absolutely kills everything unless you have some major horsepower. I've taken my 2 up there many times and I usually manually shift to keep the RPMs high which I don't particularly like doing but it keeps the speed up. The so called "chips" are garbage for the most part. Many just trick the rig into thinking it has cooler air coming in than it really does. If you go with a real full tune keep us posted. As the gents above mentioned, if you are going that far into it with LTs and a major intake then definitely do a tune. I have a Volant intake with a Doc tube modified to work with the box, stock exhaust manifolds and no tune but I am looking at doing LTs just because I like tinkering with my old lady lol.
Member
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 47
Cold air intake will make some noise (just replacing the intake tube has the same effect) but adds somewhere between 0 to 1 additional horsepower. Same as on the GM trucks, the factory air intake box is actually already an excellent and well engineered cold air intake that pulls air from the fender cavity.
Neal has the best advise. Bang for the buck, long tube headers combined with a good custom tune make a huge difference. The custom tunes also adjust the transmission shift points making that part much better as well. For mail order - get an Intune and pay Lewis for a custom tune. Well worth it. https://www.diablewtune.com/ He also sells the Intune devices but you can find them used pretty regular on SilveradoSierra, eBay, etc for about $225 or so.
Also make sure things are tuned up. If its on the original spark plug wires its probably a good idea to replace those. On plugs I will only recommend the factory AC Delco 41-110 plugs. Seafoam the throttle body and intake. Get a can of the proper spray cleaner for the maf as well. Just these few tuneup things can make a significant difference.
The hills will always have you shifting some though. With the 4 speed trans that is just how it goes. Only other option is an 08/09 model with the 6L80 trans instead. In your climate and with the frequent hills I'd also very strongly suggest an external transmission cooler and bypass the radiator integrated one. Heat is a big enemy of the transmissions we have which are already somewhat of a weak point on our H2's. If you ever do blow the trans a rebuilt one can be beefed up some as well to better deal with the sheer weight of our rides.
Neal has the best advise. Bang for the buck, long tube headers combined with a good custom tune make a huge difference. The custom tunes also adjust the transmission shift points making that part much better as well. For mail order - get an Intune and pay Lewis for a custom tune. Well worth it. https://www.diablewtune.com/ He also sells the Intune devices but you can find them used pretty regular on SilveradoSierra, eBay, etc for about $225 or so.
Also make sure things are tuned up. If its on the original spark plug wires its probably a good idea to replace those. On plugs I will only recommend the factory AC Delco 41-110 plugs. Seafoam the throttle body and intake. Get a can of the proper spray cleaner for the maf as well. Just these few tuneup things can make a significant difference.
The hills will always have you shifting some though. With the 4 speed trans that is just how it goes. Only other option is an 08/09 model with the 6L80 trans instead. In your climate and with the frequent hills I'd also very strongly suggest an external transmission cooler and bypass the radiator integrated one. Heat is a big enemy of the transmissions we have which are already somewhat of a weak point on our H2's. If you ever do blow the trans a rebuilt one can be beefed up some as well to better deal with the sheer weight of our rides.
Last edited by skiracer; Mar 25, 2019 at 11:16 AM. Reason: spelling
Member
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 47
Will do, but it may take a few weeks to receive the unit and follow the multi-step procedure