First Yukon, new to GM and had a few questions

[VR6guy]

Hi everyone, just picked up a 98 Yukon, 160k on the clock.

First step of course is clean everything off from below real well to monitor what all is leaking and how bad, and of course all basic maintenence- plugs, wires, oil/filter, trans fluid/filter/gasket, front/rear diff fluid/gaskets, transfercase fluid, air filter, fuel filter, grease all the fittings, and eventually coolant and power steering fluid

that much I can manage myself, but the next step after that is performance upgrades. i'm not going balls to the wall on this right away, to start i'll just stay mild with exhaust and engine management (turbocharged 454/4L80E swap will have to wait, pending funds)

anyway, as I'm not too familiar with the 1st gen Tahoe/Yukon scene (or GM in general) i was wondering if you fine people could point me in the right direction

1. What is a good exhaust? Not looking for obnoxiously loud, just good sound, and minimal cabin drone... but something you can hear when you step on it. headers and back is fine (although cats must remain present and functional). budget is $1000 or less

2. engine tuning- how does GM do this, do you solder in chips, or just re-flash the control module? best software out there for increasing engine performance?
also, is there a separate TCM, and is there software for more aggressive shifting?

thanks everyone!

 

[TCMERICK]

Welcome to the Nieghborhood!!!!

I have been a GM guy all my life, have owned chevy trucks, 1980 Blazer Full Size, 1993 Blazer Full Size and just recently purchased a 1998 Tahoe.

In reference to upgrading your exhaust, there are innumerable options and I dont know wether you will be buying your own parts and have a shop install them, or if you are doing the deal yourself, But this is what I will be doing with mine, (after many hours of surfing).

The parts I have chosen will allow me to do the entire exhaust from headers to tailpipe with just hand tools. Everything is bolt on, fits in stock position on vehicle (no mods), and will come in at about $1300.00 with all new parts. You could do it cheaper depending on your choice of parts. For instance if your CATS are good, you could choose to reuse them and save about $365, but for me I would replace the whole shabang!

1) JBA Shorty Headers ( best quality, there are cheaper ones though)
2) Catalytic converters ( Magna Flo 23453)
3) Flow Master Force II Muffler and tailpipe. (17166)
4) I will also replace all Exhaust sensors (thinking of NGK)

If you go to the Summit Racing Website, you can view all of these parts. I have no idea of how it will sound, but it is flowmaster so it should be descent. Again, this is just my Idea, and there are many options, but I am going this way purely because I can do it all myself with no cutting, drilling or welding.

As far as engine performance,there again are many options, but I plan to go with a Black Bear Performance tune. They are a sponsor of this site ( look at the top of the main page) and I believe that they are the best option I have seen. However, you do not want to get a tune done until you have all of your performance stuff added, for instance exhaust, cold air intake, plugs and wires etc. Just whatever mods you have in mind.

I hope this info helps to get your Gears Rollin!!!!!

 

[clkelley]

Welcome to the neighborhood!

 

[VR6guy]

Thanks very much for the info! I will be installing everything myself, and I have a cutter and welder too if modification is needed. I will see if I can find a video online of someone running the same setup- just wondering, how soon do you plan to have yours done? I see we're in the same state, if possible it would be cool to hear how it sounds in person if you're planning on doing the install soon, just a thought. Also I will check out Black Bear tuning. Again, thanks very much for the info, its much appreciated!

 

[TCMERICK]

You are more than welcome!

All of the parts I listed would require no modifications for installation, take the old off and put new on. The one posible drawback is that on the flowmaster muffler and pipe setup, you have the stock configuration which consists of a flange that comes off of the catalytic converters with two pipes into a muffler with dual inlets and a single outlet it appears to be a solid unit. This does not really allow for changing out the muffler to a different one so you are stuck with that setup.
Dynomax offers a different set up where you come off of the catalytic converters with 2 pipes, which then merge into 1 pipe, which allows for use of a single inlet single outlet muffler.
The advantage here is that it comes in three parts ( flange pipe, muffler and tailpipe) and if you do not like the muffler sound you can easily swap out mufflers.
I will not be doing mine for about 3 months.

Hope this helps!!!