Now that my 04 Lightning is almost off warranty I am about ready to start changing a few things. My first thought was a new Bassani exhaust, Headers to tips. I am looking for any tips or tricks or thoughts you might have. Please let me know what you think. I am looking for a bit more h.p. and a little tougher sound. I appreciate any suggestions or alternate systems. Thanks

 

As your engine sits right now, HP gains from changing the headers will negligible at best. The stock headers breathe really well for the stock engine. Better sound is the only reason to change the exhaust.

In my opinion, your best bet for more HP is to get a custom tune (SCT Xcal 2 and Diablo Sport Predator are the most common among Lightning owners), a 4lb lower pulley, and a cold-air induction setup.

Adding a Factory Tech Valve Body (FTVB), Level 10 valve body, or Lightning Force valve body (LFPVB) accumulator provides crisper transmission shifts, and actually helps the longevity of the 4R100 tranny.

Adding a Bassani cat-back makes the L sound mean!

I used to run my L with stock headers, catless mids, and Bassani cat-back. When I put my OEM catted midpipe back on for the smog check my state has, I gained gobs of torque because of the added backpressure. I preferred the sound over the added power though so I didn't hesitate to pull them back off!

Seeing as how your engine is stock (as opposed to being built) putting on long tube headers will provide a tad more power. Long tubes will only provide a lot more power when you increase the boost and start pushing over 500hp.

Adding the Bassani equal length headers MIGHT give a touch more power, but again, at your level, it's only done for sound.

Stewart

 

all you need is the mid pipes back with a Bassani system. the mid pipes take you from four cats to two high flow cats a nes cross pipe and better sound.

 

Thanks for the info but now I have more questions. As maybe you can tell I wont ever have this truck on a track or race it, just wanna have some fun tinkering with it. So I scrap the headers and go with the mid pipe/w hi flow cats. Will I be losing h.p. for sound because of lost back pressure? As for a custom tune what exactly would that mean? Would I want to have any other mods done first, cold air intake, pulley, exhaust before doing it? Is this best done at a good shop or can an novice do it themselves? Anybody know a good shop in the Portland, Or. area or even Seattle? Thanks, Kyle

 

You might change your mind on that!

Nah, you should be ok. You might lose a tad, but I doubt you'd notice.

In my situation, I was going from no cats, back to the OEM midpipe (four cats), back to no cats, so the loss of torque was much greater, due to the loss of backpressure.

I have no clue about your geographic location. I've used Sal at Powersurge Performance, but I now use JJ at Woodbine Motorsports for my custom tuning needs. I seriously thought about going with the SCT Pro Racer Package to do all my own tuning, but the learning curve was greater than I wanted to tackle at present time.

To answer your question, it's just my opinion, but unless you are really familiar with how fuel and spark are delivered and provided for the modular engine, I'd leave the tuning to professionals.

Now, when would you benefit most from a custom tune? Usually people get custom tunes after upping the boost via a pulley change, because you don't need one for just CAI or exhaust.

Stewart