[Utley]

For the past few days Ive been shooting the idea in my head to get the 4.7 up to or as close as possible to 400hp. Ive heard tales that the 4.7 block can handle up to 1050hp tops, so Im thinking 400 should be fairly easy...given its just a 120hp increase.

My budget is 1000 bucks. I already have my eyeballs on a Flashpaq tuner 3865 (from a previous thread Ive seen), and Im looking straight up for bolt on packages only. I have a K&N air filter in the stock box, and I doubt that putting a cold air intake would do much better. Buuuut....whats the best way to get to my target range?

 

[snrusnak]

so Im thinking 400 should be fairly easy...given its just a 120hp increase.

Not at all....that's a (120hp/235hp) = 51% power increase. That's a HUGE increase. Turbo or supercharger may get you there.

It'll be hard to get the older 287 to 400hp naturally aspirated, and impossible for $1,000. You'd need serious head work, cams, long tube headers, good tune, good intake, and probably higher compression. That MIGHT get you to 400 hp, or at least close.

The newer model 287 starts out with 310 hp (a good jump from the old 4.7L). It also responds better to the tuner, it gains a lot more. Even with intake, tune, exhaust, longtubes(if they made them), etc... it'd be more like 375hp for the newer 4.7L. If someone made cams then I'd say 400hp isn't too far off for the newer version.

If you want to add a little power the tuner is the best bang/buck. Follow probably by a muffler and intake. Don't expect more than 5-10 hp with intake, 5-10 hp with muffler, and 10-30 hp with tune.

Keep in mind, every aftermarket company posts MAX hp gains, not PEAK hp gains. For example, my truck gains "61hp" on the superchips 93 tune. That doesn't mean that I now have (310hp + 61hp) = 371hp. They advertised the MAX gain (which is not at the peak hp rpm). The PEAK gain is say 23hp. So I actually have a peak hp of (310hp + 23hp) = 333 hp.

EDIT: You could always do nitrous for easy, cheap power.

 

[Utley]

I dont want to make the truck bottle fed. After a while they turn into crack babies....learned that bit of information working on D7 dozers back in the day.

Yeah I know thinking and getting to 400hp are 2 different things, but there has to be a good combination for bolt on packages that could at least get me to 350(?)

Throttle body spacer
Cold air intake
dual exhaust
headers (only found short pipes so far...)
performance chip

Every little bit counts afaik, but is 400 really improbable to get there even with a larger budget?

 

[TheSatinPumpkin]

Doubt that will get you there even though its "just a 120hp increase". Forget about the TBS and add 4.56's/4.88's in addition to snrusnak's advice.

 

[snrusnak]

Throttle body spacer = 0 hp
Cold air intake = 5-10 hp
dual exhaust (stick with a good y pipe setup) = 10-15 hp
headers (only found short pipes so far...) = 10-20 hp
performance chip = 10-20 hp

So figure all that gets you at best (235 + 10 + 15 + 20 +20) = 300hp

Add the heads from airram.com, HO cams, ATI harmonic balancer and maybe you'd then be around 350hp. But now you're talking more like several thousands, not one thousand.

Aiiram also has the 08+ intake, TB adapter, etc... but this would be a large budget project. Much cheaper to go with boost, JMO. Not to turn you away from building the 4.7L (I am modding mine just the same...).

 

[Utley]

Ok, so aside from getting a tank of NoS, what would you do with the 1k? 400 may be far and away from reality, but 300 certainly isnt that big of a jump from my perspective...

 

[snrusnak]

300 hp should be very doable on a budget.

Depending on if you really want to go all out down the road and spend more money, that sort of decides what to do.

On a budget; a good intake, exhaust, tune, and electric fan should get you around the 300hp mark. Heads and cams should put you well over that mark.

Intake, exhaust, and tune is around $1,000. If SCT makes tunes for your year I'd try them, I've heard great feedback about the performance of their tunes. I'd try them but they don't support the newer years. A simple muffler swap to something like a magnaflow (or other straight through type muffler), maybe an aftermarket y pipe, and maybe some shorty headers. The "big three" (intake, exhaust, tune) will give noticeable performance gains.

 

[AIR RAM]

Throttle body spacer = 0 hp
Cold air intake = 5-10 hp
dual exhaust (stick with a good y pipe setup) = 10-15 hp
headers (only found short pipes so far...) = 10-20 hp
performance chip = 10-20 hp

So figure all that gets you at best (235 + 10 + 15 + 20 +20) = 300hp

Add the heads from airram.com, HO cams, ATI harmonic balancer and maybe you'd then be around 350hp. But now you're talking more like several thousands, not one thousand.

Aiiram also has the 08+ intake, TB adapter, etc... but this would be a large budget project. Much cheaper to go with boost, JMO. Not to turn you away from building the 4.7L (I am modding mine just the same...).

Good advice... its clear someone has been doing his homework. :smileup:

SPEED SAFE, NICK