Where to start with Bolt On mods?

[Housemuzik52]

So after not going to the drag strip for about 5 years I went last Friday and had the chance to drive a friends 14 GTR. Needless to say that gave me the itch to do some bolt on modes to my 2014 1500 Crew Cab 6 speed 3.92.

So my question is, is there a particular order I should be doing the bolt on modes, if I'm not ordering everything at one time. From all the reading i've been doing over the past few days it seems like a Custom Tune, Throttle Body, CAI, Headers, Lower Thermostat, are all pretty popular. Not sure if I'm missing anything else.

The truck gets driven on the road pretty often and I don't plan on turning it into a drag truck or anything, and I still need to be able to tow with it. Just looking for a bit more power and some added fun.

If anybody has any recommendations on what the best place to start with bolt on's that would be great. It seems like Moe's Performance is the place to go, I just don't really have a clue where to start.

 

[cableguy_hd]

tuner will be best bang for the money. I'm not an exhaust expert but when towing the louder the sound the more youll hear it in the cab when pulling. I just went with an 18" muffler and I can tell a difference when I tow my camper.

 

[Rlaf75]

Even though a car or in this case a pick up says it has 390 hp they are tuned to be very emissions compliant. Most vehicles are very restricted by emissions standards because the factory has to comply with government standards. Speaking from my hotrod days (5.0 mustang days) most people start with intake, exhaust and a good tune to get the engine to breathe. Depending on how far you want to go then they start internal mods like a cam. Also needed is a good suspension and tires to get it to hook up.

 

[MADDOG]

Start with the tuner and build from there. Unless you plan on getting into the heads to do a cam and change out the intake, I'd pass on the throttle body. It won't get you much, if anything, on a basically stock motor.

Do the CAI and exhaust next. Coupled with the tuner, those three mods are the best bang for the buck mods to make power.

Another way to make some power, and what I mean here is torque, is to go to a taller gear set.

Beyond that, unless you plan on going all out to develop a race truck, I can't recommend much else.

 

[Paluby]

You already have 3.92 gear set which I'd say is plenty big enough for a daily driver. Like they've said above; tuner is best bang for your buck. Looking back on my mods I wish I would have started there and built around the custome tuning. I'll be installing a cam and ported heads from Moe's before summer comes back around here in AK but all my bolt ons created some incredibly passing power when towing especially and that's all on Hemifevers lower 89 octane tune since I can only buy 90 from the pumps.

 

[Housemuzik52]

As far as Tuners go it seems like the DiabloSport tuners seem to be popular. I was looking at the DiabloSport i2 DCX tuner, the Trinity seems like it may be a bit of overkill for where I'll be going with the truck. Is the i2 DCX a good tuner or is there another model I should be looking at?

Also for the exhaust mod, are most doing just a cat back system or should I be looking to go from the headers back? Is there a particular exhaust setup that tends to be popular on these trucks? I live in VA so I need to have some sort of CAT whether it be one of the high flow ones that Moe's offers or just stock to pass VA State inspection.