H3 Engine Performance Up-grades

[Jim Klee]

I just purchased a 06 H3 and love the rig, but like most wanted more power. I just installed a K&N cold air intake (dyno claims 18.7 HP) I also put a flowmaster muffler and removed the stock exhaust resinator with a straight pipe. I noticed a nice increase in power, but wanted more.

I am interested in the: JET Performance Chip. The stage 1 dyno claims 15HP, the stage 2 I have not seen any dyno claims. Has anyone done the JET chip?

[Stevenblanca]

Check the intake snorkel, the pipe that goes to the fender. It has only an 1.8 inch inner diameter. This forms a restriction because the diameter of the rest of the intake piping is 3 to 3.5 inches.

Replace it with a 3" short pipe or similar. Just remember to seal it right.

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

I just purchased a 06 H3 and love the rig, but like most wanted more power. I just installed a K&N cold air intake (dyno claims 18.7 HP) I also put a flowmaster muffler and removed the stock exhaust resinator with a straight pipe. I noticed a nice increase in power, but wanted more.

I am interested in the: JET Performance Chip. The stage 1 dyno claims 15HP, the stage 2 I have not seen any dyno claims. Has anyone done the JET chip?

Ain't NO WAY !!!!

[Desert Dan]

Can you say Alpha?

If you really want more HP save your money and put it toward a V8 Alpha
There is no substitute for cubic inches.

[H3slate]

According to JET's website they don't make a chip for the H3. Just the throttle body spacer.

[Jim Klee]

The JET chip is for the Chevy Canyon P/U with the same engine. I was told it would work with the 3.5L in the H3

[Jim Klee]

Regarding the K&N cold air-intake:

The 18.7HP gain is the dyno sheet that came with the K&N kit. This not my dyno, but what K&N is marketing...

[H3slate]

Regarding the K&N cold air-intake:

The 18.7HP gain is the dyno sheet that came with the K&N kit. This not my dyno, but what K&N is marketing...
Look at what rpm they got that gain. At 6000 rpm. How often are you running your engine at 6000 rpm?

You will definitely hear a difference, which will lead you to drive different, which will make you feel like there is a difference with the new intake.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a high flow intake, but I don't like having an exposed air filter in an engine bay that gets pretty dirty from offroading. Some people have reported issues with their mass flow air sensors from the oil that comes off the filter.

When I had my K&N installed I heard a noticeable difference, but the air resonator was removed to put on the intake. Now that I have gone back to the stock air intake, I don't feel a difference between the two.

[Kaiser Souza]

I have the K&N kit and feel the difference. I have a 5 speed and yes the difference is only at the high end of the tach. I keep it revved and it is noticable between 4-6000.

Very annoying vibration at idle and I have to feather the throttle at a stop sign.
Does anyone know if idle can easily be raised a couple hundred RPM to make this go away?

[cdmintmi]

just got mg back from the dealer with same problem. tech says mustve gotten some "cheap" gas (although i dont see how thats possible these days) and had some carbon build up in the throttle body. they cleaned it and replaced a sensor (since im in the mountains of nc now) runs perfectly now.

[6pack]

With what I did in my sig, I noticed a nice improvement (prior to the 35" tires). The K&N without the resonator is quite loud, especially over 4k rpm's, and that's where you notice the power the most with my setup. Not to usefull for the trail, but nice on the highway. I had a Jet chip on a previous truck and didn't think it did anything. I wouldn't spend money on one of their products again.

[wpage]

With all due respect to the GM mark of excellence there are some things we mortals can do to enhance performance...
Hoping there are some Thomas Edison types out there to solve this oil mess we are in lets not close our eyes to even marginal ways to improve what we've got. Just like we wish we had better lungs for ourselves...
Enhanced respiration for the engine cant hurt...
There are some cold air intake mods that are out there for do it yourselves (do a google search) or for the lazy rich folks to buy from the usual suspects for over time will save you your investment dollars. Especially while fuel prices are rising.
On the back end there are header type exhaust systems to help folks that are listening to the mantra of a clean colon is the secret to long life... There is Magna Flo and other manufactures of oversize and over sounding exhaust systems for the rear end crew.
In the middle of the road there is the chip crowd that favors the electronic approach to saving the H3. Here we second guess the genius at GM to prove our equation is better than Poindexter's and spend $500.00 to some marketer who has better mpg religion than thou...
In summary go to the Home depot buy some black pipe and glue cut some holes in your intake manifold and hope for the best. Its a free country and your warren tee guy will surly not care that you have no concern for the structural integrity for his masters design:beerchug:

[TANDREW]

How about PCM for less? Whats the take on this? Ive heard a lot of people are happy with the tune. How about it guys.....

[6pack]

I'm happy with mine. And I got it on a group buy for under $200. Best mod yet. And check your PM's tandrew. :)

[bimmer4life2009]

Sorry for bumping this old thread up. For once second I thought the OP was talking about the cheap chips they sell on Ebay. Don't waste your money on these. I was thinking about getting a performance chip too, but it looks like these things don't do crap. I was reading this performance chip (http://www.performancechiptuning.com/) article about it, and it looks like these things don't work at all

[TANDREW]

Hey so far Iam happy with my PCM tune. Installed when truck was new 26000 miles so far no problems, what a differance it makes.
Look like some one else re-posted my first post about PCM from a while back.

[wpage]

Hey so far Iam happy with my PCM tune. Installed when truck was new 26000 miles so far no problems, what a differance it makes.
Look like some one else re-posted my first post about PCM from a while back.
Tandrew,
Thanks for that. Can you be more specific about the advantages of PCM. They claim 1-3 more mpg and 8-10 hp improvements...:popcorn:

[TANDREW]

I have an auto trans did not see any improvement on gas 13 city 16 hwy, borla catback, 33 in tires. But from a stop when you step on the gas it moves. Great improvement on power all around not sure on HP gains but there is a differance. Had the Borla first better sound not that much more on power. Added PCM big improvement. I'd recomend for the money best improvement you can get. You'll be happy i sure was.

[mikeps3speed]

Sorry for bumping this old thread up. For once second I thought the OP was talking about the cheap chips they sell on Ebay. Don't waste your money on these. I was thinking about getting a performance chip too, but it looks like these things don't do crap. I was reading this performance chip (http://www.performancechiptuning.com/) article about it, and it looks like these things don't work at all

Very interesting article, thank you.

[reckoner91]

I just purchased a 06 H3 and love the rig, but like most wanted more power. I just installed a K&N cold air intake (dyno claims 18.7 HP) I also put a flowmaster muffler and removed the stock exhaust resinator with a straight pipe. I noticed a nice increase in power, but wanted more.

I am interested in the: JET Performance Chip. The stage 1 dyno claims 15HP, the stage 2 I have not seen any dyno claims. Has anyone done the JET chip?

Did the air intake and the new muffler reduced your miles per gallon?

[anjy834u]

i would go by the book. the added power comes at the maximum rpm limit. but one doesn't normally race at that kind of torque, so just check if adding JET is worth it or not.