5.3 ls motor potential

[custom442]

ever heard of yates efi? they built a 62 nova with stock 5.3 with ls6 cam and intake with BW75mm turbo. very cheap build, i know less than five g's, ran low tens on an open rear end on 15psi. he said it ran perfect on 15psi stock block no problems at all. 18psi is when it grenaded. it made around 500 whp. yeah a truck may be slow with a 5.3 but thats like what, 4500 pounds? g bodys are over a thousand pounds less, they will not run the same as they would in the truck for the simple weight factor. and 6.0's are not $200 more than a 5.3 that i seen earlier on this post, as far as i seen. their about between $400 more and double the price of a 5.3. i will say, i do think it is a waste to build a N/A 5.3 if you wanna go fast in my opinion. you need more cubes. just what i think.

that post about the 200$ more meant he could buy an ls1 for 200$ more than the 5.3, a 6.0 for 200$ more than the ls1 and so on.

Yet again, fine tuning a cam with a turbo on an ls engine is not an easy task. In fact it's an ordeal. It's a very time consuming process if one knows how to go about it themselves, or would take a ton of money for a tuner to get correct. The money spent on gas while tuning alone would be a month + worth of gas for a sbc, tune up the carb and go driving. They're not telling you for the average joe it would also cost 800$+ in dyno tune and real time tuning for something like this. Yes you can get hit and miss through a mail order tune to make power, most people do great, some people don't have that great of results after they run too lean and burn a piston. In any case every time there are these posts with any decent 5.3 hp numbers, it's always been highly tuned. The whole point of my disagreeing with all these opinions is the guy in this thread wants a nice engine swap with driveability and power upgrades in the future. I saw no mention of gas mileage, it seemed he wanted power more than mileage. Almost any sbc built and tuned correctly can give 15-16 mpg highway. For the cost difference, I don't care if yall think there's a magic ball of ls power out there, for the cost difference to make a 400hp small block vs a 400hp n/a 5.3 will not return enough money in gas mileage for a long time.

..and to me a 500whp 5.3 for 5 grand on top of engine swap price is a bad deal. A 300$ nitrous kit and 6.0 swap will make that same power easy.

 

[79loserbluebu]

ever heard of yates efi? they built a 62 nova with stock 5.3 with ls6 cam and intake with BW75mm turbo. very cheap build, i know less than five g's, ran low tens on an open rear end on 15psi. he said it ran perfect on 15psi stock block no problems at all. 18psi is when it grenaded. it made around 500 whp. yeah a truck may be slow with a 5.3 but thats like what, 4500 pounds? g bodys are over a thousand pounds less, they will not run the same as they would in the truck for the simple weight factor. and 6.0's are not $200 more than a 5.3 that i seen earlier on this post, as far as i seen. their about between $400 more and double the price of a 5.3. i will say, i do think it is a waste to build a N/A 5.3 if you wanna go fast in my opinion. you need more cubes. just what i think.

that post about the 200$ more meant he could buy an ls1 for 200$ more than the 5.3, a 6.0 for 200$ more than the ls1 and so on.

Yet again, fine tuning a cam with a turbo on an ls engine is not an easy task. In fact it's an ordeal. It's a very time consuming process if one knows how to go about it themselves, or would take a ton of money for a tuner to get correct. The money spent on gas while tuning alone would be a month + worth of gas for a sbc, tune up the carb and go driving. They're not telling you for the average joe it would also cost 800$+ in dyno tune and real time tuning for something like this. Yes you can get hit and miss through a mail order tune to make power, most people do great, some people don't have that great of results after they run too lean and burn a piston. In any case every time there are these posts with any decent 5.3 hp numbers, it's always been highly tuned. The whole point of my disagreeing with all these opinions is the guy in this thread wants a nice engine swap with driveability and power upgrades in the future. I saw no mention of gas mileage, it seemed he wanted power more than mileage. Almost any sbc built and tuned correctly can give 15-16 mpg highway. For the cost difference, I don't care if yall think there's a magic ball of ls power out there, for the cost difference to make a 400hp small block vs a 400hp n/a 5.3 will not return enough money in gas mileage for a long time.

..and to me a 500whp 5.3 for 5 grand on top of engine swap price is a bad deal. A 300$ nitrous kit and 6.0 swap will make that same power easy.

Starting with both engines stock vs stock. 5.3 from, let's say an 05' Tahoe VS a 350 from an 89' Silverado. Dollar for dollar, the LS will make more everytime.

Now starting from scratch, the SBC is much cheaper.

LS swaps are not cheap at all, but they aren't as expensive as a brand new car either. It all depends what you want. You plan a budget, according to what you want. You double the time you think it will take in order to meet your budget. Or, you double your budget to get it done quicker and easier. It's all up to you.

Stock LS heads outflow aftermarket SBC heads like Edelbrocks from the factory. Those 317's on the 6.0's flow alot and are perfect with turbo builds. It all depends what you want to do.

That build they did in that magazine with the eBay turbo's and LS6 cam is great and all, but trying to fit that in a car, which by the way that dyno was without an intercooler I beleive, is not going to be as easy as everyone thinks. First off, LS6 cams are getting harder to find for cheap. And for $250 for a brand new cam from GM, you might as well spend an extra $100 and go with a custom cam from Pat G or another source. Those eBay turbos may last 10 dyno pulls, but get them underneath a hot engine compartment, driving the car around stopping and going, they are going to give up eventually.

For what it's worth, a 5.3 can be safely bored to a 5.7. LS engines don't really have much room to stuff bigger pistons inside of them, you'll notice if you ever have a Gen I next to a Gen III or IV.

Like you said though, if you are looking for dependability, maybe a turbo LS build may not be a good idea now. But eventually sure. And also, tuning a car on the dyno with a turbo LS1 controlled by a factory ECM is something like $800. :shock:

 

[NJ54880]

it wasnt 5g's ontop of swap, it was everything for less than that much.

 

[custom442]

Starting with both engines stock vs stock. 5.3 from, let's say an 05' Tahoe VS a 350 from an 89' Silverado. Dollar for dollar, the LS will make more everytime.

79 bu- I agree with everything you said except for this. Yes a stock 5.3 will make more mileage and hp and a bit more torque. BUT even for the price of the 'cheap' harnesses and computer that everyone is preaching on here (I doubt his 500$ 5.3 comes with computer/harness/wiring/conversion mounts/ or even necessary parts like intake etc)... a used intake manifold and headers for that 350 will make the same power for the same price.

Okay the 5.3 at this point will have better driveability and mileage, enough to justify the cost? you bet. Now what happens when we try and make more power. We buy a cam and carb for the 350. We buy an intake, headers, throttle body, whatever else and get a little tune for the same price. At this point the 350 is lightyears ahead of the 5.3 on power. It goes even further with a cam swap for the 5.3, same price to do a little port job on the 350 heads or upgraded ignition, whatever. There is a point where the upgreadable price does not justify the amount added. Until a certain point. That point would be forced induction on the 5.3, and if this guy wants to shell out the cash for it thats great. If he also wants 290hp on a tired 5.3 then thats great too, but anything in between well I've said enough

 

[custom442]

it wasnt 5g's ontop of swap, it was everything for less than that much.

5 grand in an ls1 will make 800hp. same as big block. there are other options. A 5.3 is a retarded engine to make big power. God where am I a ford website?

 

[79loserbluebu]

Well I agree, the 5.3 has it's limits. However they are cheap and can be found at every junkyard. Aluminum versions, some with 243 heads that flow the same as the 317 heads. Plus many came with 10:1 compression already. How many stock internal SBC's had that?

Dollar for dollar is the key word here. Say you spend close to $800 for a 5.3 with the harness and ECM. Maybe even a little more. The engine has been proven to be safely ran at 7psi with no mods. Put in a set of rod bolts for some cheap insurance.

Even if you want to keep it NA, go on http://www.ls1tech.com and find a slightly used roller cam (which by the way, is safe to use unless it has deep scores or knicks). Throw that in, literally, no break in is required on the roller cam setup. Use a set of stock manifolds if you really want or you can get some headers for a 4th Gen F-body. Depending on what intake you want, car needs the car accessories, truck can have whatever. Upgrade to an LS2 setup if you want DBW and not have to worry about finding the right throttle cable, and make cruise control that much easier to add. The parts all interchange on the outside. The 5.3 and 6.0 cranks are the same. You can convert from cathedral port heads to square port heads like the L92 and LS3.

Now I'm not saying I'm going to sell the 6.0 that's going in my car and buy a 5.3, but if a 5.3 came around for the right price when I was looking for an engine, it wouldn't really bother me about the size. Putting that engine in compared to my 350 would wake the car up. That 295hp you quoted is on a really conservative, stock GM tune with torque management.

I've seen 4.8s, 5.3s, and 6.0s come into the dealership with over 300k miles on them and they are clean as can be. The LS engine is like putting a car model together. Seeing cars with 305's and 350's after maybe 10 years and it's a hot mess.

Why are you so against doing an LS swap again?

 

[megaladon6]

per your comment about everyone hating you--no we don't. absolutely not! we disagree, sure but that's kinda the point of these threads.

 

[custom442]

Even if you want to keep it NA, go on http://www.ls1tech.com and find a slightly used roller cam (which by the way, is safe to use unless it has deep scores or knicks). Throw that in, literally, no break in is required on the roller cam setup. Use a set of stock manifolds if you really want or you can get some headers for a 4th Gen F-body. Depending on what intake you want, car needs the car accessories, truck can have whatever. Upgrade to an LS2 setup if you want DBW and not have to worry about finding the right throttle cable, and make cruise control that much easier to add. The parts all interchange on the outside. The 5.3 and 6.0 cranks are the same. You can convert from cathedral port heads to square port heads like the L92 and LS3.
....Why are you so against doing an LS swap again?

A few reasons I'm against this swap. The cam like you say is an easy swap, any roller cam requires no break in same for small blocks. The parts are an easy swap. Everything is easy. (conversion, wiring, fuel are not a walk in the park) But after this the engine has less power than before. It's going to cost another 300-400$ to tune it correctly on a dyno unless he has the means to do so himself, which would still cost 300-400$ in software. (I wouldn't recommend a mail order tune with a cam change). People keep trying to tell me it's just as cheap to upgrade an LS engine but the fact is its not cheaper (with fuel injection and computer). And with a hopped up 5.3 it's still using that much air and gas per revolution, get on the throttle and the mileage is going to be the same as a small block.

I am not against an LS swap, quite the contrary I would love to do an LS swap. But, the price and time to convert a 5.3 vs a small block or big block or ls1 or 6.0 etc isn't worth it for what this guy wants in this thread. That's why I'm so against it. Going out to turn a 5.3 into a 6.0 in a car that neither has fuel injection nor was made for the engine is just a waste of time and money, when the 6.0 could have been bought in the first place. Turning a 5.3 into a big powerplant is also IMO a dumb thing to do. If it's already there in the car go for it and have tons of fun, they can make big power. Keeping a tired old 5.3 for its stock power will be anticlimactic to say the least, if it was a brand new 5.3 from an 08/09 truck with a few miles great but it isn't.

Its the same reason that guys in silverados swap out their 4.3/4.8/5.3 to make big power. There are a few nutjobs, like myself, who have been through the insanity of trying to make big power on a small engine and it isn't worth it. Even if you wanted 600hp out of a 5.3 (instead of 500hp out of a 4.8 or 400hp out of a 4.3) it's all the same, its just a dumb thing to do it's too much tuning time. It's too much work. More cubes and done.

My question is why is everyone so pro-5.3 swap? Is the allure of fuel injection and computer controlled ignition that much to make someone want to go through all this effort to have the same power as a 350 after the swap? ls1's and 6.0's are everywhere out there and they're not that much more than 5.3's in the grand scheme of things.

 

[custom442]

per your comment about everyone hating you--no we don't. absolutely not! we disagree, sure but that's kinda the point of these threads.

ya it just feels like I'm beating my head against a wall and everyone keeps saying its such a good idea I just don't understand it.. I can't understand it

 

[NJ54880]

how many big blocks do you see compared to turbo ls's? in my area its all big block and nitrous. same old same old. and in my opinion, boost is alot more fun than N/A. doesnt even have to make good power to be fun either once boost kicks in this happens :lol: thats why i would prefer a turbo 5.3 over big block because you dont see them every day.