5.3 quick upgrades

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87luxsprt

Greasemonkey
Jul 8, 2012
103
1
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POMONA
Was wondering what I can do before I install my 5.3. Any recommendations. Heads? Intake. (Have truck) exhaust. Thanks
 

jacobdavis1979

G-Body Guru
Feb 18, 2011
700
14
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Sure man. You goin carbed or injected?
 

87luxsprt

Greasemonkey
Jul 8, 2012
103
1
16
POMONA
injected. its a a 2013 5.3 has aluminum heads. but since its out of the car. i wanna do what ever i need to do before i install. dont want anything crazy. its going into my daily driver
 

bigmandengo

Apprentice
Oct 16, 2010
72
6
8
87luxsprt said:
injected. its a a 2013 5.3 has <a title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords" class="skimwords-link" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=aluminum+heads" target="_blank" data-skim-node-id="185:injected.itsaa20135._2" occurrence="1" data-skim-product="431653" data-skim-creative="300003" data-group-id="0" data-skimwords-word="aluminum%20heads" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="431653">aluminum heads</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span>. but since its out of the car. i wanna do what ever i need to do before i install. dont want anything crazy. its going into my daily driver

The later 5.3 is a decent platform to start with. There isn't much to be gained by upgrading the intake or heads. The aftermarket intakes don't flow much better than the 07+ truck intakes. They are actually very decent. This goes for the heads as well. The 07+ 5.3s come with 243 or 799 heads which are the same heads that the ls6 and ls2 came with. These are the best cathedral port heads that GM made for the ls series. Your best bang for your buck with this engine is going to be a free flowing exhaust and a cam.

If it were me, I would swap the engine in stock and get the bugs worked out before you modify it. When you do add a cam or change anything substantial on the engine, the ecm is going to need to be retuned to run properly. The software isn't cheap and neither is a proper tune done by a qualified tuner.

These motors are very easy to swap cams in. the intake does not even need to come off. Just pull the water pump, crank pulley and front cover. Very easy to do in our big g-body engine bays.

Good luck with the swap.
 

jacobdavis1979

G-Body Guru
Feb 18, 2011
700
14
18
I do agree with the above reply. Roller motor from the factory and the heads flow like crazy already so these ls motors love a cam man. Veteran ls guys will even tell you that you are just a cam away from 420+ horsepower

However there are alot of cams out there that very stock tune friendly while making good power and the ls efi is very good at learning on its own if it has too it just takes alot longer than a tune would
 

87luxsprt

Greasemonkey
Jul 8, 2012
103
1
16
POMONA
thanks guys yea i do remember the heads sayn 243 and are aluminum i was thinkn i was just get it running then add a few things here in there. but my brother always has a way of killing my vision. and kept telling me. i already have it outside. just do it already. but the truck 5.3 specs are like 300hp so even if i get say 250-220 to the wheels thats waaaay better than the hp my 27 yr old 4.3v6 motor is doing







bigmandengo said:
87luxsprt said:
injected. its a a 2013 5.3 has <a title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords" class="skimwords-link" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=aluminum+heads" target="_blank" data-skim-node-id="185:injected.itsaa20135._2" occurrence="1" data-skim-product="431653" data-skim-creative="300003" data-group-id="0" data-skimwords-word="aluminum%20heads" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="431653">aluminum heads</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span>. but since its out of the car. i wanna do what ever i need to do before i install. dont want anything crazy. its going into my daily driver

The later 5.3 is a decent platform to start with. There isn't much to be gained by upgrading the intake or heads. The aftermarket intakes don't flow much better than the 07+ truck intakes. They are actually very decent. This goes for the heads as well. The 07+ 5.3s come with 243 or 799 heads which are the same heads that the ls6 and ls2 came with. These are the best cathedral port heads that GM made for the ls series. Your best bang for your buck with this engine is going to be a free flowing exhaust and a cam.

If it were me, I would swap the engine in stock and get the bugs worked out before you modify it. When you do add a cam or change anything substantial on the engine, the ecm is going to need to be retuned to run properly. The software isn't cheap and neither is a proper tune done by a qualified tuner.

These motors are very easy to swap cams in. the intake does not even need to come off. Just pull the water pump, crank pulley and front cover. Very easy to do in our big g-body engine bays.

Good luck with the swap.
 
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