5.3L LS Engine

[87MC_SS]

5.3 ls engine from a GM truck.. ive heard alot about it most into street/drag cars 315hp 345ft/lbs stock. what do you guys thhink in a gbody??

 

[Possumz]

Thats the same thing Im researching now. Picked up the LS engine swap book last week. Thinking of starting with the 5.3 but for now research and parts gathering.
Deron 😀

 

[Qdub24]

There are a lot of them around since the GM LQ truck engines cost less than the GM LS car engines. Doesn't take too much to get those hp numbers up either, or so I've been told.

 

[85montemj]

A friend of my dad is puttong an LQ into an S10. He's making over 400 with a cam and flashing the computer. You can do that for pretty cheap.

 

[SScamino]

the 5.3 is a great motor, and those heads are AMAZING heads. Its a popular swap to put 5.3 heads on a 6.0. Port the heads, big cam, intake and tunning and it'll be a big power motor. 5.3s make generally about 15-30 hp difference from a ls1 which is 20 cubic inches bigger. I think you can even bore the 5.3 to 5.7s Atleast I've heard that in a couple different places.

 

[79loserbluebu]

Yea you can take a 5.3 to a 5.7 specs but it's probably not even worth it considering the machining costs. 350hp is stupidly easy to make on these engines.

I'm currently building a stock internal LQ4 with Katech rod bolts, ported and shimmed LS6 oil pump, 243 Z06 heads with the hollow valves, LS6 PCV, LS6 intake with ported and polished MAF and TB. All going in my 79' Malibu with an 02' Camaro harness and ECM.

At first you'll be suprised with how much it costs, but all the parts for the swap are out there and aren't too expensive considering the gains you get.

 

[87montecarlomrc]

It's almost the way to go now days.

 

[87MC_SS]

Yea you can take a 5.3 to a 5.7 specs but it's probably not even worth it considering the machining costs. 350hp is stupidly easy to make on these engines.

I'm currently building a stock internal LQ4 with Katech rod bolts, ported and shimmed LS6 oil pump, 243 Z06 heads with the hollow valves, LS6 PCV, LS6 intake with ported and polished MAF and TB. All going in my 79' Malibu with an 02' Camaro harness and ECM.

At first you'll be suprised with how much it costs, but all the parts for the swap are out there and aren't too expensive considering the gains you get.

@79loserbluebu whats the price ticket on your build?

I want to start with the 5.3l ls. out the truck not the cars... the cars hav transverse engines and the mount holes for the transmission are different. and what LS Swap book u got?? im trying to look into the cost of everything and finding parts

 

[79loserbluebu]

Well here's all I got right now...

LQ4 engine intake to oil pan $300
LS6 intake with injectors gaskets and bolts $375
Ported and polished TB and MAF, LS6 pump, truck coils $315
02' Camaro harness and ECM $314
2002 Z06 243 heads $400
BMR 4L60E trans crossmember, mount, engine mounts $500
Still don't have a transmission yet or the correct length driveshaft, or the CTS-v oilpan setup. Also going to switch from my Mark VIII to an LS1 electric fan setup

However right now collecting parts I've made some mistakes of course, getting the wrong things, but and I also have takeoffs from the engine I have now, I can sell the intake hopefully for $50-75 complete, exhaust mainfolds for a truck for maybe another $50, then the truck oil pan setup for whatever. I bought an LS1 longblock for my buddy for $50 that was blown up at the dealership so they could replace it with a new crate. What they didn't know was the later LS1 SS F-bodies came with LS6 intakes, so I can sell that back as well as the new engine he replaced the LS1 with had an LS6 PCV setup in the valley cover.

I'm not using a book I didn't even think they had any for our cars. I picked the engine up from a member on www.maliburacing.com with an 81' Malibu with an LS7 in it, and just looked around and saw where everything was like the headers, mounts, heaterbox mods, PCM, wiring harness electric fan etc.

Really the swap doesn't look too hard. It's more less trying to keep it as factory looking as possible is what the challenge is.

But yeah, don't even try going for an aluminum LS1 for a swap. My dad's 06' Silverado has an aluminum block 5.3 if you are looking for aluminum engines. But someone did a weight comparison and I think the difference was 40 pounds more or less. There's people making 400hp on 5.3's with a heads and cam swap so your goal is really possible. I thought finding parts was going to be a pain but I've been using www.ls1tech.com and I'm nearly out of money already :lol: so you can definately find what you are looking for from there, CL, and eBay. Just be patient and not in a rush and you'll get good deals.

 

[87MC_SS]

Well here's all I got right now...

LQ4 engine intake to oil pan $300
LS6 intake with injectors gaskets and bolts $375
Ported and polished TB and MAF, LS6 pump, truck coils $315
02' Camaro harness and ECM $314
2002 Z06 243 heads $400
BMR 4L60E trans crossmember, mount, engine mounts $500
Still don't have a transmission yet or the correct length driveshaft, or the CTS-v oilpan setup. Also going to switch from my Mark VIII to an LS1 electric fan setup

However right now collecting parts I've made some mistakes of course, getting the wrong things, but and I also have takeoffs from the engine I have now, I can sell the intake hopefully for $50-75 complete, exhaust mainfolds for a truck for maybe another $50, then the truck oil pan setup for whatever. I bought an LS1 longblock for my buddy for $50 that was blown up at the dealership so they could replace it with a new crate. What they didn't know was the later LS1 SS F-bodies came with LS6 intakes, so I can sell that back as well as the new engine he replaced the LS1 with had an LS6 PCV setup in the valley cover.

I'm not using a book I didn't even think they had any for our cars. I picked the engine up from a member on http://www.maliburacing.com with an 81' Malibu with an LS7 in it, and just looked around and saw where everything was like the headers, mounts, heaterbox mods, PCM, wiring harness electric fan etc.

Really the swap doesn't look too hard. It's more less trying to keep it as factory looking as possible is what the challenge is.

But yeah, don't even try going for an aluminum LS1 for a swap. My dad's 06' Silverado has an aluminum block 5.3 if you are looking for aluminum engines. But someone did a weight comparison and I think the difference was 40 pounds more or less. There's people making 400hp on 5.3's with a heads and cam swap so your goal is really possible. I thought finding parts was going to be a pain but I've been using http://www.ls1tech.com and I'm nearly out of money already :lol: so you can definately find what you are looking for from there, CL, and eBay. Just be patient and not in a rush and you'll get good deals.

The LQ4 also came out of a chevy truck correct? just a different option. So whats the difference between the LQ4 and the aluminum 5.3? the Lq4 is a 6.0L right? whats the HP n torque difference