5.3 vortec

[1979C20]

A friend of my moms, kim, has a friend who works in a retromod/restore shop. Kim said that he can get a high mileage 5.3 that needs to be rebuilt for 250-500 bucks. And that his friend sells vustom adjustable motor mounts to put that engine in any vehicle. Im thinking about taking him up.on his offer. My question is, what will I be looking foreward to to rebuild this motor? And, if I understand correctly, these motors are strong enough stock to handle boost correct? I really want to build a turbo charged 5.3 for my truck. Kim also said that the only difference between a 5.3 and a 6.0 are the heads, is that correct. Kim used to work at GM Proving grounds for years, so I kinda take his worf for it. Anyone that wants to chime in is more than welcome. Anyone who has experience rebuilding these and or turbo builds on these, any information will be.much.appreciated. I know one thread on here (the CCLB, dont remember the user) has a bit.of.information on the turbo build.

[1979C20]

Also, I am a man of symetry and have OCD. So, would a dual turbo be out of the question?

[Isaac3384]

These motors are extremely tough, and can handle quite a bit of boost with minimal internal upgrades. Granted, if you want reliability, then more internal upgrades will be well worth the initial cost, but I think that pretty much goes without saying. I wish I could remember which magazine I read the article in, but they did a test on what they believed was a 5.3L, but ended up being a 4.8L. They put a ton of boost on a mostly stock motor and produced around 700 hp on an engine dyno. If I remember correctly, they were making around 1000 hp when they finally blew the motor. It didn't seem possible to my way of thinking, but they had dyno sheets and the list of modifications. It's been quite a while since I've read the article, but I,'ll see if I can find it tonight.

[1979C20]

Oh wow! Thats a tough engine! According to that kim guy, the blocks are all the same on the V8 ls motors, the only difference is the heads.

[Isaac3384]

I don't know enough about them to confirm or deny that, but I have a 04 2500 with the 6.0/4L80 setup in my work truck. It currently has 236,487 miles on it, an the only thing that has been changed are the normal wear items such as the water pump, u-joints, and carrier bearing. These are great motors that last a long time if they're maintained properly. A swap that I've always thought would be cool is, swap everything over from a newer truck (like my work truck) and put it in a 73-87. Use the dash and everything.

[Captkaos]

6.0L is a bored out 5.3L which is a stroked 4.8L.
You can get LS adapter plate for under $60 that will allow it to bolt in to 73-87.

In stock form they can handle a tremendous amount of power and boost.  Issues reside in the piston/ring area, you need to gap them so they don't pop the piston off.

The article where the ran it to 1200hp was running race gas and a tune and the pulled it down and gapped the rings.  It has over 60 pulls on it and it DID NOT blow up.. 
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp_1109_stock_gm_ls_engine_big_bang_theory/

there are more differences that just the head, see my first sentence...  Different motors had different heads...

[screamin86]

There is more to it than diffrences in the heads just like a gen 1 sbc. A 5.3 and 4.8 share the same block and bore size but have diff cranks. The 5.7 ls1 has the same crank throw as a 5.3 but slightly larger bore size. The 6.0+ motors have a 4in bore. All lsx motors 4.8+ have 6 bolt mains and like a typical gen1 sbc a lot is interchangeable as far as bolt on stuff. I have a 5.3 swaped into my 86 trans am I bought it for $325 it had 90k on it and is a 01 motor. I put a stock intake from a 00 camaro ls1 99 fbody exhaust manifolds the fbody oil pan and pickup tube and the gm hot cam. My 03 yukon xl (suburban) has a 5.3 flex fuel I've had it tuned longtube headers 3in exhaust shift kit servo intake and for what it is it moves pretty darn good and gets 20+mpg on the hwy. The lsx motors are where its at imo awesome power + driveability on the street and great fuel mileage. I was going to do the swap in my k10 but traded the truck for another camaro. Oh yes they love boost I know many with a 5.3 and z06 cam with around 10-14lbs of boost making 450-550whp in both cars and trucks.

[Captkaos]

The 2000 Silverado that my twin owns with a stock 6.0L with only bigger injectors and methanol injection and 12lb of boost was making 600hp and 798ft/lb of torque.  It has been built now, popped the ring lands (see above on gaps)

[slammed79]

How reliable is that hook up? And is it complete with the harness and what-not? I'd like to get in on that!

[Isaac3384]

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys...it's been a while since I had read that article, and I've slept since then...lol

[1979C20]

Im not sure about that hook up, slammed. Ill have to talk to him about it. I dont know if he has the harness with the motors or not

[Isaac3384]

Your best bet (if you have the time and room) is probably going to be on craigslist. Find a truck (tahoe, avalanche, etc...) with the motor/trans you want. This way you have everything sitting right there in front of you. Not everyone has the luxury of the time and/or space, but if you do, this is the route i'd go.

[screamin86]

I agree with buying a compete vehicle to get all your stuff from. The swap I did in my 3rdgen fbody I did it piece by piece and it would have been cheaper if I would have bought a wrecked 99-02 car and gutted it but when I started my swap I was living with inlwas so I really couldn't take on another vehichle.