Who doesn't like FREE!!!!

[roadrage41]

You're either getting the shaft on 5.3's or cheap 6.0's - currently we give about 700 for 5.3's 1600 for 6.0's

Cam kit will run you about 6-650 for cam, springs, pushrods. The downside to all of these truck motors is the cam, I have a 98 ls1 cam in mine because it was free lol, even the stock car cam is a world of difference.

Honestly if you can get over the stigma of having the baby 4.8 last time I looked I think our yard had 3 with less than 60k miles for 500.

[Avidyn]

No shaft here. Just lots of contacts built over the years. About $500-600 for 5.3 and around $700 for 6.0. I've spent a lot of time building my relationship with the local wrecking yards and parts houses. :-)

I agree, get over the 4.8 stigma. Save some money up front and build a torque powerhouse.

[Skunksmash]

Lol lowly 5.3

Skunk youre basically saving 40 pounds. A cammed iron block will outperform an l33 and an lq9 for that matter, for less money. Unless you really need that 40 pounds, save your money.

Yeah the 5.3 may be be lowly but I'm wanting a gas mileage boost here. My 5.7L TBI gets about 14.6. Not good. Not good at all. I can likely see a 4 to 5 MPG increase with just a 5.3 conversion. With the way gas prices are these days, it won't take long at all for that engine to pay for itself. Maybe a couple years. Also the aluminum engine gets a 15 horsepower boost over the iron ones, putting it at 310 HP. Couple of minor mods that don't cost gas mileage can put the motor up to around 335HP or more. Plenty for me, and a 115HP boost over my stock, outdated TBI wore out junker. It only came with 220. So that is what I'm looking at here.

[roadrage41]

l33's added power comes from the ls6 heads. sounds awesome, but keep in mind that a factory casting 706 truck head still outflows a lot of aftermarket BBC cylinder heads.

they added the ls6 heads, and went to flat top pistons to make up for the compression loss on the oversized combustion chambers. some people swear the l33 runs a different cam profile, even if it does, its negligible.

imho, go with a baby cammed 5.3 / swap to the better looking car intake / enjoy. still going to get great fuel economy, still going to be fun. I've driven quite a few stock swapped 5.3 engined vehicles. great throttle response but feel completely gutless.

[Skunksmash]

What is your idea of a baby cam? And that is what I was thinking about doing, just some minor mods that won't hurt the gas mileage. Just for a little power boost. Even though, 100 more HP than the truck used to have, should feel like a giant increase.

[roadrage41]

There's 4 trick flows, the smallest 2 would be fine, there's a comp we've used a couple times thats very mild but has really decent mid range grunt. Ill see if I can find the part number or specs. Pretty sure its an off the shelf deal you can pick up from summit.

[Skunksmash]

Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjcgXHjyChg

[Skunksmash]

Only thing that would bother me would be changing the spark plugs. Don't cross thread 'em!

[roadrage41]

http://www.speedinc.com/catagory.cfm?catagory=Valvetrain%20/%20Heads speeds si2 cam, very streetable with a little bit of an idle, put a small stall behind it and its a total blast to drive in a 5.3