5.3 aluminum ls motor

[rocklimo73]

Just picked up an all aluminum 5.3 out of an 06 chevy. I am rebuilding the motor due to a loss of oil problem. What does anyone recommend for upgrades Its going in a wheeling rig and I am new to these motors. All recommendations will help I am looking to get about 400Hp to the ground.

[383_Gladiator]

Not sure how accurate the calculators are but according to it, you will need about 519hp at the crank before drive train loss of a 4x4 to hit 400 at the wheels assuming an auto trans. 488 at the crank with a manual

[007jimmy]

Originally Posted by 383_Gladiator

Not sure how accurate the calculators are but according to it, you will need about 519hp at the crank before drive train loss of a 4x4 to hit 400 at the wheels assuming an auto trans. 488 at the crank with a manual

its only an 8% loss due to parasitic loss.. so he would need about 450 hp to get 400 at the wheels.. its easy to do with the 5.3 with a slight cam, exhuast and a full tune.. your gonna have to get the ecu flashed anyway to get rid of the passlock system so you mine as well wait till you get it in the truck and ready to fire up. i can get 100hp out of a stock 5.3 with a few clicks on my laptop..

[rayfin interiors]

"i can get 100hp out of a stock 5.3 with a few clicks on my laptop."

Boy things have sure changed. Back in the day we would have to port our own heads to get that much.

[chev85k10]

only 450 to get 400hp at the wheels???? What magical transmission, tcase and axles allow this?

[Bo185]

Originally Posted by rocklimo73

Just picked up an all aluminum 5.3 out of an 06 chevy. I am rebuilding the motor due to a loss of oil problem. What does anyone recommend for upgrades Its going in a wheeling rig and I am new to these motors. All recommendations will help I am looking to get about 400Hp to the ground.

Sounds like you got a L33.

I doubtyou will see 400hp at the wheels unless you run boost or nitrous.

The good thig is you have good heads on it, 799/243. I would do a Cam, Fast intake a good tune. You will see 400-425 at the crank then. Any more and you really need to port the heads or have a power adder for any more HP gains.

[montecarlo31]

Originally Posted by Bo185

Sounds like you got a L33.

I doubtyou will see 400hp at the wheels unless you run boost or nitrous.

The good thig is you have good heads on it, 799/243. I would do a Cam, Fast intake a good tune. You will see 400-425 at the crank then. Any more and you really need to port the heads or have a power adder for any more HP gains.

This...L33 is a great start. Cam, clean up heads, Intake, exhaust, you could bump the compression if you wanted to.

You won't see more then maybe 30 to 45 hp with a HOT tune (93 oct, running maxed out tuned with a wideband). I picked up about ~20 hp on a 87 tune on my truck.

[krazy4]

400 to the ground is going to be pretty hard to get. Not impossible, but will cost quite a bit of money.

[Rinkrat456]

You're not going to see 400 rwhp out of 325 cubic inches in any usable form that a truck needs. These motors are absolutely great but the same rules apply to any engine for getting power: air in, exhaust out and give it enough fuel.

I'd lower your goals to something more reasonable for the 5.3L, such as 325rwhp (in a truck though you want low RPM torque and strong mid range). If you're looking for 400rwhp and you're stuck on that, increase the displacement. The L59 I built two years ago into a 382ci made 399.7rwhp and 413rwtq, all below 5500rpm's. That engine has 30k miles on it now and is getting 19-20mpg in a daily driven Yukon Denali. However, the biggest bore your L33 can go to is 0.005" over so a 4" crank would sit you at a 5.8-5.9L. That would make for a undersquare engine great for low end torque.

Fast intakes are for cars, and you already have one of the very best truck intakes for low speed throttle response and max low end torque. These engines wake up with a tune. Removing all the torque management and tuning the VE tables alone will change the engine dramatically. I'd toss a very small, but intelligently ground, camshaft in there with LS6 valve springs and call the internal engine parts done (20x/21x, .55x/.56x on a 110-114lsa perhaps). After that, mid-length headers and a good 2.5" dual exhaust with free flowing mufflers. An L33 like that with a cam, tune and exhaust would easily see 300rwhp. If you want more than that, shave the heads into the 10.5:1 range and open up the ports a bit for 325rwhp. I wouldn't push the L33 any further than that.

[rock4runner]

Originally Posted by rocklimo73

Just picked up an all aluminum 5.3 out of an 06 chevy. I am rebuilding the motor due to a loss of oil problem. What does anyone recommend for upgrades Its going in a wheeling rig and I am new to these motors. All recommendations will help I am looking to get about 400Hp to the ground.

well if you 2700 to spend summit racing has a stroker kit that well put out about 525-550hp at fly but be keep in mind that you have a lsQ and NOT a lsX the Q can only handle about 600hp at the flywheel and a X can take over 1000. the reason being is the Q is alumin and the X is iron. so do your home work "call the summit tech team" there really smart because its not worth building a 6000 dollar motor for it to blow up.

[Rinkrat456]

Originally Posted by rock4runner

well if you 2700 to spend summit racing has a stroker kit that well put out about 525-550hp at fly but be keep in mind that you have a lsQ and NOT a lsX the Q can only handle about 600hp at the flywheel and a X can take over 1000. the reason being is the Q is alumin and the X is iron. so do your home work "call the summit tech team" there really smart because its not worth building a 6000 dollar motor for it to blow up.

What in the hell is this guy talking about? lsQ? 600hp limits? 1000hp LSX?

I hope those drugs are worth it.

[Slogoat]

Originally Posted by rock4runner

well if you 2700 to spend summit racing has a stroker kit that well put out about 525-550hp at fly but be keep in mind that you have a lsQ and NOT a lsX the Q can only handle about 600hp at the flywheel and a X can take over 1000. the reason being is the Q is alumin and the X is iron. so do your home work "call the summit tech team" there really smart because its not worth building a 6000 dollar motor for it to blow up.

OK, you are way off base with this post. If you are talking about the LSX block which you are correct is iron. The LQ motors (Most of which are Iron also) are more than capable of 1000 hp. I have a Boosted 6.0 motor , Stock LQ block and stock crank, forged rod and pistons , that makes over 800 to the tires. The 5.3 will be more than capable to do what this guy wants. Cam shaft tune, and some long tube headers will net him some good power.