Newbie: 5.3 supercharger retro swap questions

[stinkle1]

Hey guys I am totally new to LS engines and feel in over my head. I am sure you get this a lot from new members and probably get tired of it. I have a 1969 Camaro SS w/ a 454 4-speed that's pretty fun, but as always want more power and would love more gears and reliability! I drove a friends supercharged 2012 vette earlier this summer w/ 600+ HP and am totally hooked on an LS 6-speed. I have been doing a lot of reading and have decided on what route I want to go and was hoping for some advice. I am sure there will be some that won't care for my plans, but here's my thoughts: I want a 5.3 (mainly because I can get them for $500 or < all over the place and replace them easily if they blow up, but don't know if some years are better than others???), do a cam and valves spring swap (any suggestions would be great from guys who have done this), use either at TVS 1900 or 2300 with the goal of around 600hp to run on 93 octane. What I'd like to do is start first with the engine and cam swap and magnum 6-speed and drive it for a while and after a year or two when the budget allows, put on the supercharger. I don't know anything about the engine harnesses for these engines, where you get them, how to modify them, where to send them to get programed or what is involved in doing that. Because of that, I don't know if I can do this in a two stage process. I am well verse in old school engines, but that doesn't help much. Also, any advice on a good LS swap kit to make everything fit and where to get it would be great!! Thanks so much!

[Bonehead]

I have an Edelbrock E-Force on my 5.3L Silverado. Video in my signature.

For a daily driver, its fun! Other than the supercharger, AIRAID intake, Kooks headers and y-pipe, MSD coil pack....the heads and cam are bone stock. Truck makes 430hp to the rear wheels and that's going through the 6 speed auto. That wasn't exactly a cheap set up, but its been super dependable and a blast to drive. Only running 6lbs of boost. Very easy on the rotating assembly.

On my toys, I run turbos. They are cheap and easy to build power.

I'm sure someone makes a "swap kit", but its not too difficult to piece together what you need to get everything settled into its new home. I stripped my first harness myself and I wouldn't recommend it unless you like wiring or you're a masochist. There are a few companies out there who sell stripped down harnesses. I'm building. an MSD Atomic LS motor for my current project. Doesn't use the factory harness or ECU.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

do it!

but remember it will take about 3000 just for the swap stuff(headers, exhaust, mounts, computer, harness stuff, fuel pump, driveshaft, accy drive stuff.. etc) not including motor and tranny... then the cost of the swap if youre not doing it yourself..

you will surely be around 10K(if you are conservative) in the whole thing... even with a 5.3

I know cause I did it TWICE in both levels.. a 5.3 swapped into my 67 camaro(which I done myself) and an LS7 from the ground up built(which I did with 3 friends and an engine builder)

so yea.. prepare your anus.

[stinkle1]

I plan on doing everything myself which is why I wanted to get some info from others who had experience with this sort of thing. I new I'd have about 3K in the engine even if I could pick one up for $500 since I don't have my current system set up for EFI. I have been waffling back and forth between building a 555 bbc or a supercharged 5.3 (possibly turbo), but again I just don't have any experience w/ LS engines or the electronics and that's what is holding me back. If I wasn't going to use some sort of forced induction, I'd look at a larger engine, but figured w/ boost there was no need. Does it make any difference what year 5.3 I get? Are they all cathedral port? Is it difficult to get them programed / tuned to run with the factory ECU or do you need to buy an after market ECU? If I get a magnum T56, do I still need a PCM or is that only if you swap in a factory engine and transmission? Can you swap in any cam combination you want just like a traditional engine as long as you get the ECU tuned and how do you figure or calculate what injectors you need to use (factory or after market)?? Are there any factory heads w/ square ports that can be bolted on to the 5.3? ------------- Thanks for any help you can give me!

[carguykeith]

If you're really wanting a positive displacement blower you also want cubic inches, turbo is less so since you can just up the PSI. I'd highly recommend you spend some time on ls1tech's forced induction forum, there is literally too much information for the brain to comprehend over there. I'm thinking of going over to the dark side too and my plan is an L92 (6.2L truck motor, basically a $3k LS3) with a used LSA blower (there is a warranty recall due to the isolator so have saw the basic unit as cheap at $1k), by just adding an LS9 cam, headers and a free flowing intake along with porting the snout you'll be at 600 WHP and dead reliable.

Oh yeah even going this route, it's still $10k for the motor all in...

IF you can do ALL of the hot and cold side of a turbo setup yourself and you're ok with an ebay turbo, it's cheaper to go turbo by about $3k.

These prices are based on you doing you're own stock harness rework and spending $500 for an initial ECU flash and a dyno tune, add a $1k to go with a Holly self learning plug-n-play harness/ECU.

[71RS/SS396]

I plan on doing everything myself which is why I wanted to get some info from others who had experience with this sort of thing. I new I'd have about 3K in the engine even if I could pick one up for $500 since I don't have my current system set up for EFI. I have been waffling back and forth between building a 555 bbc or a supercharged 5.3 (possibly turbo), but again I just don't have any experience w/ LS engines or the electronics and that's what is holding me back. If I wasn't going to use some sort of forced induction, I'd look at a larger engine, but figured w/ boost there was no need. Does it make any difference what year 5.3 I get? Are they all cathedral port? Is it difficult to get them programed / tuned to run with the factory ECU or do you need to buy an after market ECU? If I get a magnum T56, do I still need a PCM or is that only if you swap in a factory engine and transmission? Can you swap in any cam combination you want just like a traditional engine as long as you get the ECU tuned and how do you figure or calculate what injectors you need to use (factory or after market)?? Are there any factory heads w/ square ports that can be bolted on to the 5.3? ------------- Thanks for any help you can give me!

There are no square port heads that fit a 5.3, Mast use to make a small bore L92 head but I believe they discontinued it.

Here's how you calculate proper injector size to get you at 80% duty cycle;

Expected max horsepower x 1.2 x .5 for n/a ( .65 for boost) divided by the number of cylinders.

Example for 800 n/a : 800 X 1.2 = 960 X .5 = 480/8 = 60 so you would need a 60 lb/hr injector for an 800 hp n/a engine

Example for 600 boosted : 600 X 1.2 = 720 X .65 = 468/8 = 58.5

[stinkle1]

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. I'm not that concerned about the cost, but do want to do most of it myself. I'll lool at lstech. My last car (65 chevelle 300) had a 555 bbc that made 686hp and only cost $9100 to build. I really want to try a small ci LS motor this time.

[andrewb70]

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. I'm not that concerned about the cost, but do want to do most of it myself. I'll lool at lstech. My last car (65 chevelle 300) had a 555 bbc that made 686hp and only cost $9100 to build. I really want to try a small ci LS motor this time.

Look on LS1tech in the forced induction section and you will see a ton of configurations for 5.3 and even 4.8L engines with various types on forced induction.

Andrew

[oldgoat69]

Another nod to ls1tech.com, check the hybrids and conversions section. Several of us have forced induction of one sort or another.

[srh3trinity]

If you want forced induction and are starting from scratch, get a pull out L76 from a g8. Aluminum block 6l with ls3 heads. The accessory drive with a cts-v balancer will let you run the recalled cts-v or zl1 blower. If I didnt already have all of my parts, I would do this. You would have to do a dod delete, but that is fairly cheap since you would be doing a cam swap anyway.