hi i"m new to the forum, i'm a college student and i want to turn my 2000 chevy 1500 (5.3 auto) into a project, nothing major, still want to daily drive it but i like working on cars and the way it is now isn't as powerful as i'd like. so the way i got the truck. it has a spectre air intake and a flomaster cat back exhaust. i realize how shity the spectre intake is and want to be the first thing i change on the truck. but anyways here's what i'm thinkin for throughout college let me know what yal think. the good or bad of this setup and what i'm maybe missing?

S&B cold air intake, flex-a-lite 282 electric fans, 180 degree thermostat, comp TPX 254HR-16 cam. (202/212) (.507/.5) 116lsa, flomaster 44 (just like the sound better), tsp 5.3 stg2.5 heads, monster in a box 4l60e rebuild kit. and then i dont know where there are any good tuners near me. i live in southern oregon so if anybody knows a good tuner round here. thx for all feedback

 

you can get LS1 fans for waayyyyy cheaper than those flex-a-lites. lots of members run LS fans. and as far as the cam goes, i'd go with something bigger than that tpx. i can guarantee you wont be happy with it when you put it in.

welcome aboard and good luck with the build

 

ok so is there someone who makes a wiring harness to put ls1 fans into our trucks or would the harness from the ls1 work? and as far as the cam goes, i'm lookin for a cam that is gonna give me more power but it's still gonna be used as a truck meaning i still want torque for when i tow stuff and still want good gas mileage and i know that's mostly in the tune but the cam dictates that too some so how much bigger would u go? and since i want torque should i have a custom cam made because it seems the bigger you go the more horsepower oriented the cams become

 

Like stated above on the cam choice,id go with something bigger like a TR220 and atleast a 3k stall convertor...

 

Welcome to the forum Chris

You'll find that there's a ton that you can do to your truck and still retain daily driveability. Starting with the fans, BlackBear (sponsor here) offers a plug and play harness to adapt LS1 fans to your truck, you'll just need the PCM tuned to turn the fans on, which BlackBear also does. I'm running a BlackBear custom tune and I'm totally stoked with it. He offers a scan cable tune where you give him a deposit, and he sends you a cable that goes from your laptop to the OBDII port, and you drive your truck around and log the data with a free version of EFILive that you download. It's about the closest thing to an in-person tune that you can get.

You're definitely going to want more cam, look at the one in my sig, I drove this cam for years on the stock converter until my trans took a dump, great daily driver. If you search for 212/218 you'll find a wealth of information on one of the most popular daily driver Comp cams on this site. Personally I'd run at least a 2600 converter with that cam, but many have gotten away without it.

You're going to want to beef up the trans as much as possible before you get started though. Start off with a big trans cooler (search the GM Drivetrain and Suspension section for TruCool 40k), a TransGo HD2 shift kit, Corvette 1-2 servo and billet 3-4 servo, and aluminum accumulator pistons.

I love my Circle-D torque converter, one of my favorite mods so far. It currently flashes to about 2800 behind my 5.3, and I drive it every day. There are guys around here DD-ing 3600+ converters without towing. It really compliments even my mild cam...IMO the factory cam and engine setup would benefit from a mild converter.

Don't forget gears....4.10's are a popular daily driver choice...

 

thanks for the info about the fans and tune bud. and i was lookin at this for the trans.
http://racetransmissions.com/store/p...oducts_id/1030
and as far as the cam i dont wanna have to put a new converter in my truck, i take it hunting and go offroad and stuff like that. i'm not looking for too much probably 400hp at the crank would be nice. which is why i'm not going extreme although if i had the money a supercharger would be nice .

 

That link is if you're overhauling the trans, the stuff that I mentioned is less invasive and only requires that you drop the pan.

If you don't want to do a converter, than my cam will work perfectly. Comp offers the same cam off the shelf on a 112 LSA. I went with a 114 to have a slightly broader torque range.

 

ya well i happen to be real good friends with a guy who owns a driveline shop so rebuilding the transmission isnt as big a deal for me as it is for most. and what i was sayin about the bigger cams and plz tell me if i'm wrong but that the horsepower becomes the dominant power rather than torque and although yes the torque will rise with the horsepower i'd like them to be nearly the same if possible if that makes sense. so idc if the cam makes 450 hp as long as its not a bear to drive and that it still gets good mileage, like 18 mpg or so

 

I was a little biased at first but I put a 2600 stall from circle D in and what a difference. Even on a bone stock engine with no Mods and 128K the truck Has alot more pep in it and I dont even Have a tune.... The stall is barely noticeable and I haven't see any change in gas Milage.

I think your gonna want a little more cam as recomended. The Comp 54-412-11 XR265HR cam has 212/218 duration -.525/.529Lift on a 114 LSA with 2 degrees advance built in. It is a great choice and well documented. No loss down low under the curve and pulls about at least 40 more Hp on a bone stock engine. I am willing to bet another 20-30 if the heads are gone through.

Look at these results with headers... like 60hp and 55tq overall at the wheels

https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...d.php?t=435536

 

ok what about the "high lift" version of that cam, any good words about that or same **** different name?