adam7

First post! (and its going to be a long one).
I guess I should introduce some basic information. I've had this truck 100% stock for 5 years now (bought used in 2012). Its going to be paid off in a few months so its time to put that money to fun use instead of payments. Oh, 109k miles on it too.

Truck is a 2009 crew cab 5.3L LMG (243 heads) with tow package (so 6L80e with tranny cooler). 3.42 gears. I tow a ~4,000lb boat just about every other weekend for 6-8 months a year and DD this thing. I've been having oil consumption issues lately, most likely due to DoD/AFM. So I got a diablosport tuner to turn that off and will likely be purchasing a DoD delete kit shortly. That means I'll need a new cam, and now you'll see where this is going (assuming nothing is damaged).

Goals: At first I was thinking 400whp would be awesome N/A, but I'm not sure that's happening without a 6.0l block or a stupid amount of money. I'm familiar with one of the sloppy mechanics guys from a different car forum (youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/denmah) and he basically suggests turbo LS all day every day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NWLJt6SFwU&t=825s). I trust what he suggests but that may be something I work into later down the road. Right now, I'm thinking just N/A stuff to see how the wrenching goes.

Mods?

Alright so if I'm going full DoD delete I need a new cam anyway so I've been looking at a few. First, the sloppy recommendation:
JEGS Performance Products 200582: Hydraulic Roller Camshaft | JEGS
228/230 .585/.585 112lsa $288
Pros: Cheap as dirt, sounds mean as hell. Cons: Too much cam without turbo for DD? Need to upgrade the stock converter.

Other forum recommendations I've been mulling over:

BTR Stage 2 Truck cam: https://www.briantooleyracing.com/tr...ge-ii-cam.html
212/218 .553/.553 113+2lsa $389
Pros: Better than stock, possibly keep stock converter? Cons: Not as much power, more expensive.

TSP 220r: https://www.texas-speed.com/p-1145-t...-camshaft.aspx
220/220 .600/.600 112lsa $389
Pros: Not quite as extreme as Jegs option. (or is that a Con?) Cons: also more $ than Jegs, still needs upgraded converter? Also, isn't .600 lift kinda pushing it? I thought I read to keep it just under...

IN any case above I'll be getting new valve springs, I'm probably going with the PAC 1218 springs (instead of constantly mentioning what is recommended by my sloppy friend, just assume most things are). Which is for cams up to and including .600 lift.
~$200

Exhaust: Hell I have no idea, open for recommendations. I'm not really in the market for something super loud. I see most people are going to recommend long tubes so give me a few examples. Of course, if I go turbo sooner rather than later this will be a waste of money. If I just stay NA though they seem like a must. How badly would I be hurting myself to run a cam+tune with stock manifolds for a while?

Intake: From what I read, its a waste of money, pass.

Heads: Already have 243s, ditto above.

Tune: As I said in the beginning, I got a diablosport to disable DoD when I realized what was going on. In retrospect I should have just bought another damn HP Tuners (would have been better if I never sold it when I sold my TBSS, oh well). Currently running the basic 87 octane tune but noticed a local dyno shop that I'll probably be hitting up for some time+tuning after the cam (and potentially LT install). I should be able to drive the 10 miles or so from my house to the tuner after installing the cam if I take it easy, right? Or am I going to want to get some kind of base tune before tackling that?

Tranny: So the converter question. Everyone seem to like Circle D, so I guess this would be the answer if/when I need to upgrade? Not really sure how I feel about this. Obviously I'd like to spend less money and change less things but if its an all around win from everyone's perspective (or, in some cases, required buy my cam choice), then I have to consider it.
Circle D Specialties High Performance 278mm Torque Converter for GM 6L80 LS
$550


Gears: While I'm at it I may as well swap the 3.42's for 4.10's. Not really interested in going any higher than that, honestly. We do take occasional (ok, monthly) road trips to the in law's about 3 hours away and we take the truck maybe every other trip. Unlikely to see bigger tires in my future either.
-2009-2013 GM 8.6" 4.10 Ring & Pinion Master Install Excel Gear Pkg - Ron's Machining Service
$240

What do you think? Suggestions? I can expand on the turbo stuff if anyone is really interested, or you could just watch the video I linked to above, which is where I'd be getting all my info anyways.

FFDP

iTrader: (2)

I'd go with the BTR Stage 2 cam with the pac 1218 springs. You'll still pick up good horsepower and not need a new torque converter. Long tube headers would help pick up some extra horsepower for sure, maybe 15-20hp depending on application.

adam7

Any suggestions? There's so many out there I don't know where to start.

Gbrown1320

iTrader: (6)

If you plan to do some towing, I would try to stay on the stock converter. Or at least something with a low stall and a tight STR.


400rwhp simply isn't going to happen with a 5.3 and something that's not incredibly radical with a huge cam and massive head work. I don't even think my 6.0L is putting down 400rw, and likely wouldn't without some head work.

Wolftrk99

iTrader: (5)

Which 5.3 do you have? The lmg or the lc9? Seen a few lc9 engines with seized oil rings that caused them to burn oil. The pcv system in the valve covers also tends to add to the oil consumption probelm as well. Particularly the left valve cover! There was a tsb on oil consumption, that leads to relacing the left valve cover and adding a baffle to the oil pressure relief valve in the oil pan.

If you want to stay on the lesser expensive side of headers look into speed engineering's long tubes...

Slow05CC

iTrader: (1)

Texas Speed 304 stainless headers & Y-pipe combo $500.00
Texas Speed 216/220 550/550 112 Truck cam W/ LS6 Springs $420.00
Texas Speed AFM Delete Kit starting at $290.00
Texas Speed Mail Order Tune $285.00


A converter is not "required" for the 216/220 cam, but would really shine with a small converter. Yank makes a Truck Thruster 2600 which would work really well with the 216/220 cam and the converter is designed for guys that use the truck as a truck. Its tight enough where you can still tow and haul stuff around, but loose enough to be able to run small cams. Gears will definitely help with performance and daily driving. I would recommend a 4.10.

Personally I would delete the AFM, Mill the heads 30 thou, Run the 216/220 cam, Install headers and Y, then get a tune. This will definitely give you a nice bump in power, and wake up the lazy 5.3.

Whatever you do. The 228/230 is way too much cam for a 5.3 in a truck, and you would need a 3600 RPM converter and some gears. Might as well kiss what little low end torque you have goodbye because you will lose it, but it would make nice power up top. Would be useless power IMO!

Tig

iTrader: (2)

Speed Engineering of course, hah.

Wolftrk99

iTrader: (5)

Running stock manifolds will leave a lot on the table, butif you need to get it running and hold off on the headers for a while it definitely wont necessrily hurt anything!

07NBSChevy

The LMG 5.3 is an awesome motor and had the least amount of issues for the Gen4 truck motors. With ported 243 and a smaller cam, you can achieve 350 rwhp and still be able to tow with a stock converter. My current LMG made 437 Hp at 5900 rpm and 422 ft/fbs tq at 4600 rpm at the crank. Everything should be in my sig. I tow 7200lbs with the stock converter as well and it does awesome. Now getting 400 rwhp may be tough while trying to still tow with it since you would need a pretty large cam. If you went boost then it wouldn't be an issue. The Iron Block on the LMG can handle around 1,000 hp with ARP rod and mains.

Of course a larger cam could gain another 10-15 hp, but towing was my main concern. In my opinion, get a TSP DOD delete kit with a full set of LS7 lifters, ARP head bolts and Crank bolt, Melling 10295 oil pump, and either stock MLS head gaskets or if you want more compression and better quench you can mess around with smaller thickness head gaskets. ARH headers, Kooks and Stainless works seem to be awesome headers but are pricey. My ARH headers have absolutely no clearance issues even with it being a 4x4. The Stock NNBS truck intake is your best bet, you can go with a LS3 90mm throttle body if you want but wont gain much over the stock 87mm. TSP-PRC does awesome CNC port work and are relatively cheap. I had them do a stage 1 port job and milled the heads to 63cc for a bump in compression. I was told by a few shops the stock valves, 2.00" and 1.55", with the 243 heads can flow 550+hp before needing larger valves and unless you are going for a high rpm max effort engine there is no need to go with the larger valves, especially on a 5.3. The BTR truck stage 2 cam is a perfect cam for towing and performance. A 216/220 cam would be the largest cam I would go with on a stock converter, it will probably gain another 10hp over my current cam as well. I can also say the BTR truck stage 2 outperforms the COMP XR265 by a few ponies from 2000 rpm to 6200 rpm. It is not much, maybe 3-5 HP and TQ but might as well go with a better cam since you are in there.

Also, In my opinion, I would go with aftermarket springs with any aftermarket cam. The PAC 1218 Beehives are great for cams under .580 lift. I have also used the BTR .660 Platinum dual springs with titanium retainers with very good luck, they made it 35k miles before I sold the vehicle. Always check with the cam manufacturer about valve spring open/closed pressures. BTR recommends 130 open/300 closed with my cam, which is right around the PAC 1218's.

For gears, 4.10s would be perfect, especially with slightly larger tires and the 6l80E. I have a 4 speed and use 4.56s with 34"x12" and is perfect.

adam7

Thanks for the detailed response.

Part of me is wondering if I should also price out junkyard 6.0 longblocks just to be sure...