how many stock pushrods have you ever seen bend? I know a guy with a T-REX cam spinning 7,500 rpm on stock pushrods. what gaskets? reuse the stockers. yellow springs are cheap. $50 for my cam, $50 for yellow springs.

 

you do need to purchase a new crank bolt. other than that you're set. also coolant

 

https://sdparts.com/details/gm-factory-replacement-parts/12633906

https://sdparts.com/details/scoggin-dickey-parts-center/cas109081

http://www.briantooleyracing.com/ls2-single-pole-timing-chain-gear-12576407.html

Here are the parts needed minus springs depending what 5.3 you have. Plus need crank bolt and coolant as others have said.

 

For what its worth I did an ls2 cam on my 5.3 swapped trans am. I had an l33 that has 799 heads and 9.9:1 compression. Full bolt ons on a dynojet put down 371 hp and 348 torque.

My buddy has an ls1 trans am with 04 ls6 cam and ls6 heads also full bolt ons. Same dyno put down 393 HP and 377 torque.

Both auto's, I had ls6 intake vs his ssi intake, my cam specs 204/211@.050 .525/.525 lift 116 LSA. His 204/218@.050 .550/.550 lift 117.5 LSA. The 23ci, .6 compression, slightly wider LSA, slightly higher lift and few degrees more exhaust plus a supposed better intake netted him 22 HP and 29 tq over my set up.

However with most 5.3 dynos I see well under the 300 range for bolt ons. I think I faired pretty well for comparison sake. However if this is in a truck I've read over n over you lose a LOT of torque off idle. Right where it counts in a heavy pig.

 

I had a LS6 cam in my 5.3 and hated it. Had no torque down low but felt great above 4k. Low torque is everything for a heavy truck!!

 

Damn that's a scary proposition risking a lot more than just the pushrods running stockers. I have seen two sets bent in person both on stock cams. More than likely from age/use one had over 200k on the clock and the other over 150k. Both failed after spinning no more than 6400. I think it's pretty well accepted that push rods are included in every cam kit I have ever seen. Not saying it can't be done, but I sure as hell think its worth the money. I was thinking timing cover gasket water pump gasket amongst other things.

 

i run upgraded pushrods too...just showing that it can be done. he abuses his engines too. never had a problem running stock pushrods with single springs.