I am a Rookie 5.3L Chevy Truck owner. It has been a few years since I was IHRA drag racing. I see many post on here for truck like mine running 12 sec. 1/4 miles and that is exactly where I want mine to be. I have done nothing to my rearend, tranny or internal engine. I have a K&N Gen II, a GMS airflow, and a 160deg. stat. I recently purchased a Whipple supercharger.
Before I install it I am wondering what kind of heads work, intake, pistons, shift kit, torque converter, and rear end mods will get me into the 12sec. quarter range?

Are these trucks listed on this site street legal?
Also, I would like to know if LS1 or LS6 heads and cam packages will work on a 5.3L?

Thanks in advance for any help guys.

 

your going to get a wide range of sugestions here, there are alot of ways to go with what you want.

me personaly i would do(and did) a 6.0 swap(stock), yank 3000, and smaller pully on the whipple. probably want to do some long tube headers and when the tranny lets go get a build. with traction and the proper tune that should be well into the 12's.

there are alot more things you could do but that is most of it. you can prety easily max the whipple on a stock 6.0 so spending alot of money on a motor build up might be a waste.

 

Whipple is a good choice, however I would have to reccomend a 6.0 swap and a 3000 stall converter and a Radix with about 8 psi! But like Parish said you will get ALOT of different answers.

 

I like the RADIX option too. It's intercooled, the Whipple isn't. You can get 12's out of the 5.3, but obviously more cubes would be better. You can put a mild cam in there with the boost to help even more. I would get a good set of headers, I like the TOG's, but be sure to get them ceramic coated. A bigger torque converter would also be on my list.

Just make sure to plan on rebuilding the tranny soon after you start throwing some power to it. It's not a question of when it will let go, but more, will you make it to the tranny shop before it does. Don't let them tell you stock clutches are OK in the low gear set either, cause they aren't.

 

Although I think a supercharger is a great choice, I use nitrous to get my truck to move mainly because of price. Regardless of your choice of poweradder, most will agree you need a good converter and longtubes to meet your goal. Rebuilding your tranny will be a must and if you are running a stock G80 locker, I recomend trading it out for an Eaton or Auburn Pro unit. A nice blower cam will do wonders for your 5.3/whipple combo. A popular off the shelf would be the comp 212/218 high lift cam. As for head work, better flowing heads will always help but they arent manditory for you quest for 12's. And yes, all ls1/ls6 parts are interchangeble with your 5.3.