I blew up my 5.3 today. I work for a chevy dealership and we have an lq4 sitting in the back room. apparently it was a replaced under warrantyback in 05 it came from a 03 sierra 2500. it had only 15k on it. it was replaced for a cold start pistonl slsp. it apparently lasts only about 30 seconds. so anyhow i bought the motor today for 500 dollars. i plan on replacing the rod bolts for nowand running it. I have a t3 t4 i am only running about 8 psi and plan on staying there. the 6.0 should hold that ok, right? i also have a cam out of a 04 z06 im thinking of running. should work fairly well with boost. the truck puts down 560 579 right now. hoping for more with the 6.0. main question is whether or not the stock short block will hold up. i have heqard that stock rod bolts are weak so i plan on replacing those and not much else? opinions please.

 

they've been pushed double what you want to give.

 

do i need to replace the rod bolts? and what do you think about the z06 cam. i am on a budget cause i have a baby on the way but i want a powerful, reliable package. cam suggestions or anything else i need to take into consideration would be greatly appreciated. im thinkin if i stay with the same cam my tune should be pretty close as well so that saves some money too.

 

The rod bolts aren't week. I haven't seen any fail under 68-7000rpm and your never gonna be able to flow enough air though a t3/t4 to stress rod bolts. You need them for high rpm, not so much for high boost hp. I would replace the stock head bolts before I'd do the rod bolts on a boosted motor.

Edit: the LS6 cam will be good for a budget setup

 

Put it in and roll... I wouldn't bother the rod bearings by changing bolts. Make sure she's clean and drop it in and go.

 

Oh... And definitely get retuned... Your adding cubic inches (air volume) and if you fill it with the same amount of fuel, you will be lean in comparison to the smaller cube setup.

 

awesome, thanks. I have head studs on my 5.3 i could just pull them out and throw them in the 6.0 without ever lifting the heads off. but the gaskets are pretty cheap. also would the 5.3 or 6.0 lter heads work best?

 

what are my tuning options? I was originally tuned in wisconsin with hptuners i currently live 9 hours from there i live within a couple hours of st louis. is there a way around having to buy credits for hp tuners again? with the three bar speed density setup i runi would be looking at another 4 credits?

 

nice find, and yea slap a cam in there and leave the rest alone.

 

damn, awesome find.