I have been a GM tech for 18 years but never dealt with performance. The places I worked always steered away from the aftermarket world. I never really kept up with HP numbers and specs. I always just fixed what they came in for. I have a 2001 1500 2wd with the 5.3 and I would like to really wake this thing up without driveability problems. Maybe a cam, lifters, springs, heads, intake, supercharger, etc. Does anyone have a package available that works well together that can be purchased and installed. I have a spare 5.3 so I can build it then swap it in. Would I be better off just putting a supercharger or turbo on? I had a C6 in a couple of weeks ago that another facility did some major mods to ;cam, heads, intake, etc. and the lady brought it to the dealer because it idled too high and unstable. The thing was cammed to death and had less than 10 in vacuum that caused the MAP sensor to peg out richening the fuel sky high. They did all this with the stock program in the PCM. I told them the first thing to try was a custom program. I don't know how it turned out. I don't want to end up with problems like this. I also live in NC and have to pass OBDII inspection which means all sensors and cat must be in place and functioning properly with no SES light. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mack.

 

as you can see in my sig my times from the track, this truck started out at 15.56

look at Nelson performance for tuneing,stall,gears,headers,intake,exhaust,cam,ele ct. fans,underdrive pulley, built trans for all this, bigger or ported t/b.

 

There Are Many People On Here That Have Pretty Radical Set-ups With Out Any Driveability Or Reliability Issues.... It Really Depends On What You Are Looking For. Is This Your Daily Driver? Extended Cab Or Reg. Cab? 2wd Or 4wd? Many People Start Off With Just A Cam And Mild Bolt Ons, And Have Seen Very Impressive Gains.

 

Where 'bouts in NC? I'm from Greensboro.

 

Depends on your budget.I bet you have a 6.0 in your scrap pile,build that with a set of heads and cam for starters.

 

Do you want to be Natural Aaspirated or Forced Induction? I recommend you build your tranny 1st and get it out of the way, then play with everything else.

 

The first thing I would buy would be a pcm programmer then you can deal with what ever curve your truck throws you after bolt-ons. I have Ls1 edit, its pretty good but I guess EFI live is a really good one too.

 

Well, as far as naturally aspirated or forced, I really don't care. I don't have a spare 6.0, only this 5.3. It was one we replaced for a customer. It had some lifter noise and for the price of replacing lifters, he decided to replace the engine instead. I thought about a decent cam and some heads. Will the stock intake support this or do I need an aftermarket intake? Should I install headers? I know nitrous would be a cheaper install, but I don't want the hassle of refilling a bottle every time I turn around. A turbo or supercharger would be an option, but since the spare motor needs lifters anyway, I'd be crazy not to go ahead and put a cam and maybe heads on it while they are off, and go ahead and freshen the bottom end up. GM performance catalog lists several different heads and cams for it. Can the 5.3 block be bored out to 6.0? I know the stroke is the same but not sure if it can be punch out far enough and not have issues with overheating. Can you run 6.0 heads on the 5.3 block? Thanks for the responses.

 

Oh, tarheelz, I'm in Smithfield.

 

You can bore the 5.3 and install 5.7 pistons