5.3litertornado

Chris, you are a LEGEND!! I LOVE IT!! but heres the situation im facing now. The onlybway inwas going to purchase a motor was if i could hear it run or i could see inside. I actually have an old high school buddy who has a 5.3 that is COMPLETELY stripped. Im going to take some telescoping gauges. To check bore and lifter journals but he has everything and its 200 bucks. Nice!!! But this way, i can build it how i want. First things first its getting new ls7 lifters and treys, i got a tsp cam/ls6 beehive valve spring kit im going to install and then while the heads are off i will probably have some minor port work done to it and have him add the springs.

Heres a couple questions about another route i may take. Im going to get some "gapless rings" but iv heard of people using the 4.8 flat pistons in the 5.3 to boost compression a little bit. Im only looking for a mild bump say like 10:1 compared to the 9.5 to one. And preferably some pistons i can use with the factory rods. I dont want to change the trans and i dont want to beef it up so i dont plan on going over 375-400 hp max either way when its all said and done im going to have it tuned and MAYBE even throw headers on it just because it makes it sound that much better... any recomendations/insight for my plan? Again now were back to the cast iron 5.3 block that i know is good. Emgine comes with everything i need but id like to build it my way. What are your thoughts on this?

5.3litertornado

Also, before i buy the engine hes going to hone it for me and put the cross hatches back in and now i can say the engine has 0 miles with rebuild granted i keep the reciepts. I also forgot to mention that yes, i will put a new oil pump in, all new timimg components, and every gasket will be new.

chris99gmc

If he's going to pull the Pistons out if the bores and go through all the trouble of honing it, I would suggest you plan on giving it a hot tank or serious cleaning afterwards. I would only plan on doing all of that If you installed new rod bearings, and new piston rings at bare minimum. Arp rod bolts would probably not be a bad idea.

Depending on the mileage on the block and the condition it's in, threre's a chance it might still have the cross hating on the walls. When These motors wear, the cylinder walls wear in somewhat of an hourglass shape(in the direction on the crank rotation). So be sure to use your dial bore gauge at the top middle and bottom of each cylinder, then rotate 90 degrees and do the same measurements again for each cylinder. It's best to make a chart. Write down all the numbers and then go back and check the variations when u have all ur measurements

one other thing I left out in my previous post, is that some aluminum blocks have an additional bolt hole on the passenger side for alternator mounting(f-body) and most iron blocks and some aluminum blocks didn't come with provisions for timing chain dampener, above the oil pump. This can be drilled and tapped for, if you are comfortable with drilling into the block