I am looking to pick up a 5.3 pretty soon to have built for my truck. The truck is gonna be one of my daily drivers. I have a 4l60e that I am gonna have built and I plan to freshen up my rearend. I would to like have about 400rwhp. How are most of you accomplishing this? I don't want to go 6.0 I have already done that in a camaro. I would like to do this N/A. So what are some good cam and head setups for the 5.3?

 

I have a 5.3L shortblock for sale right now
400rwhp on the 5.3? I say high compression, Heads, Pretty big cam.... just a quick guess
Clean lookin truck too man!

Goodluck with the build, keep us updated

 

400 RWHP... I'd say it's not gonna happen very easily and still be a daily driver.
What's wrong with just getting a 6.0L if you want that much power?

Even a 6.0L, with high compression, big cam, good flowing heads, exhaust and good tuning isn't going to be much over the 400 rwhp mark

 

Well the truck won't be much of a daily driver but more of a back up and drive it to work or school when I get bored with what I have. I will be getting a corvette or a camaro for a toy and I got an hhr on a trade so I will daily that. I am probably gonna pick up a ls1 and have it rebuilt. Probably will run ls6 intake p&p TB, long tubes, cold air intake,Ms3 cam and tune. Do yall think this could get me to 400rwhp? Will also be doing a 3000 stall and 3:73's.

 

With some really good heads and a really good tune you might be close with that.

Not sure if that stall is big enough for an Ms3 cam and while I'm no expert on cams, I would guess there might be a better choice for use in a truck and to get the full benefit of any big cam some good flowing heads would be helpful.

Unless you have a line on a cheap ls1 I still think it could be done easier and cheaper with an lq4.

 

I can get ls1's and 5.3's dirt cheap. I could probably get a LQ4 or LQ9 for a pretty good price but dont really want to go that route. I literally just got rid of my LQ9 that i have had for about a year that i got for a roller camaro i had.

 

been there done this.. 5.3 with flat tops(4.8pistons), rebalanced, ported and milled heads, and a big cam

 

great flowing heads/nice cam/ported fast intake would probably do the trick.

 

Personally, building a truck engine, I'd throw dyno numbers out the window and shoot for good power under the curve. High HP numbers don't always translate into useable power, especially in trucks...just my .02