Hi guys Im new to the board and have some questions.
I have a 2000 silverado with a 5.3 liter. I do alot of towing with it. a heavy car and trailer. lol
I am wanting to get alittle more power out of it, mainly for towing purposes.
and dont want to break the bank on this one.
what would be the best (stock style) head for a 5.3? I now have 862 castings on it. is there another better casting number I could look for? or maybe have mine ported?
also what would be a good cam choice? nothing that requires a tune or big stall.
and when changing cams do you recommend changing the lifters?

sorry for all the questions, but Im kinda new to these LS motors.

Thanks Brian

 

Honestly my truck had a great amount of torque down low when it was bone stock (exhaust and all), so I wouldn't change anything except maybe for gears and a tune.

 

it has good torque stock, but I pull about a 8000 lb trailer. (total) and am just looking for alittle bit more.

I have a cat back exhaust and a K&N air filter. thats it for ad ons.

I am open to suggestions also for any other mods I could try.


what kind of tune are you talking about?

thanks

 

What gear ratio is in your truck? If it's a 2wd I'd say it's a 3.42 gear.

If you swapped to a 4.10 gear, and got a custom PCM tune from one of our sponsors (Wheatley or Blackbear) I'm sure you'd see a noticeable gain.

 

good sound advice.

"tune" = PCM reprogram.

 

ok I will definatly check into a tune. I just didnt know where to look.
my truck is a ext cab Z71 4x4, I think it has 3.73 gears.

I really want/need a 2500 but the funds just arent there right now. Michigan sucks for jobs. my truck is paid off so I will have to keep this one for a while now.

I could check on the tune, and maybe the gears. I will have to change both front and rear for my truck and that can get expensive.

 

A 3.73 to 4.10 gear change won't be worth it IMO, especially since you'd have to swap front and rear gears ($1000+).

The tune will help, but I don't think anything you do to it is going to give you the low end power you're wanting. You could do a 6.0 swap, but that's getting into a lot more work.

 

I was wanting to do the 6.0 swap but havent found a decent priced 6.0 around here. I am just looking for maybe 20 more HP and 20-30 ft lbs of torque.

my truck pulls the trailer now. but just kinda labors all the time.

 

what kind of power gains could I see from just a tune?

 

my truck stock is rated at 285 HP
and a 6.0 is rated at 300 hp.
( I think )