Right, same here. I had some time so I called SD and asked them directly. They said 240ft/lbs and the ARP lube. They don't say so, but I suspect the SD bolt is a repackaged private-label ARP bolt, or an exact copy. The pictures of the ARP and SD bolts I see online look identical. If somebody handed me the SD bolt I have without the package, I'd would guess it was ARP.

Next question- I've got the Delco LS7 lifters. Will I be OK with .090" preload? I measured 7.26" at zero lash, and I bought the 7.35" pushrods.

 

I have been told that Specific Bolt is an over the shelf bolt in the Nuts and bolt's industry and I have seen others sale it as well.

As far as the pre load I am not sure. Maybe someone else well chime in.

I thought typically you should not go over .070 pre load but I am not 100% sure.

 

I measured the travel in one of my Delco LS7 lifters. They have .150" of travel before they bottom out. So .075" would be right in the middle of the travel, but .090" should work fine.

 

OK, so here's the long term update and followup.

New 5.3 motor has been in service since late May and has about 6K miles on it. Gets a steady 18 MPG on 89 octane gas. BB mail order tune which runs very well. Has about 75PSI at cruise cold, 55 PSI hot cruise and 35PSI at idle. 5W30 oil. There was some brass glitter in the oil filter the first 3 oil changes but that has cleared up. I assume it was the thrust main opening up, as it had .0025 of thrust clearance when built.

Truck has more power everywhere and will chip 2nd at WOT. Only complaint is there is a slight lifter tick that has been there the whole time, but doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. Sometimes it goes away and sometimes it comes back. I went from 7.35 to 7.325" pushrods with no change in sound or performance. Preload is now .075" or so.

Now for the questions-

I used the dipstick and tube from my original 5.3L in this new motor. Now the dipstick reads overfull when I change the oil. The oil pan is from a 05 4.8l, did the 4.8L also take 6 quarts?

I've been running Castrol conventional 5W30. Should I swap to synthetic oil, and if so, when?

What brand oil are you guys using?

 

When you say the Oil reads over full, are you putting 6 quarts straight in the pan?

Is it over full after the first start up.

All of the 99-07 classic GMT800 trucks take 6 Quarts of oil. Does not mater if its 2x4, 4x4, 4.8,5.3, 6.0