Hey guys !!! New to the truck world, coming from German cars… 30-40 BMW and Audis over the years… got tired of trying to get through winter in BMW M’s and so picked up an bone stock 01 Silverado 5.3 LS 4wd w/ 144k one owner ! Awesome truck, so much fun to drive even with the huge downgrade in performance I’m used too !!

im looking for some guidance on the best forums to use for trouble shooting and guidance … I see SilveradoSierra, Chevroletforums, GM-trucks, but it seems some are not all that popular…

I need to restore the front end and rebuild body mounts, and replace rotted out leaf springs and mounts, list goes on and on, and I

will obviously be upgrading everything I can as I replace things (can’t help it!) and naturally, I have a lot of questions !!

if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be awesome !!

thanks guys!

 

PerformanceTrucks and SilveradoSierra are my top 2 with PT being my favorite board. GMFullSize has some active members but is basically dead. GM-Trucks is very active but that board blows.

Welcome in

 

Hmmm , good to know, I noticed some forums were just dead …. And a lot of posts were one time users signing up for a single question only to never be heard from again ….

i plan on doing a lot of upgrading so looks like this will be my spot for the forseable future !

Thanks !!! I’ll try and find my “correct” section and get to posting !

 

Looks pretty clean. Start a build thread and ask any specific questions. Folks will chime.

There's tons and tons of potential upgrades to the GMT800 generation. From OEM rebuilds to performance modifications, and anything in between.

 

I second this. A build thread will get you the best answers as you run into problems you need help with.

In that thread, post your goals. Don't just "upgrade" things so you can say you upgraded them. Cost vs benefits won't be there. For example, don't do cognito upper control arms if you want to stay within a couple inches of stock height. Want to improve daily ride comfort? Get coilovers from Atomic. ETC

 

PT.net is mostly the same group of guys but we do have new people come in from time to time. This easily has been the best board I’ve been on in terms of needing answers/help though.

 

The half-tons all suffer with TALL gearing, and a dog of a torque converter.
4.10 or 4.30 gearing and a 3000 -ish stall speed -converter will help it off the line a LOT.
Stock engine REALLY likes a mild street cam, I have a couple of the Texas Speed 212/218 .550" Low-Lift installed in daily drivers, quick install ( LS6 valve springs needed ) easy to tune, smooth idle around 725- 750 rpm... and REALLY run nice, YUGE improvement over the puny stock camshaft. (LM7 cam is around 190/197 duration, and maybe .450" lift.
Texas SPeed claims the STOCK 5.3 will pick up 45 HP with their small TORQUE cam, and you will LIKE it.

 

ahh nice ! Right to the point , I’ve been looking at cams but I wasn’t supposed to “upgrade” the truck 😂 tbh I can’t help but need more power… and being my first LS , I need to see what this thing is made of …

in looking “at” cams, I’ve been trying to find something that can fly under the radar a little bit… I have my family that needs to be in there from time to time but other than that, this is just my daily driver (to and from work) / yard truck … I obviously and naturally gravitated towards the cam Norris drop in cam that claims to not require anything else … (also not supposed to be upgrading unnecessary components &#129315 I think that one was .55X … but after thinking about it , I keep coming to the conclusion it’s going to be way to aggressive and I’m not sure I want to jump into the endless hours of learning to tune this 5.3.. and keep defaulting to keeping things simpler if I can help it.

for now I’ve accumulated suspension components, leaf spring mounts (fronts apparently don’t exist anymore so found junk yard ok ones and restored them see pic) 1500lb leaf springs from ATS, Mevotech upper and lower arms, HD tie rods, power flex sway bar links, brackets (apparently I have a 28mm bar).

Also picked up cab mounts as mine have completely rotted through and I honestly don’t know what the cab is being held on by but whatever it is , it’s magically doing a great job….

Still considering/researching 1-3” lift kits as I also need shocks at all 4 corners.. not sure if I should just go with cranking keys, lift hubs or various other options…really need some persuasion here as i need to find something.

I’ve never had a build thread so im not sure how to go about that… also is probably more attention than I’m used to feeling comfortable with … but I’ll think about it, especially if it will be extremely benefitial and insightful in this project…

I appreciate you guys very much ! Fridays almost here


Pass side rear leaf / front mount collapsed , could this cause this side of my bed to looked jacked up higher than the other ?

Driver side leaf mount

New mounts

Current situation, not looking forward to this at all.

Jacked up bed and sagging pass rear cab mount

Jacked up rear ?

 

👀🧐 Looks "a bit rusty" under there. I would focus on replacing anything that needs attention to make it reliable again.

Ball joints okay? Lift the front and do the "shake test." If anything is original, it probably needs to be replaced at this point. Brake lines look okay? Have you replaced or flushed out fluids? PS, brakes, transmission, T case, differentials?
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Then focus on any performance modifications like a cam (way too many options there TBH) or what not.

Ditto on numerically higher gears. 👍

 

Sooooo aggravating…anyway, I’ll start with smaller posts with minimal pics and details reflecting just a few of the MANY upgrades I’ve made. Hope you guys like

also. Scroll to last post, I have a few questions on some aspects of my build I am STUCK on … thanks