hey guys, funny how one doesnt think of modding anything the 1st cple years of having a used truck till it starts to wear down....had this 2000 Sierra w/ the 5.3 for just under 3 years now 117k now and the cooling system decides to spring a leak, noisy idler bearing, & what looks like to be a seeping freeze plug on one of the heads. soooooo since its apart, guess what? upgrade time..lol, LS2 cam on the way, new pushrods, new waterpump, iders, dbl roller timing chain set, and maybe a few other things, not sure, trying to do onna budget. will keep you guys updated with progress as i go along....

Cheers

 

Do the 2000 year 5.3s have a cam sensor on the tc cover? If not that cam will throw a code. Youll need a front cover from a later model with the sensor. My advice would be to get an ls6 cam instead

 

thanx for the heads up, as i was shopping for the cam, i ran across a ton of threads mentioning the same. so...went to the local GM sports bone yard and picked up an LS2 front cover, hell goin thru all this cuz offa water leak. some say overkill, but i say why not, i know one can change the watrpmp without taking the rad/cond out, but high mileage combined with crud in the rad, was gonna take the rad to get flushed/replaced 1/2 way there...lol

 

Umm. Welcome to the site. You got the bug before your first post.

 

crazy i know..already looking for a set of LS heads w/ the bigger valves...

 

Why not just get a LS6 cam so you don't have to change stuff around? Also get some LS6 springs.

 

already had the drivers head semi apart (looking for the "castech" battery icon) then, the water leak trail led me to believe it was that side head gasket. since its the 3rd vehicle in my driveway, "OFF WITH ITS HEAD" is what i screamed after fighting with the 3 bolt flange bolts & finally separating the unit from the block. wasnt leaking, but gasket was eventually erroding away. since i was gonna tow more this year, didnt want it blowing while in use.