Interesting

 

 

I reiterated your posts for others to see, but the budget for all incl. tranny & stall caught my attn. When I 1st read your 1st post, I thought there were some options u were thinkin, this or this or that. Upon rereadin it, it seems u wanna do all of them regardless of motor size. A cam, tranny, gear & spray are on both lists. So, I'll go off that.

Sounds like MPG doesn't really matter or regular drag use but run the number N/A, so this ...

U want gears, do 4.10s as goin up to a 3.73 may not be noticeable. I was alwys told go up 2 steps from current gear when debating perspective gear choice. That should make it snappy.

Gears of choice $200
Posi: Truetrac or Eaton $400
Labor & install kit say $400 Grand Total here: $1000

Stall. Get that CircleD reworked TB conv. ***** out, a bad boy unit from them or Yank, $1000. $400-1000

Spray: Most kits w/. most of the goodies u'd likely want, barring some extreme examples: $1000 tops

Cam: $3-400

Here's where I'd get some extra parts, on the cam swap. Spend & get some decent pushrods (I think a great idea on even a NA buikld, let alone NOS.)
$100

LS6 springs: These are a song. What, say $50-150

Your mileage, I'd do LS2 chain $70, I forgot maybe as much as $150
Maybe LS7 lifters if yours are hit.

That's just cheap insurance to me (prods, springs, chain)
Total cam swap: $750 ish

Tranny: Transgo Shift Kit, some servos $250
Not sure how crazy u wanna go, but tranny could blow budget depending how how far into rebuild u go, so it's kinda openended there.

Overbudget then go from there, budgets are tuff to stick to. U almost always go over. Way over.
Fluids, gaskets. any labor u can't or don't do.

Then, u still need a tune to tie all tog.

Not sure what state u live in, but $2K is ridiculous. Or how long u looked? If u haven't found yet, say for $1K, I doubt u'll see a $1000 price drop in a month. As an aside, I looked for a certain rearend for awhile, maybe a few yrs. I got close to what I wanted as far as similiar to what I really wanted for $400, then 2 wks. later I found what I really w/. gears I wanted, but it was $1000. Yet for all that time b4, whether a $1000 or a million, they couldn't be found anywhere, then I find (2) 8 1/2" rears a few wks. apart.

 

A stock for stk. 6L vs. 4.8/5.3 would likely be a gain of say what, ~30 hp, 40 ft. lbs. The tune is there regardless of cubes, so that is moot. If only a cam, no springs / no pushrods, no nothin, I gotta say most cam are gonna be ~$3-400. Round here, a 6L is $6-800, if not $1000 for a decent, hi mileage unit.
If he does labor, & no ancilliary cam parts, $400 (smaller & cam) vs $1000 (6L).

That said, if I felt a 6L would hurt my MPG, while it might not matter to some, incl. OP, it does to me. I do almost no HWY. So what I do can have profound effects on mileage. I hate doin things 2x, & always wonder if I'd done a 6L b4 blower went in, how much I'd really gain powerwise vs MPG to prevent takin everything off just for more cubes. Assuming I could build it as I want, w/. parts I want, & I had the time while it was down, if only say .5 MPG, that's an easy one. But if it's a 1.5-2 MPG hit, I just couldn't do it at this stage of life financially on my DD.
No matter how much power.

Agreed. It's been said for yrs.

But boost is a great equalizer. But that normally applies to a boosted appl. vs a built, N/A setup. Cubes or not.

Not sure of your bias, but u aren't boosted, so u musta meant biased in terms of more cubes.
Aww snap. I almost LOL'd, "maybe I missed the thread", comment.

 

I already swapped in 3.73s and a locker two years ago, they did help alot over the 3.42s but could be better.

Here's kinda the path I want to take after looking at alot of things and budget.
decent mileage 5.3
Throw in a cam, springs, rods
swap over my longtubes and K&N
100 wet shot.
New trans with upgrades, higher stall and servos, shift kit, tranny cooler
4:56s in rear with locker.
declad the chrome GM 18s I just bought and put on some good tires that will hook up.
The 4.8 runs pretty good and I have been pleased with it most of the time, so the extra power from the 5.3 combined with the cam and trans upgrades/lower gears should be fun for a few years. I will have the 100 shot for a little extra when I need it or a fun day at the track. I did find some decent mileage 6.0s today doing some heavy searching, so that option is still on the table.

 

Dude, WTF are you talking about. $3000 my ***. I'm planning on spending probably twice that, and it's a basic setup. I've had Smokeshow tell me what he spend on turbo'ing his old Ex. Cab and my eyeballs almost popped out of my head.

 

Outlaw, with your req's in your first post, the 6.0 longblock is the way to go. Cubes rule. You'll be way under your budget too. 13s will be easy with no cam needed and will provide perfect (stock like) driveability. I ran 13.73 with a stock LQ9, longtubes, Yank PT3600 (big billet 10.5" converter for FI NOT N/A), and 4.10s/trutrac. On street tires to with a 2.0+ 60'. On sticky tires it could have been low 13s...

 

yeah....reading and learning, then posting expert advice.

 

I have read a few turbo set ups that were put together for around $3000. One of the guys with a manifold flip who recently just got done. Said he could probably do it around $2500 because the first time it took the $3000 but much of that was ordering and paying shipping 2 and 3 times. Also having parts he didn't need in the end.

 

Again you are going on stuff you read...Stfu unless you have actual experience in boosted builds. Even the guys that have been doing boosted builds for a long time still destroy engines really quick (sometimes back to back) since you have not done this type of build you are in no position to offer advice.