I want to try a basically stock 5.3 LS truck motor in my soon to be finished S-10. I am thinking a .550 cam, some better beehive springs, rocker arm upgrade and a better oil pan.
What can I find for intake manifolds and alky carbs?

Plan on a powerglide and 4.88 gear with big tire.

Nothing fancy, just looking to print tickets!!

Thanks!

Jok

Jok,

I do not know the answer to your original question and I am interested in any feedback we receive. Until then, consider this, is it reasonable to find a 6.0 or 6.2 for about the same investment? If so, it seems to me the extra displacement would be an advantage.

Locally the 6.0's are more because all the hotrodders want them of course. And there are fewer of them. The 6.2's even more so. The stock 6.2's certainly are more spirited than the 5.3's though.

Jok, something to consider, or just an observation. If your question were about a first gen SBC it would be three pages or more by now. Yet, the LS simply has not taken off in the configuration you described [yet] That day is coming because the LS is what we have available.

Similar to the Ford Modulars but not to the extent, the price of the LS stuff needs to come way down for most of us bracket racers to take advantage. Junkyards are full of them, yes, and cheap--BUT the price of intakes, ignitions, etc is still on the higher side. Then the swap parts (K members, etc).

Long time lurker here. I’ve done a few Ls combinations and currently have 2 bracket cars with LS engines. My newest ride is a 403 stroker LS engine but my first Ls install done back in 2014 is most similar to what you are looking to do. It’s a 6.0 Lq9 from an Escalade. It’s an all stock long block with the addition of a cam, valve springs, rocker arm trunnion upgrade, pushrods and single plane intake. It’s been 6.50’s on alcohol and 6.70 on e85 in a 3000 lb car.

For your question about intake manifolds, I would look at the Edelbrock victor jr. The Holley single plane will work if your looking to save money and don’t mind sacrificing quality or a little performance, although I have seen no feedback on Holleys new 2 piece split intake. I’ve tried both the Edelbrock super victor and and victor jr Intakes on the 6.0 and the super victor was .06 quicker but a 2 inch carb spacer on the Vic jr equaled the performance of the super victor with no spacer. It’s my experience these engines like plenum volume. I use a 950 carb on the 6.0 but a 750 cfm alcohol carb should work out well for you on a 5.3.

I’ll also suggest you look at Cam motion for your cam. They have a line of cams developed specifically for single plane/ carbureted Ls engines which will have the early intake valve opening and increased overlap that a single plane intake needs. For your 5.3 I would recommend their “Hot street” cam for cathedral port heads. Most shelf cams out there are designed for long runner efi intake manifolds and leave a lot on the table when used in a carbureted application.

Question here, will a powerglide bolt up to those engines?

Yes to powerglide, bolt pattern is the same.

As Larry said yes a powerglide will bolt up (minus one threaded hole in the block). I wanted to add that you'll need an adapter/ spacer to mate the torque converter snout to crankshaft.

One of my buddies has been bracket racing LS stuff for years. Stuck a junkyard 5.3 with a small cam and better springs in a 2500# typical 68 camaro on methanol and went consistent 6.50’s- but they found out you need a good evac system or better yet a vacuum pump because of the stock ring package.
One of the most fun combos they did was a 67 camaro (ex super stocker) with a cammed and carb’ed 5.3, spraying 125 every pass. He put a ton of passes on that combo- ran 6.20’s if I remember right, it was running when he sold it!

Jok, Luke Siebert is a big proponent and has a pretty good write up of his reasoning.

https://www.siebertperformance.com/new-page

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
Jok, Luke Siebert is a big proponent and has a pretty good write up of his reasoning.

https://www.siebertperformance.com/new-page

Very good read, thanks for posting that link!
My buddy Rodney Taylor did an aluminum block 6.0 with just a cam, springs, MSD controlling stock coil packs, victor intake, and a Q850 carb. Full on street car with a roll bar, cal tracks, 4.88’s, a glide (loose 8” converter) with a gear vendor overdrive, on 28/10.5 PBRs. Ran it three years, every weekend (double entered most of the time!), ran 6.80s-6.90s on pump gas, and went a ton of rounds! When he sold the car, it had a confirmed 2000 (yes, two thousand!!) passes on it! And it was a 50,000 mile junkyard engine..

quote:

...they found out you need a good evac system or better yet a vacuum pump because of the stock ring package.

Not an LS guy, but didn't they have some windage related issues on the early skirted blocks?

I have a LS build that I have not run on the track yet just dyno.

2007 gen4 5.3 iron truck block bore to LS1 bore size I think it was .117" over bore.

Stock Gen4 rods with ARP bolts.

Mahle flat top piston

Texas speed CNC ported stock heads ($1500 for the pair) New valves and springs.

Cam Motion cam Hyd-roller around .600 lift

LS7 gm lifters

Edelbrock Victor Jr with 950 holley

Engine dynoed at 570hp at 6600rpm

Look for a 2007 up Gen4 block, The stock rod are stronger then earlier rod. You will need to block off the VOD in the valley. You can buy a special valley cover to do this or you can do what I did, Tap all the ports for 1/8" NPT plugs.

For hooking up to a Powerglide, You can use a standard PG converter but the front pilot will need to be extended around .300" to beable to register in the crank. I found the cheap pilot extension bushing caused more issues then solved. What I ended up with was a Meziere FPS174 flexplate. This is a flat flexplate that uses an adator on the crank. This allowed me to use any standard off the shelf TH400 converter.

quote:

Originally posted by Canted Valve:

quote:

...they found out you need a good evac system or better yet a vacuum pump because of the stock ring package.

Not an LS guy, but didn't they have some windage related issues on the early skirted blocks?

That may be correct- the alky 5.3 they did was a fairly early model block. If I remember right, I don’t think they even had header evacs on it and that couldn’t have helped at all. I’m itching to do a 6.0 or 6.2 on alky, but it’s not gonna happen anytime soon.