So your GM 5.3 ate a lifter and needed more power anyhow?

[rivermobster]

Tell Alex hi. I'm booked this weekend or I'd meet you over there. Need to check out his new shop someday! :thumbup:

 

[BajaMike]

your 05 doesn't have active fuel management,hopefully you never see issues like this, my 05 6.0 has about 260k and shows no signs of giving up

They keep putting smaller engines in trucks to satisfy Obama-logic. I think I'll keep my 2500 HD Crew with the 6.0 forever.

 

[Spot]

Very cool thread

 

[AzGeo]

On an 'out of the car' motor job, would you replace the 'weak factory cam bearings' ? I read that they 'turn' and cause problems .

I'm thinking a motor program with you, on these 'take out' 5.3's and 6.0's for boats .

 

[TrollerDave]

On an 'out of the car' motor job, would you replace the 'weak factory cam bearings' ? I read that they 'turn' and cause problems .

I'm thinking a motor program with you, on these 'take out' 5.3's and 6.0's for boats .

Some jet boat guys are replacing big blocks with these motors and getting good results.

 

[Bigbore500r]

On an 'out of the car' motor job, would you replace the 'weak factory cam bearings' ? I read that they 'turn' and cause problems .

I'm thinking a motor program with you, on these 'take out' 5.3's and 6.0's for boats .

I've never had that issue rear its head, I wouldn't say they are known for that as a common problem with stock motors

If the motor was a full rebuild we usually have new cam bearings installed, unless it's a low mileage core and we knew it was a good running motor before tear down

Have you ever seen what the factory cam bearings look like in these motors? They will freak you out...they appear wiped out and you can see what looks like copper showing through! GM sizes them on a jig after they are installed and the look like a completely wasted bearing. First time I took one apart I freaked out, thought I was sold a motor with serious issues....

 

[Bigbore500r]

Some jet boat guys are replacing big blocks with these motors and getting good results.

Yea they make a great cheap alternative, if your looking to replace almost any older small block, or a lazy low HP big block Chevy, Ford, Olds...etc.
But as good as they are, they are still a small block displacement. They want RPM to make big HP. If your looking to make 500hp N/A at or below 5500 rpm they just don't have the displacement to do it. They will do it a 6800rpm though....

Of course you could always do a 454" LSX stroker but at that point, you could build a 540 BBC for the same price!

These motors really lay down the power with forced induction, if you wanted to run one in a boat and want over 500hp out of it at a outdrive friendly RPM boost is the way to go. Those LSA motors for instance run great, and you can squeeze another 150hp out of them with a cam and pulley swap

I'd do a poor mans LSA....
$1500 6.0 with a $2500 take off LSA blower on it. Those blowers are really a TVS1900. Pick up a warranty replacement blower off eBay and piece together the rest.
[emoji3] that's bang for your buck

 

[Classic Daycruiser]

Quick questions for you. I have a 2010 Chevy 5.3 liter with 65k miles on it, almost every time I start my truck I hear a brief lifter knocking noise for about 5-10 seconds and goes right away. Once the truck is warmed up and restart no noise at all. Not sure if this is something serious or common until the lifters get the proper oil. Can I get to the filter that you are talking about without tearing the motor apart? It looks like it is on the manifold. Thanks so much need as I need this truck to last.

Have you tried Lucas Oil products?

 

[Bigbore500r]

Today was dyno day.....

Here are the results - Keep in mind that the dyno pull was done In 2nd gear to keep the Silverado driveshaft speed down to a safe level on the dyno....WOT 3rd gear pulls to almost 6000rpm with 3.73 gears a 33" tires puts the stock driveshaft close to the danger zone. Nobody wants to beat the shit out of the truck, or the dyno if it lets go! A 3rd gear dyno pull would have netted 10-15 more rwhp, due to loading.

The base line shown here is from the same year truck, 5.3 motor, 2wd, also on 33" tires with 3.73 gears.

You can see that it gained HP and torque everywhere from 2500rpm on up. It really picks up and runs away after 5000rpm, extending peak HP out to 5600rpm, and holding torque up on top much further in the rev range.

These numbers are in 2nd gear, they would be around 15hp higher if the pull was done in 3rd. This dyno is a dynocom unit also, which is known as the "heartbreaker" in the neighborhood - it reads lower than mustang and dyno jet dyno's.

What the dyno reads as a max number is irrelevant for tuning concerns - it is the gains and having left at the best it can put down given current conditions that matters or tuning.

The gains when overlayed against a similar stock truck are 57 rwhp and 49 ftlb of torque, from the following mods -

-.025 deck of heads, increasing compression 1/2 a point to 10:1.

-210/216 cam swap / AFM delete

-91 octane custom tune

-drop in K&N filter with the bottom of the air box drilled out for more flow (poor mans CAI)

Now, the most accurate overlay would have been to dyno this exact truck before tear down, but that was not an option due to it being injured before we undertook the project.

We expected the motor to take 2-3 degrees more timing but it wouldnt do it today. We left the timing dialed back a notch for safety since he pulls a trailer with this thing sometimes.

They're not all the same....hence why store bought "canned" runners like Diablosport and Hypertech are not as good as an actual live custom tune.

Alex at New Era Tuning in Agoura, CA was kind enough to lend us his dyno on a Busy Saturday and get us tuned. He stays quite busy....with a Redlist drag event coming up, and another event called "Truck Wars" he is pretty slammed as you can see.....

This G8 is also getting a custom cam swap and AFM delete....

This CTSV is @ 720rwhp. Stage 2 camshaft, heat exchanger upgrade, ported blower about and 14lb of boost. Oh yea....possible because of E85 [emoji3]

Wanna rip the motor out of your new 2015 with dealer plates? We can do that lol.....
Put a procharger on it and crank that little 5.3 DI motor with 11.5:1 up to 650rwhp.....
Kaboom! No warranty when going for that max dyno number to impress the truck club folks.......

Here is a pile of AFM cams....as you can see these get yanked out on the regular! This is from the last 2 weeks ....

Neighbors shop had actual boating content going on! My pal Rex Horst rebuild the HP500's in this Formula Fastec 353 here. REV valves and springs to upgrade the durability of the stock top end. This boat lives in havasu normally. Fired up for the first time today in the fresh motors while we were there, which was cool

Oh yea....the dude with the Formula also works on Ferraris.....this is a pretty good stash eh?

That's all for today.....

Oh...except this rare Merkur [emoji3]

 

[cicchetti_24]

Today was dyno day.....

Here are the results - Keep in mind that the dyno pull was done In 2nd gear to keep the Silverado driveshaft speed down to a safe level on the dyno....WOT 3rd gear pulls to almost 6000rpm with 3.73 gears a 33" tires puts the stock driveshaft close to the danger zone. Nobody wants to beat the shit out of the truck, or the dyno if it lets go! A 3rd gear dyno pull would have netted 10-15 more rwhp, due to loading.

The base line shown here is from the same year truck, 5.3 motor, 2wd, also on 33" tires with 3.73 gears.

You can see that it gained HP and torque everywhere from 2500rpm on up. It really picks up and runs away after 5000rpm, extending peak HP out to 5600rpm, and holding torque up on top much further in the rev range.

These numbers are in 2nd gear, they would be around 15hp higher if the pull was done in 3rd. This dyno is a dynocom unit also, which is known as the "heartbreaker" in the neighborhood - it reads lower than mustang and dyno jet dyno's.

What the dyno reads as a max number is irrelevant for tuning concerns - it is the gains and having left at the best it can put down given current conditions that matters or tuning.

The gains when overlayed against a similar stock truck are 57 rwhp and 49 ftlb of torque, from the following mods -

-.025 deck of heads, increasing compression 1/2 a point to 10:1.

-210/216 cam swap / AFM delete

-91 octane custom tune

-drop in K&N filter with the bottom of the air box drilled out for more flow (poor mans CAI)

Now, the most accurate overlay would have been to dyno this exact truck before tear down, but that was not an option due to it being injured before we undertook the project.

We expected the motor to take 2-3 degrees more timing but it wouldnt do it today. We left the timing dialed back a notch for safety since he pulls a trailer with this thing sometimes.

They're not all the same....hence why store bought "canned" runners like Diablosport and Hypertech are not as good as an actual live custom tune.

Alex at New Era Tuning in Agoura, CA was kind enough to lend us his dyno on a Busy Saturday and get us tuned. He stays quite busy....with a Redlist drag event coming up, and another event called "Truck Wars" he is pretty slammed as you can see.....

This G8 is also getting a custom cam swap and AFM delete....

This CTSV is @ 720rwhp. Stage 2 camshaft, heat exchanger upgrade, ported blower about and 14lb of boost. Oh yea....possible because of E85 [emoji3]

Wanna rip the motor out of your new 2015 with dealer plates? We can do that lol.....
Put a procharger on it and crank that little 5.3 DI motor with 11.5:1 up to 650rwhp.....
Kaboom! No warranty when going for that max dyno number to impress the truck club folks.......

Here is a pile of AFM cams....as you can see these get yanked out on the regular! This is from the last 2 weeks ....

Neighbors shop had actual boating content going on! My pal Rex Horst rebuild the HP500's in this Formula Fastec 353 here. REV valves and springs to upgrade the durability of the stock top end. This boat lives in havasu normally. Fired up for the first time today in the fresh motors while we were there, which was cool

Oh yea....the dude with the Formula also works on Ferraris.....this is a pretty good stash eh?

That's all for today.....

Oh...except this rare Merkur [emoji3]

That's just freaking cool! What type of stuff do you do for the ram 1500? I've got a 2012 4x4 4.7 and it's pretty peppy and tows the boat great. No exhaust or intake or anything done. I thought about lifting it but man I love the ride in it. I'm getting old I think. But it would be cool to wake it up a bit.

 

[foxfam312]

Very cool read, I gotta love it being Educated every once in a while, on all the tecno crap that is on vehicles these days, Thx again that was great.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

That's just freaking cool! What type of stuff do you do for the ram 1500? I've got a 2012 4x4 4.7 and it's pretty peppy and tows the boat great. No exhaust or intake or anything done. I thought about lifting it but man I love the ride in it. I'm getting old I think. But it would be cool to wake it up a bit.

The best mod for that is to put it on Craigslist and buy a GM truck

 

[454Rocket]

I'm your opinion where would you be with the addition of some headers and a good exhaust on top of this?

 

[Uncle Dave]

The XR4Ti......remember it well.

As for the 5.3 - thats about what I expected- nice bump all round.
SBC's respond to aftermarket top ends amazingly especially considering how old the design is.

Curious - what happens when your smog guy plugs into the OBD port and scans it?
I know you can make the lights go off but can you hide a reprogram and or a a AFM delete?
Smog back to 2000 I think is now a simple scan- vs. a sniffer and rollers.


Yeee- haaa Bigbore!

UD

 

[Bigbore500r]

I'm your opinion where would you be with the addition of some headers and a good exhaust on top of this?

Long tube headers would really help. They would add 20-25 rwhp and torque. The shorty headers don't gain anything on these, the stock manifolds are basically already a shorty header.

 

[Bigbore500r]

The XR4Ti......remember it well.

As for the 5.3 - thats about what I expected- nice bump all round.
SBC's respond to aftermarket top ends amazingly especially considering how old the design is.

Curious - what happens when your smog guy plugs into the OBD port and scans it?
I know you can make the lights go off but can you hide a reprogram and or a a AFM delete?
Smog back to 2000 I think is now a simple scan- vs. a sniffer and rollers.


Yeee- haaa Bigbore!

UD

It will pass, the tune takes care of the codes and all monitors that the obd2 smog machine look for will say "ready" when scanned

 

[Big B Hova]

The XR4Ti......remember it well.

As for the 5.3 - thats about what I expected- nice bump all round.
SBC's respond to aftermarket top ends amazingly especially considering how old the design is.

Curious - what happens when your smog guy plugs into the OBD port and scans it?
I know you can make the lights go off but can you hide a reprogram and or a a AFM delete?
Smog back to 2000 I think is now a simple scan- vs. a sniffer and rollers.


Yeee- haaa Bigbore!

UD

Just got to find the right smog guy. My 99 silverado has all the emission codes / air pump turned off. No check engine light. Long tubes / cam / no cats.... runs clean as a Ford Explorer!

 

[cicchetti_24]

The best mod for that is to put it on Craigslist and buy a GM truck

You lock it up!

 

[Big B Hova]

Lq9 6.0, long tubes, 224 228 114lsa cam, cold air intake, 3000 stall, 4.10 posi. Stock GM long block with over 100k miles.

[video=youtube_https;RTNT6sH_lFA]https://youtu.be/RTNT6sH_lFA[/video]

 

[djunkie]

Lq9 6.0, long tubes, 224 228 114lsa cam, cold air intake, 3000 stall, 4.10 posi. Stock GM long block with over 100k miles.

[video=youtube_https;RTNT6sH_lFA]https://youtu.be/RTNT6sH_lFA[/video]

Bad ass truck. I'm hoping to get something like that as my new daily driver in the next year or so.

 

[Bigbore500r]

That's just freaking cool! What type of stuff do you do for the ram 1500? I've got a 2012 4x4 4.7 and it's pretty peppy and tows the boat great. No exhaust or intake or anything done. I thought about lifting it but man I love the ride in it. I'm getting old I think. But it would be cool to wake it up a bit.

I don't have any experience with those motors, If you do lift it be sure to gear it

 

[cicchetti_24]

I don't have any experience with those motors, If you do lift it be sure to gear it

Oh yea no doubt.. All my trucks have geared after lift.

Great truck I love it

 

[Bigbore500r]

Just got to find the right smog guy. My 99 silverado has all the emission codes / air pump turned off. No check engine light. Long tubes / cam / no cats.... runs clean as a Ford Explorer!

This one will actually pass smog. Yours.....nope!

 

[Big B Hova]

This one will actually pass smog. Yours.....nope!

Hey mine passed with flying colors! My eyes were burning while it was on the dyno.... but some how it passed, cleaner than a prius!

 

[rivermobster]

That's just freaking cool! What type of stuff do you do for the ram 1500? I've got a 2012 4x4 4.7 and it's pretty peppy and tows the boat great. No exhaust or intake or anything done. I thought about lifting it but man I love the ride in it. I'm getting old I think. But it would be cool to wake it up a bit.

Basically, the exact same thing. Hemi right?

We did a Dodge Magnum Wagon bout three or four years ago. Removed all the DOD crap, new cam and ported the heads. I think we used a Diablo tuner on that one too, to compensate for tire size (after market 22's), and all of the work we did.

Did a Dodge Hemi truck last year that was a 2011. Complete rebuild some porting and a mild cam. It didn't require any retuning. Some lady went drove through a red light and totalled that truck, so no long term report on it.

Same result, WAY more power!! All these new engines respond to mods very nicely. The customer comes by every month or so just to BS and say hi. It's his wifes car, and she still loves it.

______________________

Jerry, is that Alex's new shop?!?!?!? :yikes

Where is it? He need a web site for it??

 

[Bigbore500r]

Basically, the exact same thing. Hemi right?

We did a Dodge Magnum Wagon bout three or four years ago. Removed all the DOD crap, new cam and ported the heads. I think we used a Diablo tuner on that one too, to compensate for tire size (after market 22's), and all of the work we did.

Did a Dodge Hemi truck last year that was a 2011. Complete rebuild some porting and a mild cam. It didn't require any retuning. Some lady went drove through a red light and totalled that truck, so no long term report on it.

Same result, WAY more power!! All these new engines respond to mods very nicely. The customer comes by every month or so just to BS and say hi. It's his wifes car, and she still loves it.

______________________

Jerry, is that Alex's new shop?!?!?!? :yikes

Where is it? He need a web site for it??

The motor river King is talking about isn't the Hemi motor

Yes that's his shop. He's pretty busy

 

[rivermobster]

The motor river King is talking about isn't the Hemi motor

Yes that's his shop. He's pretty busy

Ah bummer. I'n exactly a Dodge fan, so I don't know off the top of my head, what engine goes in what.

Good for Alex. Congrats!!! :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Bigbore500r]

Ah bummer. I'n exactly a Dodge fan, so I don't know off the top of my head, what engine goes in what.

Good for Alex. Congrats!!! :thumbup::thumbup:

Joe I'm going to look at a friends 62 Pontiac Catalina this morning. I'm doing a drivetrain setup for him, EFI / overdrive Trans etc.

Do you want to do the drivetrain install? I have no room for another car right now.

It currently has a tired 389 with what I think is a "Jet-away" cast iron Pontiac trans. He is gonna keep the old drivetrain and stuff it in the garage. He wants a reliable cruiser with decent mpg and HP, u know what that means [emoji3]

 

[rivermobster]

Joe I'm going to look at a friends 62 Pontiac Catalina this morning. I'm doing a drivetrain setup for him, EFI / overdrive Trans etc.

Do you want to do the drivetrain install? I have no room for another car right now.

It currently has a tired 389 with what I think is a "Jet-away" cast iron Pontiac trans. He is gonna keep the old drivetrain and stuff it in the garage. He wants a reliable cruiser with decent mpg and HP, u know what that means [emoji3]

Yes, as long as he's not in a huge hurry. I have four complete conversion jobs in the shop right now, I'll have to get at least one out, before I can take another. Hopefully two of them will leave this week, and I don't have any others scheduled to come in. I could maybe take it in on the 28th, if all goes according to plan...

 

[Bigbore500r]

Yes, as long as he's not in a huge hurry. I have four complete conversion jobs in the shop right now, I'll have to get at least one out, before I can take another. Hopefully two of them will leave this week, and I don't have any others scheduled to come in. I could maybe take it in on the 28th, if all goes according to plan...

That sounds fine...

 

[rivermobster]

That sounds fine...

Call me after you check it out and know for sure. Headed to Dylan's party around noon. [emoji106]

 

[cicchetti_24]

Basically, the exact same thing. Hemi right?

We did a Dodge Magnum Wagon bout three or four years ago. Removed all the DOD crap, new cam and ported the heads. I think we used a Diablo tuner on that one too, to compensate for tire size (after market 22's), and all of the work we did.

Did a Dodge Hemi truck last year that was a 2011. Complete rebuild some porting and a mild cam. It didn't require any retuning. Some lady went drove through a red light and totalled that truck, so no long term report on it.

Same result, WAY more power!! All these new engines respond to mods very nicely. The customer comes by every month or so just to BS and say hi. It's his wifes car, and she still loves it.

______________________

Jerry, is that Alex's new shop?!?!?!? :yikes

Where is it? He need a web site for it??

It's not the Hemi... But it's pretty peppy. I think I read that retooled my motor in 09. I did the same with my Silverado I went with the smaller 8 and was extremely happy with that because of the fuel mileage. But I'm always interested in hearing about things that would make my motor more efficient

 

[Chisel_86]

Several people on here have had GM motors in their trucks go out with a bad lifter. Most just buy a new motor and have it installed to the tune of $5000 - but I'm a cheap ass gear head, and I'm gonna show you how to fix it instead and add some horsepower at the same time.

My friends 2008 Silverado had a lifter go out at 170k miles. Motor always ran good and didn't use any oil, until the lifter went kaboom. We tore it down to inspect. The lifter failure was limited to just a collapse of the internal lifter AFM mechanism (cylinder deactivation assembly inside the lifter) and did not damage the cam lobe or block. We could have just replaced the lifters with a new set and slapped the heads back on....but what fun is that? Instead we decided on some upgrades while we were in there, to add some horsepower for towing duty and freshen the motor up a bit.

The plan:
-Rebuild the heads
-Deck the heads .030
-Install LS6 valve springs
-Delete the cylinder deactivation junk
-Cam swap / upgrade
-Custom tune

Here we go..........

Once torn down....the culprit lifter is identified. You can see here it is "collapsed" and shorter than the one next to it. This was the tapping that was heard. The motor was not damaged (even the cam was ok) because it wasn't driven home....it was towed once the noise started.

Here is the 170k motor...torn down to the shortblock. It's just a wee baby and ready for some more HP. Now I know what you Ford guys are thinking - Jerry, isn't it about dead at 170k? No Ford guys.....this is a god damn Chevy Silverado. It's got a Vortec engine, made from big dicks and real tornadoes [emoji3]

So what kills the lifters in these 07+ trucks with cylinder deactivation? Well....nothing lasts forever, but they do have an issue and its this little baby right here -A fine screen that is designed to prevent debris from entering the AFM solonoids in the lifter valley. Problem is...the screen is too fine and becomes gummed up, usually by the 60k mile mark. Once this happens it begins starving the AFM lifters for oil, and the mechanism inside the lifter eventually fails.
See the screen here, located under the oil pressure sensor. You can easily get rid of this screen and prevent this btw....



Here is some of the stuff we are deleting - we are getting rid of the lifter valley cover and all the attached AFM solenoids you see here.



Here is the stock timing set. Note the spring loaded chain damper and single bolt cam sprocket. All of this is going bye - bye



Here is the new cam. It's a small grind designed to boost power everywhere without any low end torque loss. 210 / 216 .550 .550 112lsa.



Once the new cam is in, the new timing set goes on. This is a LS2 GM chain, and the cam gear is a 2005-2008 C6 corvette piece that accepts the 3 bolt cam fasteners, yet still has the proper cam sensor pickup points for the Gen IV motors. Note that the spring loaded tensioner is history - it's replaced with a more reliable LS2 style damper block. The spring loaded tensioners on the 07-up motors are known to come apart, so we swapped that junk out to the LS2 neoprene damper that never dies. Cam sprocket gets 3 ARP cam bolts.



The oil pan and pump were removed to allow the timing chain to be replaced. To reassemble, a new Oil pump pickup Oring is installed. These are the #1 cause for oil pressure issues when these motors get close to 200k miles. You have to be sure to get the proper Oring, they vary depending on pickup tube type!



Once the cam is all buttoned up, and oil pump is back on, we install the new lifters. These are GM LS7 lifters, and the plastic "trays" you see here are what keep them aligned in the block. These trays are also new, as the originals from the AFM lifters do not work with the "standard non AFM" style lifters. All traces of cylinder deactivation are now gone.



We took the opportunity to freshen up the cylinder heads while they were off. The heads that come on these later model 4.8 / 5.3 are the same heads used on the LS2 and LS6 motors. You can easily make power with these babies. Heads were decked .025 to bring the compression up, and to also avoid the need for .025 longer pushrods due to the smaller base circle of the new camshaft. This keeps the lifter preload where it needs to be. Aside from that, new seals were installed as well as a valve job. A radius cut was put on the exhaust seat to improve the flow. A set of GM LS2 / LS3 / LS6 valve springs were installed to work with the new camshaft, which has .550 lift at the valve




Once the heads are back on, they are torqued down with new head bolts. The holes are blind tapped in the block, and must be cleaned and chased / blown out with compressed air before the new bolts go in. If you fail to do this, you will get an improper torque of the new bolts, or if your real lucky it will break off in the block which is a nightmare. The aluminum block motors can actually have the block split and be damaged by improper head bolt installation without cleaning the holes. Clean the surface of the block before you clean the bolt holes out, so you aren't knocking shit back into the clean bolt holes while scraping the deck.



Here the heads are on and torqued...and the pushrods and rocker arm assembly are back in place. No preload adjustment is present with the stock rockers, just torque them down to spec. I check preload with the cam off the lobe, and from zero lash you should get between 1.25 and 1.75 turns till full torque value. If you have less than 1 turn - you need longer pushrods. More than 1.75 turns....you need shorter pushrods. We ended up @ 1.5 turns here, which is about what it would be stock. We decked the heads the same amount as the base circle is reduced on the new cam (experience has shown me this particular cam measures out at that spec) so we are right where we need to be.
Valve covers are also back on here



Once the heads are on....the new LS3 lifter valley cover goes on. This cover has the necessary O-rings on the bottom to block off the AFM oil passages that are now abandoned. It comes with the block gasket as well. The original oil pressure sender goes back on. You can see the baffled breather setup on the bottom of the cover as well. This helps control oil ingestion at high rpm.




The timing cover and balancer go back on. The cover must be aligned with a tool to ensure the balancer seal aligns with the snout of the balancer / crank pulley. The oil pan is then reinstalled, and a little black engine paint is tossed in to dress the greaseball up a bit.



Next step will be a dyno tune to delete all the AFM codes that will be present, and recalibrate the fuel and spark tables for the new cam and increased compression. This will still pass smog, and will idle almost like 100% stock with slightly more rpm. I'll post up the dyno graph once we get it tuned up.

Labor involved in this is 12 beer drinking hours on a Sunday (with all parts ready to go). I do these a lot so it may take somebody else a bit longer, but it's not bad.

Hope you enjoyed....stay tuned for the dyno test. We'll compare the rwhp and torque readings to a stock baseline, and also see how it stacks up against the vaunted 6.0. We'll also see how it compares to a new 2015 Silverado 5.3 Ecotec. Can this little beater put up the numbers?

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I need some help. I registered so I could reply here. I guess because I'm a new user I can't message direct.
I have an '04 with the 5.3 L59 flex fuel engine. No AFM or DOD (thank goodness!) 217k, still pulling strong. Recently it's been loosing coolant even after replacing the water pump, lines, and radiator. Shop did a pressure test and it holds for 2hrs. It's also been ticking a lot on startup and I think the coolant is diluting the oil. I'd like to replace the heads and lifters (cam too if needed) and possibly get some more HP out of it. I don't know what I need though because I don't know these engines well enough. I'm on a budget so I can't go all out. Please help if you can! Thank you!

 

[traquer]

@Bigbore500r Badass! I have an 02 with 140k. Great so far and I think the towing package and the 4x4 (stronger tranny I heard) ensures driveline is good. But if/when the engine goes I will give you a call!

 

[hman442]

You would know if you had any coolant in the oil, the oil would look like a dirty vanilla milkshake. If your oil still looks like oil, there's no coolant in it.

 

[Chisel_86]

You would know if you had any coolant in the oil, the oil would look like a dirty vanilla milkshake. If your oil still looks like oil, there's no coolant in it.

It was a little milky last time I changed it...

 

[SoCalDave]

Rather strange intro...

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I need some help. I registered so I could reply here. I guess because I'm a new user I can't message direct.
I have an '04 with the 5.3 L59 flex fuel engine. No AFM or DOD (thank goodness!) 217k, still pulling strong. Recently it's been loosing coolant even after replacing the water pump, lines, and radiator. Shop did a pressure test and it holds for 2hrs. It's also been ticking a lot on startup and I think the coolant is diluting the oil. I'd like to replace the heads and lifters (cam too if needed) and possibly get some more HP out of it. I don't know what I need though because I don't know these engines well enough. I'm on a budget so I can't go all out. Please help if you can! Thank you!

217K, loosing coolant, ticking on start-up, throwing parts at it for more HP, not knowing what you need while on a budget=

 

[Chisel_86]

Rather strange intro...

217K, loosing coolant, ticking on start-up, throwing parts at it for more HP, not knowing what you need while on a budget=

I'm assuming head gasket and lifters, so I'm asking what I need to replace and what combo of affordably available parts would be the best. I'm not just looking for power...

 

[EmpirE231]

okay @Bigbore500r are you still doing this work? I have a 2005 5.3 w/ 209k miles. Lifter has been ticking for about 9k miles.... comes and goes... sometimes purrs like a kitten, sometimes sounds like a 10mm socket bouncing around in there.

If you're still doing this... shoot me a price. I'm only really interested in getting it back to stock working order.

 

[Kbach]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I need some help. I registered so I could reply here. I guess because I'm a new user I can't message direct.
I have an '04 with the 5.3 L59 flex fuel engine. No AFM or DOD (thank goodness!) 217k, still pulling strong. Recently it's been loosing coolant even after replacing the water pump, lines, and radiator. Shop did a pressure test and it holds for 2hrs. It's also been ticking a lot on startup and I think the coolant is diluting the oil. I'd like to replace the heads and lifters (cam too if needed) and possibly get some more HP out of it. I don't know what I need though because I don't know these engines well enough. I'm on a budget so I can't go all out. Please help if you can! Thank you!

Those yrs had problems with the heads cracking and coolant gelling up in the oil. I believe it was the castech heads. Pull the valve cover and check the casting of the head to see if it was one of the problematic ones.

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Those yrs had problems with the heads cracking and coolant gelling up in the oil. I believe it was the castech heads. Pull the valve cover and check the casting of the head to see if it was one of the problematic ones.

This ^^^

 

[rivermobster]

I'm assuming head gasket and lifters, so I'm asking what I need to replace and what combo of affordably available parts would be the best. I'm not just looking for power...

I'm sorry to tell you, but no one can diagnose your engine online.

To know what you need, we first need to know what's actually wrong with it (the diagnosis), otherwise you're just throwing darts to see what sticks.

Jerry had this engine fully diagnosed, before he started on it, so he knew exactly what direction to go.

You need an experienced mechanic to diagnose your engine first. Where are located? Maybe someone can make a suggestion?

 

[redone76]

Funny…I’m currently in the middle of doing this repair/upgrade myself. Just got my heads back from the machine shop yesterday. Time to reassemble this weekend

 

[Chisel_86]

I'm sorry to tell you, but no one can diagnose your engine online.

To know what you need, we first need to know what's actually wrong with it (the diagnosis), otherwise you're just throwing darts to see what sticks.

Jerry had this engine fully diagnosed, before he started on it, so he knew exactly what direction to go.

You need an experienced mechanic to diagnose your engine first. Where are located? Maybe someone can make a suggestion?

I understand that. I already know about the potential cracked heads/coolant loss which is why I'm here... SO, how about this: I want to buy new heads, lifters, and a cam. Which ones will work with my 5.3 and where can I buy them?

 

[rivermobster]

I understand that. I already know about the potential cracked heads/coolant loss which is why I'm here... SO, how about this: I want to buy new heads, lifters, and a cam. Which ones will work with my 5.3 and where can I buy them?

There are literally hundreds of options for what you just asked...

What's the best option for you?

There are dozens of things to consider!

Jerry is a super confident mechanic, and hand picked all the options/products he used based on the info he got from his customer.

It's not as simple a process as you seem to think it is!

Start by deciding what Brand of cam you want to use, and then call their tech support line, and discuss everything with them.

That would be Your best option at this point.

 

[HBCraig]

Today was dyno day.....

Here are the results - Keep in mind that the dyno pull was done In 2nd gear to keep the Silverado driveshaft speed down to a safe level on the dyno....WOT 3rd gear pulls to almost 6000rpm with 3.73 gears a 33" tires puts the stock driveshaft close to the danger zone. Nobody wants to beat the shit out of the truck, or the dyno if it lets go! A 3rd gear dyno pull would have netted 10-15 more rwhp, due to loading.

The base line shown here is from the same year truck, 5.3 motor, 2wd, also on 33" tires with 3.73 gears.

You can see that it gained HP and torque everywhere from 2500rpm on up. It really picks up and runs away after 5000rpm, extending peak HP out to 5600rpm, and holding torque up on top much further in the rev range.

These numbers are in 2nd gear, they would be around 15hp higher if the pull was done in 3rd. This dyno is a dynocom unit also, which is known as the "heartbreaker" in the neighborhood - it reads lower than mustang and dyno jet dyno's.

What the dyno reads as a max number is irrelevant for tuning concerns - it is the gains and having left at the best it can put down given current conditions that matters or tuning.

The gains when overlayed against a similar stock truck are 57 rwhp and 49 ftlb of torque, from the following mods -

-.025 deck of heads, increasing compression 1/2 a point to 10:1.

-210/216 cam swap / AFM delete

-91 octane custom tune

-drop in K&N filter with the bottom of the air box drilled out for more flow (poor mans CAI)

Now, the most accurate overlay would have been to dyno this exact truck before tear down, but that was not an option due to it being injured before we undertook the project.

We expected the motor to take 2-3 degrees more timing but it wouldnt do it today. We left the timing dialed back a notch for safety since he pulls a trailer with this thing sometimes.

They're not all the same....hence why store bought "canned" runners like Diablosport and Hypertech are not as good as an actual live custom tune.

Alex at New Era Tuning in Agoura, CA was kind enough to lend us his dyno on a Busy Saturday and get us tuned. He stays quite busy....with a Redlist drag event coming up, and another event called "Truck Wars" he is pretty slammed as you can see.....

This G8 is also getting a custom cam swap and AFM delete....

This CTSV is @ 720rwhp. Stage 2 camshaft, heat exchanger upgrade, ported blower about and 14lb of boost. Oh yea....possible because of E85 [emoji3]

Wanna rip the motor out of your new 2015 with dealer plates? We can do that lol.....
Put a procharger on it and crank that little 5.3 DI motor with 11.5:1 up to 650rwhp.....
Kaboom! No warranty when going for that max dyno number to impress the truck club folks.......

Here is a pile of AFM cams....as you can see these get yanked out on the regular! This is from the last 2 weeks ....

Neighbors shop had actual boating content going on! My pal Rex Horst rebuild the HP500's in this Formula Fastec 353 here. REV valves and springs to upgrade the durability of the stock top end. This boat lives in havasu normally. Fired up for the first time today in the fresh motors while we were there, which was cool

Oh yea....the dude with the Formula also works on Ferraris.....this is a pretty good stash eh?

That's all for today.....

Oh...except this rare Merkur [emoji3]

XR4Ti?

 

[Bigbore500r]

okay @Bigbore500r are you still doing this work? I have a 2005 5.3 w/ 209k miles. Lifter has been ticking for about 9k miles.... comes and goes... sometimes purrs like a kitten, sometimes sounds like a 10mm socket bouncing around in there.

If you're still doing this... shoot me a price. I'm only really interested in getting it back to stock working order.

I'm not able to do the work currently, way too busy.

Sorry - replied to you with wrong message!

 

[Bigbore500r]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I need some help. I registered so I could reply here. I guess because I'm a new user I can't message direct.
I have an '04 with the 5.3 L59 flex fuel engine. No AFM or DOD (thank goodness!) 217k, still pulling strong. Recently it's been loosing coolant even after replacing the water pump, lines, and radiator. Shop did a pressure test and it holds for 2hrs. It's also been ticking a lot on startup and I think the coolant is diluting the oil. I'd like to replace the heads and lifters (cam too if needed) and possibly get some more HP out of it. I don't know what I need though because I don't know these engines well enough. I'm on a budget so I can't go all out. Please help if you can! Thank you!

Hello, welcome to RDP

Your year 5.3 is one of the years that could be affected by the bad casting heads.
They are called "Castech" heads

You can usually tell them by a casting mark under the valve cover, it looks like a battery symbol:

View attachment 1122099

View attachment 1122100

You could be loosing coolant in a few ways, but if you have ruled out radiator, water pump, freeze plugs, coolant crossover lines, steam port vent line, etc etc etc,
I'd suggest one of 2 options

1. If the engine runs well and does not consume oil, and has good oil pressure...
   1. Source a set of healthy 5.3 stock replacement heads and plop them on with new gaskets. Since you mentioned your truck has been ticking, I would yank the lifters and replace while you are in there. Inspect them for signs of physical damage, if it appears they have mechanical damage, lost rollers / etc, your will probably need to replace the cam too. If the lifters look fine, just "old and tired" - You can probably get away with just popping new lifters in with existing cam. Keep in mind......your timing chain has 215k....so it may be prudent to replace everything since you are in that far. Figure $150 for gaskets, $50 for fluids, $200 for lifters, $100 for a complete set of lifter trays (yours will be wasted....), and most likely $400-$800 for a pair of reman or rebuilt heads. Your around $1000 DIY with replacement heads.

2. If the engine has issues, or if you want to skip all the BS listed above - Just find a decent take-out motor with lower miles and swap it. Something 06-07 from a NBS (cat eye) truck will make sure you don't have the head casting issue. Used motors run $1500 (est). Or find a reman motor, they can be had between $2000-$2500.

Alot of what your doing depends on condition of the motor. You won't know till you get in there. Its a bit of labor, and if your gonna keep the truck for a while you may want to consider putting a new / reman motor in it. At 215k, it may have some life left in it but you are getting up there. It may be a case of "cry once or cry twice...." trying to save $1000.

My 2 cents*
*May not actually represent .02 USD

 

[EmpirE231]

Hello, welcome to RDP

I'm not a mechanic for hire, at least these days i'm not....

Your year 5.3 is one of the years that could be affected by the bad casting heads.
They are called "Castech" heads

You can usually tell them by a casting mark under the valve cover, it looks like a battery symbol:

View attachment 1122099

View attachment 1122100

You could be loosing coolant in a few ways, but if you have ruled out radiator, water pump, freeze plugs, coolant crossover lines, steam port vent line, etc etc etc,
I'd suggest one of 2 options

1. If the engine runs well and does not consume oil, and has good oil pressure...
   1. Source a set of healthy 5.3 stock replacement heads and plop them on with new gaskets. Since you mentioned your truck has been ticking, I would yank the lifters and replace while you are in there. Inspect them for signs of physical damage, if it appears they have mechanical damage, lost rollers / etc, your will probably need to replace the cam too. If the lifters look fine, just "old and tired" - You can probably get away with just popping new lifters in with existing cam. Keep in mind......your timing chain has 215k....so it may be prudent to replace everything since you are in that far. Figure $150 for gaskets, $50 for fluids, $200 for lifters, $100 for a complete set of lifter trays (yours will be wasted....), and most likely $400-$800 for a pair of reman or rebuilt heads. Your around $1000 DIY with replacement heads.

2. If the engine has issues, or if you want to skip all the BS listed above - Just find a decent take-out motor with lower miles and swap it. Something 06-07 from a NBS (cat eye) truck will make sure you don't have the head casting issue. Used motors run $1500 (est). Or find a reman motor, they can be had between $2000-$2500.

Alot of what your doing depends on condition of the motor. You won't know till you get in there. Its a bit of labor, and if your gonna keep the truck for a while you may want to consider putting a new / reman motor in it. At 215k, it may have some life left in it but you are getting up there. It may be a case of "cry once or cry twice...." trying to save $1000.

My 2 cents*
*May not actually represent .02 USD

Thanks for the feedback! where is a good place to get a good reman 5.3? I'm in the riverside area.

 

[76 Hondo]

Hello, welcome to RDP

Your year 5.3 is one of the years that could be affected by the bad casting heads.
They are called "Castech" heads

You can usually tell them by a casting mark under the valve cover, it looks like a battery symbol:

View attachment 1122099

View attachment 1122100

You could be loosing coolant in a few ways, but if you have ruled out radiator, water pump, freeze plugs, coolant crossover lines, steam port vent line, etc etc etc,
I'd suggest one of 2 options

1. If the engine runs well and does not consume oil, and has good oil pressure...
   1. Source a set of healthy 5.3 stock replacement heads and plop them on with new gaskets. Since you mentioned your truck has been ticking, I would yank the lifters and replace while you are in there. Inspect them for signs of physical damage, if it appears they have mechanical damage, lost rollers / etc, your will probably need to replace the cam too. If the lifters look fine, just "old and tired" - You can probably get away with just popping new lifters in with existing cam. Keep in mind......your timing chain has 215k....so it may be prudent to replace everything since you are in that far. Figure $150 for gaskets, $50 for fluids, $200 for lifters, $100 for a complete set of lifter trays (yours will be wasted....), and most likely $400-$800 for a pair of reman or rebuilt heads. Your around $1000 DIY with replacement heads.

2. If the engine has issues, or if you want to skip all the BS listed above - Just find a decent take-out motor with lower miles and swap it. Something 06-07 from a NBS (cat eye) truck will make sure you don't have the head casting issue. Used motors run $1500 (est). Or find a reman motor, they can be had between $2000-$2500.

Alot of what your doing depends on condition of the motor. You won't know till you get in there. Its a bit of labor, and if your gonna keep the truck for a while you may want to consider putting a new / reman motor in it. At 215k, it may have some life left in it but you are getting up there. It may be a case of "cry once or cry twice...." trying to save $1000.

My 2 cents*
*May not actually represent .02 USD

After re-reading this thread does it solve the rough idle problem, asking for a friend