The Great Smaug

[KirsL]

Pick a route and do it. Either put a military take out 6.5 in it, about 3 grand with shipping. Or out a 6.0 ls in, I say go with the 6.0 because if you're doing the swap make it worth while . Probably about the same 3 grand by the time you swap everything needed for a gasser.

Either will do what you want. Just a matter of deciding.

 

[ZooMad75]

324hp 5.3 is not an LM7. Take a look at the page from Pirate on the LS engines.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/LSPrimer/Part2/#TheGenIIIIVTruckSUVMotor

You know most of the 1/2 ton trucks that came with the 5.3 came with 3.73 gearing? It was the steepest ratio they offered. Now the steepest is 3.42's.

With a 5.3 the 5 speed would make a great combo. Let's look at it this way. Growing family, wanting to explore and show them all the wonder of the outdoors right? Do you want to be stuck up to your armpits in diesel fuel fixing something again or would you rather be driving into the UP?

It's really that simple. Once it's set up, you've got the potential reliability of an engine platform good for 250,000 miles or better if maintained. Parts are actually available at any dealer or corner parts store. It's a rock solid platform. I know it's a pretty mainstream choice now, but there is a reason why it is. You won't have the high probability of a block cracking or a crank snapping with a 5.3 or 6.0 either.

 

[Chevy305]

You know most of the 1/2 ton trucks that came with the 5.3 came with 3.73 gearing? It was the steepest ratio they offered. Now the steepest is 3.42's.

With a 5.3 the 5 speed would make a great combo. Let's look at it this way. Growing family, wanting to explore and show them all the wonder of the outdoors right? Do you want to be stuck up to your armpits in diesel fuel fixing something again or would you rather be driving into the UP?

It's really that simple. Once it's set up, you've got the potential reliability of an engine platform good for 250,000 miles or better if maintained. Parts are actually available at any dealer or corner parts store. It's a rock solid platform. I know it's a pretty mainstream choice now, but there is a reason why it is. You won't have the high probability of a block cracking or a crank snapping with a 5.3 or 6.0 either.

EXACTLY. Most LS trucks were lucky to get 3.73 gears, more are 3.42 or 3.08.
My former '00 Tahoe had a 5.3 LM7, 4L60, 3.73s, and 33" mud tires. It was plenty peppy and would cruise down the highway very nicely. (The 4L60 has the same OD gear as a NV3500) Sure 4.10s would have been an ideal gear for the setup but really the difference between the two wasn't enough to justify the money. There's plenty of people out there driving around on worse gears and getting along just fine. Your reasoning for not LS swapping because of gearing is pointless.

 

[82355]

The 6.2 ran just fine before you removed the pan, not?

Martin

 

[campfire]

Pick a route and do it. Either put a military take out 6.5 in it, about 3 grand with shipping. Or out a 6.0 ls in, I say go with the 6.0 because if you're doing the swap make it worth while . Probably about the same 3 grand by the time you swap everything needed for a gasser.

Either will do what you want. Just a matter of deciding.

Nope. $3k is not in the cards this year. Not for a 6.0, not for a 5.9 or a 3.9, and certainly not for a 6.2/6.5 engine.

Those ideas will need to wait. If I want a 5.3 Suburban the easiest answer is to simply buy one. Given the nickes and dimes, it may well be the cheap route, too.

https://greenbay.craigslist.org/cto/d/2003-chevy-suburban-z71/6389936202.html

 

[campfire]

324hp 5.3 is not an LM7. Take a look at the page from Pirate on the LS engines.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/LSPrimer/Part2/#TheGenIIIIVTruckSUVMotor

You know most of the 1/2 ton trucks that came with the 5.3 came with 3.73 gearing? It was the steepest ratio they offered. Now the steepest is 3.42's.

With a 5.3 the 5 speed would make a great combo. Let's look at it this way. Growing family, wanting to explore and show them all the wonder of the outdoors right? Do you want to be stuck up to your armpits in diesel fuel fixing something again or would you rather be driving into the UP?

It's really that simple. Once it's set up, you've got the potential reliability of an engine platform good for 250,000 miles or better if maintained. Parts are actually available at any dealer or corner parts store. It's a rock solid platform. I know it's a pretty mainstream choice now, but there is a reason why it is. You won't have the high probability of a block cracking or a crank snapping with a 5.3 or 6.0 either.

It would be a great combo, no doubt about it. Question for the dealership: What percentage of these engines survive 250,000 miles? Are these the rule or the exception? 180,000 mile engines are really easy to find, but that sounds like end of life to me (or getting close).

 

[campfire]

EXACTLY. Most LS trucks were lucky to get 3.73 gears, more are 3.42 or 3.08.
My former '00 Tahoe had a 5.3 LM7, 4L60, 3.73s, and 33" mud tires. It was plenty peppy and would cruise down the highway very nicely. (The 4L60 has the same OD gear as a NV3500) Sure 4.10s would have been an ideal gear for the setup but really the difference between the two wasn't enough to justify the money. There's plenty of people out there driving around on worse gears and getting along just fine. Your reasoning for not LS swapping because of gearing is pointless.

Noted. The gearing isn't the primary reasoning, it's just the one that we were discussing yesterday. My primary reasoning is that I want to play with a turbo diesel. The problem is inside my head.

As such, I already have 100% of the parts to reseal this one, so I'd rather use those parts and/or simply buy an LS 'burb vs. scrapping the parts and throwing more time and more money into the pit.

It's not so much about the end goal (nobody buys a 30-year-old truck for its reliability), it's about the project.

 

[campfire]

The 6.2 ran just fine before you removed the pan, not?

Martin

Perfectly. It's the best engine out of the 4 that I've owned.

 

[beags86]

This is a truck you want to take on cross country trips and your not worried about reliability?

 

[Justin V]

The problem is inside my head.

I couldn't help myself. Needed to save this for future reference...

 

[campfire]

This is a truck you want to take on cross country trips and your not worried about reliability?

I think I put my foot in my mouth there.

Yes, the truck should be reliable when its finished. What I meant is that anyone primarily seeking reliable transportation starts with a much newer platform. And then leaves it stock. So it just works, and you don't have a long punchlist of things to fix all the time. An early 5.3 truck is now cheaper and much newer than a square-body, so it makes more sense for someone buying a truck. On this truck I've dealt or am dealing with the weak spots so it is now too late for that. When I look at the tired, old LS trucks for sale around me, that each have a dozen maintenance needs, I'm not convinced that it would be better than my heap. I've already replaced brakes, seals, suspension, transmission parts. Why would I "upgrade" to a newer truck that is still old enough to have all these problems? It would be a step backwards. A 200,000-mile LS truck is a bigger heap than my 120,000-mile square body.

You guys have my head spinning around in circles this morning.

 

[beags86]

From an engine standpoint alone, I would not worry about a 200,xxx mile LS. You probably didn't see this news this week.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-mile-c5-corvette-donated-to-corvette-museum/

 

[beags86]

Or here. This guy changed his engine at 409,000..... before hitting a million....

http://wrbl.com/2015/08/18/truck-hits-1000000-miles/

 

[beags86]

Ok not an LS, buy still a factory Fuel injection. Pretty amazing how long this stuff last without that cylinder washdown.


He replaced his radiator 5 times

Or this one...
Am not sure after three post if you will get it though...

 

[campfire]

Am not sure after three post if you will get it though...

I know some guys get crazy miles out of an engine. But most people do not get 500,000 miles out of them. A 200,000 mile truck is often in the junkyard for a mechanical reason.

Probably the blown 4L60.

 

[82355]

Perfectly. It's the best engine out of the 4 that I've owned.

Put it back together and quit overthinking it.

Martin

 

[ZooMad75]

It would be a great combo, no doubt about it. Question for the dealership: What percentage of these engines survive 250,000 miles? Are these the rule or the exception? 180,000 mile engines are really easy to find, but that sounds like end of life to me (or getting close).

Maintenance is everything. I can document every mile on the 5.3 in my K5 from my 6500 miles so far to the first 201,000 put on by the original owner. I can vouch he changed the oil like clockwork every 3000 miles with Mobil 1 oil. Not everybody performs maintenance like my customer did. But the engines are rated for that kind of mileage. We've pulled pistons out of 90,000 mile trucks that were using oil due to an issue outlined in a bulletin. The cylinder bores still showed clear cross hatching with zero ring ridge. The bulletin had us stuff new pistons/rings on the existing rods and shove them back in. We've done 2 or 3 of those with no comeback over oil consumption again.

Buying a used LS is just as risky as any other used engine. If you can see under the valve covers looking for sludge and it's clean, you probably got a decent starting point. Better yet if you got compression readings. If you are looking at a used burb that came with a 5.3 or 6.0 originally, then the same stuff applies to looking at a used truck. If the truck looks like it's roached, chances are the engine wasn't cared for. You need to look for condition, maintenance records like anything else. If you are unsure, take it to a shop to get it checked out. We charge 1/2 hour of labor to perform an inspection if somebody is looking at a vehicle from a third party. We give it the same look as we would during any maintenance visit, check the fluids for condition and level, brake wear, suspension and drivetrain. We've checked a couple out that the person drove 5 hours to come look at and decided against buying based on what we showed them. They were happy to pay the inspection as they might have got stuck with a turkey if they didn't.

 

[Blue85]

1800RPM is a great cruising speed for the old engine.

As it is, I usually cruise between 1300-1900RPM in the K5 (according to my tach). Not so great for an LS, unless I'm missing something.

I'll admit I've driven few LS rigs, so this is mostly theory on my end.

1800 is good for a 5.3, too. You don't want to be "in the powerband" for cruising. Even for towing, you only use the high torque zones pulling grades. Basically for good MPG you want the LS under 2k, but when you want to climb a sand dune, the power is still available up high. I think it was mentioned above - a standard GMT800 Suburban will have tires about the same height as yours, with 3.42 gears. 3.73 is perfect for the extra wind drag of a square, although 4.10 would be better off-road.

 

[campfire]

Ok, the holiday madness is over (for the moment), so it's time to get back to this thing again. I am not doing an LS swap at this time because I am tired of leaving this thing in pieces. It is time to stop adding ideas and just get it put together again. I haven't been able to drive this for 2.5 years now.

The crack has propagated itself completely through its boss. So the only future danger here is the extra stress placed on the inner bolt hole (which is not known for failing). I'm going back to Plan A and putting it back together as it is. Kinda nervous about boost but I think I've talked myself into keeping that, too. For fun's sake, of course.

 

[campfire]

They were happy to pay the inspection as they might have got stuck with a turkey if they didn't.

This is a piece of why I don't want to complicate things right now. The K10 is a better candidate for a 5.3 swap (because I won't care if it's down for 6 months while I work out the bugs). Camping season is coming, and I aim to be ready this year.