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Whipple'd silverado

79bonanza

79bonanza

1/2 ton status
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
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Georgetown, Kentucky
Does anyone here happen to have a silverado with a whipple supercharger on it.

I have a 08 silverado 5.3L 4x4 standard cab long bed and I think I'm gonna buy a whipple kit for it.

I was wanting some real life reviews, I can't really find anything when I search it. Just find super outrageous 1000hp builds.
 
anything belt driven eats 1/2 the power it makes basicly .

and as said if you want good driving and 100 or so more hp that's super easy with cam/headers/tune .

tons of info over on ls1tech.com also and great site.
 
Yea I just want something fun I can daily drive and haul stuff with.

Yea I've been on ls1tech a lot, a lot of good info over there
 
I've been thinking about doing the same thing to my 5.3L Tahoe as well. Its not bad as it is but could use a lot more jam in the top end.
 
What are you considering top end, every time I really get on this one in the Avalanche, it pulls hard, rev's up like crazy to a point where I let off because it's really up there in the rpm's so hard, I get nervous :doah: pulling the whole time...
 
I mean my truck pulls hard off a launch all they way till about 75, then it kinda dies down, I know it has a lot more potential and I just want more power honestly.
 
I mean 100+ hp out of a cam is a lot of get up and go for not a lot of money.

If you were gonna shell out for a blower than half that would get you CNCd stock heads/cam package. You could bring the compression up a little having them decked and change the cam at the same time all while leaving the bottom end alone.

400-450ish crank hp easy with that setup depending on compression and intake choice.

Also be aware you need to pull the heads for a cam swap on an LS, so thats happening regardless whether you change the heads or not if you do go for a cam.
 
Yea this is why I was just thinking supercharger,

All of the kits for the silverado's are just bolt on inplace of your intake and then some plumbing and a tune and your golden. Then even later down the road if you like you can start doing cam swaps and head swaps etc.... But even just with a supercharger I bet it'd be really fun lol and you could prolly knock it out in a weekend if you plan ahead.

Doing engine parts upgrade tends to snow ball on me, first it goes exhaust then intake then heads then cam so on and so forth until I have plans for some big stroker motor lol
 
Yeah, for ease of installation vs power gained the supercharger probably wins. For HP/$, the cam is probably #1. I never thought the 5.3 wheezed out in the high end. I think it needs low end torque more than top end, if anything. It sounds like you are talking about not having enough pull at high speeds, so a gear swap (or axle/diff swap) may be what you need.

Typically these cam swaps won't do much for low end torque, but can do a lot at higher rpms. Superchargers are almost the opposite - torque goes up across the band, but the compression heat limits what you can get up top. IMO, low end is where it's at in a truck. I would check to see how much power you can get without having to run premium fuel all the time. So you'll need to figure out what you're looking for.
 
Yea my truck has 3.73 gears already and I like that, it's deep enough for pulling but not so low I loose my highway drivability.

I just think a supercharger would look awesome and preform, I just figure I can fork up the money for a supercharger and be happy with it for awhile, then if I need more power I can dig into the cam/heads idk
 
just for kicks you price a bolt on kit yet ? :D

I have heard of guys doing dyno tunning and got 40-50 hp over stock tune with no major parts changed on stock trucks .
 
Yea I actually did, the matte black whipple kit, with a little bit of a discount was 6700.00 to my door, including the tune and install by a local shop. I could get it less I'd imagine since I'll be doing it myself
 
Seen and read a few things saying you can replace the cam without removal of the heads, a bit tricky apparently though, something about the factory lifter retainers holding them up when the push rods are removed and rotating the cam around a few times by hand, they supposedly stay in the up position allowing the cam to slide out.
 
I occasionally drive my old mans 2002 Suburban with a Whipple boosted 5.3. It has around 450hp, and averages 18ish MPG. He went also with headers and exhaust, had to do injectors obviously, a K@N in the factory box, and dyno tuned. Otherwise its a stock motor. It runs great, pulls great, and has never had any major issues. He does use premium in his though, if that matters. But at 18mpg average, I mean thats not all that bad. And the major bonus over the cam swap is worst to worst, since its a stock motor, it can be easily replaced with another one and bolt all the stuff you had to take off of it anyways back on and be at the exact same level as you were on Friday when the engine exploded. Now, dont get me wrong, I have tried convincing him of the absolute necessity of adding the cam idea to it because lets face it, if you go either route, keep it long enough, and have any form of competitive spirit, it wont have enough power.
 
If you want a cams full potential you need to have an adjustable timing gear and you need the heads off to find true tdc and set your cam timing from there. That's why the heads should come off with a cam swap.

454sub- that's what I'm looking at, I figure everything goes bang, new long block and your back in business.
 
Yea it's not cheap that's for sure, but whipple has a pretty good warranty from what I hear. I think like 30,000 mile powertrain warranty
 
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