This guy is great. I've just been serially watching his entire channel. He likes to put 5.3s in a lot of things. He's also a pretty decent fabricator.
For this video, he made an oil primer, because Gen III+ engines use a front oil pump in the timing cover, so you can't easily prime it. I think cranking with no fuel is adequate but this is the best you can get. I love his use of regulators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thfTnYd ... qFdLmXoztQ
Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Latest on his 5.3 87 R10. Check out the beginning. Scrabbling for traction from a roll. Love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gz-uOJ6So
Ha, he cut a 2.338 60' with the 4L80-E launching in 2nd gear.
Also, he details a chatter that was getting progressively worse. Must be the stock pushrods (supposed to use hardened for higher lift cams). Nope. Must be the stock 165k mile lifters. Nope. 2 flex plate bolts loosened up. Yup.
Next up is an interesting issue with the thermostat. He blocked off his heater core for the summer but discovered that without flow back to the water pump (and thermostat), the thermostat would not open as quickly, leading to about 13°F warmer engine temps. I never understood heater core blockoff stuff anyway so don't do that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gz-uOJ6So
Ha, he cut a 2.338 60' with the 4L80-E launching in 2nd gear.
Also, he details a chatter that was getting progressively worse. Must be the stock pushrods (supposed to use hardened for higher lift cams). Nope. Must be the stock 165k mile lifters. Nope. 2 flex plate bolts loosened up. Yup.
Next up is an interesting issue with the thermostat. He blocked off his heater core for the summer but discovered that without flow back to the water pump (and thermostat), the thermostat would not open as quickly, leading to about 13°F warmer engine temps. I never understood heater core blockoff stuff anyway so don't do that.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Bringing this back for Bill. Need to find a G-body video.
The bit on the chatter is what makes me much more likely to either run something totally stock, or deviate only where necessary, rather than scrapping the entire rotating assembly and building something expensive that may not even be right. And raising the stakes for when you DO make a mistake along the way.
The bit on the chatter is what makes me much more likely to either run something totally stock, or deviate only where necessary, rather than scrapping the entire rotating assembly and building something expensive that may not even be right. And raising the stakes for when you DO make a mistake along the way.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Turbo build using a stock bottom 5.3 with 200k:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmZOklhVXe0
Used stock LQ4 heads (lower compression) and the stock cam.
665hp at the rear wheels (as reported by the caption and not recorded in this video).
There are probably a couple smart things you can do and otherwise get a pretty long life without having to spend ridiculous money building something. Things like opening the end gap on the rings. Lower compression heads. Not sure if anything needs to be done with the oil pump or relief spring.
These things have put out twice that before blowing up, and that's after abuse. Here's a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xycy_WgvN9Q
996 rwhp. Stock internals.
This guy found the limit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsdz3bTMurs
Or should I say the engine had been through enough abuse.
From the caption:
Not sure why you need to build anything special for 600hp.
The money will be in literally everything but the engine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmZOklhVXe0
Used stock LQ4 heads (lower compression) and the stock cam.
665hp at the rear wheels (as reported by the caption and not recorded in this video).
There are probably a couple smart things you can do and otherwise get a pretty long life without having to spend ridiculous money building something. Things like opening the end gap on the rings. Lower compression heads. Not sure if anything needs to be done with the oil pump or relief spring.
These things have put out twice that before blowing up, and that's after abuse. Here's a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xycy_WgvN9Q
996 rwhp. Stock internals.
This guy found the limit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsdz3bTMurs
Or should I say the engine had been through enough abuse.
From the caption:
From the comments:World recording breaking stock bottom end 5.3 blows on dyno.It has been through 80 bottles of nitrous 2 years of turbo in red dragon and now a successful run at being turbo in this camaro. It was a great run for this all stock bottom end car.
Damn right.80 bottles of nitrous, 25 psi boost, four years of racing. And that's after having done over 100K miles in the original truck.
Not bad, GM.
Not sure why you need to build anything special for 600hp.
The money will be in literally everything but the engine.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
See, this is a thing. It's not just me saying it.
I cant believe how many morons have commented on this post. You guys dont get it. These guys are hard core and having more fun with a JUNK 350 dollar bottom end to see how long it lasts. Its proof of the durability of the LS platform and fast as hell for very little money. I ran a stock 150k mile old school 2 bolt 350 chevy in my Trans Am for 2 years, it never broke, ran a best of 9.37 @ 150 and gained me fame in Car Craft magazine. Most fun i ever had in my life! 738 whp from JUNK is a blast and a great learning experiance that applies to a fully built motor. Why ruin a good motor figuring out the tune when junk motors are practically free? All you import nerds with fully built, Darton sleeved, million dollar motors that pop at 600 whp can kiss my ass.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/sucp-1 ... ld-part-7/
So 600 crank HP with a single turbo at 11psi on pump gas. On a junkyard 5.3. The iron block Gen III and IVs can take all kinds of boost. Satisfied yet? Nah, there's more.Run on pump gas at just under 8 psi in non-intercooled form (with a safe tune), the turbocharged 5.3L produced 510 hp at 5,400 rpm and 521 lb-ft of torque at 4,700 rpm. Adding the intercooler allowed us to increase the boost pressure to 11.3 psi, where the turbo 5.3L pumped out 608 hp at 5,700 rpm and 641 lb-ft of torque at 4,700 rpm.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/projec ... tive-fuel/
Just as we did with our Modern Mouse series, we purchased a high-mileage, iron-block 5.3L from a local supplier, upgraded it with the intake, carburetor and ignition controller for normally aspirated use, then added the necessary components for turbocharging.
I recommend reading the article.Why is this man smiling? He just added a carburetor, cam and a turbo to a $300 5.3L LS and ended up with over 600 horsepower.
When we say upgraded, we mean only those things that were absolutely necessary, including a turbo kit, intercooler and CSU carburetor, but no changes were made to the long-block itself. Normally we would at least swap out the factory head gaskets and studs for Fel Pro and ARP units, but for this adventure we stuck with the stock stuff. Running a modest boost level, the stock components were deemed more than adequate. The lone upgrade made to the motor was a cam swap, which we tested in normally aspirated and turbo trim to illustrate the gains offered to each.
Without having to do anything special to the engine.What the test did show was that it is possible to take a cheap, carbureted LS motor and add boost. If EFI systems are too complicated or expensive, why not take the alternative fuel route and stick a carbureted LS under the hood of your early Camaro or Chevelle? Need more power? With the right carb and MSD controller, you can always add boost.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Good info for N/A builds, and specifically the 4.8L vs the 5.3L.
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engine ... -slugfest/
4.8 flat top pistons into the 5.3 is a common upgrade to raise compression, something that needs to be done with a cam to restore dynamic compression.
The last part exemplifies why the Gen III/IV is so awesome. The heads are so amazing and the engine architecture is so solid, that they run such mild cams stock to make the HP goals but also can take serious mods. Unlike the high specific output stuff from other automakers, these produce good power bone stock (since they still are V8s of decent displacement) but respond amazingly well to airflow mods. Kinda makes the other approaches seem silly. You pay out the ass for all of this specific output, and then that's pretty much it unless you want to do forced induction.
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engine ... -slugfest/
4.8 flat top pistons into the 5.3 is a common upgrade to raise compression, something that needs to be done with a cam to restore dynamic compression.
The good news for both 4.8 and 5.3 owners is that they have the ability to extract a significant amount of power from their little V-8s. With proper heads, cam and intake, either can be made to approach or exceed 100 hp per liter (480-530 hp) or 1.63 hp per inch. Of course this kind of specific output will necessitate a high-rpm motor, with cam timing pushing peak power past 7,000 rpm. Such a combination might not be ideal for towing, but would be serious fun in a Camaro, Chevelle or Nova.
Probably better suited to a manual or a pretty pricey high stall converter with an automatic. Still, sounds pretty fun.Equipped with these mods, the 4.8L produced peak numbers of 476 hp at a lofty 7,000 rpm and 392 lb-ft of torque at 5,900 rpm. Torque production exceeded 350 lb-ft from 4,500 rpm to 7,000 rpm. Despite what would be a mild performance cam for an LS2 or LS3, these mods transformed the little 4.8L into a high-rpm screamer.
The last part exemplifies why the Gen III/IV is so awesome. The heads are so amazing and the engine architecture is so solid, that they run such mild cams stock to make the HP goals but also can take serious mods. Unlike the high specific output stuff from other automakers, these produce good power bone stock (since they still are V8s of decent displacement) but respond amazingly well to airflow mods. Kinda makes the other approaches seem silly. You pay out the ass for all of this specific output, and then that's pretty much it unless you want to do forced induction.
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
You have to understand why all of this amuses me so much. People fret over buying a used car with 100k miles. Oh no, what if the previous owner didn't change the oil? Meanwhile other folks are running $300-$500 junkyard Gen III/IV truck engines and doubling (or more) the power output without touching any of the rotating assembly.
What if something happens? Of course something could happen. You never know. But let me tell you. There have been a lot of folks who have dumped money into engine builds and plenty of shit happens there, too. Some caused because it isn't simply a matter of ordering X crank, Y rods and Z pistons and assembling it. There are balance issues, tolerance issues, and frankly, unless you really do your research, I think QA is worse on aftermarket stuff than OEM. Other problems include assembling to a stock tolerance but still insisting on a high volume oil pump. There is such a thing as too much oil pressure, for example. I think all of these mistakes are easy to make. I bet I just scratched the surface. Oh. Speaking of scratching the surface, you probably can't do better than the factory cylinder hone unless you go to some machine shop. As soon as a machine shop is in the loop, now your costs are really getting out of control. None of it is necessary...
What if something happens? Of course something could happen. You never know. But let me tell you. There have been a lot of folks who have dumped money into engine builds and plenty of shit happens there, too. Some caused because it isn't simply a matter of ordering X crank, Y rods and Z pistons and assembling it. There are balance issues, tolerance issues, and frankly, unless you really do your research, I think QA is worse on aftermarket stuff than OEM. Other problems include assembling to a stock tolerance but still insisting on a high volume oil pump. There is such a thing as too much oil pressure, for example. I think all of these mistakes are easy to make. I bet I just scratched the surface. Oh. Speaking of scratching the surface, you probably can't do better than the factory cylinder hone unless you go to some machine shop. As soon as a machine shop is in the loop, now your costs are really getting out of control. None of it is necessary...
Re: Videos from "AGearHead4Life"
Also of note and confirmed in the last article, EFI provides tremendous torque and low RPM drivability gains, due to something I mentioned the other day about the strength of the venturi signal at low RPMs, on a carb that is sized to produce big power. With EFI, you can make the throttle body as big as you want. Doesn't change the way fuel is metered.