594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_1104_594hp_53l_gen_ii...

Home » Technical » 594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - 594 Horsepower For $3,252

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594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - 594

Horsepower For $3,252
The Magic Of A 5.3L Gen III Small-Block From The Junkyard And A
Turbo From China
From the April, 2011 issue of Hot Rod
By Stephen Kim
Photography by Stephen Kim
RELA
LS2 A
Tweet
| With the
it's hard
Here's a
Hypothetically speaking, let's say you had the wrenching skills the Gen
necessary to build a 600hp Rat motor for $6,500. With the
astounding airflow potential of today's conventional, Small-
24-degree, big-block Chevy cylinder heads and the multitude Twiste
of dirt-cheap rotating assemblies cluttering up the Summit Testing
heads...
catalog, this caliber of horsepower-per-dollar heroism is
certainly attainable-try hard and you could even do it with Low-B
stock rec-port heads. Even though that would qualify as an Motor
impressive budget build by most standards, how many people GM has built millions of We dig a
have an extra $6,500 to throw around on anything, let alone trucks... junkyard

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594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_1104_594hp_53l_gen_ii...

an engine, these days? Since we've all had to recalibrate our read full caption $2,298.
affordability scale in recent years, it's only prudent to pursue
truly budget-friendly engine combos that most hot rodders can build without running up the Carbu
credit cards. The M
Mention
head im
While that concept is, like, so cliché, we're serious about turning up the wick on dollar- Corvett
stretching performance. How does a junkyard 5.3L Gen III small-block, boosted to 550 hp big buck
with a do-it-yourself turbo setup, built for $3,069, suit your fancy? That tally includes a
tuned factory computer, a wiring harness, bigger fuel injectors, and every last nut, bolt, and LS Eng
U-bend to make it happen. If you've got another $183 to spend on a stock LS6 camshaft, Dogs
the power jumps to 594 and the price tag to $3,252. We built it and you can, too, so let's When yo
one typ
fire up the welder and throw some sparks.
stuff....

The Dirtball Special LS3/L

Throwing boost at a 5.3L Gen III small-block just makes too Test -
much sense. Secondhand OE hardware stockpiled in Cylind
junkyards has always represented the pinnacle of cheap Loyal HR
performance, and the LS-series small-block takes this "Ultimat
universal truth to the extreme. Unlike in the early days of LS issue in
engine swaps, where hot rodders paid a big premium just for port-sty
the cool factor, these motors are now just as cost effective to Ford 3
build as a Gen I small-block Chevy. Aluminum variants still Gen III truck exhaust
Carbu
command a premium-with plain-Jane, 5.7L, LS1 long-blocks manifolds... Tech
costing upwards of $2,000-but their iron counterparts are With so
much more plentiful and sell for a fraction of the cost. The hot read full caption on the g
ticket in the Vortec truck engine lineup is the 6.0L LQ9, which hard to
was originally installed in 3/4-ton trucks and SUVs. It packs an additional 18 ci over the more
5.7L (364 versus 346) and comes equipped with aluminum, LS6-style cylinder heads. The The U
LQ9's 4.000-inch bores mean that it's compatible with GM's L92/LS3 rectangle-port head Test -
castings that flow a stunning 320 cfm out of the box. Matching them with a mild hydraulic Like mo
roller cam nets an easy 550 hp for about $5,000, even after factoring in the cost of a stateme
single-plane intake manifold, a carb, an MSD ignition controller, and headers. innocen
grandda
If the 6.0L is so great, then the obvious question is, why even bother building a 5.3L in the
Under
first place? The biggest downside to the 6.0L truck motor is scarcity, and some early ones
Achiev
had piston-slap issues. GM built way more 1/2-ton trucks and SUVs with 5.3L engines
As the e
than it did 3/4-ton models with the 6.0L. Consequently, junkyard 5.3L motors can be had rodders
for $250, while their bigger brother fetches $1,000 to $1,500. For a naturally aspirated bay of D
engine build, the 6.0L is a more appealing option due to its additional displacement and
superior cylinder heads. On the other hand, what if you took the money saved by buying a Trick
5.3L motor and put it toward a DIY turbo system? To make things more interesting and Chevy
further drive down costs, let's hang one of those Chinese eBay turbos off of the factory Speed
Going q
exhaust manifolds and see if it holds.
rodder's
Z28 pro

SPO

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594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_1104_594hp_53l_gen_ii...

The stock exhaust The jury's still out on Most of the Chinese
manifolds... Chinese... turbos...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

The Chinese T76 turbos Factory turbos can make Turbosmart also set us
we... do... up...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

On paper, a stock 5.3L small-block boosted to 7 to 14 psi

seems to have the edge over a naturally aspirated 6.0L build
in terms of horsepower per dollar. To put this bold theory to
the test, we purchased a complete 5.3L LM7 engine plucked
out of an '01 GMC Yukon-complete with a matching computer
and wiring harness-for $449 from a Houston junkyard. If you
can't find a 5.3L motor locally, there are tons of similar deals
on eBay if you're willing to dish out a couple hundred dollars
for shipping. At this price point, expect a motor with lots of To complete the top
miles; our tester had 150,000 on the ticker. Even so, many of portion...
the junkyards we ran across offered some type of guarantee
that their engines were in good working condition. read full caption

To pressurize our test subject, we put in a lowball bid on eBay for a 76mm turbo and won it
for $425. The rest of our cobbled-up DIY turbo system included a Turbosmart wastegate,
blow-off valve, and manual boost controller. To control the fuel and spark, we matched up
a stock computer with HPTuners tuning software, Ford SVO 42 lb/hr fuel injectors, and a
GM 2.5-bar MAP sensor off of a new Chevy Cobalt SS. The U-bends, flanges, and V-band
clamps required to build the turbo piping were all supplied by Fastlane Inc. in Houston,
which also stepped up to fabricate everything for us. Fastlane specializes in building
custom turbo systems for LS-, Hemi-, and mod-motor-powered late-models, and was kind
enough to rig us up a kit in no time. (As you'll notice, the labor to fabricate the plumbing
from the tubing we provided was not included in the total price. Anyone with a MIG welder
should be able to build this setup, but if not, factor in several hundred dollars for the fab
work.) From there, we hauled the motor down the street to the good folks at the School of
Automotive Machinists for a merciless dyno thrash.

Boost
With the 5.3 strapped to SAM's SuperFlow 902 engine dyno,
our goal was to see how far we could push the stock
long-block on 93-octane pump gas. For the baseline pulls, we
set the wastegate at 8 psi of boost and dialed in a
conservative 11.8:1 air/fuel ratio and 16 degrees of ignition
timing. The wee 325ci mill responded with a respectable 532
hp at 5,300 rpm and 562 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm. For the
next round of testing, we increased the boost to 12 psi, and The first step in
surprisingly, the motor lost between 10 and 15 hp from pull to fabbing...
pull with the power curve jumping up and down above 5,000
rpm. read full caption

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Suspecting that the stock 150,000-mile valvesprings were the culprits, we swapped them
out for a set of LS6 units. The simple fix did the trick, and horsepower and torque
increased to 550 and 575, respectively. "On an engine with that many miles, it's possible
that the boost pressure was preventing the worn out valvesprings from closing the valves
all the way," explained Judson Massingill of SAM. With a junkyard build like this, it's
probably a good idea to replace the valvesprings no matter what."

Considering that the stock 5.3L motor is choked by a

minuscule 191/190-at-0.050 cam with just 0.457/0.466-inch
lift, the 550 hp our test mule produced thus far was even more
impressive. Curious to see what dividends some extra
duration and lift would yield, we installed a stock GM LS6
camshaft. The cam was PN 12560950, the '01 LS unit.
There's much confusion online over the LS6 cam specs, so
we had SAM get the real numbers on a Cam Doctor:
203.8/212.1 duration at 0.050, 0.523/0.522 lift, and a 115.9- Perhaps the most
degree LSA. The LS6 cam's wide lobe-separation angle challenging...
bolsters its boost-friendly credentials. Even so, we were
shocked when output jumped to 594 hp and 588 lb-ft from a read full caption
measly 13-degree increase in intake duration. Conventional
wisdom says that stock camshafts work well in forced-induction applications, but when the
cam in question is as small as the stock 5.3L LM7's, conventional wisdom apparently
doesn't apply.

Flex joints aren't For optimum To route the fumes

mandatory,... performance in... exiting...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

Once the turbo is bolted The driver-side hot Finishing off the
in... piping... hot-side...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

Breaking Down the Numbers

In retrospect, our DIY turbo 5.3L motor built on a working-man's budget far exceeded every
expectation. As much as we'd like to take credit for it, LS enthusiasts have been building
similar budget turbo combos long before we took a crack at it. To our surprise, the factory
long-block survived 27 dyno pulls without a hitch, the Chinese turbo didn't self-destruct,
and it came within six numbers of cracking the 600hp mark. Even at 594 hp, the Dirtball
Special produced more than twice the output of a stock 285hp 5.3L LM7. That said, there's
definitely more left in this package considering that the motor picked up just 18 hp after
cranking up the boost from 8 to 12 psi. To keep costs to a bare minimum, we passed on
rigging up an intercooler, but our dyno figures clearly indicate that this decision sacrificed
power during our high-boost pulls. "With an intercooler or methanol injection, this engine
would easily make 650 hp," SAM Head Instructor Chris Bennett opined.

Big-time power gains aside, the pressing question for anyone contemplating a similar
buildup is how long a turbocharged, stock, 5.3L engine will last. Based on our dyno
results, it's a good idea to limit boost to 7 to 8 psi on pump gas in nonintercooled

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applications. Without a means of cooling the inlet air temperature, anything beyond that
point yields negligible power gains while increasing the potential for detonation.
Furthermore, infinite variations in fuel quality and a hot rodder's engine tuning skills make it
very difficult to put an exact figure on short-block longevity. A whole lot of stupidity can
blow up a motor in not a lot of time, whereas some enthusiasts have reported tens of
thousands of miles of reliable operation from their forced-induction LS motors. The great
thing about the 5.3L small-block is that if you do indeed blow it up, a mere $250 will get
you back on the road to boosted glory once again.

At the outset of this engine build, we wanted to find out if a junkyard 5.3L Gen III motor with
a giant DIY turbo hanging off the stock exhaust manifolds could really make more power
than a naturally aspirated 6.0L for less money. With the fab work and dyno testing
complete, the answer is a resounding "yes."

People's Republic of Boost?

Although we managed to make some respectable horsepower
numbers with a Chinese-made knockoff turbo, we can neither
advocate them nor advise against them. On one hand, our
unit performed very well during our test. Conversely, the
experts at Fastlane have seen them go kaput with minimal
mileage. That said, we can't in good conscience recommend
bolting one into a car with expectations that it will last tens of
thousands of miles. It just so happens that HOT ROD is in the position to serve as a
universal lab rat so you won't have to spend your hard-earned money experimenting with a
Chinese turbo on your own. Just like the reliability of offshore cranks and rods was
questionable at best in the beginning, but improved substantially in the years that followed,
it's possible that Chinese turbos will follow a similar path. Even so, turbos are much more
complex devices to reverse-engineer than cranks and rods, and for now, the higher cost of
well-established, American, name-brand turbos is well worth it. We'd like to pit our Chinese
T76 against a Borg Warner T72 to see who comes out on top.

Boost leaks mean power GM built 5.3L small- The LM7 has a
loss,... blocks... pressurized...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

The best spot to drill The oil feed (top) and The finished product is
the... drain... a...

read full caption read full caption read full caption

BUDGET BREAKDOWN
ITEM PN COST
Junkyard 5.3L motor, PCM, wiring harness $449
Ebay 76mm turbo N/A $425
T4 turbo flange 14410 $26

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594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_1104_594hp_53l_gen_ii...

1.75-inch U-bend N/A $25

2.5-inch U-bend N/A $27
3-inch U-bend N/A $37
2.5-inch flex joint 4556 $27
3-inch flex joint 46544 $32
Silicone coupler 2744B $59
Silicone reducer 2760B $15
2.5-inch V-band clamp and weld end N/A $26
3-inch V-band clamp and weld end N/A $38
T4 oil drain flange 2849 $15
-10AN oil line (3 feet) 230003 $21
-8AN oil line(3 feet) 230803 $16
1/8-to-4AN adapter fitting 10292 $4
3/8-to-10AN adapter fitting 10294 $5
O2 sensor bung 1194A $5
Turbosmart wastegate 0504-1001 $399
Turbosmart blow-off valve 0204-1001 $299
Turbosmart boost controller 0106-1001 $137
Ford SVO 42 lb/hr injectors M-9593-F302 $309
GM 2.5 bar MAP sensor 12614973 $53
GM LS6 valvesprings 12499224 $57
HPTuners software N/A $499
GM '01 LS6 camshaft 12560950 $183
NGK TR6 spark plugs (8) 4177 $16
Royal Purple 10W-40 oil (6 quarts) 01140 $48
TOTAL: $3,252

DYNO RESULTS
5.3L at 8 psi 5.3L at 12 psi 5.3L w/LS6 cam at 12 psi
RPM HP TQ HP TQ HP TQ
4,100 433 555 444 569 457 585
4,200 446 558 458 572 468 585
4,300 459 560 470 574 480 587
4,400 470 561 481 575 492 587
4,500 481 562 492 574 502 585
4,600 492 561 502 573 511 584
4,700 502 561 512 572 522 584
4,800 511 559 521 570 535 585
4,900 518 555 528 566 548 587
5,000 524 550 536 563 560 588
5,100 528 544 543 560 569 586

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5,200 530 536 548 554 575 581

5,300 532 527 550 545 580 575
5,400 531 516 550 535 585 569
5,500 528 504 547 522 589 563
5,600 524 491 542 508 594 557

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