SUPERCHARGER?

[Stormin08]

Bama....5.3 truck ?? i hope....

 

[Bama Boy]

Yes 5.3

 

[CStrissel]

 

[andrwgrcia]

Need to watch that Lonestar Hawaiian episode.

I am glad I used the 48 hour rule on the SC decision. I am going to hold off for the time being. I just could not get comfortable with bolting it on without replacing the valve train, and the cost to do the lifters and valves would have substantially increased the price. The person who would be doing it knows far more on this subject than I do and is very well respected for his work on these engines, but for me it is a lot of investment (~$15k w/ custom tune and various other parts and upgrades) to put on something that is a known weak link. At that point I am much better off trading in and going to a ZR2, which is not the path I want to go right now.

The uncertainty of the lifters is the most unfortunate aspect of this vehicle. I will be at five years and probably 50k miles come August, and with the exception of a water pump failure everything has been pretty good. Even if the number of lifter failures is a very small percentage of the total number of 5.3l engines sold, just having it hanging out there makes it hard to commit to these types of projects.

 

[Stormin08]

similar mind state here...i am actually leaning more towards an L8P swap and tune.

L8P Crate Engine: 6.6L 523HP Chevrolet Performance Engine SKU: 19435523

Shop here for the Chevrolet Performance L8P crate engine. Forged steel crankshaft, oil spray cooling, cast iron block, complete from throttle body to oil pan.

sdparts.com

 

[andrwgrcia]

This is the exact suggestion of the tuner I would like to work with. For "a couple thousand dollars difference" he would strongly recommend swapping in a new 6.2L (supercharged) than pull apart the 5.3L, do the valve train and required upgrades to handle the cam etc., and then put it back together. In his words, the labor involved in taking the engine apart, doing the work properly, and then putting it back together almost pays for the new engine and the end result justifies the cost. You also have the added benefit of the crate engine never having been touched by DFM.

Just for interest sake, I threw the L8P engine swap into a LLM I have been using to track and spec modifications for the truck to get a pros / cons / considerations of the two side by side (attached). It agrees with the tuner.

 

[Mike Edwards]

I have a Magnuson supercharged 5.3 with a dfm delete (L8T cam), LT4 fuel system and forged mahle drop in pistons. I see a few things in the pdf.

For the Magnuson build. You don't' need to unlock the TCM. Especially if you are keeping the cam stock or doing a DFM delete with an L8T cam. You don't need an LT5 throttle body adapter. The Magnuson has the bolt pattern for the L86/LT4 and the LT5 throttle body. I would recommend you stick with the L86 throttle body unless you are really trying to make a bunch of power. I'm still running the L86 throttle body, but turning the blower much faster, probably 700 flywheel hp. You don't need the do the cam and lifters. It's no more work to do it down the road if it fails than it is now. The blower comes off in about 20 minutes for any competent mechanic.

The only difference in the L84 vs the L87 magnuson kit is the pulley and belt. The L84 kit comes with a 115mm pulley and the L87 comes with a 105. The L84 can handle the 105 pulley without issue and would make almost as much power as it would bolted on a 6.2. The L84 fuel system is the same as the L87 and plenty adequate. It will just make ~9 psi of boost on the L84. With a good tuner, the motor will be just fine. I ran mine like this for a few months before doing fuel system upgrades and pistons. The pistons still weren't necessary. I'm just planning to push mine much further.

The L8P has a fairly large cam. Somewhat similar to a BTR stage 3 truck cam as best as I can tell. That requires a higher stall torque converter. That's another $1000. No control system is needed, no accessory drive is needed, no fuel system components are needed. No fabrication is needed. It literally drops right in and all your stock wiring, accessories, fuel system etc work with it. It would require a tcm unlock and quite a bit of tuning. It's not going to drive like stock.

The tuner will make or break the life and driveability of either of these combos and it is not an easy truck to tune. I figured out how to add a supercharger inlet pressure sensor to mine and that totally changed the driveability. I know for sure the global A trucks ecm has the ability to use the added sensor. The global B shows an input for it, but I haven't personally tried one.

 

[andrwgrcia]

I have a Magnuson supercharged 5.3 with a dfm delete (L8T cam), LT4 fuel system and forged mahle drop in pistons. I see a few things in the pdf.

For the Magnuson build. You don't' need to unlock the TCM. Especially if you are keeping the cam stock or doing a DFM delete with an L8T cam. You don't need an LT5 throttle body adapter. The Magnuson has the bolt pattern for the L86/LT4 and the LT5 throttle body. I would recommend you stick with the L86 throttle body unless you are really trying to make a bunch of power. I'm still running the L86 throttle body, but turning the blower much faster, probably 700 flywheel hp. You don't need the do the cam and lifters. It's no more work to do it down the road if it fails than it is now. The blower comes off in about 20 minutes for any competent mechanic.

The only difference in the L84 vs the L87 magnuson kit is the pulley and belt. The L84 kit comes with a 115mm pulley and the L87 comes with a 105. The L84 can handle the 105 pulley without issue and would make almost as much power as it would bolted on a 6.2. The L84 fuel system is the same as the L87 and plenty adequate. It will just make ~9 psi of boost on the L84. With a good tuner, the motor will be just fine. I ran mine like this for a few months before doing fuel system upgrades and pistons. The pistons still weren't necessary. I'm just planning to push mine much further.

The L8P has a fairly large cam. Somewhat similar to a BTR stage 3 truck cam as best as I can tell. That requires a higher stall torque converter. That's another $1000. No control system is needed, no accessory drive is needed, no fuel system components are needed. No fabrication is needed. It literally drops right in and all your stock wiring, accessories, fuel system etc work with it. It would require a tcm unlock and quite a bit of tuning. It's not going to drive like stock.

The tuner will make or break the life and driveability of either of these combos and it is not an easy truck to tune. I figured out how to add a supercharger inlet pressure sensor to mine and that totally changed the driveability. I know for sure the global A trucks ecm has the ability to use the added sensor. The global B shows an input for it, but I haven't personally tried one.

Thank you. I have gotten some very helpful and thoughtful replies to my posts in the past, but this is amongst the best I have received.

I have left the name of the tuner off of this purposefully, but all of the details of the supercharger install come from the estimate for what would be involved in the installation. The details for the engine swap come from an LLM doing a deep search of online information available on forums, etc.

 

[2KWIK2C]

I just want to add that if you decide to go with a supercharger, turbo, and / or N2O I would suggest headers as well. Don't let the exhaust be the limiter of power.