bugy

do you think boring out a 5.3L to 6.0L (101.6mm - 4.000inch) will be safe? i mean will cylinders still have good thickness in the wall? let's say we're planning to make 600 hp. do you guys recommend this?

LSx '73 Nova

Why not just buy a 6.0L? I think the walls would be way to thin for that, you'll need sleeves which aren't cheap, so the total cost of boring, sleeving ,and everything else will probably be over the cost of a 6.0L.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Even if the walls were thick enough, you would still pay more having it bored 3 times to 4.00 than you would if you just bought a 6.0.

bugy

i know that guys, i'm not saying i'm doing it, just wanted your opinion cause there are some ppl that have done this before, personally believe bored cylinders are too weak for perfomance, so i appreciate your inputs.

Bilster

iTrader: (21)

Can't be done. The wall thickness for a 5.3 just isn't there. The sleeves for the 5.3 and LS1 are basically the same. So you can bore them to 8.906 but that's the limit.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Iron blocks don't have sleeves.

chrisfrost

iTrader: (8)

Yes there was a thread in this forum a while back where I think the op said He bored a 5.3L to 4.006" and sonic checked and He said there was more wall left than a first gen 350 .060" over . Iron blocks of course .

Bilster

iTrader: (21)

Could be missing it but I don't see anything about an iron block. You do know that 5.3s come in aluminum too....right?

LS6

What is the difference between 5.3 of gen 3 & 4 in terms of wall thikness?

bugy

yeah, i remember that thread too, so this is kinda confusing, some say it can't be done and that sonic says 5.3 bored to 4.006 has more wall than a 350 gen I, so what???

supersick99z

iTrader: (66)

Absolutely no way that's possible! This had been gone over countless times on here and the safest you can do is 3.905 and some people bore them to that, have them checked afterwards, and the walls are too thin to run it. Depending on your plans a 5.3 without being bored out will support 600hp, but not necessarily on stock internals. Although that has been done too

Scoggin Dickey

iTrader: (34)

I wouldn't recommend taking a 5.3 that far. There are lots of things you "can" do and that some people do without issue, but a 5.3 block just isn't the right tool for the job when a 4" bore is desired.

-Jesse

Bilster

iTrader: (21)

Great question. That's been bounced around the forums for awhile now without a definitive answer. Probably best to have an individual block sonic tested regardless of being Gen 3 or 4 if you are going for a max bore.

bugy

great! so we can not go that far with the 5.3 boring out to 4.000.
thanks everybody

King Nothing

iTrader: (9)

a buddy of mine and i were talkin about this the other night and we found this out also when we look into it

Adam Connell

Why the hell would you touch it? Throw a turbo setup on there with E85 and enjoy trying to blow it up... Hell use a 4.8 if you're really looking for a challenge

bugy

once again i'm not saying im doing it, i'm just gathering some info to clear this out..

driver56

The block man where I work has 30+ years experience and I asked him this same question. He told me he had a 5.3 iron block with a busted cylinder to test out so he bored all the good cylinders to 4.000", then started cutting them again 'till he hit water. He told me most hit water after about another 0.160" and one was around 0.180". Most everyone says this can't be done, maybe this was a freak block, I don't know.

What I do know is I'm going to have him cut out a 5.3 block and we're going to press in some nodular iron sleeves for a 4.125" bore. Why? 'Cause I already have the block, I get the sleeves at cost, and the labor is free. That's a lot cheaper than a X block. This will be nat. aspirated, if it was forced induction I probably wouldn't do it.

bugy

it seems to be safe with a natural aspirated with those sleeves, but personally i wouldn't work with a block with 0.170" as wall thickness.

Bilster

iTrader: (21)

Just curious, what sleeves are you going to press in. I've read about sleeves in the LS1 block that can take some fair amount of horsepower and have always wondered why the 4.8/5.3 iron blocks wouldn't be good candidates for this process as well.