Hey guys, im rebuilding a 5.3 I got from a friend for free. It had a rod break but luckily everything else seems to be in good condition, will have it all checked to be sure though.

I'm playing to bore it to 3.898 to run ls1 pistons with stock replacement 5.3 rods. Have a pair of 243 heads I will be putting on it. Would like to get flat top pistons to avoid having to mill the heads.

What would be a good cam selection for this set up? I dont want to run into any valve clearance issues, I will however run pistons with valve reliefs. I want a nice sounding chop and looking for more performance in the mid range, if I had my way I'd opt for slightly more upper Rev range than lower for my application.

Also want to add that for the time being boost is not in the plans. Thanks in advance

 

What's it going in? How do you want the driving manners to be? Are you running an auto transmission, if so do you want to keep the stock converter or go high stall?

It's a hard question to answer without knowing the whole combo and what you want it all to do for you.

 

Guess i Should have mentioned all of that. It's for a rock bouncer, so it will never see highway speeds, it will be backed by a turbo 400 transmission and 3k stall. It will be spending a lot of time in the mid-upper Rev range. Also, not sure if it makes a difference but axle gearing is 6.72:1

 

The Summit Ghost cam would work well for you but it will need a spring upgrade.

Andrew

 

the 8715 cam? Any recommendations on lifters and springs to run with this cam? Also, would you recommend forged or stock replacement internals? Havent completely made up my mind. While I'm not going to be running boost, it would be nice to have the added insurance. But also if I dont NEED them, would save some coin to get stock replacements

 

Ghost cam from summit might not be bad. But given it's an off road rig I might consider one of the truck cam's from them too. You don't want the power curve to high even though you're running a decent stall because if you have to feather the throttle or blip it for maneuvering you don't want to have to climb back up the rpms to get your power.

When I say a stage of cam here, I'm referring to the summit cuts which are fairly close to many others in the same stages but there are many good brands.
"Mid to upper rev range" gets changed by the cam. A stage 2 or 3 cam will have it's mid to upper be from 4500-7000rpm. The stage1 like the ghost cam will be around 3000-6000. Truck cam profiles might be 2500-5800.

This is going to be a major personal preference choice. Mud bogging fun, I would use a higher rpm cam. For anything like rock crawling or moose hunting here where you crawl through swamps and trees and mountains I would go with the highest torque cam.

If you get to put the pedal to the floor and hold it there...that's stage 2-3. Otherwise go with a stage1 truck cam made for more torque.

 

I will consider the truck options also but from the research I've done on the ghost cam it seems like it might work out pretty good. Do you have a recommendation on lifters and rockers? I've already found the springs and trunnion upgrade, but unsure of what lifters and rockers to use. Stock replacements?

 

I'd use stock lifters and rockers.