I posted this in Car Craft tech questions and thought I would try here too.

I am not very familiar with the LS engines. I have always wanted a Shelby Cobra but the US Army dosen't pay that well. So I am planning a V8 swap into my 2002 Miata. I have seen your 5.3 build in the April issue and am impressed. Maybe you can help me with the parts list. Here is the direction I would like to go. I am looking to start with a low milage salvage aluminum block 5.3 with the displacement on demand. I hope not to rebuild and it would be mostly stock but I'm planning to install a aftrmarket cam but don't know if one is offered for the DOD engine. Power goals will be 375 or higher if possible. I know it is a transverse mounted engine but don't know if it would accept camaro accessory drive to correct that. The DOD requires the electronic throttle body but I need to change to a intake with the opening in the front. Could I turn the intake around or use the LS2 intake with a the possibly too large throttle body. Also, would LS Edit work with the Impala/Carlo computer with the DOD. In your article you used the truck engine; are the car and truck heads the same? For the transmission I need help with which bell housing, flywheel, and clutch assenbly to use. The easy way would be to use the Camaro T-56 but it is a little large and heavy for my needs but the shifter location is correct for the Miata. I would like to find a lighter weight aftermarket 5 speed with proper road race gear spacing and a lightweight flywheel for faster reving. A heavy flywheel is not needed in a 2400lb car. Now for the bonus question. I would like the car to have a Ferrari sound any advice on mufflers or exhaust tips.

 

Ive seen a kit car with the engine in the rear. They turned the intake around.

 

Instead of the transverse, front-wheel drive 5.3, you might consider this. I'm using an all-aluminum 5.3 out of a 2005 GMC Envoy--same as Chevy Trailblazer. It's rated at 300 horse and hooks up to any normal trans. I'm using a 4L60E out of a late Chevy pickup. The SUV engine will use the same engine mounts as any other LS engine. I've also swapped over LS2 water pump, crank pulley and intake. The LS2 injectors have the same electrical connectors as the SUV. I've had it running on a test stand. The ECM may need to be re calibrated for the larger injectors.

My 5.3 with 17,000 miles and the pickup trans with about 20,000 miles cost me 2 grand here in Missouri.

The Geezer

 

I'm using a 2005 Envoy 5.3L engine / 4L60E as well in my Jeep project. Before I installed it I swapped out the heads and cam. I ditched the DOD lifters for "normal" LS7 types (don't forget new LS2 lifter guides if you do this) and am using a relatively small 224/224 TSP cam. The heads are their stg 2.5 PRC's. Wasn't looking for any huge gains, just a nice bump in power. The engine/tranny pull came with the OEM Envoy engine harness which was pretty simple to modify for my swap. It's much easier to buy an aftermarket harness of course, but I couldn't justify the high cost. It's really not that hard to weed out wiring you don't need, just a bit tedious. I made up an excel sheet of all the wiring coming off of the C1/C107 Envoy harness connectors and what was/wasn't needed. The unused wiring was just capped off.

I do my own tuning with HPtuners starting out with a blank ECM that I got off of ebay. John from Speartech sent me a stock Envoy BIN file. Then I made up a valid VIN, programmed it all in and tailored it to my application. I switched the clutch fan out for a SPAL 3200cfm electric and changed the ECM settings to discrete (relay). Also deleted the rear O2's, disabled DOD, and a whole bunch of other codes (A/C, evap, etc).

Just fired it up for the first time last weekend. Sounds healthy

Let me know if you need any info. Sounds like you'd want to use the LS2 setup as Geezer noted. I can help with the injector/ECM stuff as well..

 

Thanks for the info. I did some research and found that the transverse engine has a shorter crank snout so the Camaro accessories won't work without a crank change. Also during my search I found info on the 05 and up 5.3. So on to the truck engine. Any idea of what is needed to mate it to a Tremec TKO.

BlackSS- I am planning a cam swap too but no head swap, just a port job and 3 angle valve job. This is the cam I am looking at Summit I have to resaerch some more about this but I think it will work with the DOD.

COMP Cams Xtreme RPM Camshafts
Camshaft, Hydraulic Roller Tappet, Advertised Duration 277/ 281, Lift .534/ .537, GM, 4.8/ 5.3/ 5.7/ 6.0L, Eac...

 

The factory DOD camshafts have two lobe profiles. One for the lifters that are deactivated, and another profile for the lifters that are not deactivated. The lifters that are deactivated are considerably bigger and heavier than the others and may not take kindly to the bigger lobe profiles.
All the computer programing that makes the DOD system work seamlessly will be tossed out the window when you change the cam. I'm not saying that it won't work, but it will probably be very noticeable when the DOD drops and reactivates the four cylinders.
If you change cams and keep the DOD, let us know how it works out.

Ken

 

I will try to contact Comp Cams and ask about it and let you know what I get from them.

Anyone have the how too on the T-5 T-45 to the 5.3? What flywheel, bellhousing, clutch, would I use?

 

Ok, I found it in a search. Sounds like a little machine work would get it done. Now can anyone post a photo of a lever style LS bellhousing.

 

Any Chevy bellhousing will bolt up to an LS series engine minus one bolt at the 2 o'clock position. If you use a stock LS flywheel you have to have a bellhousing that will accept the large flywheel. I ended up having to use a scattershield as an adapter for my Chevy II but it will work.