I got a 1991 S10 from a buddy that had swapped a 5.3L into her when he bought it, has a 9in rear end and a built 4L80E. He had plans for FI but doesn't have funds anymore. So thats where I came in, I have a 72mm BorgWarner I ordered. Probably gonna head to to a shop to do a turbo build in it. But what would be a good compression ratio and a good boost to run on 91 octane? I want at most 600hp for now, the turbo has potential of 900hp. So I want something that can make 600, but when I am ready to go ***** to the wall at the track I want to be able to pull out 900 I was thinking a 9.0:1 would be good enough, but I've never gone boosted before and don't know if that will do at pulling 900. My goal is to stay away from meth, race gas for as long as I can but not have a sluggish motor until the turbo kicks in.

 

You could probably stay with the 9.5:1. Is that 600hp at the crank or wheels?

 

I'd leave it stock compression and just put some head studs on it. Guys are getting crazy power out of stock motors this way.

 

600 to the crank... I'm sure that's around 500+ to the wheels right?

So I could leave stock bottom end and reach around 900 That sounds amazing but scary at same time... I'll have to invest in meth when I get up to that

 

They are getting crazy power, I am one of the borderline crazy power card holders, but there are other's like maxxmitchell and 71chevy, skinnies, and countless other's that have gone faster than I have on a stock block.

I plan on turning my boost up from 11 to 12 or 13 this coming track outing. I just hope to hell the motor doesn't blow, if it does, well I guess callies rods, and wiseco/je pistons are next on my list

 

I'm leaving my 5.3L relatively stock. Might just give it the arp treatment on the rods and heads. Will eventually run 15lbs with a D1SC procharger and meth. If it blows, it blows, then I'll by another $350 junkyard motor and run forged internals.

 

Alright I can tell the boost bug and the hp bug are gonna be at my 24/7 once I get boosted. Does anyone know the highest hp for those pistons in the 5.3? I got high hope of only upgrading rods, and doing a 4" crank shaft as far as bottom end work.

 

Dont do the crank there is no reason to do the crank till 1200whp or more. Pistons and rods are way more important.

 

How much horsepower and how long will the pistons last? I want to upgrade the rods as soon as I have the money. I don't wanna worry about a rod going through the wall of the block. I was just gonna do the crank to add some cubes and get more air to spool the turbo better

 

The crank in the ls motor's has been proven to 1000whp all day long.

Rods and pistons are your best bet, and try to just learn to stage the car efficiently and have the tune up spot on after many test n tunes to get it to spool faster. More cubes ultimately means that the turbo your using will run out of steam earlier.

 

Could you enlighten me on "stage the car efficiently." What would be a good stall to get? It would be nice to have a stall that will get me out of the hole on a good 60' which I'm sure will be terrible my first time on the track. But also the stall not kill my gas mileage. And last is this a good size turbo for a 5.3L, and how well will this do when I want to add a twin under the hood? Thanks for helping me in my quest of a great build!

 

Also wanted to add, is there any better cams than to use a LS6 cam, even though they can be had for cheap. Something to get great hp for a turbo 5.3?

 

For 600 hp I am sure an LS6 should be fine. Think there are a couple Ls6 guys making 700+ on stock motor and cams.

 

Thats a lot out of stock cam how much will an LS6 cam put me over stock cam? Right now its pretty much a stock 5.3 with custom made exhaust.

 

Not sure, but skinney is still running the truck cam with upgraded springs in his motor and just ran an 8.9x at over 150 mph!

 

I was just going to do some minor mods before throwing the turbo in. The LS6 cam, and an LS6 intake manifold with ported TB.