Can't decide-5.3 or 6.0?
10-17-2013, 05:01 PM
#1
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Can't decide-5.3 or 6.0? I cannot decide between the two. I want the most low end possible (it will be going in a 5000 lb truck), so obviously the 6.0 is better.
But, I'm on a fairly tight budget so I was wondering if the 6.0 is worth the extra $$ at the junkyard.
I plan on putting a cam, headers, and good tune in, no matter which motor I do choose.
Fuel mileage is also a concern. The truck now, with a 350/TH350/NP205 and 4.09 gears, gets around 13 on the highway on a good day. I'll be old enough to drive in a year, and I really want to be able to afford to drive it.
My gut is telling me to go with the 5.3, but I can't decide lol.
Tranny will be a built 4L60E if I go with the 5.3, probably or stock or mildly built 4L80E if I go 6.0.
So, people of LS1Tech, what would be better for me?
The truck is a '71 K20, 4" lift and 33" tires.
Thanks!
But, I'm on a fairly tight budget so I was wondering if the 6.0 is worth the extra $$ at the junkyard.
I plan on putting a cam, headers, and good tune in, no matter which motor I do choose.
Fuel mileage is also a concern. The truck now, with a 350/TH350/NP205 and 4.09 gears, gets around 13 on the highway on a good day. I'll be old enough to drive in a year, and I really want to be able to afford to drive it.
My gut is telling me to go with the 5.3, but I can't decide lol.
Tranny will be a built 4L60E if I go with the 5.3, probably or stock or mildly built 4L80E if I go 6.0.
So, people of LS1Tech, what would be better for me?
The truck is a '71 K20, 4" lift and 33" tires.
Thanks!
10-17-2013, 05:55 PM
#3
A buddy of mine recently had this same dilemma. His is a 77 GMC 4 door,
standard bed, 3/4 ton that he scored for 750 bucks. He promptly sold the
454 for a thousand bucks as it only had 59,000 miles on it. He found a 5.3
from an 01 silverado with 110,000 miles for 350 bucks and mated it to the
thm400 trans (3.73 rear gears) and I gave him my C5 exhaust manifolds.
He recently averaged 17-18 MPGs on a road trip with just a generic tune and
an oil change. He didn't even put new spark plugs in it because he said they
looked just fine. He eventually plans to put an overdrive trans in it and pitch
the 2" soda straw exhaust pipes for some 2.5" (2 into 1) 3.5" exhaust and do
some more tuning in hopes of getting 20 mpgs. Obviously the 6.0 would
make more power however he said it moves out just fine for normal driving.
standard bed, 3/4 ton that he scored for 750 bucks. He promptly sold the
454 for a thousand bucks as it only had 59,000 miles on it. He found a 5.3
from an 01 silverado with 110,000 miles for 350 bucks and mated it to the
thm400 trans (3.73 rear gears) and I gave him my C5 exhaust manifolds.
He recently averaged 17-18 MPGs on a road trip with just a generic tune and
an oil change. He didn't even put new spark plugs in it because he said they
looked just fine. He eventually plans to put an overdrive trans in it and pitch
the 2" soda straw exhaust pipes for some 2.5" (2 into 1) 3.5" exhaust and do
some more tuning in hopes of getting 20 mpgs. Obviously the 6.0 would
make more power however he said it moves out just fine for normal driving.
10-17-2013, 06:00 PM
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A buddy of mine recently had this same dilemma. His is a 77 GMC 4 door,
standard bed, 3/4 ton that he scored for 750 bucks. He promptly sold the
454 for a thousand bucks as it only had 59,000 miles on it. He found a 5.3
from an 01 silverado with 110,000 miles for 350 bucks and mated it to the
thm400 trans (3.73 rear gears) and I gave him my C5 exhaust manifolds.
He recently averaged 17-18 MPGs on a road trip with just a generic tune and
an oil change. He didn't even put new spark plugs in it because he said they
looked just fine. He eventually plans to put an overdrive trans in it and pitch
the 2" soda straw exhaust pipes for some 2.5" (2 into 1) 3.5" exhaust and do
some more tuning in hopes of getting 20 mpgs. Obviously the 6.0 would
make more power however he said it moves out just fine for normal driving.
standard bed, 3/4 ton that he scored for 750 bucks. He promptly sold the
454 for a thousand bucks as it only had 59,000 miles on it. He found a 5.3
from an 01 silverado with 110,000 miles for 350 bucks and mated it to the
thm400 trans (3.73 rear gears) and I gave him my C5 exhaust manifolds.
He recently averaged 17-18 MPGs on a road trip with just a generic tune and
an oil change. He didn't even put new spark plugs in it because he said they
looked just fine. He eventually plans to put an overdrive trans in it and pitch
the 2" soda straw exhaust pipes for some 2.5" (2 into 1) 3.5" exhaust and do
some more tuning in hopes of getting 20 mpgs. Obviously the 6.0 would
make more power however he said it moves out just fine for normal driving.
Where I'm running into problems too is that the 6.0 gets so many opinions. Some people say it's horrible, yet others praise it.
10-17-2013, 08:29 PM
#5
I sure don't understand where people would say that the 6.0 is horrible. I
had an 03 Silverado SS with the 10:1 LQ9 engine and I abused it for 80k
plenty of bottles of NOS and the whole shebang. That thing moved 5500 lbs
to a 13.1 at 106 mph...bone stock with a .060" dry jet. If you can find one
for a deal by all means get it. I'm not gonna try to talk you outta that but all
I'm sayin' is the 5.3 does perform quite admirably !!!
had an 03 Silverado SS with the 10:1 LQ9 engine and I abused it for 80k
plenty of bottles of NOS and the whole shebang. That thing moved 5500 lbs
to a 13.1 at 106 mph...bone stock with a .060" dry jet. If you can find one
for a deal by all means get it. I'm not gonna try to talk you outta that but all
I'm sayin' is the 5.3 does perform quite admirably !!!
10-18-2013, 05:47 PM
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In my honest opinion, I say you keep your 350 and throw a cam in it.
I know an LSX sounds tempting, especially from a power to dollar ratio but you cant beat the fact that you already have a v8, 350 at that.
I had a crappy rebuilt, $400, sbc 350 in my Nova. I thought by putting that in (I was 16) it was going to be a beast, it wasnt, it was slow. I was getting beat by POS civics.
SO I rebuilt the quadrajet, threw a cam (i forgot the specs), 3000 torque converter and OH MAN did it move (kept up with C5 vettes on the freeway)
I would also look into getting a quadrajet too (dont listen to people saying they are crap, there are good ones) because they act like a 2-barrel carb when off the throttle but open up the back two barrels when you get on it (i would get 20 mpg on the highway easy in my Nova)
So the moral of the story is, since youre on a budget, work with what you got. By the time you get done installing the LSX/5.3/6.0 you could have done a lot more with what you have already... just my 2 cents
I know an LSX sounds tempting, especially from a power to dollar ratio but you cant beat the fact that you already have a v8, 350 at that.
I had a crappy rebuilt, $400, sbc 350 in my Nova. I thought by putting that in (I was 16) it was going to be a beast, it wasnt, it was slow. I was getting beat by POS civics.
SO I rebuilt the quadrajet, threw a cam (i forgot the specs), 3000 torque converter and OH MAN did it move (kept up with C5 vettes on the freeway)
I would also look into getting a quadrajet too (dont listen to people saying they are crap, there are good ones) because they act like a 2-barrel carb when off the throttle but open up the back two barrels when you get on it (i would get 20 mpg on the highway easy in my Nova)
So the moral of the story is, since youre on a budget, work with what you got. By the time you get done installing the LSX/5.3/6.0 you could have done a lot more with what you have already... just my 2 cents
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10-18-2013, 08:19 PM
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In my honest opinion, I say you keep your 350 and throw a cam in it.
I know an LSX sounds tempting, especially from a power to dollar ratio but you cant beat the fact that you already have a v8, 350 at that.
I had a crappy rebuilt, $400, sbc 350 in my Nova. I thought by putting that in (I was 16) it was going to be a beast, it wasnt, it was slow. I was getting beat by POS civics.
SO I rebuilt the quadrajet, threw a cam (i forgot the specs), 3000 torque converter and OH MAN did it move (kept up with C5 vettes on the freeway)
I would also look into getting a quadrajet too (dont listen to people saying they are crap, there are good ones) because they act like a 2-barrel carb when off the throttle but open up the back two barrels when you get on it (i would get 20 mpg on the highway easy in my Nova)
So the moral of the story is, since youre on a budget, work with what you got. By the time you get done installing the LSX/5.3/6.0 you could have done a lot more with what you have already... just my 2 cents
I know an LSX sounds tempting, especially from a power to dollar ratio but you cant beat the fact that you already have a v8, 350 at that.
I had a crappy rebuilt, $400, sbc 350 in my Nova. I thought by putting that in (I was 16) it was going to be a beast, it wasnt, it was slow. I was getting beat by POS civics.
SO I rebuilt the quadrajet, threw a cam (i forgot the specs), 3000 torque converter and OH MAN did it move (kept up with C5 vettes on the freeway)
I would also look into getting a quadrajet too (dont listen to people saying they are crap, there are good ones) because they act like a 2-barrel carb when off the throttle but open up the back two barrels when you get on it (i would get 20 mpg on the highway easy in my Nova)
So the moral of the story is, since youre on a budget, work with what you got. By the time you get done installing the LSX/5.3/6.0 you could have done a lot more with what you have already... just my 2 cents
Basically when I say I'm on a budget, I mean as if I don't want to waste money. I don't think money will be much of an issue by the time I get around to it, but if I have more, then I can do so much more with the swap.
For the LS swap, I was planning on at least 4k, and saving money by doing what I physically can. Main reason for the LS swap is reliability and gas mileage, which, I know I've pretty much got that now, but I like to be a little different from everyone else, ya know?
10-19-2013, 11:03 AM
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Say no more, I am the exact same way! In that case I say go for whatever you can get a better deal on. You can add more "potential" n/a power on a 6.0 BUT you can be really different and go budget turbo on a 5.3, that would be awesome. 
10-19-2013, 05:20 PM
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10-19-2013, 08:50 PM
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10-21-2013, 07:18 PM
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Well I think I made up my mind...6.0 it is 
I'd really like to find an LQ9 if I can get one for the right price. Pretty sure I'll do the 4L80E as well...
Thanks everybody for helping me make up my mind, although I'm sure it'll change 1000 times from now to the time I get around to it
I'd really like to find an LQ9 if I can get one for the right price. Pretty sure I'll do the 4L80E as well...
Thanks everybody for helping me make up my mind, although I'm sure it'll change 1000 times from now to the time I get around to it
