Okay, here is my predicament. I have a 5.3 in which I am going to swap into my 92 S10 and going to eventually be running a Procharger on a 7-10psi street setup. I had planned on spending a ton of money on a totally forged rotating assembly, but a friend of mine said that he has "seen 5.3 bottom ends pull up to 900whp". He then stated that I would be able to get away with just getting some good forged pistons and running them with the stock rods and crank. I hope to push 500whp max with the procharger. The stock rods and crank are in almost new condition, if that makes any difference. Any insight on this issue would be appreciated.

 

If your looking to do 500max then you should be fine with the stock motor on a solid tune...

You could even upgrade to some katech rod bolts $200 if you have the budget and install them while you have the engine out to work on..

 

It's going to be a carbed setup. I plan on running a Victor Jr. with the stock 862 heads. For the setup before the procharger, I'll be running a pretty aggressive LSR cam from Comp. Hope to get 350whp N/A. Any idea if I'll need new rockers with a cam over .600 lift? I know that springs and pushrods are mandatory, but saving $500 on rockers would be fantastic.

 

I would atleast do the comp cam trunion upgrade for 130, there is a CHE bronze bushed setup for the stock rockers which is better for 425...

Those are 2 options that work good with the stock rocker arms..