I'm still rather new to the forum, so hopefully this is in the correct section. If its in the wrong section, please move it. I will try to keep this short and to the point, there is a list of questions at the bottom of this post, and I greatly appreciate any constructive critiques anyone has to offer.

I'm planning a new turbo 5.3 engine build and I think I have it all figured out, but I'm open to changing my plans.

Current setup:
87 Foxbody 3200lbs with me in it
Junkyard 150k mile Gen III 5.3 build untouched internals
E85
Fitech EFI rich afr, conservative timing table 14* @ 14lbs (Thanks Denmah!)
SS2 cam
BTR dual valve springs
Deka 80's
Twin bosch 044's
Stock rails and regulator
T56 Mag trans
ACT twin disc clutch rated to 1400 ft/lbs
8.8 3.55 gears 31 spline axles 4 lug
GT45 on 16 lbs ebay intercooler/ 2.5" coldside
Homemade 2.25" hotside, ebay wastegate (works great) I'm using the wastegate spring/preload screw to adjust boost. No other form of boost control. Perfect for me so far.
Good Driveshaft
28" tall M/T's radials

I'd guess its in the high 500-low 600rwhp range, but I honestly have no idea. I'm at 74% injector duty cycle (11.0 afr 13* at 16lbs) on the deka 80's at 58 psi base pressure. That makes them 94 lb/hr injectors. Maybe someone can gauge the power from that.

This setup has been a blast on the street and track, I've ran low 11's at 126 mph consistently with a 1.6ish 60 foot. I know I can run 10's if I leave on more boost, leaving on 5 now, I can make 14 on the 2 step. Last week I turned up the boost and the heads lifted at 21 lbs (definitely addicted to boost now!) so I turned it back down to 16 lbs (doesn't seem to be pushing any water) and I'm starting to plan a better engine. The car is 50% street, 50% track. It gets lots of street miles and I beat on it a lot. This is a nice day driver and weekend warrior/tire fryer car. I build it from the ground up with no experience in drag racing or building experience (thanks to youtube and this forum) so I have learned a lot and I'm ready to take it to the next level.

Goals:
Have a "fast" street car- to me, that means low to mid 9's at the track and an absolute monster on the street. I think this can attained with 800rwhp. I may not need this much, maybe it'll take more, but let's pretend like that's how much it'll take.
Stay M6- I love shifting! The Transmission and Clutch should hold plenty of power and I'm not looking to go Auto... yet
Stay E85 only- not looking to add meth inj
Keep the Fitech- its not ideal since Holley has the Terminator now, but once you learn how to use it, its really not bad
RELIABLE- I do all my own tuning so I do rich tunes without pushing the timing too hard. I add boost to make more power instead of getting aggressive on the tune. Right or wrong, that's what I do. I don't rev much past 6300 rpm, the power on my current setup seems to fall off above that point anyways. I want to build an engine that is tame enough to make a 60 mile drive to get ice cream with the girlfriend, absolutely rip at the track (tired of getting gapped by low 10 second stick shift hondas), and be a beast on the street.

Budget:
$3,000 for engine, new hotside, injectors and turbo
I have some of the parts already so I will use the price I have in them
I will reuse my valve springs, cam, oil pump and f-body oil pan.

New Build Plan:
Gen III iron block 5.3 decked and cleaned-$200
317 heads decked, valvejob, cleaned-$100
Rods, flat top pistons, polished crank from an L33 (I believe the L33's have Gen 4 rods?)-$200
Ebay forward headers-$100
New 2" hotside and 5" fender exit downpipe (made by me)-$300
VS Billet 7875-$555
Snake eater 1500cc injectors-$400
New rings and bearings- $200
LS9 Head gasket-$110
Arp Head studs-$285
Arp Rod bolts-$90
BTR pushrods-$100
LS7 lifters-$135
LS2 timing set-$35
Odds and ends-$50
Stock oil pump with shimmed spring-$0.25

Total-$2860

The compression ratio should work out to 9.2-9.5:1
I'm used to a laggy GT45 so a faster spooling turbo would be nice, but not a deal breaker
Not dead set on the turbo. The VS Billet 7875 seems like a great candidate for a great price, but if I need something bigger, that's not out of the question. maybe the T6 S480?? I'm not an expert on turbos so input here would be great.
Ring gap thinking .025" top and .027" bottom ??
Is there any difference between a $3 rod/main bearing and a $12 rod/main bearing??
Will run 10-40 conventional oil and change frequently
Main bearing clearance .0025" ??
Rod bearing clearance .0025" ??

I'm fairly confident in my engine building and fabricating abilities, but I want to make sure I'm using all the right pieces of the puzzle for my goal.

Let me know what you think. I wish I would have asked more questions on my first setup so I'm open to ideas! Thank you in advance.

 

Where are you getting a $3 rod or main bearing for a LS engine at?
All kidding aside, I’d skip the ARP rod bolts. Don’t need them for 6300 rpm and they have been known to cause more harm than good with cracked cap rods.
Kinda surprised your using the factory regulator, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

 

For the bearing price question there’s a Summit kit that has all 8 rod bearings for $15 or the Clevite ones are $12 each

Great input on the rod bolts, that’s kinda what I was thinking.

As for the factory regulator, I’m surprised too. The twin Bosch 044’s don’t over run the stock regulator and it increases and decreases pressure the way it should so I figured why fix it if it works.

 

Why the 317's? That large chamber sucks on a smaller bore. 862/706 are best for the 4.8/5.3

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/eng...der-head-test/

 

Those cheap summit brand bearings are King bearings. I am using a set in a 370ci build and they were not very consistent, but it's not really a problem with what I have planned. I got the .010" undersized set, measured the ID, and will be getting the crank ground to the clearance I want.

 

For my rod/main bearings, I think I’m going to take the block and crank in to the local machine shop. They can make the correct measurements and I’ll use whatever bearings they recommend. They build a decent amount of LS engines so I’m sure they have it figured out.

And as for the 317 heads, I could be wrong, but I want a lower compression ratio. If I used the 862/706 heads with the L33 rotating assembly, that would put the compression ratio around 10.5:1. With the 317’s it should be around 9.3:1. And I don’t think a 9.3:1 ratio is too low, it should be enough to keep the NA power I want. Everyone I’ve talked to recommended low compression ratios (8.5-9.5) for boosted applications. That’s why I plan on using the 317 heads.

I have a friend building a turbo 5.3 with a power goal of 1300ish wheel hp. His compression ratio is in that 10.5:1 range, but he has forged everything, 6 bolt block/heads etc etc. I’m sure the high compression ratios can make big power turbocharged, but I don’t want to scatter my block.

Thank you for your input!! Keep it coming. There’s a lot of people on here that know a lot more than I do!

 

You are trying to fix a flat top 5.3 for boost with 317 heads, I think what you are planning is a waste of time . My local yard has plenty of the 4.8/5.3 engines with the smaller chamber 862/706 heads and they are all 9.5:1 compression so ideal for your plans and they only cost &400-$600 you are throwing money away with the flat tops and 317 heads on the 5.3. The smaller chamber will be stronger off idle and better out of boost it's just physics those heads suck for small cubes

 

I totally agree with what you’re saying about a 5.3/4.8 with their stock heads. Thats what I’m currently running in my car and it works great.

I already have 317 heads and an L33 rotating assembly prepped and ready. I have $200 in the heads and rotating assembly. They should give me a 9.3:1 Comp ratio. I have a block for the build as well.

If I didn’t have a garage full of LS parts, you would be 100% correct on just buying an engine from the JY. I do however have a lot of parts already and I don’t want to go buy another long block is I can use the parts I already have.

I do greatly appreciate your input. When I built my first engine, I needed someone to tell me to quit over thinking it and just drop the dang thing in. I did LS9 gaskets, head studs, and gapped the rings just to have it eat a main bearing 30 mins after I started it.

 

Low compression isn't much of a thing anymore like it used to be.
10:1 is fine on pump gas. I've ran 13:1 with boost and E85. E85 gives you a significant advantage. You could be giving up as much as 60 HP in boost with 317s vs smaller chamber heads.

 

Id sell the l33 rods/pistons and 317 heads. Do the summit forged pistons, forged rods. Leave everything else the same (except throw some head studs on) set it to 30lbs and let it eat

 

Humm... maybe I’ve been hanging around the old small block guys too much. I always thought compression was bad for boosted power. I’ll look at some other rod/piston options and read more about compression ratios for boost. Thank you for the input guys.