Hey guys. I'm a new user of this forum but I am not new to reading it lol. I have gathered so much info from you guys on here that I decided to make me an account and jump in. I have finally gotten to the point where I am financially stable enough to build my dream ls (lm7) for my 1988 Monte Carlo ls. it was my first car and has been bought 3 times and sold twice by me and it keeps coming back to me. After 4 smallblocks(old school)and one big block I have landed on a turbo ls build and I have acquired a 2001 Tahoe with a 5.3 lm7 which I have plucked already and put on the engine stand. I have already tore it down because I don't want to "budget build" per say. I want it reliable and efficient. The block is currently at my good friends machine shop where he is cleaning, sonic testing, and magnafluxing for me before it is bored to 3.905 due to very bad spots in cylinders 1, 3, 7, and 8. so my bore is predetermined for me. my biggest question as of now is WHAT CRANK!!?? four inch stroke? stay with 3.662? My rotating assembly is the point to where I cant decide what brand, what type, of what grade. I cant make up my mind on a good combo so I was hoping that some of ya'll would have some good info? builds? experience? anything would ne awesome and thank you guys for the help!!

 

Maybe a description of what you plan to do with the car, weekend toy?, Drag car?, Daily driver?
what Hp level/how fast you want it to be would help
And the most important thing of all..... Whats the budget? I know you said you dont want it to be a "budget build" but you also said you just now have become financially able to make this happen..
So Im gonna assume the budget is still fairly low????

With that said, the STOCK crank will handle 1000rwhp...... and with a turbo application a stroker isnt going to be as a big a deal as it would with a N/A setup

also 3.905 is pretty much the max bore most have done on a 4.8/5.3 block why do you need to take it THAT far?

 

Stock crank is way more than strong enough.

 

It�s going to be a daily driver. I want to go boosted. The budget isn�t low but lower is always better. Lol I don�t want to waste money on things that I don�t need but I also don�t want a ticking time bomb either. It�s going in a 1988 Monte Carlo ls. It was my first car and I�ve gotten lucky enough to get it back and I wanted it to be �fast� all through school and never really got the chance to do much. So now I want to do it justice and I would like to make 700-800 whp reliably. There�s no doubt in my mind that it is doable. Just the right parts is what I want to be certain on. I have an awesome machine shop that does very high end race motors, mostly big block alcohol cars but he has done a lot of ls builds as of late and he�s willing to help me out but sometimes he loses sight on what I need and what I REALLY need so I wanted some real world wisdom and advise, recommendations, anything from you guys that have been there and done that. Thank you for your help btw!

 

And With the 3.905 bore, it had some bad spots..really really bad spots. I didn�t want to bore it at all originally. But that�s the cards I have been dealt unless I would be better off sourcing anouther block.

 

Lots of shops going this way. My buddy Cory and his family have a machine shop that does mostly big block alcohol stuff. LOTS of LS stuff making it in there lately.
I would price out the cost of machine work and new pistons/rods vs the cost of just buying a complete Gen 4 or late Gen 3 5.3, as those will hit your goal on a stock long block.

 

Yep, the cost of building your current engine will far exceed that of a nice factory short block. Not sure how much I would trust boring it that far and running alot of boost?
You can even pick up a complete L33 now for under $1500 (Shipped to you) witch would be the route I would take Those are aluminum block, have Gen4 rods, 243 heads, and hair more compression.
I would Gap the rings, Valvesprings, ls9 cam (or better) and throw some arp head studs if you want.
With good fuel and tune you will hit 700rwhp reliably.

If you want to go further just take your pick of forged rods/pistons and crank up the boost! lol

 

Alright! I�ll get up a list from him and price some gen 4 motors and compare them! now, what about turbo or turbos? I know I�m probably going to go with Holley hp efi. I know it�s pricey but I am a long time Holley fan. Lol

 

Holley has a new terminator X ECM setup out now for $1000 or with trans control for $1300 People are having great success with it on boosted applications