Hello,

I have all my goodies gathered up to build up a cheap 4.8 to put into my IROC, but after doing research, I'm a bit discontent with the power figures in comparison with other muscle cars of nowadays. Being that people are selling LQ4's for nearly 2k in my area, it's out of the question. I would like to build up a fresh engine for my resto-mod that will at least give up a good fight against the other big cars nowadays.

So, I was debating whether I should get the crank and rods from a 5.3 and make a high compression 5.3. OR Get the turning assembly from an LS1 and bore my block to build up an iron LS1.

The cam I chose for my 4.8 is a 206/212 .515"/.522" 112deg. So this cam could be used for a high compression 5.3. I also have a 98-00 LS1 cam in the garage to use if I decide to do an iron LS1.

So I'm just wondering what the best bang for the buck is here? Or should I just stick with 4.8 before I dig too deep a hole?

Thanks all!

 

Sounds like you are off to a good start since you're on a budget I recommend that you get your swap running and driving with the 4.8 and sort out all the bugs with The placeholder engine and you can just build another more aggressive LS engine on the stand while you're driving The swap sorting it out and enjoying it. I've built flat top 5.3 engines completely out of used parts basically for free so you can do that too welcome to the hobby,

 

I know you posted this a while ago but if your still checking this thread, I built my 4.8 into a high comp 5.3 and I put a .585 lift cam sorry I can't remember the numbers. All I can tell you is holy **** what a difference. I ran my 4.8 with a GM hot cam for 5 years and I loved how it ran. And I was impressed with the power but after the 5.3 crank and rods new flat top pistons and the new cam it's like night and day. Good luck and let us know what you do.

 

Wow, that's sweet! Thank you for telling me about that. What kind of power does it make? Yeah, alot of people are saying that the only engine worth building up is something with a 4.00"+ bore. Someone also mentioned that if I built a 5.3 I would only have a slightly better version of what I already have. I just got a camshaft recommendation from CamMotion for the 4.8, but I haven't ordered it. There's a guy 50 minutes drive from me that has a 5.3 for $200 OBO that has two broken rods but has a good crank and block. It's very tempting to sell the 4.8 and switch over to a 5.3 and slap together a cheap build. My goal is less than 400 RWHP, simply because I want to keep the 4L60e and the GM 10 bolt. I still have alot of resto-modding to do before I'm ready to put the motor in the car, so I'm in no rush either way.

 

They kind of have a point saying not worth building if it doesnt have a 4inch + bore however, if you already have a 4.8, go head do what you want. I have a stock 4.8/4l60e in a 86 Camaro currently almost done the swap. I also have a 5.3 but the 4.8 was in better shape so I went with that. After the 4.8 is installed with exhaust, i will turn the 5.3 since i already have it, into a 5.7 build.

I currently was successful in rebuilding a 4l60e into stock specs, so the other one I will build with performance parts.

If I could do it over again I would probably end up the same way since around here, they are charging crazy numbers for 6.0s, even its block prices are crazy.

I attained the 4.8 & 5.3 for $500 total

 

Put it this way, you'll never regret going to bigger cubes, but you may regret it if you don't

The more cubes the more power. And if you're only looking for around 300 to the tires or so, the larger cubes will do it with a stock or mild cam and stock heads. The smaller motors will need a lot more cam and possibly heads. So you'll spend more to make the power with the smaller motor and it will be at the exchange of driveability. Another thing to consider is if you want more from the smaller motor and need to run more cam, you'll also need to get a converter.

There's a lot to consider.

 

I would just run the 4.8 in stock form until the 5.3-5.7 build is finished.

Then, I would bore the 5.3 out to about a 3.905", and put new pistons (flat top) in it. You can get flat tops from Summit for about $200. You can re-use the 706 heads, and stock rods. You wouldn't need much cam to get 400 whp with that build.

 

Do it once. If you have the funds 5.3 or 5.7 liter iron block LS and if you don't have the funds save until you do. At least with the 5.3 liter LS you will have a 325 which is ok and can make good power.