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Help with 5.3 performance do's

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Old Jun 25, 2014 | 05:36 AM
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Default Help with 5.3 performance do's

There's really no way of asking this without showing my complete ineptitude on this matter... So I'm just going to jump in and ask for everybody's secret family fried chicken recipe.

I've had in my possession for a few years a 2000 5.3 with 17,000 mi. I'm planning on installing it into a 95 c3500 that's currently being built. The main purpose of the vehicle will be a cruiser. No towing or hauling duties ever, but the behemoth has some size to her to begin with. So a little extra HP/TOURQUE is needed.

What combination of ingredients are needed to obtain a descently flat ( @ the flywheel ) 400 to 425 HP torque curve? Starting with the stock bottom end ... what cam, GM heads and intake would you guys recommend? I've been looking at the Edelbrock pro-flo XT and the Holley EFI Mid-Ram, purly for the look, but idk if I have the displacement. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Darrell

Last edited by rollinalldays; Jun 25, 2014 at 05:47 AM.
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Old Jun 25, 2014 | 07:34 PM
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I'm definitely no expert, and have no personal experience with a 5.3. That said, 400-425 at the flywheel shouldn't be extremely hard (just looks at what people make at the REAR wheel with a 5.7...only a few more cubes).

I would think a set of 243/799's (stage 1) from TEA/AI/Patriot/PRC and milled to get 11.5 - 12.0:1 CR, proper valve clearance, good valve springs, LS6 intake, and a mild cam. Should make more than you have asked for here.

What is your budget?
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Old Jul 7, 2014 | 08:04 PM
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Well for a truck weighing 2 1/2 tons like your C3500 . I would ideally start with a 6.0 or 6.2 constraint on goal of creating torque in the widest band possible. I would not take compression over 10.5 and select torquer cam ,you will not need big numbers here . LT headers 1 7/8 , 3" true dual exhaust.
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