Blown LS2...5.3ls swap?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Blown LS2...5.3ls swap? So I blew a nice hole in my stock LS2 in my 06 GTO. Question is, guy I know has a shop and has worked on my car here and there, he has a 5.3 iron/block LS that he said he could drop in with a few goodies (cam, heads, etc.) for not a ton of money. He says it should be better than my now-gone 6.0 in every way. What should I do? Are those 5.3 LS motors and good? What do I have to do to one to get it to match or surpass my LS2?
There are a few differences they will have to address on the swap. 1 being the knock sensor holes. They will have to be drilled into the iron block. Then they will need to make sure to use an LS2 1x timing set as well as the ls2 front cover from your blown engine. Then either block off the knock sensor valley holes with silicone or get one of the edelbrock or similar valley covers with no knock sensor holes for ls1 block. They will also need to leave the stock cam sensor in the back, unplugged of course. You cannot use the LS2 cover as the holes are no similar and the iron block will have the cam sensor hole in the back as well as the oil pressure sensor hole in a different spot. Besides that and of course the oil pan and pickup tube swap that is really all there is. All the other holes are the same. It is a "cheap" swap and we have done it before but only with 6.0/370/408 swaps but they are all similar in those aspects. If you need any of those items, or any technical support with the swap, please let us know.
Using an 07 or newer 5.3/6.0 you will run into issues as well, like the 58x crank. You can use the lingenfelter box for that though, but all of that is quite a bit more $$$ as well.
Using an 07 or newer 5.3/6.0 you will run into issues as well, like the 58x crank. You can use the lingenfelter box for that though, but all of that is quite a bit more $$$ as well.
