I am an old school Big cube big carb guy but venturing into the LS world. I am starting a 5.3 build and am looking for some advice on what turbo to run for a full out drag car. I was thinking about a single Borg-Warner 480S and the stock truck intake with the factory drive by wire TB, I am thinking of 700 to 800 HP range. The twin turbo Big Block motor was a bit too much and was over powering the Chevelle's chassis so I think I will put this 5.3 in it and have fun. The motor is in very good shape as far as bearing clearances and cylinder wear is at a minimum, I had sent the block out to be hot tanked and cleaned, then had the crank checked and polished, the cylinders honed for the correct rings on the stock pistons and rods. I have ordered a Trunnion kit to install into the factory rockers. I have a stock take out LS7 cam and lifter set up but not sure if it will work for this setup. I have the 799 casting# heads 2.0 and 1.5 valves, Everything is out being cleaned checked. I am running a 3500 stall and 3:73 gears with 32 inch tall tires.Weight is right at 2600 LBS with me in it. I am trying to do this on a budget and am thinking of just slapping everything together that I have and going with that, But I thought I would just ask you all to see what you all think. I really could use your help with this build. Like I said earlier I am an old school carb guy and have put several turbo combos together in the past. I am just new at the LS thing and need some help getting everything right the first time.
The first Question I have is- 1)Will this cam work with this combo and if not what would be a good cam & spring combo to use?
2)I have the DOD-AFM engine block and plan to plug the oil feed towers with pipe plugs and modify the valley cover to fit. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE ?
3) What balancer should I use? I have the truck style now. Should I use the car style or does it matter?
4) What head gaskets to use?
5) What exhaust manifolds to use that will fit in a 1968 Chevelle?
6) I have a TH400 in the car now, Will the flex plate from a stock 350 Chevy motor work with the 5.3 and TH400?
7) What should I do for motor mounts?
8) Will stock coils work well enough or should I step up to a hotter coil set up?
9) Will a stock 3 bolt timing chain set work with this ( I have the front cam Sensor Engine) and the correct new timing cover for the motor.
10) What ECU will work best for E85 and HP tuners programmer?
11) What trim should I use for the turbo? Will the stock B-W 480S turbo set up work?
12) Who makes the best stand alone wire harness for a race car set up that is the cheapest?
13) Will the stock truck pan fit in the 68 Chevelle or do I need a custom Pan?
14) Will my stock pushrods work with the LS7 Cam?
Any and all help with this will be greatly appreciated,
Thanks for your help........
Jim Huffman

 

The LS7 cam is okay but not spectacular at 211/230. Give it it a shot it will get you in the ballpark of your target. PAC 1218 springs should be sufficient
Get on rock auto and buy the GTO 6.0L intake, it's cheap and effective, especially with a big ebay throttle body.
Use the truck manifold if the rubber is intact, but feel free to spend the money on a good one
LS9 head gaskets are completely sufficient
You're on your own with manifolds
TH400 adapters are plentiful on summit and the like
Motor mounts are all in your court
Stock coils are more than sufficient for your target, as are stock wires
Stock timing chain is fine
Whichever is available can run the tune just fine
Higher RPM means higher reliability; therefore higher AR means longer life, and with high stall and E85 it's not a factor
lt1swap.com, spend 2 hours and $50 and you're done
Go ahead and use the damn ls1 pan and the associated goodies to make life easier Holley 302-3
Pushrods should be fine. A lil john stage 2 or btr stage 2 would make your target easier.

 

Thank you for the info, The Holley 302-3 pushrods are the correct length? For give my ignorance on this matter but I just want to make sure that i do it right the first time.

 

1. I personally wouldn't run the ls7. Buy the Elgin E1839P off Ebay for $230. The Pac 1218's are fine
2. Plugging the AFM ports is fine, just swap out the AFM lifters as well.
3. Use whatever accessories, and balancer fits your chassis. The truck stuff is plentiful, and cheap.
4. Ls9, or even the stock replacement mls 5.3's are fine for most builds.
5. Whatever fits. can't help with this.
6. Depending on the flex, it might. You will need a crank spacer, and bolts. A 6.0 with the 4l80e flex will work if buying one. The stock 5.3 will work as well, but may need holes enlarged or re-drilled for converter. Best to search for this.
7. Plenty of retrofit mounts out there, take your pick.
8. Coils are fine
9. Timing chain is fine if its in good shape, or you can buy a ls3? chain for like $35 which is an upgrade.
10. Plenty of ecu's will work with flex, some have drivers for fast idle/cable throttle, some do not. Depends on what you want.
11. For a race setup, the 480/96mm 1.32 will give you room to grow, but the cheaper S475/96mm 1.32 will do what you want. If more of a street car, the S475/83mm 1.10 will come in a little sooner.
12. Modify your own (same lt1swap.com as above).
13. The truck pan will fit, but the sump is deep, and will hang low.
14. 7.400 is a very common push rod length for the ls engines, and works on 90+% of the builds, but measuring is the proper way to know.

All of this has been covered here, and many other places, so you may need to search, and see what best fits your build.

 

Holley 302-2 is the shorter camaro pan

 

Thank you for the info. at this point Received the Ls7 cam and it has been damaged in shipping so it has to be sent back. I will get the Elgin cam and just buy new lifters. will the stock 5.3 lifters work with the Elgin cam?

 

Thanks man,I am reading a lot and appreciate any help i can get.

 

Thank you very much. i am sure i will have many questions and i really appreciate all the feed back.-
I just found out that my valves need some attention I guess the exhaust valves are pitted and need to be cleaned up. I told the machine shop to go ahead and do what needs to be done. I am starting to get excited. I just want to get the motor back and start putting it together. Clevite bearings came in yesterday and still waiting on timing chain kit. Has anyone ever ran Mahl piston rings? I just need stock rings or should i get the moly rings being I'm going with the turbo? know one really talks much about piston rings?

 

Stock replacement rings or moly style?

 

A cheap plain cast ring works well. Moly is ok, but has been known to flake off in some boosted aplications. The stock gm ring works very well, and most will re gap, and run them even with 100k+ miles on them.

 

The stock 5.3 lifters will be fine (non afm), but the ls7 lifters are what many run if swapping lifters.

 

LS7 lifters on ebay are within pennies of the price of the stock 5.3, get the LS7 lifters. Use your existing cups though. Use cast iron rings unless you love adding a quart every 500 miles while they seat. Have the machine shop install some PAC1218 springs for you while they're rebuilding the heads. If the machine shop is assembling the shortblock then tell them what ring gaps you're looking for. Something in the range of 0.028 on the top rings and 0.030 on the second second.

 

Thanks for all of the replies, I just had a surgery and am still laid up. As soon as i get back to work i'm gonna get back on it I am still looking for a turbo cam and spring kit. What do most people that do this go to? I was thinking about the Elgin (sloppy2) cam still searching.........

 

Thank you for the help. I am in a slump right now, had an operation and off work so I'm pinching pennies, when i get back to work, the shits on.....

 

Well it's been awhile and a lot of things have changed. The 5.3 is back from the machine shop and I will starting the build tomorrow. I traded the 68 Chevelle for a 67 tube chassis Camaro it is certified to 7.50, So at this point I am thinking about making a bit more HP. I have purchased the LS7 lifters and treys, an Elgin stage 2 cam and went with Lunati double springs set up for the cam. I went with sealed power Hell Fire rings and set the gaps to 28 and 32. I using clevite cam, rod and main bearings and a summit billet adjustable double roller timing gear set. So the build is underway tomorrow. As for the Camaro. It currently has a 5.3 with a fresh rebuild but i don't know any thing about it other than it has a Flow-Tech cam that i can not find what its spec are. It has numbers ground into the back end of the cam but I can't not reference them to anything. Does anyone know how I can get a phone number for Flow-Tech? The motor has a CX racing T-76 .96 AR turbo on it that I had to rebuild, It has a bit of slop in the shaft so I freshened it up with a complete rebuild kit.The Car needs all new wiring so I purchased a new AAW wire harness for it as well as Turbosmart 50mm PRO gate and a 50mm Tial BOV. I am looking for a set of LS truck manifolds to use instead of the CX racing SS headers. If anyone has a set at a fair price I would be very interested. Come on warm weather.........