|
I am in the middle of a 5.3 conversion presently
and do think it is somewhat more challenging than the 5.7. I liked the
look of the 5.3 much better than the 5.7 because it has a plastic shield
covering the top of the engine, and the air intake is at the front and center of
the unit. The exhaust ports on the heads are not the simese style, and
therefore you can't use the rams horn center dump manifolds to clear your frame
rails, or run the exhaust crossover under the front of the oil pan. You
can use LS1 camaro manifolds to clear the frame but they do exit in the rear, so
crossover gets complicated. For the air cleaner I purchased the fuel
injection performance kit from K&N which included the ducting, filter,
etc that I was able to adapt to my application and keep it looking
factory. There is very little room to make that sharp bend in a 3 1/2"
pipe between the throttle body and the fan blades. The stock duct had too
many complications to adapt to my application, but could possibly work depending
on your radiator design. As previously mentioned there is a security
system that is quite complicated on these newer engines. It involves
several components that communicate with each other, develop random numbers,
perform calculations on those numbers, compares the calculations, transducers in
your key/steering column etc. Fortunately this can be programmed out of
your VCM (computer). I had my wiring harness done by BTB. They
acted like it was so complicated I shouldn't even attempt it. Then after
the job was done they said it was easier than the 5.7. I believe the newer
5.3 (Generation 3) puts out more power than the older 5.7 (generation 2).
My advise to someone beginning a project such as
this: Begin by making a budget for the project. Most found on the
internet are far from thorough or complete. Allow up to $2000 extra for
unexpected items. Don't expect to get your money or time back out of it,
just a much improved vehicle for your use. You will get much improved
longevity, dependability, economy, and most of all satisfaction. There is
so much involved in completing this project. Although I am capeable of
doing everything required myself, I elected to hire out a few of the things that
weren't my specialty to speed things up and make it a pleasurable experience.
You will have enough to do like remove the clutch pedal if you are switching to
auto trannie, cutting and splicing radiator hoses of different diameters, etc.
DISCLAIMER: My limited experience may be different
than others on this list. Please feel free to provide input if you had a
different experience.
Brian Swasey, TLCA #2672
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 4:23
PM
Subject: RE: [VORTECcruisers] 5.3 vs
5.7
I can give you some feedback.
First of all the
bellhousing for the older 5.7L Vortecs will NOT fit the newer 5.3L engines.
The GEN III (2000 and newer models) have a newly designed block, while the
older (GEN II) blocks were the same as the venerable 350 models used for
years.
The advantages of the 5.3 are that they are newer and you have a
better chance of getting a very low mileage engine. The 5.7L engines are going
to be harder to find in a salvage yard with very few miles on them.
1996-98 GEN II 5.7L engines do not have the PassLock feature and you
don't need to have the VCM re-programmed to have that disabled. The 5.3L
engines will have to have the VCM re-programmed to disable Passlock.
I
have had had real good luck with the 5.7L engines (3 of them) but they are now
hard to find, so my next project is a GEN III, 6L
model.
HTH
Jack
-----Original Message-----
From:
buryboi2 [mailto:berracom@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003
12:17 PM
To: VORTECcruisers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [VORTECcruisers]
5.3 vs 5.7
I've got a stock 68 FJ (Besides the 4"
lift). I was looking at
putting a chevy V8 w/ NV4500 and stock 3sp
T/C. Does anybody know
where I can find some pros and cons for using a gm
5.3 or 5.7? Also
will the 5.7 AA NV4500 Bellhousing fit the
5.3? Any ideas would be
helpful(and much
appreciated!!)!!
Thanks,
Jon
Yahoo! Groups
Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VORTECcruisers/
To
unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
VORTECcruisers-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your use of Yahoo!
Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Yahoo! Groups Links
Yahoo! Groups Links
|
