5.3 donor motor preferred year range

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Jglew82

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Thanks for the feedback, yall!

My intention is to keep the 5.3 relatively, if not ALL stock. I'm just wanting the performance upgrade over my old, tired 200k+ miles 5.7 and the reliability as well.

Hoping to find a complete donor truck when the time comes, that way I can utilize the engine AND transmission. My current 4l60e was recently replaced with a reman unit at the Chevy Dealership when the old one took a dump on me.
Finding a complete donor truck is definitely the way to go. That way you get everything matched up and ready to drop in and roll, except for some wire harness mods and vats delete, but those are no big deal.
 

brianmcb

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How hard do you run it? You slamming gears and smoking tires a lot?
I've dumped the clutch hard in 2nd gear countless times and treat it pretty bad I'd say. It takes it well

95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop
 

94burbk1500

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I've dumped the clutch hard in 2nd gear countless times and treat it pretty bad I'd say. It takes it well

95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop
Nice. The transmission is the main reason why i haven't LS swapped my S10 yet, I can't afford a t56, CD009 with adapter, or Jericho, and i want to keep it a stick. I know the NV3500 is the same length and shifter location as my current NV2500, but I have been afraid to go that route because it's only rated for like 350 pound feet of torque and I want to cam the motor and maybe one day turbo it. If your trans is holding up and the truck weighs at least 1,000 pounds more than my S10, maybe I could get away with an NV3500...
 

94burbk1500

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I've also been trying to convince my brother to give me his rusted out NBS 2500 suburban with an LQ4 in it, I'd love to say my S10 nearly tripled its displacement.
 

brianmcb

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Nice. The transmission is the main reason why i haven't LS swapped my S10 yet, I can't afford a t56, CD009 with adapter, or Jericho, and i want to keep it a stick. I know the NV3500 is the same length and shifter location as my current NV2500, but I have been afraid to go that route because it's only rated for like 350 pound feet of torque and I want to cam the motor and maybe one day turbo it. If your trans is holding up and the truck weighs at least 1,000 pounds more than my S10, maybe I could get away with an NV3500...
My truck weighs 3700lb. I think you'd be just fine in an s10.
I'd say my engine should be on the better side of 400hp (cam, springs, ported 799's, and tune)



95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop
 

94burbk1500

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My truck weighs 3700lb. I think you'd be just fine in an s10.
I'd say my engine should be on the better side of 400hp (cam, springs, ported 799's, and tune)



95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop
Ok, so maybe not 1000 pounds lighter, but close. My truck stock comes in just a hair over 3000, mine should be a little lighter than that since I removed some worthless garbage like the donut and carrier for it and the jack since I don't need that anymore.
 

shift5

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I've dumped the clutch hard in 2nd gear countless times and treat it pretty bad I'd say. It takes it well

95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop
That's great to hear. I'm considering swapping my Blazer at some point but was thinking of going 4.8 because I was afraid the 5.3 would eat it.
 

94burbk1500

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That's great to hear. I'm considering swapping my Blazer at some point but was thinking of going 4.8 because I was afraid the 5.3 would eat it.
Base output between the 4.8 and 5.3 are within 20hp in most configurations, I doubt that is enough to make a difference, go big or go home!
 

letitsnow

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Lucky for your transmission - many of these ls motors that people swap into the obs trucks have around 200,000 miles on them and are already tired too. Makes me laugh a lil.
 

JCribb

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That's what they said 3 years ago about my cammed L33 with an nv3500. Still no problems, and even still running the 280,000km clutch from the v6 [emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]


95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, hp tuners, 4/6 drop

Lucky you I guess because I killed three, yes 3, NV3500's with a rebuilt/ hopped up TBI motor. Mine was ******** bearings and shift rails.

I eventually stepped up to the NV4500, and that solved all my problems.

From what I understand, the TBI version of the NV3500 was rated for 300 ft lbs of torque. I bought my replacement NV3500 from smart parts in Minnesota, and it was supposed to be better than stock, but my engine said it wasn't strong enough.
 
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