Turbo 5.3 or 6.0 - ?'s

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bhasmer12

Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
I'm looking for a little input on my Ls swap into my newly acquired '87 GN. I'm not new to the Ls, but FI and turbos are a different ballgame.

I'm really hoping for a surplus of 600+hp/tq at the tire through an auto trans and really want to be in the 10's. If I reach that number of 600, I don't see that being an issue. At my disposal is a 5.3 and 6.0. I plan to run e85 and an AlkyControl meth injection kit with the turbo. You always hear, "no replacement for displacement". I don't necessarily always buy into that, and this page seems like an especially weird place to talk about that seeing what some of these little 6 cylinders can do.

Anyways...my thought process was this: With the increased bore of the 6.0, I have vast more "budget-friendly" options. I'll have access to all Ls3/L92/LSA/Ls9 components (heads, intake, etc.) that I won't with the 5.3. I'd like to have a good amount of power in NA form so as not to spin the turbo as hard prolonging the life of my stock internal motor.

This will be done a given budget. What that budget is, I'm still figuring out. I plan to use a On3 Performance turbo as I've heard they are surprisingly good for the money. My turbo knowledge is very minimal, so if somebody has any recommendations, they'd be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking for super quick spool. Bigger is probably better as this will be a mostly street driven vehicle and boosting at low RPM's may get me into a touch of trouble.

Once I've got all of this figured out, I can settle on a BOV, wastegate, and fuel system. I probably forgot a few things so if I did, forgive me.

Thanks!
Brandyn
 
If your choice is between a 5.3 and a 6.0, go with the 6.0. More head options as you said, and they have the same stroke. Might as well use the bigger bore. I almost prefer the 4.8 over the 6.0 for the short stroke crank and potential for quick spinning, high rpm, but the 6.0 is a sweet engine. I'm building one right now with a GT4202 turbo, it's a 75mm turbo and I think it will spool really fast. There have been 88mms going on 5.3s, so you can do that too but it's overkill for a 10 second pass. Check out my thread if you want (it's on the same page as this thread is), it's mounted and the hot and cold side piping are now done, I'll post pics one of these days with my progress. Good luck, I'm sure you'll like it.
 
the 5.3s seem to love boost. there are lots of local guys with 76-78s on them and all put down over 600 and 800+ on e85. 5.3s are way cheaper to replace. I personally went with an l92 headed 6.0 when I was planning my build.
 
There are more and cheaper off the shelf parts available from Jegs/Summit for the 6.0 vs 4.8 and 5.3.
 
Black Power said:
If your choice is between a 5.3 and a 6.0, go with the 6.0. More head options as you said, and they have the same stroke. Might as well use the bigger bore. I almost prefer the 4.8 over the 6.0 for the short stroke crank and potential for quick spinning, high rpm, but the 6.0 is a sweet engine. I'm building one right now with a GT4202 turbo, it's a 75mm turbo and I think it will spool really fast. There have been 88mms going on 5.3s, so you can do that too but it's overkill for a 10 second pass. Check out my thread if you want (it's on the same page as this thread is), it's mounted and the hot and cold side piping are now done, I'll post pics one of these days with my progress. Good luck, I'm sure you'll like it.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm leaning towards. I've actually got both a 6.0 and 5.3. The 6.0 is complete minus the coil packs, and my 5.3 is complete minus heads which I sold a few months back when I had much different plans for a different car. I've got the 5.3 disassembled with the exception of the internals being out. I'd never torn a motor down before so I was just curious. I have a new gasket set for it and new timing chain and sprocket. Just gotta' get it assembled again one of these days after I get some new bolts.
I'll definitely give your thread a read. I think I may have already... Smallest I'll go with will be a 76mm and the largest would be a 88mm. Truthfully, it will probably come down to which I can get a better deal on. I'm not looking to go out and set records...just want something fun that I can throw together without having a whole bunch invested.
 
vandal699 said:
the 5.3s seem to love boost. there are lots of local guys with 76-78s on them and all put down over 600 and 800+ on e85. 5.3s are way cheaper to replace. I personally went with an l92 headed 6.0 when I was planning my build.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I asked lol. It's a tough call. I touched on it in my ^above response to Black Power...I have both a 5.3 and 6.0. I picked the 5.3 up first for my Camaro after reading the 5.3/4.8 build in Hot Rod where they made 60+ pulls of 1,000+ with 2 turbos on stock internals (I'm sure you're all plenty familiar with the article). My intent was to somewhat replicate that build. Just some cheap, budget-friendly stuff that makes respectable power. Then, I got a 6.0 block with a crank and cam for $50 so plans changed. That's when I got power hungry. I was planning out a bigger cube, forged motor build with a TVS because I wanted that car to play around with on the road course. As I feared, that would just be too much power for that application. Then I wanted to do a big cube N/A, high compression, e85 powered build. Another change. Not too long after, the GN showed up followed shortly by the complete 6.0. So I decided just to start back at square 1 on the motor and build the GN.
My point, before I got WAY off-topic, was that I have access and connections to all kinds of motors and things. If the 6.0 blows and all I have at the time is the 5.3, I'll just throw that in. I'm leaning towards the 6.0 because, like you, I like the Ls3/L92 stuff with how cheap it is and how much performance you can get out of the components. I figured the HP I want to achieve should be easily doable with that combo on e85 and meth injection. Who knows, maybe I'll get ballsy one day and crank up the boost just to see what it makes. If it blows, it blows.
 
8 SEC 109 said:
There are more and cheaper off the shelf parts available from Jegs/Summit for the 6.0 vs 4.8 and 5.3.
Click to expand...

Exactly... I get a noticeable discount on quite a bit through my school, as well. Or at least that's what I've been told. I've yet to see how and where.
 
If you haven't torn that 6.0 apart, leave it alone and run it (if it has the 317 alum heads on it). Sometimes when you pull heads off just to take a peek, then you replace the head gaskets and torque the heads down you can distort the cylinder and lose ring seal. I left my rod bolts alone too, I highly doubt a rod bolt is gonna come loose on it, and I'm not going to replace the bolts and take a chance on screwing up the rod bearings with a retorque...
 
Black Power said:
If you haven't torn that 6.0 apart, leave it alone and run it (if it has the 317 alum heads on it). Sometimes when you pull heads off just to take a peek, then you replace the head gaskets and torque the heads down you can distort the cylinder and lose ring seal. I left my rod bolts alone too, I highly doubt a rod bolt is gonna come loose on it, and I'm not going to replace the bolts and take a chance on screwing up the rod bearings with a retorque...
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the plan. If I remember correctly, it does not have the 317 or 799 heads. That's why I was thinking about getting the Ls3 pieces. Because I don't have the 799's, I'm thinking I have the LQ4 motor which I'm fine with because that'll put me at a safer compression for boost. e85 should make a higher compression safer, but it would be nice to have the ability to throw 93 octane in if in a pinch. I have HPTuners so if I can have a tuner get me a tune for both fuels, I'll just bring a laptop with me on longer trips. I plan on taking this on the Power Tour when it's finished.
I'll probably just end up taking the 5.3 all the way apart and bring it to school so I can clean up the cylinders and make sure everything is as it should be.
 
hmmmmm should be 317s then, unless they got swapped out at some point. Also take a look at the master power and borg warner turbos. BW makes an 80mm that's very affordable, and I think they make some really good stuff.
 
Black Power said:
hmmmmm should be 317s then, unless they got swapped out at some point. Also take a look at the master power and borg warner turbos. BW makes an 80mm that's very affordable, and I think they make some really good stuff.
Click to expand...

They may actually be 317's actually. I didn't look at the heads too closely when I moved the motor into the shop. I just remember getting the call from the old man telling me what he had got. I asked him a few questions about it like if it had 799's or 317's and I believe his answer was "No". I knew Master Power had some pretty good pieces. There's seemed to go for $7-800 last I looked. Didn't know Borg Warner even made turbos. I thought they were a transmission manufacturer. I'll have to check them out, too.
Thanks!
 
I've seen em on eBay (not the bullseye ones) for like 800 or 900 new. The bullseye "race" ones are expensive.
 
Black Power said:
I've seen em on eBay (not the bullseye ones) for like 800 or 900 new. The bullseye "race" ones are expensive.
Click to expand...

Oh, ok. I'll have to look them up on eBay. The one I pulled up said something like $2,000. Yikes! I still may go with a On3 Performance turbo first. If it blows, it blows and I'm not out a ton of money. If it holds for a while, great!
 
bhasmer12 said:
If it blows, it blows and I'm not out a ton of money. If it holds for a while, great!
Click to expand...

If it blows up and sends compressor wheel pieces into your engine you'll be out a lot more than you think. Don't buy a cheap turbo...
 
bhasmer12 said:
Oh, ok. I'll have to look them up on eBay. The one I pulled up said something like $2,000. Yikes! I still may go with a On3 Performance turbo first. If it blows, it blows and I'm not out a ton of money. If it holds for a while, great!
Click to expand...

B4 you go that route, look over on LS1tech.... LOTS of reasons to NOT buy that crap....
 
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