I'm looking at a 2002 5.3(LM7) out of a chevy silverado. It supposedly has 65,000 miles on it. The motor is complete although the intake has a crack in it. The guy is asking 650 for it. I was wondering do you think it is worth that much. I was thinking of offering him 550.

 

thats a reasonable price id try to get it for the 550 but 650 is ok...

 

65k miles is real good, 550 is fair, but worth 650 if it comes with electronics, the coil packs are better. u can bolt a 700r4 or th350/400 using oem parts. go for it,
i got ls intakes for cheep if u need one

 

i would go for it you can get a intake cheap.

 

Since I'm putting one in my car, I'm going to have to say yes it's worth it It's not too hard to get 5.3's to around 400hp N/A. Then later you can put a turbo or two on it and go nuts.

 

I wasn't really worried about a fuel injection intake I'm planning on putting a carb setup on it. The guy says that it is complete so I'm guessing it comes with coil packs, belt setup, and maybe even wiring harness. I haven't gone to look at it yet but I plan to.

 

yeah the 5.3 is a good lil motor but for 200 bucks more i got a 6.0 that has way more potential for power...

if its going into an fbody then the belt drive is pretty much pointless...ull need to get an f body belt setup and an f body oil pan...

 

I'm giving serious thought to a 5.3 for my "lard-butt" camper/tow-rig, so I'd say that they're definitely worthwhile little engines! I wouldn't feel too bad about it if I got one for $650, so yeah, I'd go for it...

Good luck with the swap!

 

if it comes with a wiring harness, and pcm it will be easier for u to stick with the efi, plus the 02 trucks were return fuel so the rail can be adapted to your stock lines and still reuse your stock pump. the ls engine are 58psi from the factory. get a better pump, have the harness reworked for standalone and get a good converter. stick with the stock exhaust manifolds for now.

my 00' truck is equipped with a 5.3 and i put down 300rwhp thru stock trans and rear, all i got are milled 241 heads, z06 cam and tune. stock manifolds and exhaust with cats, injectors, intake, and tb

 

The truck intake, oil pan, and accessories aren't a good fit in an f-body. You need to plan for changing those in your budget.

I have an LS1 intake I'd let go for little more than a song.

 

I was figuring on selling off as much as I could like, the intake, fuel injectors, belt setup, oil pan, and anything else I don't need that it comes with. I was looking at how much I could get for some of that stuff on ebay to factor into my decision.

This is going to be a long process, I don't plan to put all this together overnight because I don't have the funds. I figured if I found a good deal on a motor I would grab it.

 

If it's going into a 3rd gen then the stock manifolds won't work. They hit the frame rails.

 

I got my 5.3 for $200 with everything but intake and accessories. Beat that Like everyone else said, the truck pan/intake/accessories won't really work. You can find some cheapish used parts on LS1tech and sometimes eBay. Check your local yards too, you can find some good stuff there sometimes.

If you're going to go with a carb setup, keep an eye out for a Victor Jr intake and an MSD 6010 box. I got both the box and the intake off of LS1tech for less than the price of the box alone.

For exhaust, you can use 98-02 Fbody manifolds (preferably 00-02 manifolds). They flow just as good as shorties. You can also modify some longtube big block swap headers to fit (there are a few threads on here about this), or you can shell out some major $$$ and get the Hawk's stainless longtubes. Personally, I think the Hawk's longtubes are worth it; they're stainless, they're the only off the shelf LSx swap longtube available, and they're frickin gorgeous. No matter which one you go with you'll have to make a y pipe or go true duals as no one really makes a good LSx swap y pipe (there are a few people on here who have had major issues with the Hawk's y pipe).

Be sure to check the LSx swap sticky, and any posts by ghettocruiser, SheldonZ28, cam-, mw66nova, or xpndbl3. They've all got great posts on LSx swaps.

 

Complete 5.3L's with no alternator or wiring harness sell for $350us a peice up the road from me, complete 6.0L pull outs, same deal, no transmissions either. $600us apeice.