Somebody talk me out of a 280k 5.3 I found locally for $300. Comes 100% complete including harness. How crazy would I be to pick this up? I cant find any decent priced lsxs around so Im seriously condsidering this one.

 

Keep looking!



Happy to help.

 

Seriously though. With that mileage it will mostly need rebuilt soon. Your wallet would probably be better served in the long run on just holding out for the engine you really want.

 

Or just buy it as an extra/for other stuff. $300 is cheap even if the block is toast.

 

With a thirdgen I don't think Id be able to use much from it anyways-intake would need at least a 4 inch cowl to clear, truck accessories wouldn't work and the oil pan wouldn't work either right?

 

I think a shaved intake will clear, and some have made accessories work, oil pan is too low. Harness computer etc though?

 

Offer less and have it rebuilt. Buying a used engine that you've never heard run is a gamble any way you look at it.

 

Maybe you and I have very different opinions of what your area is... I would say anything within 3 hours one way is your area. It looks like you have the entire Washington area, Richmond (under 2 hours one way?) and Baltimore (1 hour away). Have you checked craigslist for those cities? Or just plan some trips one weekend to the junkyards in those 3 cities. Be really surprising if Baltimore, Washington and Richmond had no junkyards with cheap LS engines in them.

 

All are within reasonable driving distance. I just moved to the area in May and there's not much on Craigslist. As far as junkyards my good buddy who's done a few lsx swaps says there aren't any decent junkyards around so I've been going off of that. Then again realistically with how many lsx engines were used that's kinda hard to believe. Guess it's time to make some phone calls to junkyards. Do you know any decent junkyards around (mid Atlantic forum is dead).

 

If I remember right summit sell's the 5.3 bare block for 299 right now.
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/sum-4853l

 

Buy the high mile pullout. Dont chew him down, buy it outright. Thats not crazy high miles for a LSx. Id bet money that if you pulled the heads, the cyls would still show crosshatching

For a 3rd gen you will only be using the long block, but the extra stuff is nice to have around. PCM should be reused. Harness can be modified or sold to fund a pre-made one. Accessories will net a few bucks. Intake and oil pan are basically scrap

$300 for a good longblock and PCM are worth it in my book

 

Is 280k not enough to be worried about on these engines in your experience? Anything in particular I should look for?

 

It probably won't need pistons or rings. Might need bearings. Definitely will need an oil pump pickup O-ring; might as well put in a 10296 pump while you're at it. Check for the Castech head problem, that'll run you around $600 to fix.

As said, buy it even if the long block turns out to be no good. You may well find a healthy lower-mileage motor missing some of the externals (PCM & harness for example) that you could make one good thing out of 2 partials.

Yes you will definitely need a pan, accessory brackets and such, exhaust, and tuning. I would suspect that by the time you get to the end of this project, the difference in cost between a KNOWN GOOD motor and this likely to be totally wore out one, will disappear into the noise level.

I would ABSOLUTELY NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES treat it as a core, and rebuild it. That is GUARANTEED to cost more than just getting a good motor in the first place. Those are just WAY too plentiful to shackle yourself to a used-up one.

 

I'm going to vote as a buy it... As stated, you're guaranteed to need the harness and computer no matter what engine you go with, so you will at least have that out of it.

 

my dads suburban 1500 had a 5.3 with 387,000 miles on it before he traded it in last week. Motor still ran strong and had a lot more life left in it.

 

That's not crazy-high mileage. I have a still-running '94 Camaro 3.4 that's never been rebuilt and doesn't smoke, 311,196 miles on it so far, my mom's '90 BMW 735i just topped 345,062 miles on the original engine, still drives like new. I even had an '89 S-10 4.3 reach 292,000 on it's original engine.
GM durability tested the LS1s past 300,000 miles.
Buy it, run it for a year, while saving up for a 6.0L. If you can't afford it, then you can't afford the swap, either.

 

Probably won't need bearings, probably will need valvesprings and valveseals, probably won't need an oil pump. But replacing Castechs with non is a $200 proposition, plus gaskets for another $20, and bolts for another $40.
The days of paying a machine shop to rebuild an engine are nearly history, only for the rarest and most valuable of older stuff, like restoring the first Countach, as one realistic example. But these days you just find a lower-mile long-block assembly and go again.
The one you found should go another 20K miles, probably more, but you can be sorting out all the other aspects of the swap, so it's worth it just for being a running engine rather than a plastic Payr mockup block, which is still twice this much money.

 

Like you said these engines should be everywhere and Ive already found a few 5.3s for the same price with a lot less miles so Ive decided to pass on this one unless the guy drops the price below $300. But yes it doesn't make sense to rebuild an engine anymore considering a replacement can be bought on the cheap.

 

Glad I held out-if all goes well I'll be picking up a 5.3 with 129k miles complete with harness this weekend for $300.
Woo Hoo-now I just have to collect a few thousand other parts before I'm ready to swap.

 

Congrats!

 

For what ever its worth, I have a stock 5.3 with 150k on it and Im throwing 9psi at it with no issues. Oh and the stock truck intake will fit under the stock bulge hood just need a small case alternator.

For the swap you just need tq converter pilot adapter, LS setback engine mounts, Fbody oil pan/windage tray/pickup or modded truck pan and its in. LS in the stock location will reuse the tranny crossmember and the stock trans will use the stock driveshaft and its OE length. Then its just exhaust, fuel and engine harness.

 

Yea I've been tracking your other thread. Fwiw I won't be using ac or power steering.