"Max"...meet VortecMAX *V8 pics inside*

[Rinkrat456]

I donno if you guys want to call this my build thread, but I'm not going step by step on this one. I'm in a rush to complete the motor before my next vacation to an off-road park up in Northern Minnesota, so I'll just take pics when I remember to and update here and there, perhaps answering questions and letting you all know what I've been up to this summer.

So here's the scoop. I planned this V8 swap 2 years ago. From day one it's been known that I'm just going to swap in a 6.0L with maybe a torquey camshaft and be done with it. Hunting season comes and goes and throughout the many weekends I spend hunting and talking with my grandfather in the duck boat or goose blind, we discussed numerous times about GM's V8 decisions in their 1/2 ton pickups. The 5.3L 325ci V8 is GM's flagship motor. GM produces the 5.3L in a ratio of 3:1 compared to all other V8's made by GM. It's GM's bread and butter motor. It gets really good gas mileage (so far 22mpg best in my family's 2002 stock Suburban), makes good power (about 300hp, 330lb-ft of torque) and is incredibly reliable. I have more friends than I can count on my fingers and toes who have 99 and newer GM 1/2 ton trucks with over 200k miles on the stock motor and drivetrain, with no maintenance other than oil changes and air filters. My grandfather, being the old school fella he is, was displeased with the General when they replaced the tried and true 5.7L "Chevy 350ci" with the 5.3L, even though the 5.3L is far superior in every way. He wanted to see the 5.7L come back.

If you think about it, GM could make a killing like Dodge did by bringing back "the Hemi" motor. GM could advertise the hell out of a new 5.7L with claims that they're bringing back the "350" 5.7L. However, as my grandfather and I continued ironing out the details of our "dream motor", we began to make a list of goals the motor must do in order to become the new flagship V8 in all the trucks.

Those goals are:
-5.7L displacement, preferably 350 cubic inches
-Make 1hp per cubic inch displacement
-Retain 20mpg highway in the stock 1/2 ton trucks
-Have at least a 200k mile life with only oil, spark plugs, air intake filter and coolant maintenance

4 goals. All relatively simple by today's standards. On Easter Sunday around noon, my grandfather passed away along with his older brother, my great uncle, just 4 hours later. Both had been battling lung cancer, my grandpa for 3 years, his brother the past 2. Their sudden passing was a huge blow to my mom's side of the family, and my sadness turned into determination. So, I am building that "dream motor". I have been bashed left and right on how I should have stuck with the 6.0L since I have all the parts for it already, it's a hefty waste of money, it'll make more power and torque and bla bla bla. I don't care.


Here's my motor.

[Rinkrat456]

It's a 2001 5.3L motor taken from a Tahoe Z71. Yes, I started with a 5.3L. What's nice about the 5.3L block is that is shares the same design as the common "LS1" 5.7L, it just doesn't have as big of a bore. Same 92mm crankshaft is in the 5.3L as the LS1, the LS1 gets it's extra displacement from the 99mm bore compared to the 5.3L's 96.01mm bore. I brought the entire disassembled motor to my local machine shop and he went to work. The block was bored over 0.118", that's huge by most standards, but I still had plenty of wall thickness and only touched the minimum thickness on #2 and #6 cylinders. The 5.3L block is the only one I know of that can be bored over so much. The rest of the block was magnafluxed to check for cracks, hot tanked and cleaned, freeze plugs replaced along with all the cam bearings.

The crank and rods were checked out, as well as new 99mm bore Speed Pro "LS6" flat top pistons pressed onto the rods finished up with the entire rotating assembly being balanced to perfection. New crank and rod bearings from Clevite, and ARP rod bolts for strength. I've tried very hard to make sure most of the parts going into this motor have GM part numbers. The Speed Pro pistons are OEM replacements made of hypereutectic aluminum in a stock bore. Nothing forged or special heat treated aluminum here.

The camshaft is probably the only crucial "outsider" part. It's a CompCams grind for the LS1 family. It's the XR259 Xtreme Energy camshaft with 206intake/212exhaust duration, .515"in/.522"ex lift all on a 112 lobe separation angle. Now, just as a reference, GM made a camshaft very similar to this so it's not like this cam couldn't be manufactured my GMPP or something. The 2001 LS6 stock cam is very, almost eerily, similar except mine will make more low end torque. The 5.3L's stock timing chain was flimsy and stretched out, so I also replaced that with the heavy duty LS6 timing chain. Together with the stock roller rockers, stock pushrods and lifters, the camshaft will make all it's power from 800-5800 rpms. Perfect for what I'm doing. It's an awesome camshaft for massive amounts of low and mid range torque, good gas mileage, friendly idle and long valve spring life. I have, however, stretched that power band a bit with my choice of heads.

The stock 4.8L/5.3L heads flow pretty darn well. The only problem with them on my motor is that they aren't suited well for the increased bore size without running into slight valve shrouding issues. The stock heads I took off have 1.89" intake and 1.55" exhaust valves. So, I replaced them with heads off a Corvette LS1. They are the "241" casting heads straight off the 'Vette 5.7L. 2.00" intake and 1.55" exhaust valves, same intake runners and everything pretty much from the 5.3L design. These heads will flow a hair better or keep up with the 5.3L design in every way except for about 4500-6500 rpms where my 241 heads start to really pull away. So in a sense, no sacrifice to low and mid range only an increase in upper RPM power. But, I didn't stop there. My machine shop noticed a few small "nicks" on the deck surface of the 241 heads so he went to work smoothening out the intake, fully porting and polishing the exhaust and smoothed out the bowl around the valves while hand swirling the combustion chambers, enhancing the "tornado" and "hurricane" design that GM already puts into all their heads. My machine shop finished the heads off with a milled down deck surface for 10.3:1 compression (don't worry I'm still using 87 octane cheap gas) and a full cleansing in the parts cleaner. With the head work, I'll see my cam's operating range go from 800-5800, to about 700-6000+. I say 6000+, because the rev limiter I'll stop at 6000 rpms.

As far as the rest of the build, mostly stock parts. Stock 6 quart oil pan and front accessories. I did however have a 300-330 amp alternator made for me though, compared to the stock 120-140 amp alt that comes on the Tahoe's. I converted the oil block off plate to a stock GM oil cooler adapter taken from a V8 cargo fan (took it off a donor 6.0L) so I've made cooling provisions up front for an auxiliary oil cooler. For fitment issues, I tossed the 5.3L exhaust manifolds and bolted on 98 F-body LS1 exhuast manifolds that hug the block tighter. No modifications to free-er flowing manifolds like long tube headers or something...GM wouldn't put that on their vehicles anyway. Too expensive. The exhaust system thereafter is just as complex as the motor build. 3-muffler setup all by Magnaflow. I have a 22" Magnaflow 2.5" dual-in/dual-out case with an internal X-pipe crossover tube, leading into 4" round x 14" long 2.5" single-in/single-out mufflers right before the exhaust tips. This is to maximize flow (2.5" true duals are a bit much for a 400hp or less motor) while keeping exhaust gas velocity in check with my displacement, and to keep the exhaust note very quiet. I'll give up 5-7 measly hp for a quiet exhaust.

The motor, to say the least, I've surpassed the goal of 1hp/cubic inch. Using mostly GM parts or parts from reputable companies along with a thorough machining and rebuilding process, I expect this to see no less than 200k miles. (Max probably wont, but the motor should last that long). As for the gas mileage goal of 20mpg highway...I'm technically not a 1/2 ton but my size due to the lift is part of the challenge. This is the only tough goal so far to reach, but the guy doing my PCM tune is optimistically guessing I'll see 23-24mpg out of Max. He has tuned probably 50 or more GM vehicles with HP Tuner software and drives a 460hp 6.0L Silverado himself, averaging 26-27mpg with his 5-speed. I'll just keep my hopes at 19-20mpg, to say the least. Further testing is needed. If I had to give you guys a guesstimate on power, I'm probably knocking on 385-390hp and 395-400lb-ft of torque. Over 300lb-ft of torque available from 800rpms all the way to red line. That should get my 35's rolling in combination with the newly rebuilt 4L60E, Dana 44's and 4.30 gears.

I'll slowly keep the pictures coming in, here are a few to tide you all over.

[Rinkrat456]

As of a week ago. It's now currently sitting between the frame rails on new custom mounts. I'll snap a few pics of it in the truck soon as I have time.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/IMAGE_051.jpg

Here's why I said, Max (my truck), meet "VortecMAX". GM has built a high output VortecMAX 5.3L, a VortecMAX 6.0L, so now I just built a VortecMAX 5.7L. I don't care if GM technically didn't make one, I just did. Here are the engine covers to go on top of the motor, along with emblems for the side doors. I de-badged my entire truck years ago, but the VortecMAX emblems will give a nice touch to what's under the hood and in red letters you'll always see my truck's name. Max.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/vortec_max1.jpg

They sit like this. Of course I'll get pics when I'm all done.

http://www.gmc.com/images/common/lg/sr_v8_LQ9_VortecMAX.jpg

Emblems:
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/112407_22381.jpg

[Rinkrat456]

Here's what I meant about my exhaust. This is a professional CAD drawing of my exhaust setup. No applauses please.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/exhaust.jpg

And as for cooling. I took advantage of my 2" body lift and extended my core support down 1.5" and stuffed in there the largest radiator I could. It's a 30x19" all-aluminum Summit brand dual core radiator with built in transmission cooler. The fan you see is from a Lincoln Mark VIII V8. It's an 18" electric fan that pulls the most CFM of any fan on the market for under $100 bucks at the junkyard. It pulls 5500 CFM at max speed, is a dual speed fan and on low does about 2000-2500 CFM. I trimmed the shroud down so it would clear my water pump pulley, and put the radiator into the core support for extra room. The fan requires 100 Amps on startup, and 33-36 Amps continuously on high speed. See why I opted for the high output alternator? :D It'll charge dual Yellow Optima batteries that are now located in the bed.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/IMAGE_013.jpg

[steve]

Looking good Rink!!!

[Rinkrat456]

And I just couldn't wait, I had to tip my hat off to Mike Reed for building this tank. I got it today and just about popped a tent in my shorts. Along with my motor swap I'm also increasing my fuel capacity. I didn't want an even bigger tank in my stock location under the cab so I asked Mike if he would build me a custom gas tank in my spare tire location. This is a 24-25 gallon gas tank that will do 3 things: 1) hopefully extend my driving range to just over 400 miles on a tank of gas assuming 19-20mpg highway and 2) move as much weight as I can rearward over the rear tires right where I seem to lack the most traction and 3) free up space needed for exhaust mufflers and piping.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/0720082221.jpg

Going right here, basically where the tape measure is stretched out.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/Rinkrat456/V8/IMAGE_055.jpg

[mreed]

Looking good...very well thought out.

The core support & exhaust ideas are things I would steal from you because something like that would suit my Blazer well, although, I have negative space from the body drop where you have the added space from your body lift. Blah.

Anyway, thanks for letting me help with such a cool truck build.

[67Truckin]

Sorry to hear about the loss to you and your family.

Looks like you've got a fantastic build going. I really like the idea of the "factory" 350 that Chevrolet should have built. With your kind of determination and attention to detail it should serve you very well. I can't wait to hear how it works out once you have it finished.

[bonecrushins10]

nice, i know hes alot further along then that hes prolly just giving me a chance to catch up ,

mine started in feb , his started in may errrrr :D

[davo1028]

I did however have a 300-330 amp alternator made for me though, compared to the stock 120-140 amp alt that comes on the Tahoe's.

Dang! I thought the 200 amp alternator I just got was pretty big. I think its real cool how you did the 5.7 instead of the 6.0 in memory of your grandpa and all.

[02whtxblazer]

Sorry for your loss Rink.

I am subscribing to this thread..... Sounds like you have it going on brother.

[97v8s10]

Sounds like this is gonna be a fun build. I can't wait till you turn the key and go!

[Rinkrat456]

Dang! I thought the 200 amp alternator I just got was pretty big. I think its real cool how you did the 5.7 instead of the 6.0 in memory of your grandpa and all.I honestly couldn't tell you how much the alternator makes, so I stated a range. I had the alternator made to be a 280 amp alternator and my shop changed the pulley size on it to spin a little faster along with a new bearing set inside the case he's trying out on me that he's never put into an alternator before. It's got a lifetime warranty covering any and all electrical parts connected to the alternator so I'm in good hands. When the builder load tested my alternator he hooked it up and his needle pinged to 300 amps, which maxed out his meter. He said with the smaller pulley and new bearing setup I should be in the 300-330 amp range.

I don't think I'll need all of that current, but considering I have dual Optima Yellow tops in the bed of my truck, a really powerful set of electric fans, a decent sound system and future plans of a winch, he said this alternator will last as long as the truck does.

Sorry to hear about the loss to you and your family.

Sorry for your loss Rink.

Thank you to both of you for your condolences. But please, don't be sorry. Yes, I'm sad he's gone but on the flip side I don't think I would be as comfortable with his passing if I wasn't 100% sure I knew where he ended up, and I am sure. He wasn't the most devout Catholic; in fact most Sunday's we'd skip church to go hunting, but he was very spiritual. On the day of his funeral it was forecasted to rain, and it did the whole morning prior to his service. A few minutes before we all got out of our vehicles the rain stopped and rays of sun came down on the hundreds of people attending the 21-shot salute. After his service concluded, it rained for five days straight. He hated hunting in the rain, so I have a feeling he was pulling some strings up there.

[Rinkrat456]

The core support & exhaust ideas are things I would steal from you because something like that would suit my Blazer well, although, I have negative space from the body drop where you have the added space from your body lift. Blah.Even with the body drop, a notch in the frame will allow you to at least run a 16-17" tall radiator. The LS1 5.7L radiator is a good choice for an automatic tranny and V8.

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=470&LineCode=NR&PartNumber=2937&Description=Radiator

[s10tuner86]

it's funny how chevy quits making the 5.7l and then all of a sudden a few years later here comes toyota with one. I have nothing against yota's the new full sizes are nice trucks, I just have preferences. It's looking like a nice clean build rink, I just hope that 4l60e will hold up to the extra abuse as long as the engine will, are you using a stall converter? and if so what range? I'm interested in seeing which one would be the best in a v8 build using a 4l60e. I'm looking into possibly buying a stage 2 4l60e which will handle up to around 400+hp but unsure of what would give me the better performance. also is anyone sure what a stock 4l60e with a shift kit and new servo's would handle for power or at least have a ruff idea? my second gear already slips a lil and i think i'm jus gonna do a swap and then rebuild the stock one and do a shift kit install with new servo's during he rebuild.

[Rinkrat456]

Every torque converter has a stall speed. What you're probably referring to is a high stall converter like everyone and their brother puts into a high powered V8 vehicle requiring quick off-the-line launches. Look at Max, and tell me if you think he's quick. :cool: I'm going the opposite direction compared to 99% of the people who buy torque converters. The stock converter stall speed for the 5.3L is around 1900-2000 rpms, I just had my converter made by TCI as a 1700-1800 instead. The reasons for this are simply to quicken acceleration from a standstill, give me all my low end torque sooner for towing the occasional Ford out of the ditch, to make for a stronger lockup at highway speeds hopefully helping with gas mileage a bit and lastly to keep as much heat out of the tranny as possible. It's basically a stock torque converter beefed up to hold the abuse of what I do off-road, which is exactly what this truck is designed for.

As for the strength, I have not a single worry. I built this 4L60E to the best of my abilities while keeping in mind this is not a high winding 5.7L for the 1/4 mile. I even made the V8 swap harder by using an older style tranny. I used the case from a 1993 K series 4L60E which has a thicker aluminum case, easing my worries about outer shell strength and cracking the bellhousing from so much power. I rebuilt the whole thing with a master overhaul rebuild kit but I tossed the 3-4 clutches in that kit for the Borg Warner High Energy clutches just so I never have to worry about them being burned up. I added a .500 Transgo boost valve to give me peace of mind as well on those 3-4 clutch packs. For strength inside the case a Beast sunshell replaced the stock one and thank goodness too, mine had a cracked collar from the original owner probably going in reverse and slapping it into Drive before the vehicle came to a complete stop. The pump was completely rebuilt by my machine shop and he took a few thousands off the mating surfaces to ensure a tight seal and aligned everything for me. Corvette servo for extra holding power and a rebuilt valve body concludes the internal pieces. To top off the outside of the build I have a +3 quart Mag Hytec trans pan which not only adds extra fluid, but it's finned bottom and strong aluminum casing helps draw heat out of the trans fluid. Tranny coolers include the 11x20 internal cooler in my radiator, in addition to my auxiliary cooler outside in my grille that is 15x7. The trans fluid goes straight to the 15x7 auxiliary cooler, then into the internal 11x20 cooler, then back into the tranny. Coupled with extra fluid capacity from the pan and a low stall converter, I should never have overheating problems. If I ever DO though, my tranny pan has a temperature probe that I can hook up to a gauge to monitor fluid temps and if I see things start to climb I'll add a bigger auxiliary cooler with an electric fan. I should not have to do that though.

To say what this tranny is capable of handling is only a guess. I will say though that many of the parts I chose are the same ones found in 10 second cars across America, and that every part was picked based on high-torque-low-RPM strength with cooling in mind. Heat in the transmission is the #1 killer of automatic trannies, that is why I went to the extreme to keep it cool. My motor will probably stay below 400hp for the rest of it's life which is perfectly fine by me. I have a 1:1 4HI gear, 2.72:1 4LO gear and 4.30 gears in my axles if I ever need more power than what the motor can produce. In 4LO, I'm looking at 12,200 lb-ft of torque being sent to the tires. I think that's plenty for 35x13" tires. :devil:

[BigRob]

So, Rink, I only have one question...

Where in the hell did you learn all these things? You kinda come across like MacGyver of the mechanical world. You are pretty much the go to guy on here, aren't you?

[HankHill]

So, Rink, I only have one question...

Where in the hell did you learn all these things? You kinda come across like MacGyver of the mechanical world. You are pretty much the go to guy on here, aren't you?

I was wondering the same thing. Not only is he the wheel and tire expert, he knows a lot about everything automotive. I can't wait to see this thing finished. Keep up the good work rink.

[Rinkrat456]

Lol fellas. All I can say is, I'm single and I like it that way. It gives me plenty of time to do my homework on a build like this. As for where I learned what I know, most is self taught over the years but I learned the principles behind my choices from my grandfathers and a few inspirational members on different forums, but the actual parts that I purchase are self researched. It also helps that my ideas can be calculated and double checked using the material I learn from my Mechanical Engineering classes. Fluid and thermal dynamics class has been the most helpful in figuring out how to keep things cool.

As for the wheels and tire comment...it's my job and I actually get paid to work with wheels and tires. I had better know the simple questions on here about wheels and tires otherwise I'm worthless at work.

[bonecrushins10]

the only thing he left me out on is the fuel system , why why ? thats where im sord of lost on my project but we'll burn that bridge after we cross it ,

i think this 5.7 is gonna be awesome , the 6.0 would be better in the 57 ,

there is something in the water in mn for the boys to take a perfect good 4x4 and convert it to a 4x2 and for a more than decent 4x2 and make it a 4x4 ,

so he gotta do something different for the power house

[Rinkrat456]

so he gotta do something different for the power houseThat I do. :D If I thought like everyone else, what purpose would I have?

[BigRob]

Ahhhh... Mechanical engineering and years of playing with no restrictions by women. That is a good enough answer for me.

I did tires for about 8 months at a shop and now I just change the occasional semi tire. I will never do that job full time again though. It is not an easy job like operating a track hoe.

[Rinkrat456]

He lives! It was a short blimp of the motor to check and see if I got my wiring harness hooked up properly but damn is the motor loud without any exhaust piping. Right now only the exhaust manifolds are on. :devil: I cannot wait to start the motor and let it run for awhile, today was a mile stone! I know I'm going to have a lot of tuning to do. My PCM is from a Tahoe and it still thinks that I have a 5.3L hooked up to it so I will be spending a full 12 hours or more when I return home to get this thing tuned perfectly for the displacement, cam, heads and make sure the tranny matches the power curves for shift points.

My truck is not done, unfortunately, so I'm taking a different truck up north to wheel.

Things I still have yet to do:
- clean up the wiring harness
- finish wiring the electric fan
- clean up the fuel lines I made for the new tank
- schedule an appointment at the exhaust shop
- relocate the battery to the bed
- put the bed back on lol
- put the VortecMAX engine covers on
- finish welding the tranny crossmember
- hook up the front driveshaft
- have an '05 full size aluminum rear driveshaft shortened for me with 1350 u-joints

- then the tuning begins. :( Lots left to do, so little time.

Here's a little something I thought was cool when I was researching into these motors. We all know the old school Chevy 350 (4.000"x3.480"). We all know the old school Chevy 383 (350 bored .030" over with a 3.75" stroker crank from a Chevy 400). The 383 motor would result in a large increase in torque but not near as large for upper horsepower. The old 350 combo would make nice power upstairs but didn't have the torque. Split the 3.75 to 3.48 and you get 3.62 which is the new crank in the LS1, 5.3L, 6.0L, 6.2L and so on. Maybe the best of both worlds was born when GM did this for the LS1. Just putting a 3.622" crank into a Chevy 350 would make your typical 6.0L of today which is a 364. GM wanted a 5.7L so they decreased the bore size which was made smaller to 3.898" (99mm) which also helps burn efficiency and emissions. When the LS1 was being designed in the early 90's GM might have been under the impression that emissions laws where going to get more strict, and when they didn't the motor was revised and slowly has continued to grow with the addition of new and more effective emission control devices, so was born the 6.0L, 6.2L, 7.0L, ect.

Kinda cool I think, seeing this from an engineering perspective. GM engineers really have their cards in the right hands.

[Dimematters]

Looks like something else for you to be proud of. I especially like the exhaust set up.
and I'm very sorry for your loss.

[97v8s10]

That's awesome. Always nice to fire up your project for the first time.

[steve]

Thats awesome can we get some pics or maybe even a little video :D. You know we love visuals. ;)

[brakemaster_43]

glad to hear you got it running. i wanna see some pics as well!