500+ rwhp out of a 5.3?

As the title says, I’m trying to get over 500 to the wheels NA. Is it possible with a 5.3? Or should I just start looking for a 6.0? I’m at full bolt ons right now and I don’t want to do heads and cam if I’m not gonna reach my goal. If I can just get close to 500 I’d be happy with that. Mods so far are Banks intake, 1 7/8 pace setter long tubes, mbrp 3” axle back exhaust, tbss intake, and just to hold it over until I do the head cam swap - a Holley fashpaq tuner. Will be dyno tuned once I do the cam, if any of that helps. Am I missing anything before I do h/c? Also getting a set of ls1 heads milled, ported, & polished for it.

Also any suggestions for what cam would be appreciated. I daily this car but I don’t care about anything but a reliable 500 hp

I've heard a cam and longtubes will give any LS engine 1000hp

gooffeyguy said:

I've heard a cam and longtubes will give any LS engine 1000hp

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I’ve heard that too

Deadbaffy said:

As the title says, I’m trying to get over 500 to the wheels NA. Is it possible with a 5.3? Or should I just start looking for a 6.0? I’m at full bolt ons right now and I don’t want to do heads and cam if I’m not gonna reach my goal. If I can just get close to 500 I’d be happy with that. Mods so far are Banks intake, 1 7/8 pace setter long tubes, mbrp 3” axle back exhaust, tbss intake, and just to hold it over until I do the head cam swap - a Holley fashpaq tuner. Will be dyno tuned once I do the cam, if any of that helps. Am I missing anything before I do h/c? Also getting a set of ls1 heads milled, ported, & polished for it.

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My buddy put down good numbers in his 5.3 with a stage 4 custom grind cam from Texas speed he used it in his 5.3 and his 6.0 and it ripped
Nothing special stock bottom end with ported 243 heads hollow valve stems with pac springs and the custom cam corvette intake with a cold air intake and a ported throttle body but paired with the 4.56 gears and a built transmission she would just naturally blow the tires off her 1st 2nd chirping 3rd probably around the 400-450hp or so to the wheels

500 HP Rear wheels NA? Probably not, unless you want to rev it to like the 7k RPM range? IDK

500 flywheel, probably, yes. But still you'd be up there in the high range RPM to get there.

Why don't you tell us what are your goals with the truck? Daily driver or dedicated track rig? Things like tire size, gear ratio and torque converter stall speed all play a role in working together. What transmission are you running? 10 bolt rear end?

What is your budget? 6.0 is going to get to those number easier, but you have other options such as boring your 5.3 to 5.7 (iron block LS1) or even an LS383. You can do similar to the 6.0, of course. All you need is money...

Is it possible? Yeah but it is going to take a pile of cash. And then your 4l60e is going to leave the chat in a hurry. So there is more money.
The amount you would spend to get an NA 500 wheel is going to be a fair bit more than if you did a max speeding turbo kit and left the 5.3 bone stock.
14psi on a bone stock LM7/L59 is 600 crank. So even if you lost 100 hp in the drivetrain you have your 500 wheel. I don't have the time at the moment to go find the video. But Richard Holdener did a 400/500/600 hp step video for a 5.3.... and while you can get there NA, it is a whole lot of work and money.

Ok, start at the 5 minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole thing. But the 5.3 with lots of goody parts AND nitrous still fell just shy of 600 crank. So 500 wheel will be hard.


600 hp combos

strutaeng said:

500 HP Rear wheels NA? Probably not, unless you want to rev it to like the 7k RPM range? IDK

500 flywheel, probably, yes. But still you'd be up there in the high range RPM to get there.

Why don't you tell us what are your goals with the truck? Daily driver or dedicated track rig? Things like tire size, gear ratio and torque converter stall speed all play a role in working together. What transmission are you running? 10 bolt rear end?

What is your budget? 6.0 is going to get to those number easier, but you have other options such as boring your 5.3 to 5.7 (iron block LS1) or even an LS383. You can do similar to the 6.0, of course. All you need is money...

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It’s a daily driver and at most I can have it down for a week. My budget is whatever, as long as it stays reliable, I don’t care. I have a stock 4l60 with 3.73 gears and stock converter at the moment. Tires are 275/55, so about 32 in. Was going to go 4.10 or 4.56 with a 3k stall, and obviously beef up the 60 but would like to tackle all of it at once with h/c, so at the moment I’m just getting the parts together. Once I know what cam i want I was going to get everything else coming. Not opposed to a supercharger down the line either, but just want a fun, quick daily out of it that isn’t constantly breaking. Kind of seeing what others have done or wish they would have done before committing to one thing or another. Not my first time building something but first time doing a truck and an ls so figured experience from others input would be better than winging it.

Mudsport96 said:

Is it possible? Yeah but it is going to take a pile of cash. And then your 4l60e is going to leave the chat in a hurry. So there is more money.
The amount you would spend to get an NA 500 wheel is going to be a fair bit more than if you did a max speeding turbo kit and left the 5.3 bone stock.
14psi on a bone stock LM7/L59 is 600 crank. So even if you lost 100 hp in the drivetrain you have your 500 wheel. I don't have the time at the moment to go find the video. But Richard Holdener did a 400/500/600 hp step video for a 5.3.... and while you can get there NA, it is a whole lot of work and money.

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thank you. I’m trying to just get as close as I can, maybe a blower in the future, but a good cam combo and what others wish they would have done/have done when they did a 5.3 build. Id rather not swap it to a 6.0 but if I find one cheap, who knows. Just looking for advice from people who have done ls trucks since this is my first ls and first truck I’m building.