What parts to upgrade internally 5.3l?

[gsxrkid]

Hey guys, since I am completely out of warranty and it looks like I will be flipping the bill for rebuild soon, what are some quality internal upgrades that will give me a little more torque and hp's under the hood? I'm not looking to build a street racer, hot rod SUV. I'm just looking for some upgrades that will boost my torque a little. I occasionally tow a small utility trailer with my ATV's and this last trip up the mountains made me think I was towing a semi trailer. I could barely do 60mph! What are some good quality cams, lifters, rocker arms, valves, pistons, ect ect that won't break the bank but won't create so much horsepower that it blows out my crank in 10k miles either? Thank you in advance for all your input/advice!

 

[TheFuzz]

You can get quite a bit of power out of these blocks with an intake, headers, cam and a good tune. Ditch the active fuel management components in the valvetrain and have it turned off in the ECM, too. No real need for aftermarket pistons/rods/crank unless you're going nuts with a blower or other FI setup. How crazy you get with the cam is entirely up to you, but your trans will need a rebuild too if you start pumping 400+ hp through it. Crane Cams has tons of options on their website.

 

[gsxrkid]

Thank you for the response! Yeah I totally agree about too much hp. That's EXACTLY what I'm trying to avoid, doing a tranny rebuild immediately following. When you say intake do you mean an actual intake plenium or CAI. I have the volant and got a blackbear in-person tune (see sig) which definitely made a HUGE improvement. I like the idea of headers too

 

[992dr]

Ditch the active fuel management components in the valve train

Do you know of any write up on how to remove this system?
Is this the same as the DOD?


edit I found this item doing a search. This seems to be a popular item. http://www.rangetechnology.com/pages/v8
I found this one as well. http://texas-speed.com/p-717-dod-afm-delete-kit.aspx

I'd be willing to do both as long I know it is eliminated completely, hah.

 

[gsxrkid]

Justin just disabled it when he did my tune. I can't tell you enough how much I recommend a tune from BlackBear. You get a bada$$ custom tune and your afm turned off in the process.

 

[gsxrkid]

Does anyone have a specific cam in their hoe that they really like or suggestions for a specific degree cam that works well in these engines? Again, I don't want to go race cam, just one that increases low end torque or an even power increase over the whole range.

 

[992dr]

http://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...ormance-21/212-218-cam-5-3-=-good-fun-524403/

The only thing I'm not sure of if its compatible to our motors. I'd think if you deleted the dod/afm crap this would work.