4.8 to 5.3 swap ?

[mongocanfly]

I work with a guy that has a 4.8 auto truck and he's wanting to swap out to a 5.3...the question is he's thinking he can just swap the engine and ecm and be good to go..is this a doable swap or is there more to it..I've only done smallblock for ls swaps in older trucks..never a ls for ls swap in a newer truck..I'm not sure of the exact year models of his truck or his donor engine. I'm thinking mid 2000s on both

[homemade87]

Should be an easy swap if only using long block as long as it is not a dod or vvt engine . I would recommend doing delete on both if it has it . As expected you will have to tune the pcm . Other than everything will bolt up to the long block . Should be a easy swap .

[Overdriven]

I agree with homemade87. If neither engine has DOD or VVT then just swap the long block and not the ecu, intake, etc. Once swapped take the truck and have it tuned.

DOD and VVT can be deleted from either engine or ecu. There may be other variances like return or returnless fuel rails, cable or electronic throttle, but you can eliminate any issues with those by just swapping the long block. Any differences in tune between 4.8 and 5.3 will be solved by having the original 4.8 ecu performance tuned for the new 5.3 engine.

[mongocanfly]

Ok thanks ...ill let him know..I know he's wanting to change the cam out to something bigger anyway so I knew a tune was coming for sure..I think he had in mind a complete top to bottom engine swap
Ill tell him about doing just the long block swap..hes wanting to change valve springs on the heads and adding a cam anyway..ill have to check on vvt and dod

[Overdriven]

If the engine had dod or vvt, to delete them he'll also need new lifters in addition to the cam. I think there's something else that needs to be swapped in the timing set too, it in the ecu it's just an option that gets disabled.

All the truck intakes are the same so not much point to swap everything. The only difference with intakes is return or returnless fuel rails and drive by wire or cable throttle. In my opinion not much point in going through the hassle of switching from one to the other. Unless he plans on doing something like turbo and wants to prepare for it then by all means do what is necessary.