Gen III 5.3 $500

[5150.4.67]

I found a 5.3L complete with ecu and harness for 500 clams. One problem. It has 120,000 miles. Worth it?

[tucnnuts]

Originally Posted by 5150.4.67

I found a 5.3L complete with ecu and harness for 500 clams. One problem. It has 120,000 miles. Worth it?

computer and harness worth that almost, and 120k on the ls1 is just gettin broke in good...lol you getten a fleet pull out from a parts store? if your truck is lowerd might want to get the car oil pan for it too, and the car intake ,it fits a lil better under the hood...we are putting one in a jeep cherokee before to long...i have heard some good things about them...hope you have good luck too!!

[MonteSS454]

Originally Posted by 5150.4.67

I found a 5.3L complete with ecu and harness for 500 clams. One problem. It has 120,000 miles. Worth it?

Worth it and a bit of a refreshing rebuild would make it better.

[kamikazekyle05]

Worth it

[70short]

Do It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrC1]

Great deal as long as it's in good shape.

If it were me, I'd do a cheap rebuild on it for another $600-700 or so, but that really depends on budget. If things are tight, you can always pull the caps, check things out and replace bearings and the oil pump. If I were going to replace the rings, I'd probably go a step further and get it torqueplate honed at the same time.

I'd replace the freeze plugs since you probably can't tell how thick they still are.

[Shon]

I would get it!
I have wrestled with the 5.3 or 6.0 swap myself and I think I will get the 6.0 and the 4L80 in my 71LWB and start driving it daily.

[brad_man_72]

you can find them for cheaper, whats the harness worth? if your not going to use it you might be able to sell on ebay $150
id personally have a hard time paying that much for one with half the miles. so far everybody else says go for it, i guess that makes me a cheap a$$.

[Shon]

Originally Posted by brad_man_72

you can find them for cheaper, whats the harness worth? if your not going to use it you might be able to sell on ebay $150
id personally have a hard time paying that much for one with half the miles. so far everybody else says go for it, i guess that makes me a cheap a$$.

What other motor are you going to put in the truck for $500 to get the HP/TQ and fuel economy of the 5.3 or LS based engine? Granted there are some additional items needed, like a fuel pump, some fuel lines, motor mounts and the PCM tuned but overall the package is great. You can fab up your own motor mounts, fuel pump is like $100, the lines are what they cost, and the PCM tuning can be had for $250ish if you look around (hello!).

I have run the numbers, for me to get the power out of the SBC 350 I got will cost me nearly $2k and I have not even got to the trans (A4 for MPGs).

We buy the 5.3s for $600-$800 COMPLETE depending on mileage and put them in Rock Crawling jeeps and beat the piss out of them, and they are golden. Better than any other motor swap we have tried (TPI350, Ford 5.0, GM 4.3L, Jeep 4.0).

[ss69]

Another one for worth it if it's in good shape.

[sleepertruck72]

I say its worth it. You can always try offering $400 and a 12 pack of beer It may work

[midwestburner]

Where do you guys find deals like this? I've searched online through LKQ parts lookup and you'd be hard pressed to find an engine for under $1000, that doesn't include the trans. I'm just doing initial research on prices and sources and haven't started pounding the pavement yet.

[LOW DOUGH]

get it

[5150.4.67]

Ok, the yeahs have it. I have a Megasquirt stand alone computer, but it will take alot of time to tune the maps as I wound be starting from scratch. I built a 305 with alum l98 heads and multi-port FI for a daily driver but just ran across this. Now I guess I'll part out a 'never run' motor and hopefully won't take too bad of a beating on the ol Gen I. The motor is in good shape, but i'll still pull the pan and have a look. I guess its time to use the search feature for 5.3 install. Maybe I'll take photo's and share my experience.

[hessian18]

Do It !!


A little paint and some time will go along ways

[sleepertruck72]

Hessian18,
That is SWEET !!!

[1971 GMC SHORTY]

Originally Posted by sleepertruck72

hessian18,
that is sweet !!!

i had a 2000 silverado with 220,000. On the speedo when i sold it only cause the high miles my buddy still has it with 280,000. On the clock now... It still runs fine tows good
just buy it great deal

[5150.4.67]

I wish I had come across this very informative site a few years ago. I would have never guessed you guys were swapping Gen III motors in. Much less I would have laughed at the thought of MYSELF doing it! But after hangin' out here I might just pull it off. I'm goin' to give it a go.
Thanks for the encouragement to change plans... again!

[Shon]

Originally Posted by midwestburner

Where do you guys find deals like this? I've searched online through LKQ parts lookup and you'd be hard pressed to find an engine for under $1000, that doesn't include the trans. I'm just doing initial research on prices and sources and haven't started pounding the pavement yet.

Do you have a local junk yard? Not LKQ but a home town good ole boy junk yard? That is where we get them from.

[LOW DOUGH]

Originally Posted by hessian18

Do It !!


A little paint and some time will go along ways

That is nice!

[brad_man_72]

Originally Posted by Shon

What other motor are you going to put in the truck for $500 to get the HP/TQ and fuel economy of the 5.3 or LS based engine? Granted there are some additional items needed, like a fuel pump, some fuel lines, motor mounts and the PCM tuned but overall the package is great. You can fab up your own motor mounts, fuel pump is like $100, the lines are what they cost, and the PCM tuning can be had for $250ish if you look around (hello!).

I have run the numbers, for me to get the power out of the SBC 350 I got will cost me nearly $2k and I have not even got to the trans (A4 for MPGs).

We buy the 5.3s for $600-$800 COMPLETE depending on mileage and put them in Rock Crawling jeeps and beat the piss out of them, and they are golden. Better than any other motor swap we have tried (TPI350, Ford 5.0, GM 4.3L, Jeep 4.0).

why did i get quoted, im doing a 5.3/4l60e swap on my truck right now. complete engine, harness, pcm, and rebuilt trans $700. im not saying i didnt fall into some awesome deals. im just saying id pass on that particular motor unless youre in a bind.
what you save on the inital buy you can spend on $wap header$, cam, and tune.... tires!

[Shon]

Originally Posted by brad_man_72

why did i get quoted, im doing a 5.3/4l60e swap on my truck right now. complete engine, harness, pcm, and rebuilt trans $700. im not saying i didnt fall into some awesome deals. im just saying id pass on that particular motor unless youre in a bind.
what you save on the inital buy you can spend on $wap header$, cam, and tune.... tires!

we each are able to find deals at times, sounds like you got heck of a deal, which does not happen all the time, but a $500 5.3/PCM/Harness is about right, assuming all the accessories are there too b/c that mess can add up and I also agree that if you save anything up front then that is more to spend later. Trust me...I have been negotiating for a LQ9/4L80 combo with 16k miles on it, guy has $2300 in it and I do not want to pay over $2k, which $2k is about $300-$500 ABOVE what I had set up as my target but 16k miles on the combo is killer....he bought it a while back when these motors became 'known' and there were not alot of them around, looking at the yards now he has too much in the set up...
Now we are wondering if the cyl walls will be all rusty.....that would not be good.....so we might go find something with more miles that just came out of a vehicle...

[boostat4500]

$500 is a pretty good deal. I wouldn't sweat the miles at all. These motors hold up very well. I just built a 6.0 for a guys rock buggy and we started with a short block that had around 80k on it. The cylinders were still in such good shape we could have used standard size pistons. Another example, I had a 98 Trans Am with 90k miles when I bought it. Put a blower on it at 9 psi, straight pump gas. I put about 10k hard miles on it in less than a year with no problems at all.
The swap is pretty easy and well worth it, GO FOR IT!!

[5150.4.67]

It seems as though alot of rock crawler and sand rail guys use Gen III powerplants. They must be tough to live in those environments. I really appreciate everyones input.
BTW, that chevy orange painted motor looks awesome! Very clean!

[texanidiot25]

120k is nothing on these motors. Shoot my crappy firebird's 2.1L V6 lasted 275k miles, and a genIII is far better built.