Who's done a 5.3L camshaft swap?

[71stub]

I've got a relatively stock 2004 4WD 1500 crew cab with the 5.3 in it and was pondering doing a cam swap. I had the computer tuned which seems to have helped but I pull a 20' car trailer a lot and have heard that a simple camshaft swap can gain me up to 70 rear wheel horsepower and a couple MPG's. Is there any truth to this? I've also been told by my local LS guru who also has his own dyno that removing the stock muffler and swapping in a Magnaflow or other muffler. He said to stay away from the chambered mufflers as they don't agree well with the LS series engines. So can anybody give me their feedback from a cam swap in a relatively stock application?

[Sooner84]

I would say do longtubes and exhaust first, thats what i did and it woke my 5.3 up quite a bit. I went with a hooker aerochamber muffler, its straight through and sounds great but not too loud until you get on it. I just put in a 212/218 low lift comp cam in it and love it and it works great with the stock torque converter. If youre going to do a cam, valve springs are a must, and i also went ahead and bought hardened pushrods. To gain 70 rwhp would take a little more but not much, also my MPG has stayed exactly the same if not better.

[71stub]

After having headers on my 98 I despise them on a daily driver. I plan on installing new valve springs with the swap also.
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[Sooner84]

What didn't you like about the headers? I had headers on my 84's 350 and daily drove it. But These new motors benefit quite a bit from them.
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[71stub]

I have Hedmans on my 98. Always leaking!! Gaskets, loose bolts, even cracked by the welds a couple times now. Not impressed...
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[Sooner84]

Well you can still keep the stock manifolds, you just won't feel quite as much gains. I would run a an offload y pipe and a straight through muffler.
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[Richardman1992]

Go to the forum Performancetrucks.net there's where I learned a lot from. I just put in a comp 212/218 low lift still need to tune it. I would advise against a stall converter especially with towing. If I did it again insolent have bought a higher stall converter, but being that my truck is 4x4 it's not coming out. Get some eBay stainless longtubes lots of guys run those with no problem. No need for shorties as the stock manifolds flow pretty good. Avoid flowmaster like the plague. I have a spin tech muffler and I love it. Doesn't sound like your average flowmaster and dual tip equipped ls everyone and their mother drives...
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[Richardman1992]

By the way, don't waste your money on a cold air intake with an open element filter. Replace the tube with something that flows better but leave the stock airbox. Blackbear performance did testing that proves the stock airbox works just fine
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[71stub]

Anybody got a PN for a direct replacement straight thru muffler? I can't find a Magnaflow PN online.
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[crazy longhorn]

Originally Posted by 71stub

Anybody got a PN for a direct replacement straight thru muffler? I can't find a Magnaflow PN online.
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You might check with magnaflow, but I dont think you will find a direct replacement for the stock muffler. The stock tubing on my 02 ,was 2 3/4"....choices were 2 1/2, or 3" on the muffler. Running a 4.8, I choked the muffler down to 2 1/2, & Had a couple reducers made to fit. I used an offset/offset muffler (14" body), for a nice rumble. I canted the muff , till all the pipes lined up, & cranked up the old 200 amp Mig I love it, but if you like a tick more mellow, you might go 18" on the muff body? My old truck has a nice rumble around town.....easy on the hyway(to about 70 mph). If you drive faster than that on cruise, or OPEN the throttle , you WILL hear it The cat back duals are nice, but very pricey! They will run you 3" into the muff, & 2- 2 1/2" pipes out. crazyL

[Frostflowz]

A cammed 5.3 is a wonderful thing. The hardest part was installing the valvesprings for me, everything is straight forward.

I am running a Comp cams 54-457-11, here a vid of idle.

http://youtu.be/qaYdCU8rNGc

[bk2life]

Originally Posted by 71stub

I have Hedmans

did you tell them about the problems you are having?

hedman is a pretty big company and i have a friend who had problems with the fit of his old pair, he called them and they sent him a new pair of headers that were twice as much as he orignialy paid, better product all around.

you might try it..

[71stub]

I've never contacted them. These cracked out really bad at the collector. By the time I chased the crack around I used up a half roll of wire! When I pull them off I might contact them with pics to see what they say. Thanks for the input.
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[BossHogg69]

I installed a Comp LSr 265 w/Lunati springs (215*/233* & .604"/.610" - the smallest cathedral port LSr cam) along with a Yank TT2600 converter in my '05 GMC ccsb with a 5.3. The cam was fine with the stock converter, but with the Yank, the whole thing really came alive. I also have some stainless longtubes and 2.5" true duals with an 'X' placed 18" after the headers and Blackbear tune. Before the converter, the gas mileage was the same as stock. After the converter, it went down a bit, but some of that is because I now have a crew cab burnout machine