Ls swap milage question

[gmc684x4]

picked up a nice running 2003 lm7 it has 237xxx miles
Runs nice enough cold and warm no idea about oil pressure
I am guessing well as all the guages are dead in the truck

Contemplating rebuild it with an rv cam or change rear mail seal and drive it like I stole it

How far are you fellas pushing your milage

[87chevy.com]

lol, another mileage thread, look 9 posts down, theres another one

[geezer#99]

There sure is, but that one asks about fuel mileage.
He isn’t!

[gmc684x4]

If I was more concerned about fuel milage I would look for a 3 series posi and run my Richmond gear camaro 6 speed
I have not figured out how to make the shifter grab all gears moving it forword enough to keep a bench seat

4l80e 3.73 posi will get fair fuel millage it would be close to my old service van with a 4.8 and 4.10 gears with tire size taken into account

Two young kids need to keep a bench seat

[kipps]

There's two things to keep in mind.

#1, it's not worth rebuilding a generic 5.3 engine. The purchase price is too low to be worth the bother.

#2, most of the work of a swap is in the engine support systems; intake plumbing, fuel supply, cooling modifications, wiring, tuning, etc. Very little of the work is related to actually setting the long block in place.

Put those two things together, and yes, you might as well just replace the rear crank seal, oil pan gasket, and just stab it in. If it gives up the ghost in a couple of years, it should be a quick day's work to pull it out, and swap it for an identical engine. As long as the replacement engine is the same generation(24x vs 58x reluctor ring), the same displacement, and the same intake port style, it should be easy. No additional tuning or mods will be required to switch the long block.

[LS short box]

Since you will have it on a engine stand (I assume) its easy to do some basic investigation.
1. Yes on the rear main seal. Yes on the front seal even if you don't change cams.
2. If you do change the cam, new better push rods and valve springs. If things go south they can be reused. When you are in there replace the the oil pump. And check the timing chain wear along with the chain guides.
3. Pull a valve cover and see if its nice and clean. Look for any needle bearings out of the rocker arms.
4. I would remove the pan and pull at least one main bearing cap to look at the wear. Note they are torque to yield bolts.
5.Pull one or two rod caps to check for bearing wear.
Good luck with your engine project.

[gmc684x4]

Right now its still in the running driving truck I may swap guages in it so I can see oil pressure and fuel level i played with it a little as I have no idea how much fuel it has in it

My aim is build a daily type driver reliability out of it thinking about doing a different truck build to gussy up for fast hp but since high hp sport trucks suck in the snow do a daily driver build first

Many things have changed already the truck its going in the motor was going to be a gen 1 vortec still have it half pulled in my shop had to stop working on it in the summer as I had complications with my broken leg

[87chevy.com]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

There sure is, but that one asks about fuel mileage.
He isn’t!

sum b, you are right and I totally I misread it...

if its out, rebuild it or regret it

[gmc684x4]

Is it common for rocker trunion bearing failure ?

Quick looks i only seen close to 200 for new retrofit trunions

Watched a few high milage teardowns suprised to see bearings and bores still look fairly new

[LS short box]

Lots of different opinions on trunion bearings. There are the replacement needle bearing type and the bronze bushing type. Go over to LS1tech.com and search trunion upgrade.

[gmc684x4]

From what seen on forums more aftermarket failures then stock
Stock failures are high milage and stiff springs
So check heads and oil pan if any have been spit out and good to go

[LS short box]

I've done a few LS engines with the needle bearing trunion upgrade with no failures. But having said that I drive a project hot rod for a few years and sell to fund a new project. Because I'm in MN our hot rod driving season is May? until Oct. So maybe 3-4 thousand miles a year?
One thing I did see lately on the TV show Engine Power they refreshed a 5.3 and they found a few of the rocker arms were really worn in the push rod pocket. The end of the push rods were badly worn also. Worth a look.

[gmc684x4]

Most of the ls based stuff I have had where service vans change the oil and drive it
Been looking at tuning software and reading up on it this week thinking about trying tunerpro to fo vats delete or just break down and get hp tuners

I got my Arizona 69 from the twin cities years back first one i had with ac and tach sold it off a while ago

[kipps]

Originally Posted by gmc684x4

Been looking at tuning software and reading up on it this week thinking about trying tunerpro to do vats delete or just break down and get hp tuners

If it helps, look for a thread "restoring rusty" in the 73-87 forum on this site. Gregski goes into quite a bit of detail in the last couple pages describing his newbie experience with hptuners.

[gmc684x4]

Found a good thread on here as well
I will look up rusty

Starting to find some good threads on hp tuners mailing out pcm everytime is not an option i want to pursue
looking at tunerpro more for vats delete on my vortec 350 not wanting to buy two sets of credits to do a 411 swap to it

https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...792225&page=16