C4 LSX Swap

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So I had time to do some work on the 5.3 L Saturday night. Did the ring gap, ended up going with .025 for the top ring and .028 for the second ring
 
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The factory ring gap was .017 and .026. Opening them up more will allow for the ring to expand without breaking the pistons. The original bearings were in good shape, so I reused them. Swapped the BTR Stage II Cam into the new 5.3L.
Some Saturday Night fun!!!
 

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bearings look nice so I see no problem there either. the extra gap can't hurt and like you say is some added insurance. Have you got the heads apart ? what are the valves like for being smooth surface ? I'm no expert, but long ago when I built my '67 396 .030 over, 12.5 TRW's , I put each valve in the drill press and used emery cloth and oil and polished the head smooth on both sides, then ground the face 1/2 degree less than the seat. Cam was hydraulic, racing hyd lifters, lift 500 int / 505 exh 308/328 duration . Guys told me it will never idle under a 1000. Well is ran super nice at 650 rpm .
Nice work, great pictures. uhhh, I think you need more engine stands....:Biggrin:...
 
XFIRE82 said:
bearings look nice so I see no problem there either. the extra gap can't hurt and like you say is some added insurance. Have you got the heads apart ? what are the valves like for being smooth surface ? I'm no expert, but long ago when I built my '67 396 .030 over, 12.5 TRW's , I put each valve in the drill press and used emery cloth and oil and polished the head smooth on both sides, then ground the face 1/2 degree less than the seat. Cam was hydraulic, racing hyd lifters, lift 500 int / 505 exh 308/328 duration . Guys told me it will never idle under a 1000. Well is ran super nice at 650 rpm .
Nice work, great pictures. uhhh, I think you need more engine stands....:Biggrin:...
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I got 1 set of new valves on order because the are chipped up from the broken piston, I got lucky, no damage to the valve seats on the heads. Just going to sand down some of damage on the combustion chamber of the head and call it good...lol
 
Wow! Great times with the motor hurt.
Quite an impressive difference between the gen 3 and gen 4 connecting rods!!! Great work! Really impressed with the build and I’m looking forward to following your C10 build. That’s a really nice looking truck, but we all really wan to know what’s going on with the Caravan in the back there. That looks like a super sleeper and perfect candidate for the other 5.3. :D
 
Riley P said:
Wow! Great times with the motor hurt.
Quite an impressive difference between the gen 3 and gen 4 connecting rods!!! Great work! Really impressed with the build and I’m looking forward to following your C10 build. That’s a really nice looking truck, but we all really wan to know what’s going on with the Caravan in the back there. That looks like a super sleeper and perfect candidate for the other 5.3. :D
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Lol, keeping the minivan stock for now!
 
That bent rod kinda tells me , they don't make things like they used to . It was 1973, that '67 396 of mine that I mentioned I built 12.5 / 1 compression, a stupid thing happened to me my fault I guess, but , I just came off the highway into Saskatoon , was on 33rd made the corner on ave P shifted into 2nd and then just bang she shook and a cloud of white smoke behind me. In short , the stud that held the air cleaner down to the 800 Holley mechanical spreadbore unturned out of the carb and the wing nut came off, the stud went down the carb through the intake past the valve and into the cyl. As you can see the dome on this piston is huge so there is no room in there so it broke up the stud and cracked the cylinder wall thus why the white smoke burning antifreeze. Never bent the rod or damaged the head, even the piston looked fine other than the imprints of the stud but what bad luck. I got that cyl sleeved and a new piston and it was back to 100%. Now I always put a lock nut on the stud holding it to the carb. I still can't believe it happened to me but it did.

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XFIRE82 said:
That bent rod kinda tells me , they don't make things like they used to . It was 1973, that '67 396 of mine that I mentioned I built 12.5 / 1 compression, a stupid thing happened to me my fault I guess, but , I just came off the highway into Saskatoon , was on 33rd made the corner on ave P shifted into 2nd and then just bang she shook and a cloud of white smoke behind me. In short , the stud that held the air cleaner down to the 800 Holley mechanical spreadbore unturned out of the carb and the wing nut came off, the stud went down the carb through the intake past the valve and into the cyl. As you can see the dome on this piston is huge so there is no room in there so it broke up the stud and cracked the cylinder wall thus why the white smoke burning antifreeze. Never bent the rod or damaged the head, even the piston looked fine other than the imprints of the stud but what bad luck. I got that cyl sleeved and a new piston and it was back to 100%. Now I always put a lock nut on the stud holding it to the carb. I still can't believe it happened to me but it did.
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That is just nasty luck Michael. If there's anything even remotely tolerable in that occurrence, at least you are someone with the know-how to repair the damage.
 
I remember taking a compression test on the 396. I only had the tester that you had to push and hold, not a screw in type. I had my foot against the wall and both hands pushing on it as hard as I could while someone cranked , it kept blowing me out but still hit 232 lbs on the guage. Ran really nice on 100/130 aviation fuel . Stock exhaust manifolds but if you heard it idling it had that tinkle sound you thought it had headers. I did have headers for awhile but they hung too low and kept hitting stuff so went back to the factory manifolds. Had it 17 years then sold it , 67 Impala SS 396 Convertible.
 
XFIRE82 said:
I remember taking a compression test on the 396. I only had the tester that you had to push and hold, not a screw in type. I had my foot against the wall and both hands pushing on it as hard as I could while someone cranked , it kept blowing me out but still hit 232 lbs on the guage. Ran really nice on 100/130 aviation fuel . Stock exhaust manifolds but if you heard it idling it had that tinkle sound you thought it had headers. I did have headers for awhile but they hung too low and kept hitting stuff so went back to the factory manifolds. Had it 17 years then sold it , 67 Impala SS 396 Convertible.
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That hits close to home Michael. In 74, my Aunt (of all people) had a 67 SS 396 convertible that I tried to buy and made her swear when she sold it I wanted it. Six months later she showed up in something else and informed me she sold the car... for $ 700.00.... I went out and bought a Duster instead but still hold a bit of a grrrrrrrrr...udge.... lol... Just kidding on the grudge...
 
I didn’t go over transmission and alignment much on the first time install of the LS Swap. Kind of important if anyone was considering doing it. With the older style bellhousing and transmission to keep the original alignment on the C channel and drive shaft. The LS crank sits inside the block a little more so the input shaft on the TKO Transmission didn’t go into the crankshaft enough, so I needed a offset pilot bearings to support the input shaft.
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Offset pilot bearing compared to factory LS7 pilot bearing
 
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Aligning the the Factory Bellhousing, I was out
19 thousands of a inch. I needed to buy offset dowel pins for the bellhousing to properly center the input shaft. If it is out to much, it could damage the transmission. With my 14 thousands offset dowel pins I was able to get it within the .005 “ requirements.
 
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