I have the 5.3 in a '07 Silverado. They make great power ... but that's where my love for the LS engines ends. GM cheaped out on some of those engines. So many failure points. My Silverado's cam bearings are already failing at just 91k miles! Lots of broken valve springs, wiped-out camshafts, oil burners, engine failures due to a .20 cent o-ring in the oil pump tube, and then the crap AFM system lifters, which is a whole other story that could take up an entire web page ...

The 5.7 is tried and true. I've run them for decades. Abused the crap out of them, and they never let me down EVER. Good choice.

One thing I've learned doing engine swaps, is don't EVER say you'll "fix that part later". Do IT ALL while the engine is out. Don't skimp! Nothing worse than pulling an engine twice to fix things you should've done the first time. Ask me how I know ...

 

Yeah the newer gen 5.3/6.0 would be nice, easy to make power with, lighter, better MPG, so on and so forth... I'm going with the 5.7 simply for "ease of installation" and general compatibility lol

And yeah it'll be a good year at least in the making, sitting on a stand in the garage, tossing $100 or so at it a month until it's a predestinely built long block ready to swap parts over onto that I'm keeping and drop in

 

Nice - sounds like a plan.

If built and tuned right, a 5.7 can and will get as good or better mileage than the 5.3 - just takes a little work.

 

Yesterday I put in an add-a-leaf kit by tuff country to help keep the blazer level when pulling my trailer. Tonight I replace the 5cent ball joints I put in last year

 

do you have the tbars cranked up? if so, you be replacing them again. My front end is factory spec and I have 147,000 miles on it ant they`re still original ball joints. Have new ones on hand, just waiting for them to go

 

Especially if they're anything but Moog ball joints too. The lesser products are absolute garbage, even in a stock vehicle. Moog isn't immune either, as I had one upper b/j fail on me in less than a years time once. They've got a much better track record than the rest, though.

 

That's what I decided to go with this time to make sure I wasn't screwing myself again, now I'm looking into a front end lift as I am happy with the *** end height I have... Does anyone know if the after marker torsion keys do the same to the ball joints?

 

supposed lift keys dont do crap. Lift keys and balljoints are 2 different things. Spend the money on a real lift kit. it will be cheaper in the long run

 

Kinda figured that the torsion keys were useless. As of right now im in no place to get a kit anytime soon. I'm looking into the superlift suspension control arm they have, they have some reviews of giving people the 1"-2" space they are looking for, plus it's a better piece then the stamped control arm that is on it now. My only problem is that they are 260 Canadian for the pair with bushing. Damn I hate budget building with an everyday driver lol

 

Dropped my 5.7 vortec heads off at the local machine shop to be looked over and if all looks well (no cracking), they're going to do valve jobs and surfacing if needed.

Going to pick at this 5.7 swap one piece at a time