Thread: Chevy 5.3L

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Hey All,
I have finally purchased the heart of my truck build (50 chevy truck). I got a 5.3L chevy engine out of a 2001 sierra. It has 150,000 miles and it supposedly ran very well. I took off the intake and the heads and inspected the cylinders, valves, heads, rockers, etc. Everything looks great as far as the internals go. My plan is to ditch as much electronics as possible and go with the edelbrock intake that will allow me to run a carburetor. What i was curious about is fitting a 700r4 transmission to the 5.3 block. Will this bolt right up or is an adaptor of some kind needed. Have any of you ever done this? Will a standard torque converter out of the 700r4 be sufficent or will a custom torque converter be required? Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Tyler24

I'm doing the exact same swap. Here's an article I found about it:

Here are the facts about fitting an old style trans to the gen3 engines

1. the gm gen1,2 trans will bolt to the gen3 engines but you only use 5 bolts, the gen 3 engines do not use the middle bellhousing bolt on the pass side( no big deal)

2. you do not need a special flexplate, the curved 4.8,5.3,LS1- just need the t/c bolt holes ovaled out a bit and the 5.3 flex plates have a set of holes that match the small gm t/c bolt pattern perfect

- the 6.0 flat flex plate has the same t/c holes as the large gm pattern(th400 and most aftermarket th350 converters that have a dual t/c bolt pattern on them)

3. you need to use a crankshaft spacer when using a gen1,2 trans and converter there are 2 types:

- hughes gen3 crankshaft spacer part # hup-3795 $44 from summit/jegs, this spacer must be used with the curved 4.8,5.3,LS1 flexplates

- gm stock 6.0 crankshaft spacer 12563532 and longer bolts 12563533, this spacer can be used with either the flat or curved flexplate ( if using the curved style flexplate the flexplate goes on the crank first then the spacer goes on then the bolts, if using the flat 6.0 flexplate the spacer goes on the crankshaft first then the flexplate then the bolts)

so all you would need to do is just install the crankshaft spacer and everything else should line up? No special torque converter or anything else if i just run the stock flexplate and that spacer?

Thats the way I'm reading it; I got the article from ls1tech.com, I believe. It's been a while since I downloaded it. I'm planning on doing mine this fall. I was going to use the factory fuel injection but after seeing one with the Edelbrock/MSD carb conversion kit I changed my mind. Very cool looking.

Yeah that carb conversion kit is going to look really cool. I can't wait to put it on my engine.

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

what about putting an older 4 speed truck tranny on it? what do you do about a flywheel? on some of these older ls styled motors they have an actual throttle cable still dont they? when did that drive by wire crap come into play? id love to have a fuel injected 5.3 or 6.0 in my truck .......

Not sure on the stick; Gasser. I think the fly by wire started in either 99 or 2000. Mine is a 2001 and it has it. All you have to do is get a fly by wire gas pedal to go with it or swap in an earlier throttle body. Lots of great 5.3 articles in the magazines these past few months. They're getting some great power from these with a simple cam swap.

it'd be going into a n 80 4x4 ive been wondering what all id have to do

I'm not exactly a font of knowledge on 4 X 4's; maybe you could swap the whole engine/trans/transfer case?

i like the older ones, there stronger i mean, if all i gotta do is skip one bolt? and find a flywheel, i could make my own motor mounts, could even just plate it,

They definately have the balls to get the job done. My father in law has a 5.3 in a 2006 Suburban and he pulls a huge travel trailer with it. We took it over the Smokey Mountains and you could hardly tell he was pulling anything.