- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Best buggy motor???
- Thread starter Bart
- Start date
My engine is an 04 and it's drive by wire.
You're right though, earlier gen III's do have a throttle cable, I'm just not 100% sure of when the change over occurred.
I'm keeping the DBW as well.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
From what I've seen, there were some vehicle models that were cable & other models with the same engine that were DBW in the same year. I found a '02 Suburban in a local wrecking yard that was cable. And I think the Camaros have always been cable... but I'm not an expert on the subject.
UNSTUCK
But stuck more often.
Smoken deal off of ebay. Bought and shipped under $1000. Came with the harness and everything I needed. I totally rebuilt the harness by hand to get it to fit in my CJ7 and look nice. You'll notice that the stock harnesses are WAY to long. If you don't modify it, you'll have harness hanging over everything. Block hugger headers, k&n routed inside the firewall, new chip with VATS and VSS removed and no emissions (which still runs cleaner then the stock 256)
The engine is stock and makes WAY more power then I'll ever need! Only those with V8's know about the instant smile that comes to your face when the throttle is slammed to the floor!
I also went with the 700r4. The overdrive is great and the low first is nice too. I used a painless lockup controller for the wiring and it works great. Downshifts under load when needed and all that good stuff. I think I will always use this set up. There are so many aftermarket parts to make this thing so much stronger, it is great!
Go V8 and don't look back.
Out with the old.
In with the new.
Ready to go.
The engine is stock and makes WAY more power then I'll ever need! Only those with V8's know about the instant smile that comes to your face when the throttle is slammed to the floor!
I also went with the 700r4. The overdrive is great and the low first is nice too. I used a painless lockup controller for the wiring and it works great. Downshifts under load when needed and all that good stuff. I think I will always use this set up. There are so many aftermarket parts to make this thing so much stronger, it is great!
Go V8 and don't look back.
Out with the old.
In with the new.
Ready to go.
Attachments
Ya gotta have the bling
What motor is that? Looks great. That's the kind of deal I'm looking for.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
TPI... Tuned Port Injection 350/305. It's the high performance version of the 80's Chevy V8. IIRC the 350's made somewhere around 230 hp & 320 ft/lbs. Personally I'd spend a little more for a Gen III motor & get more power.
For reference... The Gen III 5.3 motors make 295 hp & 330 ft/lbs. Gen III's 6.0 motors make 325 hp & 375 ft/lbs.
Here's what Wait4Me claimed on my 5.3 with the ECU retune-
So running 91 octane with a 5.3 with an ECU tune should be good for up to 325 hp & 360 ft/lbs. That should be enough to spin 40's.
Imagine what a 6.0 would do with an ECU tune. Going off the same numbers, 355 hp & 405 ft/lbs. :freak:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I edited my post to include what my 5.3 it supposed to do.
UNSTUCK
But stuck more often.
These were the numbers that I went off of when doing the swap. Pretty close to what your saying: 245 hp @4400rpm and 345 ft·lbs @3200 rpm. I figure I'm around 300 HP with my chip, intake and exhaust.
The thing I like about this engine is it's a torque motor. It dies off just under 5000 rmp's. That means all the power is made in the range that a rock crawler wants. Check out the split between HP and tourque. Compare that to 5.3 or 6. It might be a little slower at the dunes and such, but all that torque is right there to idle up a waterfall or what ever. Plus I just think it looks great!
If you do go this route, go for a MAP engine and not a MAF engine. It will turn out looking cleaner and gives more options for an air filter.
Just get a V8.
The thing I like about this engine is it's a torque motor. It dies off just under 5000 rmp's. That means all the power is made in the range that a rock crawler wants. Check out the split between HP and tourque. Compare that to 5.3 or 6. It might be a little slower at the dunes and such, but all that torque is right there to idle up a waterfall or what ever. Plus I just think it looks great!
If you do go this route, go for a MAP engine and not a MAF engine. It will turn out looking cleaner and gives more options for an air filter.
Just get a V8.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Yeah, TPI's make good torque. You could probably get more top-end RPM's with a roller cam. I'm a huge fan of roller cams, they allow a motor to make power all over the RPM range, including a killer top-end. Regular cams seems to have a certain window they operate in, low-mid or mid-high RPM range.
That's what I like about the Gen III's, roller cam, high-flow heads, etc. They spin high revs pretty good. I'm looking forward to running that thing in the dunes & snow... I'd like to add a 100 HP shot of NOS down the road. :greg:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
UNSTUCK
But stuck more often.
I've been reading about some pretty cool home made port jobs to get it to flow better and add to the top end. thirdgen.org is a great web site for info on these engines. Although they didn't like me to much when I would get on there and ask questions for my jeep engine swap.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Hey Bart, check out- http://www.car-part.com/index.htm
I looked up '03 Chevy trucks & found a handful of 5.3's at local wrecking yards.
TransWest in Lehi has 2, 5.3's from '04 trucks for $1100.
AllTruck has one for $865.
Duanes in Orem has one for $850.
I got mine at a local yard & I have had to go back there for extra parts. It's nice to have the same vehicle you got your motor from nearby, so you can easily snag those extras.
I looked up '03 Chevy trucks & found a handful of 5.3's at local wrecking yards.
TransWest in Lehi has 2, 5.3's from '04 trucks for $1100.
AllTruck has one for $865.
Duanes in Orem has one for $850.
I got mine at a local yard & I have had to go back there for extra parts. It's nice to have the same vehicle you got your motor from nearby, so you can easily snag those extras.
for the best power for $$$I would go with a 5.3, LS1, or even a ford 5.0 (doesnt seem like anyone else has even mentioned that, motors and harness' are cheap compared to throttle by wire chevy). Lovells are running a ford powerplant and they have killer power. We run between 400 and 450 in our ecotec and lovells run right with us off the line, we both beat most the LS1's out of the hole in the rockcross. LS1's are fairly inexpensive if you source wrecked 2000-era camaros and are patient.
as for the tranny, a 700r4 needs to be well beefed up to handle good horsepower (especially on verts where the load on the tranny goes up exponentially). However a turbo 350 or 400, or C4-C6 ford (C4 tuff transmission-light weight-short), can be built very tough as long as the motor and transmission mounts are done right (transmission mount is softer than the moter mount) so the housing doenst crack. and with a good 4 speed atlas you can gear the axles higher for good high speed trail riding.
There are also a few places that do the computer reprogramming, I just sent a 2001 vortec computer to get reprogrammed and the original harness to have the theft, transmission and emissions taken out of it. fuel injection specialties in texas, about $800 bucks (i cant find the web address though, google it). i think there might be a little cheaper places out there, but I couldnt find any, and I looked for a few weeks.
and if you do get one from a junk yard get everything with it (harness, gas pedal, sensors, ecm). Used sensors have alwaysed worked better for me if they were hooked up to the ECM that they were originally paired with, Technically it might not matter but that is what i have found.
I make my own, They are not super difficult, just require patience and time. just order the flanges and the size of tubes you want (j bends, u bends, all mendrel of course-summit racing has them-and dougnuts if it is really tight)and a couple of collectors.
After your motor is mounted, bolt the flanges up, and start cutting bends apart and tacking them where you want them. that way you will be able to fit exhaust anywhere you want it. when you get them where you want them tack them good and pull them off and have someone (preferably a free buddy) tig them up for you, then you can coat them however you would like, you are into the material around $200.
it takes a day or 2 to put a good tight set together, but it is worth it when you have a unique set of purdy headers that are not in the way of anything (and easy to remove)
I will be writing a tutorial on this pretty soon (within the next month)because I am building a set that the driver header crosses over the top of the engine (for a buggy-with a twisted customs chassy-in the shop right now). I am kind of lucky I have a buddy up here that does ceramic coating for me also(either 6 or 8 different colors available).
http://www.fuelinjection.com/
I used these guys, they got me exhaust parts, sensors, intake parts, harness and chip reprogram. They do know their stuff, they got it done on time, but I did have one problem that they insisted wasn't their fault (didn't remove the anti-theft from the chip program), but after they reburned it my engine started up and runs good.
What would happen for those of you who are having your ECM/PCM reprogrammed is, engine would start and right away would die. When I would retry it would start and then again die right away. This was caused by the VATS not being removed and without the signal from the key, the computer would not let the engine run.
Despite this small problem I would use them again, I am very happy with the harness they made.
Chris R.
I used these guys, they got me exhaust parts, sensors, intake parts, harness and chip reprogram. They do know their stuff, they got it done on time, but I did have one problem that they insisted wasn't their fault (didn't remove the anti-theft from the chip program), but after they reburned it my engine started up and runs good.
What would happen for those of you who are having your ECM/PCM reprogrammed is, engine would start and right away would die. When I would retry it would start and then again die right away. This was caused by the VATS not being removed and without the signal from the key, the computer would not let the engine run.
Despite this small problem I would use them again, I am very happy with the harness they made.
Chris R.
That's strange, I called Duane's last week and they said they didn't have a 5.3. I also called Trans West on Friday they said they didn't have one either.
I guess HP is expensive, I just have a few boys up here that are getting around 350 hp with a nice intake and a few home mods like porting, port matching, and polishing, chip and good exhaust (at least that is what they tell me they have done), but I agree, I am like you and never want to go back to something that has caused me trouble in the past.
I bet you are using unimog axles again huh
.