►►►Tales from IronFreak and his shop shenanigans◄◄◄

[IronFreak]

Small but exciting update.....

Took a drive out to middle of no where small town Iowa yesterday after work. Found an ad on CL that seemed to good to be true, but I talked with the guy and he seemed legit. 2 hours later I was standing over a VERY fresh 5.3L LS1, transmission and brand new Painless wiring harness. Motor has under 50k original miles out of a 2002 Silverado.

$700 and it was mine!

To put that in perspective, the wiring harness new costs between $475-550 depending on where you buy it.

This is a completely plug and play setup besides a few things I want to add, will really cut down on my timeline!

[eduTechnic]

Great find! Tranny choice?

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[IronFreak]

It was a 4l60e, not really my first choice, but for the price I just couldn't pass it up. It is a truck tranny, so it has a deep pan and large filter, it'll get a transgo hd2 shift kit, Sonnax 2-3 shift valve and corvette servo and a large tranny cooler. I think with the light chassis weight it'll handle the power I'll give it. The cars suspension isn't setup for drag racing or hard launches so I don't think it'll be to bad. If it does go, it's not much to beef it up internally, but I'm not going to pull it apart until it does.

[eduTechnic]

Cool story. Sell and get manual. Unless youre into that. Kamotors killed it in his auto with shift kit and it actuslly looked like fun

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[IronFreak]

Yeah comparing the 4l60e to whatever auto comes in the e30 is like apples to oranges. Cost wise with the transgo hd2 kit I will have full manual shifting in gears 1-3 with the nice addition of OD and auto shifting when placed in 4th. these upgrades are about $150, and will allow the tranny to hold 500+ hp all day.

T56 is expensive in it's stock form, is bigger, heavier and to get it to hold the power I would have about 3k plus in it. No thanks. I have ran full manual autos in many of my vehicles. Yes there is no clutch and its not exactly the same but some days you just don't want to hassle with shifting and with this you don't have too.

[JCarp90]

5.3l ls1?

[IronFreak]

yeah. It's the truck version of the commonly known F-body LS1 which is 5.7L. The 5.3l loves boost, CarCraft build one that was all stock bottom end that made over 1200hp at the flywheel........on a Chinese ebay twin turbo kit to boot.

[JCarp90]

yeah. It's the truck version of the commonly known F-body LS1 which is 5.7L. The 5.3l loves boost, CarCraft build one that was all stock bottom end that made over 1200hp at the flywheel........on a Chinese ebay twin turbo kit to boot.

5.3 is an LM7 and yes, they do love boost. Justin's 5.3 ran for over a year making 990whp in his truck with an 88mm turbo. Junk yard bottom end even lol.

[iansane]

5.3 LM7*

In terms of a cars overall weight, the difference between a 4l60e and a t56 is negligible. The slushbox weighs more but it's about equal with master/slave/clutch. And you don't need to put $3k into to keep it living at 500hp in such a light chassis. $3k into a t56 gets you a brand new t56 magnum (a tr6060 in t56 clothing) that's 'rated' at 700lb/ft.

[IronFreak]

5.3 is the LS1-LS6 series motor, LS motors made from 98-02 interchangeable, the block code is an LM7.

[IronFreak]

Used t56 is at least $1200 in decent shape without bell housing, clutch and flywheel. My transmission was about $250.

I'll take mine haha

[JCarp90]

5.3 is the LS1-LS6 series motor, LS motors made from 98-02 interchangeable, the block code is an LM7.

They're similar, but the LM7 block is iron vs the aluminum LS1 and the accessory brackets and mounting points are entirely different. They're all built on similar technology but not the same.

[IronFreak]

yeah I know........been playing with the LS motors for years. hence me ditching the bmw stuff.

[iansane]

Used t56 is at least $1200 in decent shape without bell housing, clutch and flywheel. My transmission was about $250.

I'll take mine haha

Hey I'm not trying to pee in your cornflakes man. I'm just saying that there isn't an appreciable difference in size/weight between the two. And that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to have a t56 hold horsepower..... once you already have one... ;)

Good score either way. The 4l60e's aren't known for their massive longevity so make sure you throw a good trans cooler on that bad boy.

[iansane]

They're similar, but the LM7 block is iron vs the aluminum LS1 and the accessory brackets and mounting points are entirely different. They're all built on similar technology but not the same.

Mounting points are exactly the same sans one single bolt hole that wasn't drilled on the truck motors for the car style alternator bracket. It's a simple task to drill and tap it if you want.