WHICH 5.3 TO BUY?!

[DarkKnight]

What kind of price should i expect with an lm7?

[hoogiesngrinderz]

I paid 400 for my first one with 44k on it, little over 200 to freight ship it. Don't remember what I paid for the second. Third one came as a package deal with a 6.0 LQ4, paid $1000 for both with computers and engine harnesses.

[formula218]

I got my LM7 with a harness and ECU for $350. sold the truck harness on ebay for $150 and picked up a LS/fbody harness from Johnny at HSP for the same cost.

[zeeman]

600.00 for mine. No accessories.

[DarkKnight]

Are those junkyard prices or do any of you have any kind of hook up on where to go? i live in holly but ill travel a bit if need be. Im looking for a clean low mileage engine to start with

[formula218]

mine was a used motor from some guy in Hillsdale who parted out trucks. i don't remember the name of his shop, but i wouldn't recommend him anyway.

I've heard good things about ordering engines from car-part.com, i've had a few friends get stuff through them and never had any problems.

[DarkKnight]

everything they have is really high miles for like 6-700 or 1000-1400 for like under 80k miles.... bit higher priced then id like

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Bought my first one on eBay, came from LKQ in Portland, OR. The rest were craigslist finds.

[DarkKnight]

Nothing on craigslist, crazy prices on ebay

[zeeman]

Mine was a straight up purchase from Hermes and son. He bent me over for a core charge. I have heard U.S. automotive in Detroit has real good deals. But I have no personal experience.

[beertestr]

The IRON 5.3s were built with thicker than usual bore walls, which is why they have been so durable with stupid boost. They can go 0.128" over bore without a problem (basically LS1 bore +0.01") , which is unheard of in modern passenger car and light truck engines. Get an LM7 or L59 motor from a 2005-2007 pickup or 05-06 Utility. They will have the full floating rods. If having full floating rods is not critical to you, go with anything 99-07. Iron 5.3s did not go to 243 or 799 heads until the new body style trucks which started in 07(the old 99-07 body style trucks were called Silverado/Sierra "Classic" in 07). Those motors also came with flat top pistons since the 243/799 heads had larger chambers
s than the 706 or 853 heads. The 07+ iron blocks had 799 heads, had AFM, and had 58x cranks.

I would not be afraid of higher mileage engines, the bore wear on these motors is very very good, i have a 305k mile 6.0 HD truck engine on the shelf and the bores are still in spec. A quick 10/10 on the crank will be good insurance, at least check the mains and rods to see if they need cleaned up. You are going (well, you SHOULD) to pull the rods and pistons to open the ring gap up anyway..

Fire away any other q's, I have stupid knowledge on LS parts.

[DarkKnight]

Well I picked up an LM7 the other day, was told it was at about 102k miles and that it was an 05
It has 706 heads and the casting number is 12567392 which seems to correlate to 2002 or 2004
I only paid 500 for the engine so I should be safe there if it isn't what i need or want
Im going to switch to 317 heads regardless so the heads are irrelevant