Rebuild /upgrade 5.3L or gm crate motor?

[DESSKI]

Well it seems my well taken care of 1 owner 114k stock 5.3L motor has internal problems so now it's decision time. Should I go with a new gm LS crate motor in the $4K range or stroke out my current 5.3L with some mildly ported heads and Z06 cam? Those crate motors seem impressive and I want reliability cause it's our family travel car 4wd (skiing) but since I'll have to pull the motor out no matter what I figure I should be able to upgrade its output with the current motor. My budget is right at $5500 total labor excluded.

Suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[NORCAL SS]

http://leperformance.com/

they do tons of tahoe/tbss/ssr stuff great guys!!! my old tbss has 650 rwhp with a block they did no issues

 

[doubletapdrew]

I'd rebuild and modify it. What's wrong internally with it? That's awfully low miles to be having problems.

 

[johnsoex]

You can get a drop in LS2 with forged internals for around 4k. I'd do that.

 

[Gzes]

He probably spun a bearing or ran it without oil? Possably an unbalanced crankshaft and it started wearing out everything all weird. Thats jist my guess

 

[DESSKI]

He probably spun a bearing or ran it without oil? Possably an unbalanced crankshaft and it started wearing out everything all weird. Thats jist my guess

Infrequent oil changes not an issue!

The number 2 piston wrist pin is starting to take a shit. Now where do I go from here? A performance rebuild the hurt motor or go with GM's 327 5.3L crate motor? A stall converter and headers are a must item since the motor has to get pulled.

 

[2007chevy5.3l]

I say buy another 5.3 pull out of a wrecked vehicle. Assuming we are talking about a 07+ vehicle you have to stick to a gen4 engine (07+ only)... For performance, swap out for a mild cam and do the required boltons with a mild stall and itd be a great daily and get exceptionally well MPG's without spending a ton of cash to fix your truck