I have a 2008 chevy silverado 1500 4x4 5.3L. I am interested in getting about 550 rwhp out of it. I am curious to know if anyone has any information on how much hp the stock engine can handle before I would need to rebuild it or experience major problems. Thanks

 

There's several people on this site who are into the 600 range on a stock bottom end...one of them happens to be a 4.8 though lol. That doesn't speak much for longevity, because sooner or later major problems will surface.

 

do you happen to know which threads those would be? thanks

 

Kudos to Bill... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2151666

https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...d.php?t=465591

There might be more too...

 

I made 522 rwhp and so far so good... but i dont go around beating on my truck...

 

it will last as long as you are good a tuner (or have access to one)

550rwhp will take significant $, time and effort. Be prepared

 

a good tune will go a long way in making it last

 

So if I add a vortech vts supercharger (system) and have it tuned right, I should be able to make over 500?

 

i dyno'd 702 with a 4.8 i was also around 800rwhp for awhile but never dyno'd

keys to making a stock motor live.........
Tune is the key being smart about it is most important thing you can do.
High IATs will do harm on the motor fast. if the IATs are over 120 i start pulling timing and adding fuel
High ECTs will kill a motor in a heartbeat. PPl say number 7 fails cause of lean actually its the poor flowing of coolant thru the heads. ppl have tested and found out if you put a temp reading on the driverside head around 5 and 7 youll read a much higher temp then you would on 6 and 8. this is why number 7 fails. the heat just cooks the piston. Since there isnt a direct way of fixing this, some have along with myself run vapor ports vented all 4 corners. also keeping the ect in the 150s overall will help much with keeping those cylinders cool. if your overall temp is 150 then your rear cylinder is around 180 when it sees a hot spot. now if your are at 190 and you see a hot spot then youll be in the 240 range roughly which is high but combine that with high IATs and lean mixtures and youll melt a piston in a heartbeat.

now as for longivity i ran my setup for close to 7k worth of hard abuse. i tore it down just to see how it looked. motor showed no signs of any failure, i also did follow the lines above on how to keep it alive.

at 500 that motor should last forever but only if you follow the right steps. its not rocket science knowing keeping anything cool will go longer then something seeing extreme temps

 

I run the old ls1 style coolant line under my mani. It connects all the port to the radiator so steam can be released into the rad so water can take it's place. And I run a egt on number 7 just to keep an eye on it. Not to mention. Tune tune tune!