First time member and poster but I have been reading a lot of threads. I have a 05 chevy crew cab that needs a rebuild and I want to build it up. I'm planning on boring it out to 3.800" or so, a 4.00" crank with 6.125" rods. It has the standard 706 heads. My question lies with the cam and heads set up. I would like to put a pretty aggressive cam in. I have read some things on heads for the 5.3 compairing the 706s and the 243s. I know the 243s with some milling is the best way for more power but im not sure how much better it will be for the money. Bottom line, what is the best cam and heads set up for my type of build.

Thanks Guys

 

i have a 2012 5.3 and it has 799 castings which have better ports n bigger valves than the older heads.check out vincycams or scoggindickie for cams.

 

Why not go full LS1 bore (3.9) and make your swap more worth while..I think a mid/high 220's cam with .580/.590 112 lsa would be perfect in a 383 truck with a set of TF 215 heads..Keep the power down low..I liked my 212/218 cam better on my ls1 than my 222/226 ..Power came in alot sooner, no spongy petal feel

 

If staying with a stock cylinder head setup, I would recommend going with the 243s. As for your camshaft, it would really depend on the rest of your setup. What size converter do you plan to run with that combination?

 

I'm planning on just running the stock transmission and converter for a little while. Later ill be getting a six speed manual for it so I hadn't really done much thinking on the converter. The truck is mainly a daily driver but I do pull some small loads (small boat or skid loader). Are there any converter and transmission set ups that you would recommend? Oh and thanks for the reply.

 

Staying with the stock converter is going to limit you to some extent, is your truck a SC,EC or CC body? The reason I ask is weight is going to play a role is cam choice as are what rear gears you have. If you are going to switch to a 6spd then you could run 4:10-4:56 gears and still have good highway RPM when at speed due to the double overdrive. Just some thoughts anyway.

 

Go with the stock LS1 3.898 bore since you are going to bore the block anyways, ive done several of them and the cast iron LS1 feels just as stout as the aluminum block LS1 in my truck.

 

If you want to keep the 706 heads at least have some 2" intake valves installed.

 

The truck is a crew cab with 3.73 gears I think. I know ill have to do something with the rear end because its a locking one and I could see the locker snapping one day. Do you think ill run into problem having a cam meant for a six speed with 4.10 gears while still having the four speed with 3.73 gears?

 

I will most likely do that. I only posted the 3.800 because I was referencing a 5.3 stroker kit and that's what it had. I'm mainly worried about cam and head set up. I think i'm leaning to the 243s and I would like to keep the compression the same if not better so I need to figure out what size gasket or milling to do on the heads.