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LS 5.3 Question (s)

19K views 123 replies 17 participants last post by  mudfish  
#1 ·
Without spending thousands on parts, how much boat could a 5.3 comfortably push? Would an 8x18ish be out of the question? Any thoughts on reduction and or prop combo? Is it stupid to use a 5.3 instead of a six ohhhhh? I have a friend that is tired of dragging a boat full of fish up the river, and he would really like to hear your thoughts on this.:D
 
#79 ·
E85 is essentially ~114 octane and will allow you to run more boost/timing and still be safe from melting a piston. Like I said its regional so before I even considered that as an option I'd see if it was even readily available in the areas in which you fish.

For me I can buy e85 in several places within a short distance, I could use an aux tank in my truck or even just a 55gallong drum full to get me through on a trip away.
 
#80 ·
I called Water Thunder a few days ago, since they advertise cams and such on their website. The guy I talked to said they were too busy to jack with that stuff anymore, and to call Comp Cams if I needed a cam or cam info. I think he needed a snickers. lol

I don't think we have any E85 within 40 miles of here. I could always keep a tank of it at home, but that would only last until my wife figured out that her Suburban will eat it too. Diesels are so much easier. Can't hardly get them hot, and if you do, its nothing a little propane won't fix.
 
#82 ·
Hey payphone, idk if it's the right ratio for your setup but there is a reduction and falcon prop on SA $2400 for both
It's a 2:1. U really need a higher reduction but u could call century tomorrow an see what it costs to buy the other pully to make it 2.3. If it's in the budget to do that then u could turn the motor up to 5600 which would put that falcon at 2434rpm, and it's made to turn 2450. So if it could handle that prop it should work
 
#84 ·
Good info right there. Just give me a shout when you know what I owe ya. I got a brand new CH-3 bought with no drive gear or belt. Kind of a package deal. Came with 8'x20'x1/4" sheet, 10 3" I beams, steering cable, prop cage, and a bunch of other good stuff. Obviously this sheet is not what I'm after, but it was a deal. Thinking about a quick flip, or welding up a hull for a fundraiser. Any thoughts on putting chines in without a brake?
 

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#85 ·
First off if you putting a 5.3 in it I would cut that down to somewhere between 6'6"-7' bottom.
 
#88 ·
If you seriously wanna do a cummins I'd leave it as large as you can. The cummins will weigh a good 400lbs more than a big block. Also i know a great engine builder that has already built a very successful 12v for a boat that runs around south tx intercoastals
 
#90 ·
Not quite ready to yank any of my common rails out of the trucks yet! I've got a decent 12v put back for a project like this......and they are close to 200 lbs lighter than a common rail. Did your engine builder buddy do anything spectacular, or just the standard stuff? Chrome stacks, some Kicker subs, and an obnoxious paint job and I would have something the young single guys would buy. Lol
 
#94 ·
Full build, re used most of the internals but had it all balanced and shot peened, benched the pump, compound turbos, don't remember what size he made the injectors. I know it's a monster and split the first belt at GTO and they all about **** themselves :laugh: owner says it'll go wherever he points it and that it's better on fuel than any of his other airboats he had
 
#91 ·
If you putting a cummins in it we'll just take measurement off my hull and go from there. I got a guy that can bend chimes in that plate... I kinda for see a lot of beer drinking in the winter haha
 
#95 ·
Better on fuel = weight loss also. I'm curious how much better it would be? Double the economy I'd bet. The guy that builds/rebuilds all of my pumps, injectors, and turbos has a 93' dodge 1st gen Cummins that makes 900+ and he still has 350 cc of fuel left on the screw. Not practical for this application, but still bad azz for a gen 1 with stock crank and rods. 12v are just so freaking cheap to get the power.....What could possibly go wrong?

One thing that crossed my mind is a run away situation. It would need an air kill like a pulling truck/tractor. One busted oil seal in a turbo, and you are phucked. High speed phucked.
 
#97 ·
Better on fuel = weight loss also. I'm curious how much better it would be? Double the economy I'd bet. The guy that builds/rebuilds all of my pumps, injectors, and turbos has a 93' dodge 1st gen Cummins that makes 900+ and he still has 350 cc of fuel left on the screw. Not practical for this application, but still bad azz for a gen 1 with stock crank and rods. 12v are just so freaking cheap to get the power.....What could possibly go wrong?




One thing that crossed my mind is a run away situation. It would need an air kill like a pulling truck/tractor. One busted oil seal in a turbo, and you are phucked. High speed phucked.
A guillotine gate certainly wouldn't be a bad idea!

who does your truck stuff?

A common rail would be super cheap to have in the 7-800 range and is what I would like to do if oil goes back up
 
#96 ·
Run away!!!! Chit just drive that beeotch all and let her eat!!! What could wrong!!!
 
#98 ·
Mark Burris at Turbo Diesel Injection in Indy. He used to have an excavating business, but he got so good with pumps, injectors, and turbos that they lured him away. He has never been to a day of schooling, but he understands more about them than any two people I know of. He has saved my azz more than once.
 
#102 ·
That would cure a fuel run away, but once they are lit, oil is the enemy. When a turbo seal spits the bit, you have to kill the air to kill the engine. Turbos are really vulnerable to failure with the elevated EGT's normally associated with high HP diesels. I've had it happen twice on machines that were consistently hauled without covering the exhaust. Obviously, that truck driver is no longer sitting in my rig. BTW, they run REALLY good on oil...........for about a minute.:headbang:
 
#103 ·
^ what payphone said, fuel runaway is not the concern, oil from a turbo seal is however. A guillotine hate is really the only sure fire way to prevent a runaway! We have "rig savers" on all of our equipment at work due to the possibility of hydrocarbons in the air which could also cause the issue
 
#105 ·
The last time it happened to me was my skid steer. It's typically got plenty of power, but this day was a little different. The last thoughts I had before the OHHHHH CHIT butt pucker were "Man, this thing is running GOOD" and "Boy, she sure does sound throaty today". Then came the 9,000 RPM from 10" behind my back. I kept one rod and piston out of her and hung it on the wall in the man cave. Rod looked like a bendy straw. Luckily all the rods bent, she lost compression, and shut down before anything worse happened. 2,500 hours on that rebuild, and knock on wood, no trouble yet.
 
#106 · (Edited)
Buddy of mine did a good bit of work for a gaswell company. They had a fairly new Mack that he built a bed for. He built several beds for them it's got a cab on it and u sit in the little cab and drill and put pipe in with it, they were pretty sweet.. Anyway, he had this 1 down there an was pretty much done with it. When he crunk that thing up it was SCREAMING. It ran at like 10,000rpm for about 20seconds and that was all she wrote.
I think he ended up having to pay for the motor, it was a bunch of BS about it. After that he didn't do anymore for em
Haha when a 3000 rpm motor is wound up about 10k it's scary sounding

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
 
#108 ·
The fuel shutoff on the "old school" diesels you were talking about worked because they were naturally aspirated. A force fed diesel won't run away on air, it's the oil coming from the turbo that you have to worry about. Similar to a gas engine.....fuel, air, spark.....a diesel needs fuel, air, and compression to run. In the event of a turbocharger failure, even if you take away the diesel fuel, the engine is using the oil from the turbo to run on. Once a compression fired engine is set in motion, you have to take away either fuel or air to shut it off. If it has run away, and hijacked a supply of oil, the only way to shut her down is to wait for the oil to run out (they never last that long), or take the air away. Sometimes it's just not an option to kill the air supply, so you just have to let them eat themselves. In a manual trans vehicle, put it in high gear, dump the clutch, and mash the brake. In an auto, your already screwed, so go ahead and do the burnout of a lifetime. Sometimes you even have time to find a book, board, chunk of steel, etc to cover the intake with. Popping the hood on one while its running away is enough to make you chit a Buick and drive off in a Chevy. In an airboat, you would just have to pray for the engine to blow before the prop. I would sure hope for an immediate belt failure in that situation!

If you are around them long enough, you will get the pleasure of seeing a show.