New Member - ‘01 Silverado RCSB 2wd

kensington · Mar 26, 2026

Hello all, I was recommended to stop by this forum for some of the random questions I have with my newer project, and learn from the community.

Vehicle: 1-owner truck spent its whole life in Alabama. 2wd, 5.3 truck with basically no rust (what I’d consider no rust living in the rust belt.) Truck is pretty straight, with some bumps and scrapes, but good base overall.

First year of ownership was just getting it in a good driving condition. Shocks all around, rotors and pads all around with rear calipers. UCA’s and ball joints. Started working on things this spring and did an EGR delete, replaced front bottom seat foam and entire metal frame base, and an Airaid tube to the stock airbox. Over the winter, new (to me) steering wheel, 3.5mm stereo adapter using AUX/CD harness, rebuilt cluster.

As the weather gets better, I’ve got the following on hand ready to go in…
-34” Delphi radiator
-Dorman efans
-Michigan Motorsports efan harness
-HP Tuners MPVI4 (for EGR tune out and efan for now)
-Motive/Timken master rebuild kit for the 8.5/8.6
-Detroit TrueTrac
-20” Honeycombs (need tires, and will eventually need refinish)
-freshly painted valve covers (have spares and the current valve cover gaskets are toast)

This spring also just needs the following…
-full brake bleed/fluid swap
-rebuilt ABS module
-LCA’s (need some opinions on whether to go DJM or go stock design with lowering knuckle)
-lowering shackles
-body/paint work
-refreshing all light covers
-new grille
-new windshield and covering to rear sliding glass
-soft tonneau

I also have a Gen IV L96 (6.0 LY6 with flex fuel injectors), sitting on an engine stand in my garage. Extremely low hour engine, that had some junk go through the oil pump. Needs an oil pump and bearings, and I would at minimum throw a cam and springs at it (which is not good news for the 4L60…) or potentially go full 408 build with forged internals.

Some things on my radar that I want to do, some sooner rather than later…
-headers and exhaust (what and how is completely up in the air.)
-transmission dilemma (4L60 is currently meh, does hang the 2-3 shift). Do I rebuild the 4L60 to hold what the 6.0 will eventually make? Do I step up to a 4L80? What I’d want to do, in an ideal world, would be T56/magum/6060 swap. Automatics really aren’t my jam, which is why I’m sort of hymming and hawing about what I want to do in the near term.

This is never going to be a “race truck” just something fun to drive around town in, has a nice rumble, maybe eventually handle well (4-link or go crazy town IRS depending on space and $$$$). MAYBE do some sort of drag and drive with no pretenses about being competitive in any class.

stutaeng · Mar 26, 2026

Welcome!

That truck is gonna be a riot!

Since you are going with larger rims, have you considered the factory big brake upgrade for the fronts?

I always vote 4L80e from the get-go when you are planning any performance upgrades. Get the transmission out of the way.

I swapped a junkyard 4L80e in my 99 with unknown mileages and beat on it as a semi-regular daily driver. I've since learned how to build those transmissions and some day I'll pull it to freshen it up, but it just laughs at me when I give it the beans.

4L60s just cost too much damn money to beef up, and sometimes even the level XV-whatever, "Black Edition" still break. I can't afford 4L60s, lol.

I also happen to have a L96 (converted to Gen III electronics) i built with the intention of swapping into my truck, but the little 5.3 just keeps purring...

ORVietVet · Mar 26, 2026

Welcome to the forum, from Oregon.

kensington · Mar 26, 2026

stutaeng said:
Welcome!

That truck is gonna be a riot!

Since you are going with larger rims, have you considered the factory big brake upgrade for the fronts?

I always vote 4L80e from the get-go when you are planning any performance upgrades. Get the transmission out of the way.

I swapped a junkyard 4L80e in my 99 with unknown mileages and beat on it as a semi-regular daily driver. I've since learned how to build those transmissions and some day I'll pull it to freshen it up, but it just laughs at me when I give it the beans.

4L60s just cost too much damn money to beef up, and sometimes even the level XV-whatever, "Black Edition" still break. I can't afford 4L60s, lol.

I also happen to have a L96 (converted to Gen III electronics) i built with the intention of swapping into my truck, but the little 5.3 just keeps purring...

Yes, have considered the the upgraded 4-piston calipers. I am sort of half waiting for the front calipers to have issues as an excuse. I’ve also thrown a lot of money at the truck recently, and will probably wait on throwing tires on the new wheels, so I’ll need to wait until after that regardless.

I’m also sort of in the situation where I don’t want to do anything with the 5.3, because it still runs solid, aside from the various leaks. I have the Gen IV truck manifold I could swap on with some of the ICT billet port adapters, but trying to figure out if it’s really worth it. Would allow big injectors, big TB, but with an otherwise stock 5.3, is there really that much to gain?

I’ll start keeping my eye out for a 4L80. I’m probably going to get my rear end work done (don’t have the setup to do it), but should I gear the rear end up from the 3.42 with the taller 4L80 gearset?

stutaeng · Mar 26, 2026

kensington said:
Yes, have considered the the upgraded 4-piston calipers. I am sort of half waiting for the front calipers to have issues as an excuse. I’ve also thrown a lot of money at the truck recently, and will probably wait on throwing tires on the new wheels, so I’ll need to wait until after that regardless.

I’m also sort of in the situation where I don’t want to do anything with the 5.3, because it still runs solid, aside from the various leaks. I have the Gen IV truck manifold I could swap on with some of the ICT billet port adapters, but trying to figure out if it’s really worth it. Would allow big injectors, big TB, but with an otherwise stock 5.3, is there really that much to gain?

I’ll start keeping my eye out for a 4L80. I’m probably going to get my rear end work done (don’t have the setup to do it), but should I gear the rear end up from the 3.42 with the taller 4L80 gearset?

Unless you throw a radical cam and push it beyond like 5,000 RPM, probably no need for the larger injectors and the larger TB. But it would probably look cool.

My truck has 3.42 as well. Yes, the 80e does have a lower first gear, but the gear ratios are closer together, so I think it makes up for it overall shifting thru tbe gears. You don't get that drastic drop in rpm when your truck shift to second gear with the 80e, i feel like the engine rpm stays higher on tbe power band when doing a WOT acceleration.

I bought a k2xx axle to swap into my truck and regeared that to 4.10, because of the transmission swap, but now that I've driven it around plenty, i think 3.73s would be a good-around rear gear ratio, especially if you plan on highway cruising. I have yet to swap that axle...SMH

For mostly spirited city driving or any towing, 4.10s are going to be progressively better. What tire size are you running?

kensington · Mar 26, 2026

Was going going to run stock height, or maybe slightly taller, but nothing drastic

stutaeng · Mar 26, 2026

P225/75/16, right?

I was running some LT265/75/16 when I still had the V6. When I swapped to the 5.3/4L80e I got the correct tire size on the tune.

Last year I did the big front brake upgrade and had swapped to P265/65/18 from a 14-18 Tahoe.

There's some online calculators you can play around with and will give you the rpm based on speed, gear ratio, and transmission ratios.

kensington · Mar 26, 2026

I believe I’m putting 265 50 20 when I go to the honeycombs, which should be stock height I believe

Tonimus · Mar 27, 2026

Welcome! That's a damn fine looking truck.

Amp Wrangler · Apr 21, 2026

kensington said:
Hello all, I was recommended to stop by this forum for some of the random questions I have with my newer project, and learn from the community.

Vehicle: 1-owner truck spent its whole life in Alabama. 2wd, 5.3 truck with basically no rust (what I’d consider no rust living in the rust belt.) Truck is pretty straight, with some bumps and scrapes, but good base overall.

View attachment 5696
View attachment 5697

First year of ownership was just getting it in a good driving condition. Shocks all around, rotors and pads all around with rear calipers. UCA’s and ball joints. Started working on things this spring and did an EGR delete, replaced front bottom seat foam and entire metal frame base, and an Airaid tube to the stock airbox. Over the winter, new (to me) steering wheel, 3.5mm stereo adapter using AUX/CD harness, rebuilt cluster.

As the weather gets better, I’ve got the following on hand ready to go in…
-34” Delphi radiator
-Dorman efans
-Michigan Motorsports efan harness
-HP Tuners MPVI4 (for EGR tune out and efan for now)
-Motive/Timken master rebuild kit for the 8.5/8.6
-Detroit TrueTrac
-20” Honeycombs (need tires, and will eventually need refinish)
-freshly painted valve covers (have spares and the current valve cover gaskets are toast)

This spring also just needs the following…
-full brake bleed/fluid swap
-rebuilt ABS module
-LCA’s (need some opinions on whether to go DJM or go stock design with lowering knuckle)
-lowering shackles
-body/paint work
-refreshing all light covers
-new grille
-new windshield and covering to rear sliding glass
-soft tonneau

I also have a Gen IV L96 (6.0 LY6 with flex fuel injectors), sitting on an engine stand in my garage. Extremely low hour engine, that had some junk go through the oil pump. Needs an oil pump and bearings, and I would at minimum throw a cam and springs at it (which is not good news for the 4L60…) or potentially go full 408 build with forged internals.

View attachment 5698
View attachment 5699

Some things on my radar that I want to do, some sooner rather than later…
-headers and exhaust (what and how is completely up in the air.)
-transmission dilemma (4L60 is currently meh, does hang the 2-3 shift). Do I rebuild the 4L60 to hold what the 6.0 will eventually make? Do I step up to a 4L80? What I’d want to do, in an ideal world, would be T56/magum/6060 swap. Automatics really aren’t my jam, which is why I’m sort of hymming and hawing about what I want to do in the near term.

This is never going to be a “race truck” just something fun to drive around town in, has a nice rumble, maybe eventually handle well (4-link or go crazy town IRS depending on space and $$$$). MAYBE do some sort of drag and drive with no pretenses about being competitive in any class.

Welcome from NC!

99Sierra2500 · Apr 21, 2026

Welcome from Lafayette.

kensington · Apr 21, 2026

Thanks all. I’ve just not had time to work on the truck. Issues at work so I’m working 60 hour weeks. Looks like I should have some decent weather this weekend, and want to work on my grille and headlight lenses.