2001 Silverado advice

A few of my thoughts to echo others above, 300k isn't that tired, 250-350k is very common on these and I'll add my wife's 01 suburban 5.3 had crosshatch at 345k.
At the same time, if you find a junkyard 4.8/5.3 (or even 6.0) and 4l60e combo with reasonable miles, pulling and reinstalling is not that difficult. It will run on the factory 4.8 tune, but you will want to get it adjusted before you do much WOT stuff. Doing it yourself with HPTuners is easy enough, or you can send in the PCM to LT1Swap.com to have a factory tune to match the new engine.
On my 01, I took the engine separate from the trans, but if I had a better hoist and help situation, probably could have pulled them together. I couldn't get the crank pulley off because I didn't know that you should heat it with a torch before hitting it with an impact (I've since done 3 or 4 with no issue), and the depth of the pulley made pulling the engine out much harder. Since then, I also realized the top bar of the core support comes out rather easily, and that would have made it easy as well.

I forgot to mention that in my previous post... what's not to love about a reg cab shortbed truck with a V8? While it may not have much value now, it will be on the rise before most of the others. And it has the much better front clip styling that has aged well.

I was going to mention stuff like a cam swap before, but then I realized that James has never seemed to me like a "more power" kinda guy. He seems like the more sensible "it's already there and gets the job done" type of guy.

bucket said:

I forgot to mention that in my previous post... what's not to love about a reg cab shortbed truck with a V8? While it may not have much value now, it will be on the rise before most of the others. And it has the much better front clip styling that has aged well.

I was going to mention stuff like a cam swap before, but then I realized that James has never seemed to me like a "more power" kinda guy. He seems like the more sensible "it's already there and gets the job done" type of guy.

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You are correct sir, I’m not a more power kinda guy. Tuning an engine for hours on end to make the new parts work does not appeal to me at all. I’m a plug and play kinda guy.

TotalyHucked said:

L Heck, there's a bunch of turbo guys that specifically look for high mileage motors like that cuz they're "looser" and take boost better. These LS engines are damn near bomb proof. I'd do the minimum and keep going. Start planning for the trans though.

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I was gonna add this to my post, but decided not to lol

Yea, the number of people cramming boost down higher mileage motors than OP's is crazy

bucket said:

Here's my thoughts on it...

The truck doesn't have much value, but anything of similar value that would replace it would likely be a ticking time bomb as well. If you like the truck and it's in good shape otherwise, I see no reason why it wouldn't be worth the trouble of replacing the head gaskets and having the heads redone too. The machine shop can also take care of the busted off exhaust manifold bolts that it likely has, or will have. Obviously while you are into it, it would be wise to take note of other things, like the cylinder walls and potential pitting on the camshaft.

Sure, it could end up needing a transmission at some point. But right now it's fine and works. It could last a lot longer too.

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The transmission should have the pan dropped, the TSB for a different transmission pan magnet (circular, not rectangle like OEM), then use Dex VI to fill it up. If desired, pour some Seafoam transtune in with the new fluid. Then reset the TAPs(The transmission adaptive pressures, the PCM learns how you drive to keep shift times / harshness in check), to do this,just pull battery cable for 30 minutes or more.

It would be wise to put a small aftermarket cooler inline the cooler loop, a 2500hd or 3500hd can be found in a junkyard for a trans cooler which has the brackets you could bolt right in front of the radiatior im pretty sure. The fact its a 4.8 means its not stressing the transmission, assuming its not on borrowed time already (granola in the fluid, black fluid), its potentially got some life.

Vbb199 said:

I was gonna add this to my post, but decided not to lol

Yea, the number of people cramming boost down higher mileage motors than OP's is crazy

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Its like seeking out polio survivors to play volleyball

AuroraGirl said:

Its like seeking out polio survivors to play volleyball

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Wheres the skull emoji when i need it

AuroraGirl said:

Its like seeking out polio survivors to play volleyball

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Hey, if they already beat polio, why can't they can beat those cheating SOB's in your rec league?!?

Vbb199 said:

I was gonna add this to my post, but decided not to lol

Yea, the number of people cramming boost down higher mileage motors than OP's is crazy

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4.8s especially for some reason, too.

Grit dog said:

4.8s especially for some reason, too.

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Flat top pistons for more compression and the smaller motors love to rev lol

Grit dog said:

4.8s especially for some reason, too.

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I think their reasoning comes to higher RPM possibility (isnt it the same stroke as a 5.3?) but thicker walls to take the boost

These people also want to put cement inside their engines which are 200k mile and tired before doing a rebuild to try and handle their boost
All that boost maybe just goes past their rings and into the crankcase, shatting oil into their throttle as the pcv sucks liquid oil out even through the baffling LOL