[Paraman1]

So I recently bought a 5.3 Vortec motor for my 64 El Camino . I am a complete newb when it comes to the Vortec and LS motors but have been reading all I can . Current plans are to ditch the 862 casting heads and ad some 243's ( I believe I have these purchased at this time) . Beyond that I am not really sure , I have read that the 243's need to be decked a bit to keep compression on the 5.3 up especially since I have no plans to put any boost on the motor so this is on my list of things that may be done .

I have also read that the truck intake is pretty tough to beat no matter how ugly it is so my plan was to buy or build a cover for it but again if there was a cost effective upgrade I would Love to look at it .

Not sure what I am going to need to do for an accessory drive but I have been looking at the ICT Billet kits , anyone have any experience with these ?

I am going to use a adjustable bracket with stock motor mounts for a mounting solution but haven't decide for sure what I am going to use there .

For an oil pan I am thinking the Holley 302-2 should fit fine .

I don't have any idea on exhaust but would like something mid-length so I can keep the exhaust tucked up as high as possible .

Last but not least is a cam to take advantage of the heads and exhaust upgrade .

In a perfect world I would hope with a decent tune I will be making 350+ HP with a pipe dream number being 400 HP with decent gas mileage and street manners .

Any help you guys could give me on this adventure would be great and I look forward to learning more and seeing things I may have missed .