Good evening just wanted to share some of my experiences with swapping a 5.3 LS from a Gen 3 into my 08 Denali and what all it took to make everything happy and function properly.

From the beginning the 6.2L in the truck had a valve come into contact with the piston and I was pressed for time so I took a older gen 3 ls and installed it into the truck so I could give my older brother a newer truck.

As far as the 5.3 engine to start the knock sensors were not in correct place vs the 6.2 which had them mounted lower on the block vs in the valley like the 5.3.

The intake manifold I went and bought a 2008 suburban z71 intake manifold with the e85 injectors and throttle body was included.

The cam and vct system I swapped over from the 6.2 into the 5.3 with good results

Exhaust was kept the same and the cats are still intact.

The fuel pump control module was also kept intact from the original 6.2 setup.

The 6L80 and awd transfer case was also reused with the 5.3 engine swap.

The controller I kept and flashed to match the changes I did to the motor that I can go more in depth if anyone is interested.

The wiring harness in the end had some issues from the original truck so I took a better one off a 5.3 08 z71 suburban and it had a 4L80 so I had to make some custom wiring changes from my original and integrate it into the new one. I left the 4L80 stuff attached the harness incase it was ever needed (but probably won?t be)

Truck is driving great and has been for the last 4 years did have a lifter fail and had to replace it a few weeks ago as well as a torque converter fail but other than that truck has been solid and working daily.