Ford 5.3 big bore stroker

4sdvenom

4sdvenom

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Is anyone running the ford 5.3L big bore stroker shortblock part number M-6009-B53? I am in the market for a new shortblock and this is looking pretty good to me for the money ($4700 from Autonation Ford). The extra cubes and the just over 10:1 compression with the Cobra heads will also go along way towards spooling the single 76mm turbo I plan to go with.

Just curious if anyone here has experience with it or knows someone who has, and what they thought or think of it. Keep in mind this is specifically for the Ford part number M-6009-B53 shortblock.

Here it is: https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6009-B53

Thanks,
Ken
 
Last edited:
CJHAMIL

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Came close to pulling the trigger on it the other day but decided I'd like to wait for some reviews to pop up before investing.
 
RI GT500

RI GT500

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Intrested myself, just bought a Mach 1 and this looks like a great upgrade
 
stangfreak

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SlowSVT said:
I think so and not a bad combo for a turbo. Not a big fan of that long crank but turbos do like stroke.
Click to expand...

I keep hearing about the boss blocks not sealing the heads properly? I emailed livernois about this motor and they said that the internals could be better.
 
SlowSVT

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stangfreak said:
I keep hearing about the boss blocks not sealing the heads properly? I emailed livernois about this motor and they said that the internals could be better.
Click to expand...

They won't seal like a 4.6 with greater wall thickness between the bores but it's more then adequate for 20-25 psi. Not sure what Livernois means by that, the bottom end is way beefier than the Romeo block. Look at a Teksid and a boss and you swear they came out of a same foundry.
 
stangfreak

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SlowSVT said:
They won't seal like a 4.6 with greater wall thickness between the bores but it's more then adequate for 20-25 psi. Not sure what Livernois means by that, the bottom end is way beefier than the Romeo block. Look at a Teksid and a boss and you swear they came out of a same foundry.
Click to expand...

I didn't save the email. He was just saying they can build a stronger 5.3 basically. I got this from ed over at modfords.

"The big bore (3.700) Boss block is a very nice piece especially for n/a applications, Ken. When you supercharge it the head gasket seal becomes a little tender and is the block's weak point. The reduced sealing characteristics can be fixed by o-ringing the heads and block and installing a stainless wire o-rings in the heads. The block deck surface will need a corresponding receiver groove and you will need to use dead soft solid copper head gaskets. This approach will seal up even the most aggressive engines. The o-ring grooves need to be a figure 8 style for 3.700 bores, because of the very narrow sealing surface between the bores. Ed p.s. Although the $4,700 FRPP price tag is a very attractive price point, in recent years, Ford's short blocks have become a one size fits all sort of situation. This produces pistons that are flycut for 3V and 4V engines and sometimes 2V engines also. When you use these short blocks in a supercharged application all the valve reliefs for the different pistons provide fertile ground for piston failure. Additionally Ford uses nice pistons for daily driver style street performance that are poor choices for high power street style performance engines. An additional concern should be where the crank comes from. When Ford embraced the Coyote platform, Kellogg essentially went out of the ModMotor crank business — which begs the question where was the crank manufactured? If it is a Chinese forging it is not a desirable crank for high powered applications. When we say 4340, for example, there is a specific steel that is being identified / called out. When you request 4340 from the Chinese there is no similar standard. If you do not spell out, in detail, the steel chemistry and heat treatment procedure you literally have no idea what you will be getting. Even worse when you do there is a very significant quality control issue. Let me give you a first hand example. An H-Beam rod program I looked at a while back, went to China for the rods. The first rods came back and did not pass inspection. The material was not 4340. It was close but had a few differences in its chemistry. When asked about the material the Chinese said at first that it was 4340. Later they admitted it was not what they called a 'high end' 4340. When asked why, they said the high end 4340 would add almost $1.50 to the price of each connecting rod! When that was fixed the next problem to arise was the new generation 'high end 4340" rods had Chevrolet diameter wrist pins. When asked about the 0.927" diameter instead of the spec'd 0.866" (22 mm) diameter their response was they were providing a free upgrade to a stronger pin. When the pin diameter problems were resolved the next batch of rods came with the wrong heat treat. When the heat treat problems were resolved and skipping through several more mind numbing experiences, the last set of rods arrived with 7 rods that used 7/16 ARP 8740 rod bolts. The spec called out 7/16 ARP 2000 bolts. The eighth rod had one 7/16 rod bolt and one 3/8 rod bolt. The 7/16 bolt was marked as ARP 8740 and the 3/8 bolt was marked as ARP 2000! At that point I stopped trying. The bottomline with off shore manufacturing is it is very difficult to get what you request as you requested it, even when you send prints and material specifications. Additionally, it is always necessary to do a complete and rigorous incoming inspection because there are literally no guarantees the parts will be the same shipment to shipment. When you get to cranks they are effectively the backbone of your engine. You want the best you can afford. The short block you are buying minimally has multi-purpose pistons. It may also have an off shore crank and it additionally brings special gasket preparation techniques to your build effort. It most certainly has plasma-moly piston rings. It almost certainly does not have tool steel wrist pins and as the saying goes, 'the hits just keep on coming'. You would be better advised to use a purpose built short block / engine for your particular application. Apologies for a postscript that was longer than the post."
 
tt335ci03cobra

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I love my livernois 5.3, it's been great.

I went with theirs because of their expertise on how to set them up. Many builders that I called seemed great, but livernois seemed far more technically aware and precautions.

I remember them explaining:
-ring lands
-piston skirts
-rod ratio
-head sealing techniques
-on and on.

power wise: my 5.3 makes more than my 5.4 did, and has zero issue revving to 7k+. My 5.4 felt very unwilling to be up there. I'd imagine the extra 6mph of piston speed was the main reason why.
 
SlowSVT

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stangfreak said:
I didn't save the email. He was just saying they can build a stronger 5.3 basically. I got this from ed over at modfords.

"The big bore (3.700) Boss block is a very nice piece especially for n/a applications, Ken. When you supercharge it the head gasket seal becomes a little tender and is the block's weak point. The reduced sealing characteristics can be fixed by o-ringing the heads and block and installing a stainless wire o-rings in the heads. The block deck surface will need a corresponding receiver groove and you will need to use dead soft solid copper head gaskets. This approach will seal up even the most aggressive engines. The o-ring grooves need to be a figure 8 style for 3.700 bores, because of the very narrow sealing surface between the bores. Ed p.s. Although the $4,700 FRPP price tag is a very attractive price point, in recent years, Ford's short blocks have become a one size fits all sort of situation. This produces pistons that are flycut for 3V and 4V engines and sometimes 2V engines also. When you use these short blocks in a supercharged application all the valve reliefs for the different pistons provide fertile ground for piston failure. Additionally Ford uses nice pistons for daily driver style street performance that are poor choices for high power street style performance engines. An additional concern should be where the crank comes from. When Ford embraced the Coyote platform, Kellogg essentially went out of the ModMotor crank business — which begs the question where was the crank manufactured? If it is a Chinese forging it is not a desirable crank for high powered applications. When we say 4340, for example, there is a specific steel that is being identified / called out. When you request 4340 from the Chinese there is no similar standard. If you do not spell out, in detail, the steel chemistry and heat treatment procedure you literally have no idea what you will be getting. Even worse when you do there is a very significant quality control issue. Let me give you a first hand example. An H-Beam rod program I looked at a while back, went to China for the rods. The first rods came back and did not pass inspection. The material was not 4340. It was close but had a few differences in its chemistry. When asked about the material the Chinese said at first that it was 4340. Later they admitted it was not what they called a 'high end' 4340. When asked why, they said the high end 4340 would add almost $1.50 to the price of each connecting rod! When that was fixed the next problem to arise was the new generation 'high end 4340" rods had Chevrolet diameter wrist pins. When asked about the 0.927" diameter instead of the spec'd 0.866" (22 mm) diameter their response was they were providing a free upgrade to a stronger pin. When the pin diameter problems were resolved the next batch of rods came with the wrong heat treat. When the heat treat problems were resolved and skipping through several more mind numbing experiences, the last set of rods arrived with 7 rods that used 7/16 ARP 8740 rod bolts. The spec called out 7/16 ARP 2000 bolts. The eighth rod had one 7/16 rod bolt and one 3/8 rod bolt. The 7/16 bolt was marked as ARP 8740 and the 3/8 bolt was marked as ARP 2000! At that point I stopped trying. The bottomline with off shore manufacturing is it is very difficult to get what you request as you requested it, even when you send prints and material specifications. Additionally, it is always necessary to do a complete and rigorous incoming inspection because there are literally no guarantees the parts will be the same shipment to shipment. When you get to cranks they are effectively the backbone of your engine. You want the best you can afford. The short block you are buying minimally has multi-purpose pistons. It may also have an off shore crank and it additionally brings special gasket preparation techniques to your build effort. It most certainly has plasma-moly piston rings. It almost certainly does not have tool steel wrist pins and as the saying goes, 'the hits just keep on coming'. You would be better advised to use a purpose built short block / engine for your particular application. Apologies for a postscript that was longer than the post."
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if Ed is addressing this shortblock directly it appears to be a general statement and not directely related to this assembly. According to the web site the crank and rods are sourced from Eagal which is an engine re-manufacturer and produce their own rods and cranks and the pistons are from Hahle. Me thinks the Boss block is sourced from Ford (mine was cast at the Cleveland plant), the rods directly from Eagal and the crank is an "in-house" reworked stroked used factory crank. I don't think there is a great demand to justify tooling up for a stroker mod motor crank even in China.

Would Ford sell a shortblock thru it distribution sourced from a Chinese manufacturer with quality control as spotty as stated in the above post? OEM's usually have pretty high standards with regard to suppliers and quality control. Would Ford be OK using a supplier with such lacks quality control as stated and covering such an expensive assembly with a warrantee?

Next time I talk to Ed I'm going to press him on some of his assertions. I'm surprised he was advocating O-ringing a Boss block you will ruin the block attempting to cut a O-ring groove on such a small land between the bores. I agree with the statement about the risks of using pistons clearanced for 2, 3 and 4V applications those extra pockets are an unwanted sources of failure in an FI applications. CAT600 is boosting a Boss block to 25 psi with no issue but something tells me he is near the limit.

I think the best direction is to just get the Boss block, use the factory crank and H-beam rods and install purpose built pistons. This engine is probably best suited for a low boost mild Terminator build.
 
2003cobra22

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SlowSVT said:
I'm not sure if Ed is addressing this shortblock directly it appears to be a general statement and not directely related to this assembly. According to the web site the crank and rods are sourced from Eagal which is an engine re-manufacturer and produce their own rods and cranks and the pistons are from Hahle. Me thinks the Boss block is sourced from Ford (mine was cast at the Cleveland plant), the rods directly from Eagal and the crank is an "in-house" reworked stroked used factory crank. I don't think there is a great demand to justify tooling up for a stroker mod motor crank even in China.

Would Ford sell a shortblock thru it distribution sourced from a Chinese manufacturer with quality control as spotty as stated in the above post? OEM's usually have pretty high standards with regard to suppliers and quality control. Would Ford be OK using a supplier with such lacks quality control as stated and covering such an expensive assembly with a warrantee?

Next time I talk to Ed I'm going to press him on some of his assertions. I'm surprised he was advocating O-ringing a Boss block you will ruin the block attempting to cut a O-ring groove on such a small land between the bores. I agree with the statement about the risks of using pistons clearanced for 2, 3 and 4V applications those extra pockets are an unwanted sources of failure in an FI applications. CAT600 is boosting a Boss block to 25 psi with no issue but something tells me he is near the limit.

I think the best direction is to just get the Boss block, use the factory crank and H-beam rods and install purpose built pistons. This engine is probably best suited for a low boost mild Terminator build.
Click to expand...


Are you referring to under 25psi?
 

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