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Welcome!

I'm just getting close to the end on my 5.3 swap that my buddy Larry did the lions share of the heavy lifting. What suggestions do I have for one planning to do this swap? Research, Research, Research. I spent months going over details on the web from what engine mount brackets to use to the right exhaust manifolds that fit.

Getting as much of a complete assembly with accessories is critical. Mine was a take out long block stripped of the accessories, intake and manifolds so I had to find all of them. Getting the wiring is helpful, but it is suggested to get a custom stand-alone harness rather than trying to peel out the un-needed circuits. It's money well spent. Keep the original 5.3 harness if you do get a stand alone, as it's good for pulling connectors or a section of wiring you need to splice into the truck's harness.

Once you dive further you'll get down to the little details like gauge sending units and other items. Again research is key here, but sometimes it's info overload. The most common thing to do is ditch the stock gauges for autometers and use autometer sending units. You don't have to do this. The ECM will need a temp sender input which you'll use the stock one that came on the engine. On the opposite head is another pipe plug where the sender would have gone. Pull the plug out and now you can get a stock sender for the truck and turn it down to match the head's metric pipe plug diameter and thread pitch. See my build thread for the details on this trick.

I'll go back to the accessory issue as I regretted my 5.3 not coming with any, but in reality all I needed was the main accessory bracket. I ended up going with new replacement P/S pump and alternator so I'm starting out fresh. The used alternator Larry had for me to use was unknown, untested and came from our old training center at Workhorse so who knows what had been done to it. We struggled to get the dang thing to charge. Changed the harness pin locations, to no change. Took it off and had it tested and it passed. Put it back on the truck and it stops charging after a minute of run time or less. After we both got pissed off by it I just bought a new reman of the same ones Larry's used on both his 8.1 swaps. Changed the connector to match and bingo it works.

Read build threads from many that have done the swap and pull bits and ideas from the ones you like. Some get the engine swapped in without much attention paid to the fit and finish where others do make them look as nice as they run. Personally, if you are going this far why not take some time to clean up the engine bay before the new engine goes in? It cost us some time, elbow grease cleaning and a case of tractor paint to clean up the nasty area that was the engine compartment on mine.