I've been lurking on Reddit for years, but this is my first post. Please bear with me. I'm ready to start making purchases, but I'm overwhelmed with the amount of data, opinions, and parts that are out there. I've been working on cars for 15 years as a hobby, but I'm more of a 'swap the engine' guy rather than a 'build the engine' guy, and I've never added a turbo to anything. I'm looking for some advice here from people with more experience.
Truck is a 1990 Chevy 3500 (the older squarebody style). Crew cab, longbed, 4WD, single rear wheel. Currently has a bone stock 5.3L LM7 with DBW throttle (I think from 2004 Silverado 1500), a 4L80E, and an NP241. When I bought the truck, I didn't realize it had a 6.0L tune on the ECM, and at this point I have fuel in my oil and a cloud of smoke when I cold start. From a packaging standpoint, I have factory A/C and an additional belt-driven compressor for on-board air. It's also got dual electric fans, and I'd like to run dual batteries.
The truck is my daily, but most of my driving is for pleasure. Goals include having something that's more enjoyable to drive, more power for occasional towing and hauling, and the simple fact that my truck will have a turbo LS. I'm in Northeast Ohio, and this will be driven all year. I have experience with liter bikes and 550+ HP cars, so I'm not concerned about manageability. The budget is 'whatever it takes to do it once, correctly'.
I think what I'm looking for is a 2005/06 LQ4 with a cam (specs?), valve springs, gapped rings, Melling oil pump, TBSS intake, log-style manifolds, steam tubes, head studs for peace of mind, and a single journal-bearing turbo at 8psi. I know an experienced mechanic who can help me with the engine work and the swap, but I need to figure out the specs and acquire the components. I also need to nail down the fueling requirements and components.
Would anyone like to offer assistance in pinning down part numbers for this shopping list? My plan is to get an engine, prep it, swap it in naturally aspirated at my buddy's garage, and then drive the truck to a shop that does turbo installs. I'll let them handle that part of the project and tune it.