Steven Eaton

I have an 02 Silverado with a 6.0, it's a crew cab long bed LT lifted 7 inches on 35x12.5s, soon to be on 36x15.5s on stock 4:10s and with 230k miles (still runs very well). So as you can imagine it needs some help with power. I plan on doing the head swap and also keeping this thing somewhat as reliable as it has been. It will be driven somewhat often but not full throttle all the time. I have done lots of searches but I can't find the information I need for my application, so Here's what I planned on doing:

LS3 ported heads from SDparts.com
LS3 stock intake
90 or 92 mm TB (can't remember which one I looked at)
42 lb 8.1 marine injectors
Cam (unsure)
Tuning

Here's where I need some input. I know that the bottom end on these motors are very strong from the factory, but with 230k miles and my truck weighing a tad below 7000 pounds (according to local scrap yard scale) will my stock crank and rods hold up to the 500+ crank hp that everyone claims to be getting from this head swap? I had planned on putting new Pistons and rings (oem) and all new bearings in it along with ARP head bolts and connecting rod bolts. But should I reuse the crank and rods? And my second question, I'm not sure what cam would be good. I don't plan on going over 5k rpms, so I'd like to find a cam that would have better low-mid power and I have no idea what would be a good choice. And my last question (for now) I plan on building my 4l80e at the same time I do the swap. How built do you guys think it would have to be? Thanks guys for any input you have!

SlowDude

iTrader: (4)

I used my stock crank and rods when I yanked it out of my truck last year @197k miles. Polished it up, new pistons, cam and bearings plus a set of good 243's and full exhaust. My motor still had darn good compression and decent cross hatch in the cylinder walls. All this because the oil pressure I thought was a tad low... Good excuse for a head/ cam swap! I am making a ton of power down low. Haven't even thought about an intake swap till I figure out my traction issues.. My truck is almost as heavy as yours minus the 4x4 and bigger tires. I went with a lvl 5 build on my 4l80e and 3200 stall. Had Jake of Jake's Performance build it. Have nothing but good things to say about Jake and his business so give him a call.

Vortec350ss

iTrader: (20)

With the plans you have the ported LS3 heads are not your best bet. You want something that will keep velocity of air high at those lower RPM. I know they are a lot more expensive, but something like the AFR205's would be killer for you. They would add power off idle until redline.

Steven Eaton

Thanks this helps me a lot with my application especially, it's good to know how well these little LS based motors are built and how strong they are. And I was going to go the monstertrans route but I will surely look into who you recommended, how does that thing drive on the street with a 3200 stall converter?

I also posted this on ls1tech, and they agreed that the l92 heads weren't the right choice for my build. But I forgot to mention that this motor will not be N/A for too long after its rebuilt, so I think boost will really help the low end power if I go the l92 head route. I'm still considering porting my 317s tho. Thanks guys for the input!

GREENSIERRA

you will want to stick to a cathedral port style head to keep the low end that these heavy trucks need
gears will help you get some of that bottom end grunt back