I will have two block in the garage here shortly:
Which do you think would be the easiest, less expensive, best horsepower? I would like to have some pros and cons if at all possible. If I use the 6.0, I will be using the 5.7 alum heads and the crank since that's what is missing of my 6.0 at the moment. What cam would be good with this setup? Should I port & polish the heads and then get a cam to match? Would a 5.7 intake be better than a 6.0?

Thanks tech masters

 

I would use the 5.7 aluminium block for the savings in weight.The 5.7 intake will not work on a truck.Ported heads would be nice,but I would definately install a cam before installing the motor and I can't think of a better time to install a set of longtube headers.For a cam probably something like a 216/220 114.

 

Well, the 6.0 with the same heads/cam is going to make more power due to the bigger bore and mainly the extra .3L of displacement. The only downside is that it weighs 80-90lbs more than the aluminum block. It will only take 10hp to make up that weight difference at the track and the 6.0L will probably make 20hp more since it's bigger.

Basically it's a wash either way.

The only reason I might stay with an iron block is because they have more meat in the cylinder walls and can be bored out in the future if something happened and a cylinder wall got scratched. The LS1 block can't be bored but, just a tiny amount to cleanup the surface of the walls. To sum things up

6.0L Pros

- Extra displacement
- Thick cylinder liners that can be bored to 4.03-4.06(some blocks)
- Stronger block

6.0L Cons

- Heavy
- Might be the culprit to some false knock issues??

5.7L Pros

- Lightweight
- Strong enough to handle most applications

5.7L Cons

- Thin cylinder liners
- Less displacement

Anybody want to add to those list?

Doing heads and cam together isn't necessary but, if you think you'll want both in the future then just do them together. I would talk with some of the sponsors about what you want from the truck and let them help you decide which heads/cam package is right for you. TEA and Patriot seem to have some excellent heads for VERY nice prices. Of course if you go with any of the people over to the right I don't think you can go wrong.

John

 

It depends on the condition of both the blocks are in and how much you budgeted for the rebuild and mods.It really is a tossup as to which block to build until you know exactly what you have.