Well I plan on putting the 6.0l in starting friday I want to make sure I have everything.

I took the heads off and blended the valve seats in with the ports, nothing like taking a new motor apart, but I had to have a little fun with it before I bolted it in.

I am going to swap cam and valve springs, from the 5.3, I'll have to switch the flex plate too. I bought a trailblazer stall to go in well I am at it. I have the heads bolted back on and intake installed. I put a coat of paint on it too. https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182042

special tools
power steering pump pulley remover and installer
fuel line disconnect tool
all that I can think of

any tips/tricks to make it go faster

header gaskets - should I reuse the factory steel ones, I have paper gaskets now.

How much ATF will I need for the stall?

any HP/TQ est?

1/4 ET est ?

I can't wait to get it in there. LQ4 + higher stall. I may have a reason to launch in 4wd.

 

Use the steel gaskets they are much better than the paper ones.

 

I'd recommend leaving the intake off until the engine is in and bolted to the tranny. It's so such easier to get to those tranny to engine mount bolts. Also, take and leave the front accessories off. With those out of the way, it's a bit easier to stand in the engine bay. I love trucks!

I'd get at least 8 quarts of tranny fluid.

 

Thanks I'll leave the intake off, its super easy bolt on anyways

Working on GM truck is a dream. I work for an industrial contractor, I am one of two mechanics. We have a fleet of 72 trucks 60 of which are Ford F-150 years 1999-2004. Before I started my apprenticeship I had never worked on or driven anything but GM vehicles. Last year I was replacing a cracked exhaust Manifold on 4.2L V6 (one of many to come) the dipstick tube was rusted through and broke off in the middle. I couldn't get the tube out of the block and it ended braking off flush with the block. So we go to remove the oil pan, and guess what there is not enough room between the pan and the cross member to get the pan out. We tried jacking the motor up but it wasn't even close. BTW the oil pan is sealed with RTV. So the motor had to come out. What a pain in the *** that was to get out it. Very small engine compartment. Now hoisting the motor out was the fun part, there was not enough room between the a/c condenser and the cowl for the motor to come strait up, the crank pulley hits the condenser, and the motor won't turn sideways at all. So what we had to do was put a come-along on one end of the engine and tip the engine up then it came out. (this is only a V6 BTW!!!)
Now I just hammer the broken tubes down into the oil pan and leave it there. I could go on forever with the ford stories.

Sorry for the long story, just wanted share my pains.

Working on Fords

Working on gm

 

you going to do a bigger cam in the 6.0l ?
while it's out ?

 

If you haven't bought gaskets yet, look for the felpro 1041 gasket. It has a thinner compressed thickness, so you'd gain a little compression, and have a tighter quench area. Thats just a bit more power and torque with the ability to fight off detonation.

 

I was thinking about using the thinner gaskets, but the 1041 gaskets were more then twice the price of the stockers. I would like to tune this thing to run on 87 octane, with the price of gas these days.

Now for the cam I am going the use the low lift 212/218 out of the 5.3l. I may get a bigger cam later, I'll have to see how it runs first, I don't want to lose the nice and lopy idle. I want more low end torque, so a huge cam won't work to good for torque.

 

How much dexcool does the block hold. I should be able to save the rest of the coolant, but the block will be harder to drain and save. I bought a 4L jug so that gives me 8L. That dexcool stuff ain't cheap $14 a jug (and thats below list)