Help upgrading LC9
 

Hello all.

The LC9 in my 2009 silverado has decided to start drinking more oil than I like. My brother said it's so bad he can smell it driving behind me.

I have decided that since I am not thrilled with the power of this 5.3, I would like to upgrade. Sounds like a 6.0 is going to be my best "bang for the buck".

However, I need help deciding exactly which engine(s) will be a direct swap, or as close to one as I will get. I really doing want to mess with a bunch of rigging to make sensors work etc... Does anyone know what my options are, and what donor vehicles to look at? Will my transmission hold up to a mild 6.0??

If I am reading right, it sounds like some 6.0 would let me use my top end from the 5.3, and accessories. Meaning I may be able to just built a shortblock to swap in.

Any advice or experience from someone that has already done this will be great. I am not looking for a "built-to-the-hilt" powerhouse. If I wanna go fast, I have a Camaro for that. But some more oomph for pulling and daily driving would be great. I put reliability over all out power on this one.

Thanks in advance! :cheers:

Find a GEN 4 6.0 block, use wiki to find all your options.

A LY6 or L96 are options you can use. Both have no AFM/DOD but have VVT. It would basically be a direct swap and you could use your cathedral port heads and intake just fine. A Stock 6L80e assuming that is what you have will hold the power just fine.


Other option is to buy an aftermarket camshaft, valley plate, new standard lifters and trays, push rods and that jazz to remove the AFM/DoD system. Then get a custom tune.

Anything you do with require a custom tune regardless.

Will the extra weight of going iron block effect anything suspension wise? Not sure how much difference there is. I am sure the iron blocks are cheaper to procure

With VVT, wouldn't I just need a non-vvt cam, and use the timing cover from my 5.3? Also, I thought the heads in my 5.3 were square port? Not that it matters if either would work, I just must have misread at some point.

When you say other option, do you mean remove the AFM/DOD from my current engine? I considered it, but it sounded like once it started burning oil this bad, that it wasn't going to stop due to the rings being shot?

Getting it tuned after is simple for me. There is a great LS dyno tuner in my town about 2 minutes from my house!

It's less than 100lbs between the iron block and aluminum, tons of standard silverado's run LMG iron blocks and they change nothing suspension wise and no way you'd notice the change.

If the tuner is good, they should be able to wire in the VVT to work if you want them too. Otherwise you could swap out the VVT cam for an aftermarket camshaft.

5.3 are cathedral heads and 6.0 and 6.2 are square ports on GEN 4 engines.

It's not always the rings but it's too hard to say. Disabling the AFM/DoD would give you a better idea of that. If it still burned the same amount of oil or more than the 1qt per 3,000-5,000 miles then it's likely it's not all AFM/Dod related. If the oil consumption basically stopped with the AFM disabled then I'd venture to guess that it's in better shape.

Glad weight isn't an issue. I'm sure the torque increase would way more than make up for that small of a difference and then some.

Wish I knew where to find an L96 block, and build my own bottom end. Seems like long blocks are running for quite a bit, even with high mileage. Hate to buy parts I don't need, as I would be replacing a lot in a high mile motor like that. I figured they'd be all over ebay, but no such luck.

I have considered deleting DOD. I just hate to spend the money/effort into the 5.3 either to find out that it still burns oil like crazy, or that something else was messed up being so low on oil. That lifter slapping around couldn't have been good for things. And has lifter noise quite often even when full of oil.

Thank you for the info though, it gives me something to think about!

Have you checked car-part?

I wouldn't swap your heads on if it was me. I would keep the LS3 style heads that come on it. With the right cam they make great power throughout the rev range. I also have seen many occasions where DOD ruins the valves and rings in the holes that get deactivated. I bet with new lifters you'd still have an issue with the 5.3 that's in there.

I guess using the 6.0's heads would allow me to just sell the whole 5.3 when it comes out. Lots of people want those to put in their cars.

And yes, I have done some browsing on car-part. It takes a while as I am unsure what years exactly will work, and then all the models it could have came in. They want a LOT for some of those engines too. Plus, unsure how to get something that heavy shipped for something that heavy.

I am looking into a cheap DD as well, so I wouldn't be driving this every day and would be in no rush to do it now. So I could wait and find a good deal and build it over time.

I don't have a set budget per-say. But, I was planning to do cam/port heads in my camaro over the winter. So, less money in the truck is more money for the fun toy!

Worst case, I CAN rebuild the 5.3 that's in it pretty cheaply, and just delete the DOD on fresh motor. Just wondering if a cam/headers on it is going to give me the oomph I'm looking for. I really don't tow anything that's extremely heavy. Most cams seem to take away bottom end to gain up top. I don't feel like there is any bottom end to give up on this thing as-is.

You could swap in a LY6 and either adapt or remove the VVT.

The best bang for your buck will be a tune. It will wake up your LC9. A very mild cam will not lose bottom end power or torque. What kills your bottom end is the torque management which a tune can reduce to your liking.

How is this project coming along?