Ok well its been a long work in progress and now the ideas and parts are coming together. I hope to have this all up and running by November. Thats the plan anyways and we all know how they go. So here's the proposed plan:

-05 LQ9 shortblock w/4k on it
-06 LS2 cylinder heads w/LS6 springs
mill the heads ~.010"-.020"
-Comp Cam 54-412-11 XR265HR 212 218 .522 .529 114°
-shorty headers for now
-airaid intake system
-possible LS2/GenIV truck intake with xlink
-Marine 8.1 injectors
-180 deg thermo
-LS9 valve covers and coils (appearance more than anything)
-FlexFuel truck programming
-and the key ingredient E85

So here's the truck now - an 04 5.3 NON FLEX engine - 4L60E - 152XXX on the odometer and rolling - its my daily driver. The plan is a high compression 6.0 designed and tuned to run on E85 to reap the wonderful benefits of a cheaper fuel and more power with the 6.0 and cam/compression bump. The idea is to run around 11.5:1 with the E85 as primary fuel - its VERY plentiful here. The heads alone will put my compression ratio right at 11:1 without milling - i want a bit more squeez. I wont have them milled until after I've determined PTV clearance is sufficient and then will measure for pushrods after that. I am going to reprogram the ECM as if it were an 06 silverado with a flex engine - easy to do since i work at the dealer. The ECM numbers are the same, just programming differences. Once thats up and running (which I am doing before the swap to work out any bugs that may arise) I will do the engine swap. I'll be running the cooler thermo only in the summer as around here winters get regularly to 20F and below - E85 is switched to E70 here actually so as to not have issues with hard starting. i run a block heater already so there is some help. the programming will allow me to mix 91 and E85 if need be to help with any cold start issues as well. I doubt I'll see any issues as many trucks and cars around here run E85 and i see few vehicles in for service pertaining to hard starting in the winter with E85.

The basic idea behind all of this is to prove that if the engine is purpose built for E85 it should operate more efficiently and the extra fuel it takes to make equivalent power in a lower compression engine will be negated. I should be making more power, getting better economy, paying less for fuel, and lower emissions.

Thats the plan anyways. I am open to any and all suggestions, comments, bashes - I can take it all - just remember i can dish it out too. Thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure the 07 and older truck still used the ethanol content sensor, so you will need to wire in one of those in your fuel system too. The 08 and up, did it all in the PCM's buy guessing how much ethanol you had by how far off the trims would go and adjusting for it each time you filled up. Cool build!

Oh, and I don't think adding heat in the winter will help any, since all it is, is 99.9 methanol, It just soaks up any water in the fuel, same as the ethanol will do.

 

I thought the sensor went away after 05/06... I believe they started using O2 sensor readings to determine the E85 content...

 

I ran E85 all winter 2 years ago. It gets single digit highs here sometimes and never had a problem with it starting..


Also what kind of truck do you own? To me that cam seems small for a 6.0. It should give you great trottle response and torque. But id put something in it a little bigger

 

This is in an 04 ext cab 4wd 1500. And they did away with the fuel content sensor in 06 and went to a "virtual flex fuel sensor". As for cold starts i dont expect any issues but should some arise i have possible solutions...

 

And as for the cam i know its a bit small for a 6.0 but its damn near free froma buddy here at work who put it in his 408 - didnt listen when i said it would swallow that cam without a problem lol.

 

Any comments from the evening shift?

 

Sounds like an awesome setup, I like it personally. Only thing I think there are some lost tables in the 06 OS. Youll have to ask blackgmc on exactly what tables.

I think youre on the right track cam wise, ought to be a torquey as setup with that compression too. What converter are you running? Youre going to need a bigger fuel pump I bet.

Whered you get the covers and coils? THose look sweet just havent been able to find em for a decent price.

 

Well i tried the PCM repregramming - it KINDA works. I changed all values that would effect the driveability like injector size, etc after reprogramming with EFILive. Well that helped but still have 2 issues. First is constant battery light on thanks to the wonderful Generator battery control module "missing" and because of that one of the outputs is no longer used for alternator control like i need it to be. Also i cant see over 66% throttle on my tech 2 and thats the most the throttle opens. The TAC modules are different as are pedal assemblies. So no go with this way to swap. I could install the updated alternator, harness for it, Gen Bat cont Module, wiring for it, but by the time i added up MY PRICE on the parts (i work at a dealer) I was over 750. So i started thinking again.

KB was wrong about when they switched to virtual FF sensing, but right in the fact I'm going to have to go with the Fuel Comp Sensor in my fuel lines and reprogram the ECM as if it were in an 04 tahoe with the "Z" L59. and obtain the sensor, connector, and fuel line ends to connect it. Gonna price that stuff up tomorrow. I know those arent cheap either. I REALLY want to make this work though. I would KILL for this setup, and if i can figure out the fuel sensing issue, then i can move on with the project. I dont want to just tune the truck to run E85 all the time due to variability in amount of actual ethanol content and in the circumstance I'm stuck with only regular pump gas.....Any suggestions would be awesome. I've been doing alot of searching lately all over and it seems i'm the only one doing it this was so far......

Converter is going to be a TB conveter or around 2400-2600 stall. I think the TB behind this 6.0 might stall right where i need it to.

As for the valve covers I can get dealer cost on them. they actually coem with 3 of the 4 coils on each for a pretty decent price (compared to aftermarket VC). Pm if ya wanna talk more about that....

 

Id just ditch the sensor BS and tune for E85 and be done with it. Your trims can take care of a LOT of difference in the fuel. If youve got EFI V2 then you can put as many tunes as you want on an SD card and flash the computer without a laptop for regular gas, E70, or a mix like youre planning on running. Thats what I plan on doing. Im going to have a 93 tune, E85, and a tow tune to keep in my glove box.