what should i do?help
Jun 8, 2008 | 12:01 PM
#12
the general consensus is the lq9 is better because of better internals I personally will keep my 5.3, it has enough *** for me and everybody and their brother builds up 6.0's, so Im gonna keep it till it blows then go really big like 395-408
Jun 8, 2008 | 12:04 PM
#13
Chances are the LQ4 is cheaper and more commonly found in auto salvage yards, so the LQ4 would be my choice simply based on price. You can get the compression up very easily by just milling the heads. If you find an LQ4 with iron heads then put those up on craigslist and bolt on milled down 317 castings, which are aluminum and flow rather well. Take everything off your 4.8L and just bolt it onto the 6.0L and you're done. Hopefully while the motor is out you swap in a better camshaft and springs so you don't have to pay for another tune AFTER the motor is already in the truck and running. With nothing more than aluminum heads, a very friendly DD cam, springs and a final tune with a laptop I would expect no less than 370-380hp from the 6.0L and probably knocking on 400lb-ft of torque. Compared to the 4.8L, that's pretty decent. Gas mileage will be down of course but you have to pay to play, as the saying goes. With a grandma's right foot you still might see 20mpg highway with a good fuel efficient tune.
Jun 8, 2008 | 01:08 PM
#14
Chances are the LQ4 is cheaper and more commonly found in auto salvage yards, so the LQ4 would be my choice simply based on price. You can get the compression up very easily by just milling the heads. If you find an LQ4 with iron heads then put those up on craigslist and bolt on milled down 317 castings, which are aluminum and flow rather well. Take everything off your 4.8L and just bolt it onto the 6.0L and you're done. Hopefully while the motor is out you swap in a better camshaft and springs so you don't have to pay for another tune AFTER the motor is already in the truck and running. With nothing more than aluminum heads, a very friendly DD cam, springs and a final tune with a laptop I would expect no less than 370-380hp from the 6.0L and probably knocking on 400lb-ft of torque. Compared to the 4.8L, that's pretty decent. Gas mileage will be down of course but you have to pay to play, as the saying goes. With a grandma's right foot you still might see 20mpg highway with a good fuel efficient tune.
how much am i probably lookin at spending to do this?
Jun 8, 2008 | 01:46 PM
#15
How good of a parts finder are you? That's the answer to your question.
Realistically, around my neck of the woods LQ4's are between $600-700 for a 100k mile motor. Even though these LSx motors CAN go 200k miles without any problems whatsoever, I'd still fork out a little extra for a motor under 60k miles. Say about $1000 for the complete motor. Then no more than $350 for a camshaft, $50-60 for matching springs unless you go way overboard on the camshaft and require springs over .600" lift. Call your exhaust shop for a quote, tell them what you're doing and that you'd like a cat-back setup so you don't have to replace the Y-pipe and two cat converters which can get quite spendy. I'd figure $350 or so for a single muffler cat-back setup. After all the mechanical aspects are figured out, all that's needed would be a good tune.
If you find a motor with less-than-desirable iron heads, figure another $2-300 for 317's and the associated cost in milling them down with a new head gasket. Somewhere around 9.8-10.3:1 compression will do, with low octane cheap pump gas.
Realistically, around my neck of the woods LQ4's are between $600-700 for a 100k mile motor. Even though these LSx motors CAN go 200k miles without any problems whatsoever, I'd still fork out a little extra for a motor under 60k miles. Say about $1000 for the complete motor. Then no more than $350 for a camshaft, $50-60 for matching springs unless you go way overboard on the camshaft and require springs over .600" lift. Call your exhaust shop for a quote, tell them what you're doing and that you'd like a cat-back setup so you don't have to replace the Y-pipe and two cat converters which can get quite spendy. I'd figure $350 or so for a single muffler cat-back setup. After all the mechanical aspects are figured out, all that's needed would be a good tune.
If you find a motor with less-than-desirable iron heads, figure another $2-300 for 317's and the associated cost in milling them down with a new head gasket. Somewhere around 9.8-10.3:1 compression will do, with low octane cheap pump gas.
