I have the opportunity to get a used Whipple for one heck of a deal (see other thread) but I currently have my heads milled .040 . By my calculations that puts me at ~10.2:1. I already have 42# injectors and edit so I will not be using the Whipple craptronics. I also plan on fabbing up an intercooler for it but that won't happen till sometime this summer. Just wondering if that is too much compression for a moderate amount of boost to start off with? How much boost could I run before it turns into a tunning/detonation nightmare?

 

you can do it....you will not be able to run alot of boost and it will require a GOOD dyno tune.

 

Down the road I will probablly clean up another set of unmilled 5.3 heads for it and up the boost. Just wanted to see what I could do with it initialy. How much boost could I safely run without an intercooler or alky injection? 8? 10? or will I have to stick with the 6.5# pully it come with? Arnt the LQ9 in SS's ten something to one? I know lots of guys are pooring the boost to them.

 

More like 5-6psi. we run 6.5-7 psi on the SS Silverado, but we are intercooled.......there is more in our set up. I would let a good tuner get you dialed in, there may be some more boost in it. Just get it on a dyno to make sure.

 

i agree with blown you will prolly not be able to run a lot of boost but you should be able to run something on it and those heads might get a long a little better with nitrous than with FI and if you are going to get another set of heads get some 6.0 heads instead of 5.3 and then your Cr will drop and you will be able to boost the crap out of it

 

My LQ9 is 10.2:1 in stock form. We know the Radix is intercooled, but it seems to handle my 3" pulley (should be about 8psi) with 17* timing. Summer heat may be another issue for me, but its nice so far in winter. There are other SS trucks running whipple kits, or Kenne Bell setups. They run fine on 10.2:1, but would be much better off with an intercooler.

You should be fine if you start off conservative. Without the whipple harness you are in much more control of the tune. Start with 4-5 psi and get timing and fueling in line.

 

You could probably fab up an alky kit for pretty cheap. Throw a good amount of alky at it and I would think you could do 8# with a decent amount of timing. In my expeerience, I think an onboard wideband should be a necessity on a setup relying primarily on alky. It may take some time tuning.