You could do that. I know you may be under time/money constraints but if it was me I'd have a set of forged pistons on standby to go in it Maybe some off-the-shelf pistons that you could send back if the headgasket happend to be the problem.

 

There is no such thing as "off the shelf" forged 4 inch bore pistons with a dish and the right pin height and diameter etc for the LS style motor. I had Diamond custom make me a set a couple years ago the first time I went thru what Slo is going thru.

I do agree though, I wouldn't put stockers back in there-just a matter of time and this is gonna happen again.

 

They do now. These are the one's I have. It will drop the compression to around 8.9-9.0. If i'm not mistaken, Mahle may have some as well but their 2004 catalog is all they have online and I know that some of the part #'s are no good anymore because I tried to order a set.

126-11514 Diamond Pistons LS1 Forged Dished Piston set w/ -13.7cc Dish, 4.000" BORE / 3.622" Stroke / 6.098" Rods / 1.340" Comp Height / .945 x 2.950 Wrist Pins Included $599.99

Thunder Racing

 

Wouldnt you have to have the oil pan off and the heads off to swap pistons?? Im assuming you would take the rod bolts off and pull the piston out through the top right? Is it that easy? Buy off the shelf pistons and rods and take the rod bolts out and slide out the old and slide in the new?? I thought there was machining that had to take place in the cylinders etc.????
Im sorry to hear about this man.
I pulled the heads on my new motor today and looked at everything and it looks good. I did try to get some of the carbon buildup off the pistons and was wondering if going over them with a wire brush to get the carbon deposits off would be a good idea or should I just leave them alone?

 

Honing of the cyls is a must a new rings recommended of course. Cleaning thuroughly would be necessary as well. Nothing a few cans of carburator cleaner couldn't take car of.

 

2005 VHO 10,000 miles 2 broken pistons

Truck had a misfire code not all the time.

Start up high idle for 2-3 seconds.

Idle like it had a small cam some times.

Blowbye from oil tube and dipstick.

Oil in filter and j-tube.

Truck still ran hard with no power loss.

Pulled the head and saw hair line scoring on the cylinder wall.

The broken pieces were still on the piston like it wasnt broken and rings were perfect.

I guess it doesnt take much to hurt stock pistons

Pulled the piston and saw this




Sorry about your motor after all the work you put into it lately

 

I think you just described my engine exactly.
I have another stock engine I can put in but I don't know if I want to do that. I'm not against putting forged stuff in the stock bore but I am going to build a 408 when I get back from overseas. Buying forged stuff now and then new stuff for the 408 seems like a waste.
The issue I have is the Tahoe is the family evac vehicle for hurricanes which we seem to get a lot of lately. It has to be running well enough for my wife to drive without issue. So what do you guys recommend for a quick fix?
To hone the current engine and install forged pistons would require a complete pull out and tear down. An engine swap might be faster and I have a 6L long block on standby. Would I HAVE to hone it to slide stock pistons back in for a temp fix? Assuming the cylinder walls are not scored to hell and back. If that's the case then a complete engine swap would be in order.... I guess what I am asking is what will work short term, fastest and cheapest? I'm about tired of this ****. I'm about to buy a HEMI!

SIKE!!!
Seriously, I need some answers/advice.

 

I asked Mjhoward the same thing. He said that you would need to have the cylinders honed and probably replace the rings. It would be better to have it balanced, but not absolutely neccessary. Depending on how long Im out of commision with the bicep tear, I may go ahead and have some forged pistons thrown in mine. I wonder what it would cost to have a shop hone the cylinders?? After that Im assumming I/we could install the rings and pistons ourselves??

 

I had to get on it a little to pull out into traffic. Blew the oil dipstick out the tube and proceeded to coat the pass side of the engine bay with oil. (Sigh) Degreaser and a water hose are next on the to do list.

 

Man... I'm just reading through the posts, and this is the pits. Not that I'm a guru, but if you warped heads and/or blew head gaskets, you'd be looking at white-ish smoke out the tail pipe. Been there TWICE, and I drove 25 miles on warped heads with extreme power loss.

I know it seems like a pain, but pull the 6.0L out, and put the spare in. With the same LS based setup, it'll hook right back up (one-day job with you & a buddy or two). I'm not sure what your tuned PCM will do since the 6.0L's obviously got more than stock cam. Aside from that, you'd have a road worthy vehicle as a DD for the fam. Not wishing bad on TX, but yes, hurricane season is around the way (I'm from New Orleans, and live in Baton Rouge now). Easier to work on engine out of the truck (I have an '02 Yukon... I know this), and you can have the DD to get around, and take the time to go through the entire engine for ease of the mind. You can tear down the engine in less than two hours (me & couple buddies did with a 5.7L w/ a 12-pack)... and that's if you take the time to bag & tag the parts & bolts you remove.

Just my $0.02.