Well I have a very old lq9 in my 03 silverado SS closing in on 200k. But I want it to die a natural death. Too many miles to comfortably swap a cam for me.

What would new lifters chain TEA heads 243 thin gasket and 1.8 rockers do to this old tired lq9

Engine burns no oil and has great compression. I want to perk up performance on it with parts that I can use in the future.

I already have full bolt on's yank converter LSXRT, 4" intake and full exhaust I am about at the end of bolt on's unless I get forced induction.

 

If the compression is good then swap the heads, up grade the valve train and do a trunion upgrade. The 1.8 have shown little gain and makes the cam selection a lil pain in the ***.these motor have shown well over 200k and still running strong

 

If your doing heads, and all do the cam with it. Change the lifters, PR's, new rockers or a trunion upgrade. The bottem end is nothing more then a big air compressor, has no idea what the heads, cam are doing.

 

243's will bump the compression up on your LQ9 near the 11.1 range. Especially if you get thinner head gaskets.

1.8 ratio is like adding a slightly larger cam so you should feel a slight increase but don't expect huge gains.

Honestly if your going through the trouble of doing heads, adding a T chain and new lifters, you might just want to consider sliding in a new cam and doing the comp cams trunnion upgrade on the factory rockers.

With the heads off, the lifters out, and the T chain off it will be real easy to do a cam swap.

 

If you have good compression on all 8, and you're tearing into it this far, I'd honestly think about throwing a mild cam in it. If you're doing new lifters, and the cam bearings are good, I don't see the harm in tossing a cam in it would do.

If you're dead set on what you've posted... Like the other guys have said, the extra lift that the 1.8's will give you will give you a touch more power.

With everything else you've done, a cam just makes sense. It'll make everything else you've done work together so much better.

 

I agree with everything but the small cam and the rockers.

I think something around a 228 duration would work well. A decent amt of lift also, to complement the heads. The gains on the 1.8s depends on the cam. Just remember to not run a cam with a real aggressive ramp rate (xer lobes). But honestly, just get a cam grind with the lift you want. Then run 1.7s. But I would run aftermarkets.

 

Cam it too 228/232

 

Your going to regret later down the road not doing the cam swap when you want more power......

I installed yella terra 1.8 rockers after my dyno tune and can tell a difference nothing major. Just pulls decently stronger through out the whole power band. mpgs went up 1-2 highway 1 city

Your cam has 200K so if your swapping the heads why not swap the whole valve train

Get it tuned for premium and youll make a lot of power with 11.1 compression haha

 

As stated by others, the camshaft sure would be a good idea while you are swapping everything else. We offer several options from mild to wild on camshafts, and would be happy to help you find something that would work well with your goals and your setup so you can gain more power, yet not have to sacrifice street-ability.