First time doing any of this but over Thanksgiving I put a 02 LQ9 in my 2000 5.3 RCSB 2wd with a backhoe and laying on the ground, haha redneck I know. This weekend I put a Texas Speed cam kit in with a 228/228 114 LSA cam.


Tearing it down was the easy part.


I used a 5/16 brake line that come in 5' lengths and cost about $6. I cut one end 20 1/4 and the other 19 3/4 then sanded the ends.


I tested this on a scrap piece but I hammered one piece from one end to the other on the cement to make it a D shape and it worked.


I used a $120ish LS specific valve spring compressor from Jegs, the bolt broke on the 5th piston but luckily I had a longer one that fit lying around.



I also used Jegs Valve Seal install tool that worked great.



The seal went on this far

then I had to hammer it on down and could hear the change when it "seated"
but it still had a small gap at the bottom of the seal, I forgot to put the spring seat on before the seal a time or two and it SUCKED getting them off without damaging them

I used blue locktite on my rockers, cam retainer, and cam sprocket. Installing a balancer without a longer bolt sucks! I used a large 3 jaw pulley puller bolt with bunch of washers, a small piece of 2x4 and a hammer. How in the **** do you go 140Deg after the 37ftpds of torque on the crank bolt?

The truck fired right up and ran fine, wants to shut off on the first cold crank but other than that it drives fine, even with the same tune and stock converter, no error codes thrown. Drove home (35 miles) last night then to work this morning (48 miles) and no problems yet. I just hope it stayes together Thanks for all the information ya'll provided!

 

Truck no longer "Barks" the tires when its floored around 32 mph but after it gets some speed it pulls a lot harder, especially after 3000 RPM.

 

I saw manifolds in the picture get you a set of longtubes they will really allow that cam to wake up and perform how it needs to.

Did you get a custom tune for it?

 

Good cam grind to go with. Now you need the supporting mods. Start with injectors, converter, exhaust, and transmission work.

I wouldn't sweat torquing the crank bolt. I'm running udp's on two of my vehicles. both with un-torqued crank bolts.

 

I have already looked at dyna maxx tubes and cats but the price is holding me back, plus I have a broken rear driverside header bolt and its going to be a B to remove. I have looked into injectors but have NO idea what type ( ls2 ls7 ect) I need. I have a HPTuners tune but not for this cam, im debating on buying HPtuners and just learning on it. I have also found a used 4L80E and converter for $750 I would like to get. Fuel pump, rear locker, trick turbo, ...Need to win tha lottery! hahaha

Anybody know what injectors I need in a LQ9 or what splicing/plugs I need PM me some info

 

why not get pacesetter coated for +-$400 non coated $200 All longtubes N/a are going to be within the 20rwhp range with a tune why by an expensive brand. My ceramic coated pacesetter LTs have 50K miles on them and still look brand new plus. just my .02cents on that haha

The broken bolt...... 99% sure you will have to take the head off in order to fix it unless you use a very tiny drill to tap it out or can come how reach it with a drill bit

I ran my Lts for 20K with the back bolt broke off till I did my cam swap. I would hear a slight/quiet tick going up hills with the tq locked kinda annoying, but doesn't really hurt hp #s having a tiny leak like that.

 

Yeah, I'd run pacesetters also.

I'd look for some used 8.1 marine injectors. Or 42lbs injectors. It's a little more than you need now. Just gives you some room to play with in the future. Stock fuel pump can support a good amount of power. So don't worry about that.

Hp tuners prob has a tune you can dl for that cam.

Still going to need more parts for the 80e conversion.

 

The reason I chose 114 LSA is because I would like to purchase a Trick Stage 3 in the very near future, that would eliminate the need for the pass. side long tube. That would also require all the other odds and ends to be upgraded.

Correct me if im wrong but a 4L80E only requires tranny reprograming, crossmember modification, extend the rear fluid line, and change the yoke to 13## ? to make it fit the stock driveshaft?

 

What rear end gears do you have?

A set of 3.73s or 4.10 will help the motor jump to the power band won't help mpgs though lol

 

Yep.. tune the PCM for the 80E, Mod the crossmember, rear cooler line is further back. Change yoke to fit the 80E ( i used the TH400 Long yoke).
dont forget the dip stick tube, its different also.