American

A bit of background...

Managed a couple of production engine rebuilders for about 10 years before getting in to other things. I've had my hands on more engines than I can count and built quite a few performance engines for a variety of vehicles and racing platforms, Chevrolet, Ford, Pontiac... little bit of everything.

I left the engine business about the time the LS1 was hitting the market so I have no experience with this platform.

I have spent the past several months reading over the forums here, thirdgen, protouring, lateral-g...etc.

For a variety of reasons, some rational some not, I plan to build an IROC Camaro and have access to and 85 and 86, both rolling shells. I want to build a 'pro touring' type of car that I can hop in and drive coast to coast, so nothing that won't idle with A/C (it's damn hot in Texas in July). I'd love to see 500RWHP but that's not a hard and fast number. Cubes is the answer here I think... isn't it always?

I like the LS series of engines for the obvious benefits over the previous SBC engines, packaging, head design, disbtributorless ignition, block design...etc. However, I'm not going to spend 10 grand to build one, for a lot less I can build a very nice SBC with aluminum heads.... you get my point.

I've been looking at LS1 blocks around here and every time I put a dial bore gauge on one it's hitting 3.904 - .09 or real close...and still needs a hone etc. Sleeving is cost prohibitive, read all about that.

As I'm not real concerned about weight and prefer displacement I'm thinking LQ9 truck block so I can bore if I want and will have 366+ cubes to start with. I do have a pair of LS1 241 heads I was going to port match which will bump CR to around 11:1 if I have read correctly.

This is where I get a bit sideways...

If I use a Gen 3 F body, an LQ9 block and my 241 heads I assume I'll need an F body oil pan. I plan on using a BMR K-member, coil overs, sub frame connectors..etc and a 4L60 transmission.

I'd like to have A/C but it seems I've read that it will require drilling a boss on the truck block to locate it lower. True?

What intake should I look to use to clear a stock hood?

Any drawbacks using the 241's? I know I could do better with 243 or 317 or AFR or or ...but I have them and might as well use them.

Is there an accessory combination I need to be aware of that will keep problems to a minimum?

I'd appreciate any input or thoughts.

This isn't my first rodeo but my first time with an LS.

Thanks,

American

Not sure how I overlooked this post but this answers any fitment questions.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/lt...otor-into.html

Now, about the 241 heads on the 6.0.

Jimbo1367

205 AFRs are great heads. Since you can port the heads yourself, go that route first. If you dont reach it, swithch to AFR/TFS or a different quaility heads. I personally think 500RWHP might be hard without going aftermarket heads. JMO

oange ss

iTrader: (50)

you can use the 241's but you wont get close to your goal of 500rwhp even with a monster cam, you'd get closer using stock 317's milled to bump up the compression...have to make a decision, use what you have or buy what you want

$750 L98

iTrader: (7)

I agree, do not use the 241 heads, guys put down good numbers on 317 heads even with LQ4 motors. The LQ9 installed just like a LS1 would, we used LS1 accessories as well, I believe the only physical mod needed was a bolt hole drilled for one of the accessories.

Otherwise it was pretty straight forward, Edelbrock "direct replacement" shorty headers bolted right up to the block and fit in the stock 3rd gen K member (I decided against LT for the time being). LS6 intake bolted on. We used a 1997 corvette fuel rail so that i could reuse the stock 3rd gen fuel lines. The fuel rail has a built in regulator allowing the stock return line to be utilized. Stock 3rd gen drive shaft fits fine, I went with a 4L60E so the crossmember was modified, Hawk's sells all pieces needed for a conversion.

As for wiring, Painless makes a stand alone harness that works well and has a label for each plug, All you really need for the harness is a place for grounds and power wires. For power we used the existing wires that come out of the C100 bulkhead connector on the driver's side in the engine bay. Using a pin out diagram you can wire in the new harness and it will function like factory, meaning all key on/ignition components will work, turning the fans on and off, etc. You can find those over on http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19 , in 3rd gens a LS1 swap is pretty easy, I'd personally recommend wiring the car yourself as I let some one do it and had several bad grounds, shorts, bad splices, malfunctioning gauges, etc.

If you need any specific info or tips i'd be more than happy to help if you PM me, I have all of my factory gauges working with the LS1 and I am about to go through a 4th gen fuel tank swap into my 1989 Firebird.

American

Good information, I appreciate it all. I don't have a big investment in the 241's so I guess I need to find a LQ9 block and heads, track down LS1 F body accessories and pan and go from there.

I appreciate the offer for help and may very well take you up on that when it's time.

Again, thanks for the info.

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

Quite a few common questions, so Ill be general as most are covered in detail on TGO with the search feature. Some are gone over directly by the sticky

American

Thanks for the info.

Yeah.. I've read about 100 sticky threads on this and other sites...which one in particular are you talking about? And as to a search function, well, I'm an IT guy by profession and run several large community sites so I'm pretty good with that too which is why I stated what I did above about reading over the various sites for some time. Seems everyone is quick to say 'use the search' but you might want to keep in mind that search results are often cluttered with irrelevant results on busy sites such as this one, this can make finding specific data a little more tedious at times.

When I said $10k, I didn't say anything about the rest of the car, was purely talking about the engine. I've got over 25k in a 350TPI/700R4/8.8 Jeep build up so I'm pretty sure I'll have that much or more in whatever I build.

Everything I have read states that a stock aluminum LS1 bore (let's call it 99-00) is good to 3.905-.906, beyond that you have to resleeve. Is that not correct? Are you saying I can bore beyond 3.905? If so, I've never been able to find that information and would appreciate a link. Obviously I wouldn't bore a block unless it's out of spec. You say they rarely need to be bored but again, the dial bore gauge doesn't lie. Maybe I can find one under .905 somewhere with room to hone out any taper and set clearance for pistons properly. Oh... and I'm not only seeing .005-.009 of general cylinder wear but also .002-.004 of taper on the thrust side of most cylinders. Some of the cylinders I'm measuring at .905 may also have another .004 of taper at the bottom too. Some aren't near as bad. I'll agree that even though most of the engines I've checked were probably 100k mile blocks that is pretty good, you will typically see .020-.040 of wear in older iron blocks.

I meant the alternator...had A/C on the brain when I wrote that.

As I stated above, I found the post regarding truck blocks in F bodies, that answered my questions there quite clearly.

I think what I need to do is find a truck block, get some decent heads and then go with all of the f body accessories and pan along with the other items I mentioned above and I'll be well on my way.

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

This sticky
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/lt...third-gen.html

This forum
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/ltx-lsx/

This build is similar to what you're planning, only not as wild. He used teh truck block as well
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/lt...road-6-0l.html