Jmanrizz

I just bought a used lq4 engine and tore it down to bare block. Besides a lot of carbon buildup on the piston tops it seems to be pretty good! crank looks good no obvious signs of extreme wear of spun bearings. The cam bearings do however look pretty nasty though I was wondering if they generally look dirtier or not and also is there anything in particular that i should check out before I proceed to build this thing?

Jmanrizz

Sorry I just realized I didnt specify I will be having the normal machine work done and probably gonna get some l92 heads and go back together with flat top lq9 style pistons. This is going in a c3 corvette as time and funds allow.

bczee

iTrader: (12)

sound like a good project, post some pictures..

You know that many of the bolts will need to be replaced as they are not re-useable. GM or ARP. (rods, Head, mains, balancer, etc)

What Trans are you going with. EFI or Carb ? keep the build thread going !

BC

Jmanrizz

Absolutely on the new bolts and such I will probably be running a 4L80e for trans undecided yet on the efi vs carb dilemma carb is definitely a little easier on a person who is not familiar with the electrons but efi gets way better mileage and is less hassle after it's done.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

No argument on the less hassle, but simply not true about the mileage. Lots of people posting similar to sometimes better MPG numbers with carbs. It is all in how well they are tuned.

Jmanrizz

Interesting.... Does anyone know if The aftermarket has an intake for a dominator carb? Just curious got a buddy with a 750 dominator I can get cheap

mcdonald77

iTrader: (21)

I am wrapping up my build. I bought an lq9 with 200,000 miles. When I tore it down, it still had cross hatches on the cylinder walls. I had it hot tanked, bored and honed to .030 along with new cam bearings. I didnt specify anything on the outside block so when I got it back, it needed some wire wheel work on the exterior. If your shooting for N/A with no spray you can use speed pro pistons. I bought mine from summit racing for $350 including rings. The machine shop said they were not close to being balanced and took a little work to balance the whole set. I also used some stock l92 heads.

I havent had it dyno'd yet but it runs good on the base tune. They make easy stand alone harnesses.

Jmanrizz

Ya this lq4 had a bunch of miles judging by buildup and such but the bores are surprisingly clean can still see cross hatching. I am thinking newer lq9 rods because they are more heavy duty and will Probably go back with the flat tops since it will not be a boost motor.

mcdonald77

iTrader: (21)

not to mention a little more compression with the flat tops. I bought a lot of gaskets and such from advanceauto.com Also bought a lot of fasteners from speed engineering. They always seem to have good sales on that stuff.

Bo185

The later LQ4 got the same rods. Can't remember the specific year but they shared the good LQ9 rods at one point.

Jmanrizz

Ya I think it was in '04 but this one has the skinny press fit type rods not the beefy ones. If I go back with lq9 pistons and rods will I have to re balance?

mcdonald77

iTrader: (21)

you should rebalance regardless. The new rods can be found pretty cheap. You could also pick up a set of scat I or H beam rods. If you look around I think they can be found for around 300.

99VetteFRC

I think I've seen a Dominator intake but not sure. I do know they make an adapter to put a standard square bore carb on a dominator intake, You can just flip the adapter over and use it the oppisite way.

Jmanrizz

I know they make adapters but hate to plan on that fitting under the hood of my c3 and then find out that it won't fit later on and have to revamp the thing. Any c3 swappers use a dominator??

NOS327

iTrader: (30)

I just saw a dominator on the GFORCE1320 Engineering GTO, google him and call to see what intake he's using.

On your cam bearings, I've been into 4 or 5 motors and the cam bearings always look horrendous. Luckily they are cheap. Your 2004 motor was a crossover year for cam bearing change, so you'll have to drive them out and measure the front or rear diameter to know which you need..