smoothzee

Please give me your thoughts on this set-up:

LQ9 heads milled .040"
Stock LS1 block
Pistons out @ .008"
.042" gaskets
224/.566-114

I am going to degree the cam and measure piston to valve clearance at the time of install, but does anyone foresee any problems, (clearance issues, etc.)?

smoothzee

Thanks!

smoothzee

I know that this is not the usual "big head/cam set up" that I always read about on this forum, but I know that someone has to have a set-up that's at least close to this. Nothing against big head/cam packages, (whatever works for you), I just want to do a budget upgrade for now. Any responses/ ideas would be appreciated.

gollum

iTrader: (1)

Why not clean up and use the stock LS1 castings? If your buying new heads, buy the ported Patriot heads. $1400.00 completly assembled

I see no clearance issues with that cam. But you will need at least a 3.73 gear with your cam choice. If your car is an automatic you will also need a torque convertor.

BrentB@TEA

I personally do not like the 6.0 head on a small bore.
I like the smaller cam stuff but would use a set 5.3 heads (ours are 1550.00 on sale right now) If I was tight on money I would just change the camshaft and do a good set of heads later.

smoothzee

Thanks for the response.......I appreciate your opinion and experience!

smoothzee

Thanks for your response! The reason that I'm using 6.0 heads is because my heads are in bad shape, and I got the 6.0 heads really cheap. I'm not in a position to buy "good" heads right now, ( later maybe), but I think that I can make this combo work. I was thinking about a set of 4.10s for the rear since the car is an m6. My main concern was piston to valve clearance since the heads would be milled 0.040", and a 0.040 to 0.042 gasket thickness. What are your thoughts on that? Thanks again!

smoothzee

Can you take an educated guess at what length push rods I would need? I'm using Comp oem replacement lifters, (850s). I figured that since the heads are milled 0.040" and the gasket is 0.012" thinner than the original, that would lessen the total head height by 0.052". However, because the cam has a base circle which is 0.030" smaller than the stock cam, that would compen-sate for some of the height difference, and would leave a balance of 0.022" difference between the relationship of the head height to the stock pushrods.Do you follow what I'm saying? I also know that the lifters need a certain preload, so would the 0.022" balance work toward the preload needed? Thanks

cyphur

iTrader: (10)

I'd suggest selling your 6.0L heads and buying some stock 5.3L heads and putting them on. They're already set up for close to what you want w/o compromising PtV clearance or anything like that. I think they'd work better. You should be able to sell the 6.0L heads for enough to fund a set of used 5.3L heads.