lq4 Truck Motor Build Questions.
#1
lq4 Truck Motor Build Questions.
Hi guys new poster here, its a pretty awesome site so far, but anyways here's my story.
Truck developed an exhaust leak the other day, come to find 6 exhaust bolts total have broken off flush in my cylinder heads. Long story short after a few failed attempts to remove them looks like a new set of heads is in my future.
So now the plan is to upgrade a little while I'm in there, I'm sort of a noob to the LS stuff but I have been reading a lot trying to wrap my head around it.
Anyways here is the plan so far for the build
INTAKE: CAI, to a (possibly ported?) Vortec truck intake.
HEADS: Good set of used ls6 to bump the compression and get aluminum.
BLOCK: I will just be keeping my stock lq4 bottom its a year 2000.
EXHAUST: LT headers, no cats, 2 1/2 true duals.
CAM: Here is where I need help there are just so many options, I have read the cam page but wow, there is still alot of info I need to make sense of. Basically I want a nice truck motor, I tow ocassionally, I have 35''tires with 4:10 gears, and NO stall. I would love a cam with more torque and mid range and alittle high end over stock.
So that's the idea for my blueprint so far I have also thought about just swapping 1.85 rockers instead of the cam but I dunno. I'm open to ANY ideas of how to improve the setup overall, so all info is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance guys.
Truck developed an exhaust leak the other day, come to find 6 exhaust bolts total have broken off flush in my cylinder heads. Long story short after a few failed attempts to remove them looks like a new set of heads is in my future.
So now the plan is to upgrade a little while I'm in there, I'm sort of a noob to the LS stuff but I have been reading a lot trying to wrap my head around it.
Anyways here is the plan so far for the build
INTAKE: CAI, to a (possibly ported?) Vortec truck intake.
HEADS: Good set of used ls6 to bump the compression and get aluminum.
BLOCK: I will just be keeping my stock lq4 bottom its a year 2000.
EXHAUST: LT headers, no cats, 2 1/2 true duals.
CAM: Here is where I need help there are just so many options, I have read the cam page but wow, there is still alot of info I need to make sense of. Basically I want a nice truck motor, I tow ocassionally, I have 35''tires with 4:10 gears, and NO stall. I would love a cam with more torque and mid range and alittle high end over stock.
So that's the idea for my blueprint so far I have also thought about just swapping 1.85 rockers instead of the cam but I dunno. I'm open to ANY ideas of how to improve the setup overall, so all info is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance guys.
#2
For your cam is look at something around a 220/228 .59x/.59x on a 114 lsa to get you power up all acrossed the full rpm range.
You said no stall, but if your thinking about getting one I'd look for something around 2,400 rpms.
Also if you want to spend alittle more money you could ditch the fished pistons and get you compression up with a nice set of flat tops.
The biggest thing will be getting a good tune, I've seen a lot of the stock trick tunes where the timing is so retarded its ridiculous.....
Hope I helped!
You said no stall, but if your thinking about getting one I'd look for something around 2,400 rpms.
Also if you want to spend alittle more money you could ditch the fished pistons and get you compression up with a nice set of flat tops.
The biggest thing will be getting a good tune, I've seen a lot of the stock trick tunes where the timing is so retarded its ridiculous.....
Hope I helped!
#3
Alright thanks I'll look for some cams close to that duration and LSA, would a stock ls6 grind be any good? I'm looking at a set of heads with the yellow springs so I would most likely want to keep my cam specs within what the heads stock springs,lock,retainers etc. can handle.
As far as the pistons I would love some flat tops but I wont be pulling the motor or doing any bottom end work if I can help it. I'm hoping the change in combustion chambers should be enough of a bump to work well with the mods and retain street-ability.
As far as the stall goes, I think they are awesome on the track or street car, but I hate to DD with one especially on a 7000 lb. truck on 35''s also just replaced my stock converter due to lockup issues earlier this year.
Overall is there anything else you would change in my plans? Any thoughts on that stock truck intake, its not exactly a low mileage motor so I don't plan on spinning much higher that 6.
Tuning shouldn't be an issue I know the people at SRE in town my friends have had good experiences with them, and I think they are real good.
Thanks for the help just trying to get this thing all mapped out so I can start ordering parts (already miss my truck ), the auction I'm looking at on the heads ends in 4 days. Hopefully by then I'll have a strong idea of exactly what I need.
As far as the pistons I would love some flat tops but I wont be pulling the motor or doing any bottom end work if I can help it. I'm hoping the change in combustion chambers should be enough of a bump to work well with the mods and retain street-ability.
As far as the stall goes, I think they are awesome on the track or street car, but I hate to DD with one especially on a 7000 lb. truck on 35''s also just replaced my stock converter due to lockup issues earlier this year.
Overall is there anything else you would change in my plans? Any thoughts on that stock truck intake, its not exactly a low mileage motor so I don't plan on spinning much higher that 6.
Tuning shouldn't be an issue I know the people at SRE in town my friends have had good experiences with them, and I think they are real good.
Thanks for the help just trying to get this thing all mapped out so I can start ordering parts (already miss my truck ), the auction I'm looking at on the heads ends in 4 days. Hopefully by then I'll have a strong idea of exactly what I need.
#4
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Forgot to tell you this in person.. Patrick G on here is the go to guy for custom grinds.
http://www.guerragroup.com/camshaft_help.htm
http://www.guerragroup.com/camshaft_help.htm
#7
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Thank you for the kind words. We wouldn't recommend putting the ls6 cam in that heavy of a truck. When you might use it to tow, the ls6 cam isn't a great cam for that. It would definitely make the truck pull harder on the top end but your down low will suffer. As for the stock 6.0l intake manifold. Thats perfect. They make great low end torque without sacrificing too much top end power.
We have had the best luck with trucks in both towing capacity and fuel economy when we add a small supercharger or turbo to it. It gives you that added power down low and pulls till you say whoa! You will have a little more money wrapped up in a blower/ turbo build but, you dont lose any driveability, economy, efficiency, or towing capabilities.
If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call at 316-927-2929.
Thanks,
Casey
We have had the best luck with trucks in both towing capacity and fuel economy when we add a small supercharger or turbo to it. It gives you that added power down low and pulls till you say whoa! You will have a little more money wrapped up in a blower/ turbo build but, you dont lose any driveability, economy, efficiency, or towing capabilities.
If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call at 316-927-2929.
Thanks,
Casey
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#8
Hey guys thanks for the info, as of now I'm 99% sure I'm going with a custom torque/mid-range grind cam from Elgin. I LOVE the idea of keeping my stock truck intake so that's good. Yea F/I would be sweet but I am defiantly on a budget, also it occasionally gets put through its paces hillbilly style, possibly tearing through a muddy pasture or ramming a small river at high speeds, but I would hate to suck some water or dirt through that expensive turbo.
But yea Ill come down there sometime and talk to ya guys about it, BTW I'm the long haired "larger" kid that helped T AM on his car, names Alex.
But yea if He gets some specs worked up for me in the next couple days Ill come down and see what you guys think.
Nice numbers on the Roush by the way.
But yea Ill come down there sometime and talk to ya guys about it, BTW I'm the long haired "larger" kid that helped T AM on his car, names Alex.
But yea if He gets some specs worked up for me in the next couple days Ill come down and see what you guys think.
Nice numbers on the Roush by the way.
#9
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Sounds good man. Look forward to meeting you and helping you out with your truck. We have had a few trucks in here lately and have pretty good results so far. Give us a call if you need anything!
#12
TECH Resident
This cam page might interest you. For a big tired truck with no stall that does some towing I would limit yourself to a 210 (intake) cam...or go custom.
http://www.vincihiperformance.com/ca...s%20truck.html
Well....I just looked at the date and realized this is an older thread. Oh well, here is the info anyway.
http://www.vincihiperformance.com/ca...s%20truck.html
Well....I just looked at the date and realized this is an older thread. Oh well, here is the info anyway.
Last edited by Paul57; 11-27-2011 at 05:01 AM.