Dynamometer Results & Comparisons - 6.0 LQ9 Build-up with AFR 230 heads

Guys,

Those of you who know me better than most also know how busy I have been the last six months ago helping various individuals with unique projects, some of which are now starting to see the light of day (and being discussed in various other build/dyno threads). Unfortunately my recent "afterhours" workload has back-burnered my own personal project....again....LOL (the 454 I'm building for my C5), but that just goes with the territory.

Anyway, the owner of the beautiful truck below gave me the green-light to post on his behalf and one of the unique factors I like here is that he has documented lots of the progress of his truck build in steps which show the value of all the mods in question alot more clearly.

Here is a picture of his 2006 GMC Sierra VMAX 2wd....its pretty sharp looking!



http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/photo.jpg



Lets talk about the baseline of the truck.....unfortunately Brandon (the owner) never dyno tested the truck bone stock but with these mods:

2006 GMC VMAX 2WD 6.0 LQ9, 3/4 Drop, 4.56 Gears, 33" Tire, Zippy Shift Kit, Billet Servos, Dynatech LT Headers, No Cats, Magnaflow Cat-Back, K&N CAI

It produced the power curves seen below thru heavy wheels, 4.56 gears, and an automatic transmission with the stock converter (the converter was locked for this and all future testing btw).



http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/Stock-1.png



He then added the following:

3000 Stall, Custom Cam - 235/239 .621/.624 112 +3, Custom Tune.

I would note the cam choice is (IMO) aggressive for a 6.0 truck at 2+ tons, but this vehicle is more a toy than a daily hauler and he was thrilled with the top end results. You cant argue with them thats for sure but I might have tried to talk him into something a hair less aggressive (he purchased the cam and had it installed just prior to contacting me inquiring about a ported 102 FAST LSXRT manifold).

Here are the results of the new converter, the new cam, and a tune to take advantage of both:



http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/StockvsCam.png



The LS engine really responds to cam swaps.....they are unquestionably the biggest bang for the buck in a normally aspirated LS street/strip engine. So it was just shortly after the cam install that Brandon reached out to me for the first time inquiring about the virtues of one of my ported FAST 102 truck intakes. I assured him it would make a sizable difference and Brandon quickly jumped at the chance to try it in an effort to improve and fatten his impressive results from the cam swap.

He also installed at the same time a new 102 TB, a custom CAI to hook up to the larger TB, and larger (42#) injectors.

Here is a pic of that new set-up on the dyno and ready to make some noise!



http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/IMG_5931.jpg



And the results from the ported FAST 102/102 install which are even more impressive when you consider that this truck still had the stock LQ9 heads and a good intake will always look better when its placed in front of a really good set of heads (thats when the stock intakes represent the largest restrictions allowing the better manifolds to shine when you do the swap). We were both thrilled with the results and the area under the curve gains were really strong also!



http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/CamvsIntake.png



Of course when is "enough" ever really enough....weeks later I get the call from Brandon inquiring what he thought an aftermarket set of heads might be worth.....you guys can figure out how the rest of the conversation went.....LOL. Brandon isnt a guy to skimp so after couple of discussions and an email or three he took the plunge on a "Mamofied" set of AFR 230's in addition to the following upgrades and components which I provided for him:

Hollow stem 2.080 Intake Valves
Cometic .040 Head Gasket
Comp Short Travel Lifters
Manton 11/32 Custom Length Pushrods
Yella Terra Ultralight Shaftrockers
Heads milled to 61 cc's for a final CR of 11.3 to 1

A couple of pics of the heads I did for him and a shot of them being installed


http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/AFR2.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/AFR3.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/HeadInstall.jpg


And ultimately the final results which would be pretty impressive in a car, never mind a power robbing truck driveline with huge 33" tall extremely heavy tires! The heads really woke up the combination, fattening an already fat curve even more helping to tie all the previous mods together. Guys, look at the torque increase after 5500 RPM's or so.....50+ RWHP and 50+ ft/lbs of torque! I sandbagged a bit when I told Brandon what the head swap might be worth but these results even surprised me a little....needless to say he was pleased.


http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/AfterHeadsvsIntake.png


Obviously a shout out has to go out to all the guys at Modern Muscle who did a great job handling most (or possibly all) of the install labor and various tunes along the way to optimize each combo as it kept increasing in efficiency, not to mention Brandon himself who has been as patient as a saint and still hasn't gotten a chance to experience it with the new heads yet but will do so shortly.

Now I don't know if Brandon had planned on it, but Im going to encourage him to get this truck to a dragstrip just for fun and see what its capable off. It has the power of a really stout stroker engine with his bone stock 6.0 liter shortblock....

The devil is in the details guys (and of course selecting the right components) and the results of this build clearly show that!

:chug:

Cheers,
Tony

PS....If you want some additional details, a few more pics, etc. and are interested in seeing the original thread that Brandon himself started on another message board (SilveradoSS.com), click here

http://www.silveradoss.com/forums/topic/75837-prestinbs-official-build-thread/

I just tried to keep this thread on point and share most of the technical data that you guys crave more easily seen in a progressive type build.

wow, thats some serious power! and im sure all of the goodies cost a pretty penny. who cares though thats one sweet ride now I bet!

gorgeous truck with some serious power!!!! those are some very impressive numbers considering the amount of loss there must be through that horsepower robbing drive train lol, wicked results just by adding that 102 intake too!! i need one bad :nod:

Sweet gains Tony. That's a really stout combo to lay down that much power through that heavy drive line. Very similar to my G8 setup. Congrats to all involved.

What would you expect that combo to make through an F-body drivetrain? Say, a M6, steel flywheel, aluminum driveshaft, a 9" w/ 4.11s, w/ a 28" tire?

Just awesome...

-fellow Tony Mamo disciple

:eek: amazing build & write up like always Tony I always enjoyed your threads....

Congrats to the owner I bet that thing is flying now..

What would you expect that combo to make through an F-body drivetrain? Say, a M6, steel flywheel, aluminum driveshaft, a 9" w/ 4.11s, w/ a 28" tire?
Easily 500+

Look at his baseline power.....a 6.0 liter G8 for instance with headers and a good CAI with the same LS6 style heads would probably make 380+ RWHP thru a six speed.

Pat G. could chime in.....he did a ton of testing with his G8 in every configuration.

Point is Brandons truck in the same configuration with headers, a CAI, and typical light bolt on's was making 335 or so thru the locked auto but I suspect the bulk of the losses were the big rear (9.5" differential) and the heavy wheel/tire combo. Assuming my 380 guesstimate is right (or perhaps conservative) for a similar combo in a G8 or 6.0 liter Vette you would have to add 45 RWHP to the total to try and get it closer to an apples to apples comparision (or should I say a better guess of what the numbers might be thru a conventional lighter weight car driveline and a manual trans).

And that makes sense because the move to a manual trans is typically worth 25 RWHP and the heavy truck driveline would easily eat another 20 or more so adding 45 to those figures seems quite legit.

That would bring the total to 513 RWHP to essentially answer your question (in a hypothetical yet scientific fashion!)

Keep in mind that Pat G's combo (in his red G8) pushed out just over 500 to the wheels (thru an A4) and as he mentioned is very similar to Brandon's with the same optimized AFR 230 heads, a similar cam (slightly smaller actually), and in the case of Brandon's truck lets keep in mind that he also has the advantage of a ported FAST truck intake versus the ported car intake (the LSXR) I did for Pat so yeah.....bottom line I'm quite confident this same engine would produce low 500's (510+) if it were installed in a more conventional automotive application thru a manual trans.

Sorry for all the "ricer math".....LOL.....but if you follow my line of thinking you will see its fairly accurate and probably on the conservative side if anything.

-Tony

good stuff...

Very nice comparisons...Some stout heads...Are those ls3 hollows or different type?

I would like to give credit where credit was "earned" during my project build. When I first reached out to Tony for his expertise concerning the FAST LSXRT and his ability to "massage" intake for better gains, I did so based on countless instances of positive feedback he has received across various forums. He didn't know anything about me but took me serious about my inquiry...for that I can't thank Tony enough. From a serious customer's point of view, there is nothing more frustrating than being blown off because I haven't shown them any money yet...this was never the case with Tony. Actually, I have no idea how he is capable of providing extensive replies to the barrage of questions he receives daily, completes quality performing combos, and still gets sleep (maybe???).

Based on the exceptional level of service I received with just an intake, I enlisted is expertise on again for a set of heads, lifters, rockers, etc. Again...he surpassed my expectations in terms of personal level of service and quality of product. This was my first build and he answered every question I had...and believe me there were a lot...LOL!

An additional thanks and appreciation goes out to Modern Muscle. They provided my custom grind cam and completed all of the installation and tuning work. When I first enlisted their services, I was impressed with their professionalism, shop cleanliness, and attention to detail they provided. They have some very impressive builds...I will definitely continue to use their services.

I will be picking up my truck Friday from Modern Muscle (4hrs away) and will be driving it for the first time since installing the intake and heads. I initially only had the cam and TC installed (52hp/15tq) before I got the "fever"...LOL. At that point I was extremely pleased...now it will have an additional 86hp/46tq on top of what it already had...I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Brandon

Damn I wish I had money for those heads Tony! :usa:

Damn I wish I had money for those heads Tony! :usa:

Want us to start you a fund raiser? Jayplays AFR head fund raiser!! What you think man?

I love reading threads like this. Great information that shows the gains to be had from each mod. I'm very impressed gains to be had with the Mamofiled intake and the AFR heads. You should be very proud with the attention to detail you put into this build. That has to be the nicest SS Silverado I've ever seen.

Great work! Always seems to be in the combo and sum of all parts.:usa:

Want us to start you a fund raiser? Jayplays AFR head fund raiser!! What you think man?

Sounds good to me, highest contributer gets my AI 243's :)

Very nice comparisons...Some stout heads...Are those ls3 hollows or different type?
They are actually REV hollow stem valves.....slightly heavier than cut down LS3 valves but much stouter IMO. Its more of a legit aftermarket race valve IMO.



I will be picking up my truck Friday from Modern Muscle (4hrs away) and will be driving it for the first time since installing the intake and heads. I initially only had the cam and TC installed (52hp/15tq) before I got the "fever"...LOL. At that point I was extremely pleased...now it will have an additional 86hp/46tq on top of what it already had...I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Brandon

Brandon,

Good to see you on Tech (and not just "lurking".....LOL)

Thanks for all your feedback and I'm sure when you pick the truck up tomorrow its going to be a completely different animal.....some of it masked by the 52000+ curbweight but its going to have an appetite for RPM like never before.

Should be alot of fun!!

Please drop back in this thread after you get a chance to experience the new combination!

:burn:

Cheers,
Tony

Hey Tony, Looking at that graph makes me wonder how a "car" intake would do against the truck intake. Whats your take on the two and have you ever tested them against each other?
Thanks.

Keep in mind that Pat G's combo (in his red G8) pushed out just over 500 to the wheels (thru an A4) and as he mentioned is very similar to Brandon's with the same optimized AFR 230 heads, a similar cam (slightly smaller actually), and in the case of Brandon's truck lets keep in mind that he also has the advantage of a ported FAST truck intake versus the ported car intake (the LSXR) I did for Pat so yeah.....bottom line I'm quite confident this same engine would produce low 500's (510+) if it were installed in a more conventional automotive application thru a manual trans.

Pat's is the 6l80 ! Does this take more hp than the A4 ?
Also Pat dynoed car in 4th ( i assume) with a 1.15 ratio would that make him higher or lower on dyno?

Pat's is the 6l80 ! Does this take more hp than the A4 ?
Also Pat dynoed car in 4th ( i assume) with a 1.15 ratio would that make him higher or lower on dyno?

Probably very similar driveline losses in the different transmissions although Brandon's truck has a higher stall....but thats not likely to effect things much with a locked converter.

Regarding Pat's dyno you bring up an interesting point (which gear was it tested in...we assume 4th). But either way Pat's gains are what they are regardless of gear ratio because I'm sure he tested the car in the same gear all the time and if anything a gear that is numerically higher than "1" will actually yield worse results on the dyno from my experience (overdrive gears showing sightly better results). I think it stems from the fact of how it loads the engine much like a slower sweep speed on an engine dyno normally reads higher as well (a 300 RPM per second sweep versus a 600 RPM per second sweep).

-Tony

Impressive results!! I second what Brandon said about Tony. From day one Tony answered all of my countless questions.. before even knowing if I was going to actually purchase anything from him. Its hard to find people to take you seriously without showing $$... Thanks again Tony! For the record, I just received my Mamofied AFR 230's on Thursday--- " A work of Art!"...is all I'll say. I'm building a 416 for my 1993 Mazda RX7, and have purchased numerous parts from Tony ---Ill post results when its dynoed..

They are actually REV hollow stem valves.....slightly heavier than cut down LS3 valves but much stouter IMO. Its more of a legit aftermarket race valve IMO.




Brandon,

Good to see you on Tech (and not just "lurking".....LOL)

Thanks for all your feedback and I'm sure when you pick the truck up tomorrow its going to be a completely different animal.....some of it masked by the 52000+ curbweight but its going to have an appetite for RPM like never before.

Should be alot of fun!!

Please drop back in this thread after you get a chance to experience the new combination!

:burn:

Cheers,
Tony

Update:

Picked my truck up on Friday. I immediately drove it to South Bend, IN to hang out with some family and then back to St. Louis, MO yesterday. I accrued about 700 miles on it over the weekend and all I have to say is WOW! This truck pulls stronger than I expected and around 5K it comes on even stronger. I set the cruise for 70mph with A/C on and achieved 13mpg...honestly wasn't much better stock. The outcome has exceeded my expectations and couldn't be happier with the personal service I received from both Modern Muscle and Tony Mamo. Thanks again!

Also wanted to say thanks to everyone that has posted the positive comments and feedback...great forum!

Brandon

bumping this back up I'm looking at doing a bigger cam in my 6.0 LQ4 in my RCSB 1500 2WD with heads from ADVANCED INDUCTIONS which is there 226cc 243s package right now I'm running one of there 226/230 600/600 111+3 with a 108ICL i just installed a FAST LSXRT and man what a difference it made mines not even ported yet.

just wondering with the cam you ran in this setup was there any PTVC problems I'm at about the same compression 11.1 I'm looking into a high 230s low 240s duration cam my truck is also not a DD just a weekend toy.

bumping this back up I'm looking at doing a bigger cam in my 6.0 LQ4 in my RCSB 1500 2WD with heads from ADVANCED INDUCTIONS which is there 226cc 243s package right now I'm running one of there 226/230 600/600 111+3 with a 108ICL i just installed a FAST LSXRT and man what a difference it made mines not even ported yet.

just wondering with the cam you ran in this setup was there any PTVC problems I'm at about the same compression 11.1 I'm looking into a high 230s low 240s duration cam my truck is also not a DD just a weekend toy.

There was no PTVC issue at all with the components that were used in my build.

prestinb (Brandon)

Final sound clip of the end build idling...

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/th_979A2098-4A66-4312-92FB-0E00AD95B8C7.jpg (http://s438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/?action=view&current=979A2098-4A66-4312-92FB-0E00AD95B8C7.mp4)

prestinb (Brandon)

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq102/prestinb1000/2006%20GMC%20Sierra%20VMAX/AFR2.jpg

Those combustion chambers are a thing of beauty.

wow those dang chambers are F**** pretty.....

truck sounds awesome!!! how do you like the 4.56 gears

truck sounds awesome!!! how do you like the 4.56 gears

Thanks! Love the gears...it was one of the 1st mods I did after purchasing the truck new in 2005. I feel it should have come from the factory like this...many people think they are crazy but with a 33" tall tire it works perfect. If I can ever get this thing to the track...I believe a 28" tire would be perfect if my calculations are correct.

prestinb (Brandon)

Thanks! Love the gears...it was one of the 1st mods I did after purchasing the truck new in 2005. I feel it should have come from the factory like this...many people think they are crazy but with a 33" tall tire it works perfect. If I can ever get this thing to the track...I believe a 28" tire would be perfect if my calculations are correct.

prestinb (Brandon)

ive been thinking about replacing my 4.10s with 4.56s my truck isnt a DD just a weekend toy.

what are you running for exhaust looks like a corsa ?

Beautiful truck and nice graph to go along with it. :thumb:

ive been thinking about replacing my 4.10s with 4.56s my truck isnt a DD just a weekend toy.

what are you running for exhaust looks like a corsa ?

I had a corsa sport cat-back on at first but it was too obnoxious...It also was just a single 3" exhaust. I went to a custom bent true dual 3" exhaust with x-pipe and it significantly better.

prestinb (Brandon)

I've been toying with the idea of modifying the daily driver. What does this do for mileage? I'm mostly concerned with highway mileage. I figure in town, the mileage approaches 0.

Hal