whats the general thought on replacing or re-using hardware..and good head gaskets
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2019
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whats the general thought on replacing or re-using hardware..and good head gaskets hey guys im about to open up a 100k mile 6.0 lq4 motor to get it prepared for boost. as much as i would like to go all out forged with it this has to be a budget build..but what is the general though in the ls community with replacing vs re-using hardware.?and what about good head gaskets..are ls9 ones the go to these days..?
rod bolts..?
head bolts..?
main bolts..?
head gaskets..?
Thanks for any any all input..!!
rod bolts..?
head bolts..?
main bolts..?
head gaskets..?
Thanks for any any all input..!!
TECH Addict
Joined: Dec 2004
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From: Florida
Thats one of the more amusing things about this part of the LS world. There's people across the entire spectrum from reuse everything down to the bearings and gaskets, all the way to folks that swear you need everything brand new. and we all make good power and seem to get along ok.
Personally, i have had excellent luck reusing bearings, gaskets, rings, etc. i tend to install the $100 ebay head studs. its all a lot of opinion and budget.
Personally, i have had excellent luck reusing bearings, gaskets, rings, etc. i tend to install the $100 ebay head studs. its all a lot of opinion and budget.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2019
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I am totally noticing that.. there are the people that say buy once cry once.. but I know even the best parts can fail pretty easily.. prob because my budget kinda forced me to but I’m more of a spend a buck try my luck kinda guy.. livin on the edge.. lol
Why open it up? 100k miles its ready for boost. I agree no reason not to use stock rod and main bolts. I use the LS9 HG on everything, sloppy guys have good luck with stock head bolts but I usually run ARP on iron, studs on aluminum.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2019
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What about rapping the rings..? I am running e85 so I know that will help
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TECH Regular
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This is my thought. I just put a turbo on a 5.3 with 120k miles on it from the salvage yard. I popped the pan off just to make sure there was no chunks or sparkles and to see what rods i had (yay! gen3/gen4 hybrid engine). Just kind of figuring on the ring gaps being enlarged from the wear already being good.
If i have to rebuild it though....ehh, probably would buy ARP fasteners. I'm not a huge fan of reusing head gaskets because they can de-laminate when you pull the head and it isn't apparent to the naked eye. But then again the sloppy guys have cars with all that crap reused SEVERAL TIMES still making passes...I guess it probably comes down to budget and how cool you are with pulling an engine and fixing it fast when something does break.
Take the leap and GO on the cheap! What's the worst that could happen? I mean if its gonna break its gonna break right? No biggie its just time and money and we all have plenty of that!
TECH Junkie
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hey guys im about to open up a 100k mile 6.0 lq4 motor to get it prepared for boost. as much as i would like to go all out forged with it this has to be a budget build..but what is the general though in the ls community with replacing vs re-using hardware.?and what about good head gaskets..are ls9 ones the go to these days..?
rod bolts..?
head bolts..?
main bolts..?
head gaskets..?
Thanks for any any all input..!!
rod bolts..?
head bolts..?
main bolts..?
head gaskets..?
Thanks for any any all input..!!
Since the only thing you need to open up are the valvecovers, I see no need for new hardware. A 100k mile LQ4 is a prime candidate for heavier springs, hardened pushrods, and boost. Anything else you do right now is probably a waste of time. That being said, I have done a slightly larger cam swap just because my hands were already greasy, and I had one laying around the garage.
TECH Regular
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Depends on your luck. If you are generally a lucky guy, then reuse everything. However, if you are like me (if I didn't have bad luck, then I'd have no luck at all), then you had better spare NO expense. Stud everything, new bearings and all. Some people can pull a motor out of a rock quarry, and make 1500rwhp for 10 years without so much as an oil change. Me..... the latest and greatest of everything....... rod through the block on the first hit.
Ok take this with a big grain of salt because its very old talk from when i was basically a kid learning about engine internals. But a lot of the guys i learned from reckoned that it was easier to throw a rod, spin a bearing, break a skirt, etc... on the "fancy" stuff than it was on the stock stuff. Especially on the LS engines. All that more expensive stuff has to be matched perfectly and often balanced with all the parts you gathered from different sources. This basically means taking the thing to performance shop and paying them to assemble it. If you have to take every component to them to balance and match anyway why not just let them bolt it together too? It was only ever worth it to go that route if you took it to the pro's to have it done.
Factory parts are produced with the intention of being assembled by methods much less precise than all those forged components were. Most factory parts ive seen for rebuilds require no special anything, they all seems to fit within tolerance 99% of the time.
Depends on your luck. If you are generally a lucky guy, then reuse everything. However, if you are like me (if I didn't have bad luck, then I'd have no luck at all), then you had better spare NO expense. Stud everything, new bearings and all. Some people can pull a motor out of a rock quarry, and make 1500rwhp for 10 years without so much as an oil change. Me..... the latest and greatest of everything....... rod through the block on the first hit.
A professional engine builder once said, "If you know how to do it right better do it right or it will bite you in the ***." He also said he saw folks that didn't know better do all sorts of stuff wrong cutting corners on engine builds and get away with it. Let a professional do that very same corner cutting - the same motor will blow up in the pro's face on start up. He said was like divine punishment for experts that know better but don't do better.
I'm a big sloppy mechanics fan because I love watching people push 15 year old OE engines to stupid high performance numbers. If I were going to pay for a shop to build me an engine it'd get lots of new stuff, but if I'm doing it myself I'd be a little more aggressive. My 150k LS1 has never been opened up except for a new oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets, 9psi and ~500rwhp depending on the dyno it doesn't get driven as much as it should though.