SSDenaliXL

i mean, its still fun to drive. Rear main seal BAD, valves tap at first start up. Oil pressure seems on the low side at idle and of course picks up when punched. I love the truck, the look, the seating. All that other mombo jumbo like heated steering wheel and Air cooled seats has never been my thing. I just want, a quicker more responsive SUV. I tow a boat randomly. About 6500 worth of weight and she does great.
basically I don't know what I want to do other then refresh and let her breathe more. I'm so close to getting a house mortgage I'm not wanting a truck payment.
I have this extra money for this particular reason only. It would be a fun truck if I got it to a stock SSTB specs. Imo.

Kfxguy

iTrader: (1)

just fix it up and don’t race that 5.0 truck anymore and keep all that money in your pocket. Fun? Nah. Smart? Yea

Tommy42088

At the end of day man it's your choice, everyone here can give you a thousand different opinions and we all may say something different. I've just given you my opinion on parts you can install if that's the route you want to go because imo it's very achievable.

Y2K_Frenzy

Mortgages are “forever” for most people. At least long enough to where one can probably go through at least three cars. 😂
Build up what ya have and call it a toy. Then go get a note. When the toy is no longer exactly daily driveable.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Based on the above, I think taking on a payment for a new truck would be the absolute wrong move for you here. If yours is still in great cosmetic condition, and the mechanical refresh that you plan to do covers all the areas that are approaching the age/mileage of reliability concerns, and you still love the styling, configuration, and road handling aspects of the current truck, then all you'd really be gaining with that payment/debt is a bunch of gadgets and features that you don't care about as well as better stock performance. The performance is certainly nice, but I'm not a gadget person either so I get that.

Ultimately, the biggest thing to consider is this:

Definitely don't go into debt buying OR building a "toy" vehicle if you are looking to take on a mortgage. Mortgage interest is about the only private debt that can really be justified as the alternative (renting) presents an even bigger waste of money.

LS1 TJ

Assuming because of your location your SUV is rust free? If it has rust I wouldn't put a nickel into it.
If its rust free as said a new short block with good heads. Small cam. Engine Masters tested a bunch of aftermarket LS heads.
Maybe a small 2400 billet stall converter. Keep the stock truck intake. HP is not worth the hassle of modding the fuel system.
Headers and free flowing exhaust that isn't too loud.
One other thing to consider is regearing. I'm betting it has 3.23's or 3.42's. 4.10's would really wake up the SUV. Is it a 2wd or 4wd?

Y2K_Frenzy

The average mortgage is 30 years. I understand don’t buy anything that one can’t afford. However, we’re talking 30 years and he already has the “toy.” If one is saying don’t get a toy if one has a mortgage that be like telling most don’t ever buy one. If he was renting he’d still be spending close to the same probably. He just wouldn’t have to have the 10% down up front. Waiting until one no longer has a mortgage might work for some, but the most will be waiting for near eternity.

SSDenaliXL

AWD. I had all the rust repair fixed 4 years ago when I bought it. It being a Denali it had minor rust at the rockers, under the actual "Body Kit" of the truck.
I also had all the suspension replaced 2 years ago, I replaced the original Air ride with "up to date" technogoly and leveling system. Braking is completely new all the way to the Differential. Interior is still mint as the main component "Drive seat" was fully replaced. 👌🏽. It was a 1 owner truck when I bought it, she had 134xxx miles. As a new electrical contractor in my town. It does everything i need and then some. The bells and whistles are nice tonhear about from newer truck owner, but when i hear them brag i still roll my eyes and think.....thats something else to break later.

Let's simplify this.
I want more pep in her. She already makes me smile when i get on her, she sounds beautiful, she drives perfect to me. But Ole girl needs a "Tummy tuck and a boob job"

How much reliable TQ/HP can a 4L65E handle? How high can we go on a "Torque/Stall converter" before she doesn't feel the same while driving?
Lets wake her up more is what I guess my goal is, the coyote challenge is out the window.

Y2K_Frenzy

It seems like a blower or turbo and stock everything else would be the most bang for buck.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Perhaps there was a misunderstanding here...

..."debt" was the key word in my post; in other words, don't get a new vehicle loan for a toy (or reasons of a toy, like simply going faster to be more competitive on the street), especially when you have a mortgage (and/or other debt) already in place or planned. That's not to say that folks shouldn't ever have some fun with their surplus cash, I mean we all like to live a little for sure, I just don't advocate taking on debt for something unnecessary. When you stick to cash-only for luxuries and discretionary purchases, at first it might seem like you can't afford much but it's pretty surprising how quickly you can turn that around once you're out of the shadow of interest bearing debt.

With that said, I do realize that it's sometimes (rarely) possible to actually MAKE money on a car loan. I stopped taking out loans for cars about ~18 years ago, with one exception - a rare case where I could get the loan at a lower rate than I was earning on my cash for the same term. At that point, it just made good sense to take the loan rather than spending the cash (even though it was for a toy).

Tommy42088

I thought the Denali came with 373?

Tommy42088

I have a 3800 convertor in mine and it drives perfectly fine, a convertor isn't going to ruin your drivability like your thinking. It will still drive normal. You will just be able to stall it higher if you want to take off from a stop. I would say the 4l65 can handle maybe around 4 to 450 rwhp. I have a 4l65 as well and I'm pushed over 600 through mine
for granted the guy i got it from supposedly built it but i dont have proof, unless you call handling the power proof

SSDenaliXL

My truck currently has 317 stamped on the heads

Utinator

If you do the labor, you could do a stock rebuild on the 6.0, swap in a 4L80, add a turbo kit, and beef up the rear end for under $15k. You would have to do the labor, because parts are gonna be over $10k.

SSDenaliXL

Forced induction as a daily?
3200 for a reman
1800 for a trans
2500 for install
450 tune
Turbo and accessories $?
rear end $?

Tommy42088

243 will pump your compression, and if your staying all motor then the pumped compression will make you a little quicker

Tommy42088

if this is the route you go then look at the Huron speed kit. That's the kit I wish I would have bought when I turbo'd my truck. I put a cx racing kit and just about had to modify everything on it to make it work, and you can definitely turbo a daily driver. As I stated earlier I wouldn't replace the shortblock so that 3200 you wouldn't be spending. Your shortblock is more then likely perfectly ok. Worse case scenario would be putting pistons and Roda which I don't see you needing and that's not 3200. Your stock crank is more the capable of handling the power you could port n polish them 317 and freshen them up with some good parts and if you order a kit from Huron get it with the fuel system.

Y2K_Frenzy

Forced induction would probably be easier to live with on a daily basis because you could make power without having to have a “radical” cam, tq converter, and steep rear end. It’d drive like stock until you went wide open throttle.
I have a 6-8 psi centrifugal supercharger kit on a car and it was good 109 horsepower to the wheels through crappy restrictive heads (not a GM). I imagine 6-8 psi would gain more than that on a 6.0.

Utinator

Most new vehicles have forced induction, so YES! They do make good daily drivers, if they are set-up for daily driving. If you set it up for racing, then it won't be very street friendly. As said before, a small cam and 8-10 lbs of boost would sound and drive almost like stock until WOT.

-Stock rebuild (plus ring gap) on 6.0L is about $3000.
-The 4L80 is about $1800 plus a core ($250-$400). A Circle-D HP converter is $900 brand new, but you can get a used one for half that. So, about $2500-$3000 total for the trans. Most of us on here could send you a tune file for the 4L80 tune. You would just have to pay $100 for the HP Tuners credits.
-The turbo kit from Huron Speed is about $4000-$5000, depending on what options you order.
-You could probably just install a Detroit Locker in the rear end. I'm not sure on prices, but I wouldn't imagine it would be more than $1000.
-There will be some other Misc. parts to make everything work (fuel and PCV systems), so plan on $500-$1000 more.

With enough patience and research, you could source all the parts for this build for well under $15k. The labor alone for something like this would probably be over $15k, so I hope you can turn a wrench.

SSDenaliXL

I'm keeping AWD, I'm also going to need shafts and spacers. Perfect this give me a list. The Engine and trans swap I can do all that labor. Everything else would be sourced.