I was thinkin about trading my silverado to a guy with a 99 ls1 trans am. Ive been mildly building a LQ4 for my truck. Does anyone have an opinion on rather itd be worth goin thru the hassle oh swapping the factory LS1 for the LQ4 or would it be better to take the cam and such i got for the LQ4 and put it in the LS1? Im new top the LS world so i dont kno all the pros and cons to these kind of set ups

 

lq4 iirc is the same as the "lq9" save for dished pistons.

In which case yo have a good platform for turbo aplications, and, worst case a good strong bottom end for mods.

I guess it depends what route you want to take. If the trans am has a bad motor or something you won't recoup a LOT of money by selling it, but some.

Personal opinion? Build up the lq4 with some good parts, drive the car on the ls1 until it's ready, then swap em out.

also, hello fellow GA member heh.

 

I'm running what started out as an lq4 in my Gto....its the perfect platform for a 402-408 stroker....i ended up with a 408 when all was done

 

Thats wat i was thinkin. The car is in perfect shape. My LQ4 has about 36,000 miles on it and this Trans Am im wantin has 158,000 miles and still runs good according to the guy. I just dont think itd be very wise to put a big cam and all that on a motor that has 158,000 miles when i got a bigger,stronger motor with 36,000 miles thats perfectly fine. Just my .02 cents lol

 

I hear ya, my car has 125k miles on it and has some valve noise, if you've already got the bottom end you're 1 step ahead of me. I've been looking up 408s on texas speed and vengeance for months and just can't bring myself to buy a $4k shortblock.

I think you build up the 6.0 and swap it in, you'll be happy, just make sure you got your supporting mods ready on short notice, especially if the car's a T56. 10 bolts don't like a lot of power from what I hear, and the more power you have the more CONTROL you need, but I'm sure you know that.

It seems every thread about power here drifts into "but you need supporting mods too" so.. Just make sure you got what ya need lined up. Maybe swing up this way and give the guys at vengeance or MTI a chat, either of them can do dyno tuning for ya, there's probably some other local GA shops that specialize in LSx motors as well, those are just the 2 off the top of my head. (and certainly if you know of any I'm all ears.)

 

Sounds like good thinking to me!

 

Definately! Its still up in the air tho about gettin the car. Ive mailed the guy and waitin for his response. Honestly id be happy either way. If I end up tradin then im gonna have a nasty little street car. If the deal falls thru and i keep my truck then i put the 6.0 in there and ill still be happy. So either way its a win win in my book. But i would like to harness all that power in a vehicle thats about 1K lbs lighter than my big ol bahemith of a truck haha

 

The LQ4 is definitely worth it. I love mine.

 

What kinda power are you making with ur set up?

 

the lesson I've learned from being here on ls1tech is not what you can get out of the motors.. but how much you want.

a built 6.0 can pull over 600hp NA no problem.

A turbo 6.0 with stock bottom end can pull 800+ at the wheels..

not how much can you get.. how much do you want, and how much are you willing to spend? heh.. that's the name of this game.

 

No idea... haven't been to the dyno yet. We're just finishing up the street tuning on the car now. It's pretty strong, though.