Surtr66x

iTrader: (3)

So an LQ4/9(2003 and earlier) has the same 24x Reluctor wheel as a 01 Ls1 right? Meaning a stock ecu and wiring harness with work for a 2001 WS6

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

as far as I know yes.

When I do my oil pan swap I'll take some photos and discuss that. I'm not sure what year they changed it, but I'm fairly sure all 99-04 LQ4/9 motors were 24x.

I put the 317 heads back on today. I was concerned about rust. It will be a few months before I'm ready for the head swap. There's a LOT of parts to gather!

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

payday is coming up soon.

I'm having some not so fun issues with housing, but I'm not giving up on this project.. just might be a little slower.

was looking at the cam swap..

any argument against running just an ls2 timing chain and not replacing gears? I'm not gonna cut TOO many corners here, but if I can save some bucks toward operation GTFO that would be best.

black00ssFL

iTrader: (24)

ALL LQ4's are 24x, I "think" (not sure) that some of the later lq9's may be 58x.

smokeydabear

does it have the correct crank for bolting up to the 4l60e ? or does it have the spacer ? Just wondering...........

zman1

Hey Darkfox, not to thread jack, but are you replacing front/rear cover/main seals and other various gaskets for your build? I would assume that if "everything" from an LS1 will bolt up to an LQ4 short block that a LS1 Short block gasket / seal kit will work.

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

and so.. we wait..

I opted instead of buying my cam this month, to take my parents on a small vacation. They lost a lot of money in the enron mess and haven't been able to afford any sort of vacation for a while.

Funny.. when I was a teen I didn't like going on vacations with my parents.. now that I can take one myself any time anywhere.. I invite them.

Most of my friends are doing the family thing now ya know.. wife n kids.. it's hard for me to associate with such things.. and they're much too busy with the ins and outs of complicated family living to go somewhere on such short notice.. it just made sense.

Either way.. I'm debating on my lifters. I haven't inspected them, and from talking to the guys at texas speed they seem to think they will be fine, but I can get GM lifters for ~ $120.. ? I assume this is a set of 16. If it's each FORGET IT but.. if it's for a whole set.. I might add this to the cam swap.

Cam swaps are an interesting thing.. when you look at it on the surface you think.. right $499 I got this..

then you add in.. well.. I really need a new timing chain.. ls2 chain from texas speed $44 (sorry no links today, I don't have my list in front of me. I may come back and edit them in tomorrow.. depends on how monday goes I suppose.) new cover gasket, bout $20, new ls6 ported oil pump and o-ring, $180 or so from texas speed, new lifters $120 or so (if for a set..) new lifter trays (unknown cost.. can't be much..)

I may be missing something but the last time I added it up it was close to $1000 in just parts alone. Imagine paying someone to do it all as well.. in car it'd take them a while.. 2-4 hours would be my bet.. gotta drop the radiator, pull the crank pulley, limited space in there.

I've decided on a cam that is a 229/236 iirc. Texas speed makes it (again.. will provide link) and another thread herein showed results in the upper 400s WHP through an M6 with an LQ4+L92 setup like I'm looking at doing. I may not hit that mark since I'll be going through an 80E, but.. I'll be happy with over 400whp.



I gave the car a bath today. I recharged the a/c over the last few days and have been driving it again. It's down on power, but it's still a joy to drive even in it's condition.

Funny really.. the car is rough all around.. but I love it..



my brand new truck? sits outside.. I almost never drive it.. most people love their "new" cars the most.. not me


it sure comes in handy tho.. if ya own a home, and/or a project car.. ya need a truck.

no1izspeshl

iTrader: (19)

definitely will be reading this thread. Thinking of going 6.0L lqx myself. But will be using my turbo kit again.

zman1

any update on your build?

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

I'll tell you after labor day. I'm taking a trip, and I wanna see how much fun money I have left over after that.

I nearly sideswiped a jeep cherokee in the camaro this afternoon tho.. so.. that's not good. Guy seemed to have a blind spot fetish.. kept staying there.. for like 14 miles...

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

So.. it's after labor day.

Nothing happening this month. I do not have the money.

And sure you look at a cam swap and say "$499? I can do that."

Well here's the REAL cost of this cam swap:

In order to get TO the cam there's a number of items you want to hit while you're in there, and even if the motor is like new inside, it's the best possible time to do these things since you have to take things off to get to it anyway.

So after you get the crank pulley off, which is a good $50 or so on it's own if you do not have a puller. (I linked a thread a few posts ago about how to do this. I'll try to summary all of this when the build gets farther along.. IE when the MOTOR is "done.") you need to move onto the next steps.

1. Take the timing chain cover off. This means new gaskets and you may as well start with a new crank seal gasket that goes where the pulley goes through the cover.

28-12585673 $20.00

You also need the gasket.

28-12633904
$22.00

2. Now that you have everything out in the open, visit the oil pump and timing chain/gears. A newer motor or a good condition motor probably only needs a chain (which is what I'm doing.)

28-12586482
$45

and the oil pump. the pump doesn't HAVE to come off, but while you're in here.. hey oil is important.. VERY important. It's worth making sure your pump is in good shape.

25-LS6PortedPump

$180+$5 for o ring

3. Now you get into things actually related to the cam itself. Lifters and lifter trays. Lifters are pretty cheap. Yours are probably fine, but while you're here you may as well.

28-12499225
$140 (went up in the last week by $20... )

aaand if you're gonna do lifters you probably want to do lifter trays.

28-12569259
$37

THEN you need your cam. This of course assumes you're not replacing your pushrods or your heads (I am, but that's for later.)

25-229236

$400

so your total cost to actually swap the cam, at least in MY case..

is about $850.

and I know for a FACT that this is what it costs to rent a cabin in the mountains for 3 days over the labor day weekend.

gs462

iTrader: (4)

Going down this road myself right now. What pistons are in the LQ4 are they hyperutectic?

bjamick

iTrader: (31)

So what did you end up doing with the oil cooler? Does someone make a block off plate for it?

usmcz28

iTrader: (3)

You can use the block off plates from the vettes or if you buy a new oil pan it'll come with it already blocked off.

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

Actually, I didn't mention it because I haven't gotten to the pan yet, but the oil cooler lines appear to be part of the oil pan itself and not attached to the block. I still think such a thing would be useful for race applications, doubt I'd need it for daily driving or even light track runs.

Not sure if the pistons are hypereutectic or not.

Also, today is pay day.

Not sure what I'm gonna do just yet. Bills get paid first.

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

Kinda stalled. Friend of mine is pushing me real hard to go boosted on this setup. Says it'll be the best bang for the buck when it comes to a daily driver type car and street manners.

Can't say I disagree, but it's a matter of cost. I live in Georgia so A/C's gotta stay, and I'd need an intercooler. That puts me at the CBR kit which is about $10k.. ok, the whole car was $4500. I don't know that I can write that check.

Still, it has me wondering if the ~400whp the setup I'm working on will be "enough" for me. Going with an LQ4 adds about 90 pounds to the front of your car, not substantial.. like having a passenger really, but it's a little bit of weight you need to make up for in additional power, plus an 80E and a beefed up rearend, the car might be sitting 200-500 pounds heavier when all is said and done. Again, not a substantial amount, but it all makes a difference.

This month is probably best suited to saving up anyway. As I mentioned earlier, the cam and supporting components run about $850, no matter what cam I go with, so even I were to get something this month it wouldn't be enough to work on the motor, just a lot of supporting pieces, or some dust gathering boxes.

black00ssFL

iTrader: (24)

Why not pick up a used procharger kit with a D1SC? that's my plan in the long run, although I'll be looking for an F1A. Swap my heads to some 317's and I should be able to hold around 700hp on my engine.

combs_425

iTrader: (3)

I did the same swap in my 98z except I went with cnc 243s.
your oil cooler is part of the truck pan so it will not be part of the f body pan.also you should think about nitrous.it will give you power gains across the power band and u can keep ur car street able.

DarkFox118

iTrader: (7)

this is actually the exact thing we were takling about. I found that brutespeed is selling a d1sc kit with pump and injectors (I'm not sure the details on these items or if they'll work with my setup) for about $6k and shipping and taxes. Probably near $7k before it's out the door.

Still a hefty sum, but not terribly bad, and tbh I'd feel a bit better not having the heat of turbos up front in this car here in Georgia. My last car was a factory turbo subaru, and after 70k miles the summer heat plus turbo heat melted the CV boot on the passenger side.. it's been known to cause heat damage to the injectors and stuff on that side too, so.. I'm not terribly fond of the turbo route, even though a slight do it yourself job can save LOADS in boost.

I think I still want to go with the L92/LS3 intake combo if I do go with boost. If the car can make 400whp WITHOUT boost, then.. 500-600whp with.. what.. 5-10psi? I know there's multiple pulley setups. I've got some research to do!

I'm not terribly fond of nitrous simply for the fact that this car will be a daily driver, and if the power's there, I want it always there. If I go to a strip it'll be for the purpose of getting a time slip, so it would feel to me like I'm "cheating."

2 things that will probably change in my build plan up to this point, one of which I'm not too comfortable with, having never built an engine.. if I'm going to use boost, especially 8-10 psi on the stock bottom end of this motor, I will want to upgrade my rod bolts, which concerns me as I'm afraid I'll screw this up. I don't want to drop anything or not torque them correctly etc. I GUESS if I take out one at a time and replace it it may be ok yes? The other thing is a different cam.

It may also be prudent to consider compression. Stock the LQ4 has something like a 9.5 compression because of dished pistons. The L92 heads would raise that compression to ~9.8 10.0 from what I've been told.. so.. it makes me wonder too, if having my existing 317s checked out by a shop, upgraded springs n valves, may be a better route. It may cost the same as a new set of L92s to have all this done to the 317s, AND I can't run an Ls3 intake with the cathedral port heads, so I'd have to go with an Ls6.

Lots of uncertainty introducing this into the equation. I think having a perfectly fine daily driver pump gas 600hp capable car would be well worththe ~$10k or so total invested in the motor.

98SSClone

iTrader: (2)

Nice find man. Good luck with the build!