Gaskets are more pricey than you think. they've surprised me that's for sure, but.. they're important so.. it's a needed cost.

Here's a price breakdown:

Ls2 timing chain: ~$44 from TSP
Cam: ~$400 from TSP (other places will be on par maybe $350,360ish)
Oil pump: ~$150 or so for a stocker, $300 or so for the ported oil pump. I'm not sure a ported one is NEEDED at all, but while I was in there I decided to go for the extra "oomph" that a ported pump MAY give.

Now it's a "good idea" to replace your lifter and lifter trays, but this means taking the heads off, which facilitates new head gaskets, so its a cascading effect. You don't HAVE to put new lifters in, but I am. They're about $150 or so for Ls7 lifters, then your trays run I THINK $20 or so each, you need 4.

IMO, if you're not a worry wart like I am you're probably ok to just do the basics, oil pump, cam, timing chain,and other necessities, and rock that motor.. if it breaks later, replace it then. It may be a pain to do in the car, but... that's the way it goes sometimes.

I wish I could speak more to the transmission thing. I don't know much about that unfortunately. I was planning to do an 80e conversion in my car, so it hasn't been something I've researched thoroughly.

 

btw guys thank you for all the help so fast. ls1tech is the ****!

 

well i dont think i want to replace the lifters at the moment just bc it one of those things i dont real have that extra 250ish to spend on them at the moment. im guna guna turn this thing super tight maybe see 6000 once a month or something. but i am going to do a full gasket kit on it. heads and all. i hate blowing head gaskets lol! seems like thats what my cars are famous for.

 

Sounds like your on the right track. Just remember the headbolts are also torque to yield- a set of stockers is about 90$, and ARPs are $170. You can reuse the ARPs however, so will pay for themselves if you know the heads are going to come off more than once while you own it.

 

i will probly go with arp bolts where ever the stock ones are unbolted. i just love arp .....also i ment to say im not guna turn it very tight

 

Ssome good advice in here.
Another thing to consider,
U could just drop motor in as is, bolt all ur existing stuff, get a mail order tune from Frost. It will free up some hp, on top of being able to run 87 from the pump. The stock motor with cam will run good behind a t56 as is. If anything get a lid too if dont alredy have one.
Even as is with a lid,cutout and tune. It will be around 375-400hp on 87octane

 

yea but i might as well do alittle bit to it you know? i was jw since the heads will be off should i have them milled alittle that wouldnt cast much.....also i havnt heard much about this so i figured i would ask. what about valve guys and seals? on sbc i kno if you had the heads off to always had them done but never heard about it on an ls1? better design or something?

of course when it goes in headers, lid, all the common stuff with go on it

 

Yea, go ahead and replace seals. I use to machine and assemble ls motors for a living once upon a time.
No more than .030 milled off a stock head. Look to ls2 head gaskets. Apart from the 6.0 lq4 my other fave motor is the 4.8

 

I agree. you could drop it in as is, but it's so much easier to do the work with the engine on a stand, and if you're in no great hurry, it's worth it.

Big gains to be had from a cam in these "truck motors." Doesn't have to be a crazy cam either to do it.

I didn't know the head bolts were torque to yield, good call. I was gonna get new ones anyway cos that's just what I do but.. it's good to know.

If you mill the heads you need new pushrods. I don't think you have to worry about PTV unles you go with a pretty decent sized cam (unless you REALLY mill the heads) but it might be something that can give you a few more horses... and really I think any time you change things that involve piston coming closer to valve.. you should check clearance just to be on the safe side. (I've never done it, but I can't imagine it's terribly hard to do. it involves clay I know that much.)

my thought would be that it's not worth it, but.. I'd like ot hear someone else's opinion on that.

and i'm just glad that I can help! Ls1tech is such a wealth of information it's hard to actually contribute sometimes. Lq4/9 are popular because they are reasonablly cheap with stout stock bottom ends, and a reasonable bore/stroke with minimal weight increase. For someone like me who's not real familiar with aluminum block engines it's more comfortable territory too I guess.

I've heard the stock crank on these can hold 800hp, that you can safely run 8psi of boost without any worries on the stock bottom end. They're quite popular. It's normal to find an Lq4 in the $1200-1500 range, an LQ9 as high as $2500 if it's low enough mileage.


I think you got a good thing having a 6.0 just "laying around" to drop in.

 

so maybe like .020 on the head and some ls2 head gaskets to bump up the compression just a tad? since they will be off i might as well

 

lol yea i got it for 400 bucks! and i will need to measure the pushrods when i get a can anyway. tho i have never done it.......anyone want to explain how to?

 

I made 410 to the wheels through a 9 inch with a stock bottom end lq4, stock 799s with .650 springs, a ms3 cam, and a wieand intake with untouched throttle body. Pretty basic/cheap setup that kept up with some pretty strong cars. I think I had around 2300 bucks in the motor top to bottom. With all the supporting mods too, ls7 lifters, melling oil pump, pushrods.

 

right on that what i wana hear haha im starting the tear down on my car as we speak

 

whats that 390tq at rpm wise pennington?

My cam is a TSP 233/239. runs about .605 lift on exhaust, intake is high .5s don't recall off hand. Been thinking about what to do with my intake too.. not sure what kinda power I'm gonna have down with this motor, but it's gonna be quite a while before I find out. I want my torque to be down low since it's a street car. I MIGHT be getting my heads soon, not sure.

keep us informed transamman! and we'll help in any way we can. I don't have it all figured out yet lol, but I'm learning as I go.

 

well i got radiator, condencer, efans out. got the 3 wires under the dash out and the computer, pulled the harness over and laid it on the engine. got ac stuff out, brake lines off, throttle cables, um afew little things. does anyone have a detailed pic of all the wires i need to unhook???

 

Not really sure about what exact rpm Id have to look at the dyno sheet. But the rev limiter is at 6500.

 

with that ms3 cam you're gonna definitely spin it up higher than 6000!!

I personally would (and did!) do the rod bolts. I used katechs, which do not require a stretch guage, although they are about double the price.... but peace of mind that one of the weak points of the stock ls motor is taken care of.

And those who mentioned oil pumps being $300, what ones are you looking at??? Katech, TSP, and SDPC, etc., all have ported and blueprinted pumps for well under $200, and sdpc has a coated one too.

I'd check into the yank classified thread here for a nice price on the complete LS2 timing set that includes gears and bolts too.

I'd also recommend the comp rocker trunion upgrade too just for peace of mind.


To measure your pushrod length you can just buy and adjustable length checker.

And if you're actually gonna get the heads milled, just go full .030 and get a valve job while you're at it too.

...and yeah, like mentioned already, especially when popping the heads off, all the gasklets and new bolts add up QUICK. I'd say just rough estimate, allow a good $250+ (esp. if going ARP).

 

to make power you would spin it more than 6000. im not going to bc its mostly just a cruize around car so im mainly looking for the sound. i will spin it high when i take it to the track (about once a month if that).


about 2/3rds of the time it will never seen more than 3500 rpm. i just puut around in it so a bolt on cam only engine will do just fine. no since in going all out when i dont have the money

 

Right, I want my power below that. My car's a DD so I was thinking a 6200 redline in programming, just to keep it down, if that's not peak then so be it.

I'm not sure what you're saying about brake lines and things transamman? I seem to recall black00sfl (I think that's his username) has a 98 and had to do some stuff (apparently 98s are picky?) but AFAIK it's a straight swap on a 24x reluctor gen III block motor.

 

no need to hesitate so much on rev'ing these motors up higher. Especially if you guys are choosing to for some reason put bigger cams in them than your needs/power curve calls for!
Go with a much smaller cam if you guys are choosing to keep the rpms down low all the time.

I spin one of my LQ9's up to 6800 all the time as a daily driver, and it's only got a 228/230 cam.