So I'm finding about a $600 difference between and LQ4 and an LQ9. As I understand it, the LQ9 has a higher compression ratio and gets you roughly 25 more HP than the LQ4. So if that is the only difference, do you spend the extra money on the LQ9 or do you buy the LQ4 and put it into it? If the latter where do you spend it? Eventually I want to put a turbo on it, so you want lower compression for forced induction, right? I may have answered my own question, but it sounds like I should put the $600 towards the turbo.

 

Depending on how much boost you're going to run, you may need to swap the stock pistons for forged ones. In that case, there is no difference between the LQ4 and the LQ9.

 

I don't plan on going insane, probably as much as the motor will realistically handle, though I don't know what that is.

 

If you are going to boost spend the 600 on a good custom turbo cam and springs

 

An LQ9 has some slight advantage NA but not atall for boost. Also consider a fair amount of the HP difference is 91 octane tuning not just the compression.

 

And FORGED pistons !

 

I went with the LQ9 and since it will be a little while before I am ready to do the turbo, I'm good with that. I've had the car 11 years and maybe put two miles on it. Running a business, working full time, going to school full time, building a '65 Mustang for my dad, and most of all, being completely undetermined how I wanted to proceed with this car has put me there. I hope to get the car back by July in order to tear up the streets and maybe make a couple of laps around Laguna Seca with my dad in his car. I still have to figure out what to do with the stereo and things like a back up camera, suspension, and brakes before I start ripping into doing a turbo. I will say, the attached article is quite interesting. I want to drive and enjoy the car for a little bit to see where are the money went, and well, it was probably a lot!

594 Horse Turbo Build on 150k LM7

 

Guessing you pulled the trigger before you saw I pointed out that the 25hp isn't all mechanical?

On the plus side though on average I would think a Escalade or the like lead a more pampered life than a 3/4ton work truck.

 

At one time I thought the same thing. Then I pulled L92 heads of an escalade and spent a whole day cleaning the gunk and built up oil off them. I imagine the car went 20k miles between oil changes if at all.

 

I did, and I took that into consideration. I actually was even considering an LM7, but after doing a few read ups on the LQ9, I figured that it was the way to go.I saw a video of the truck it's supposed to come out of, and it was very clean, except for the side-swipe damage. Also, it was only about $400 more than the LQ4's I had found. I guess it's all about timing, but I'm good with the deal I made. In the scheme of things, I'm not sure the $400 is that big of a deal at this point, considering the other money I've got to spend on finishing the Firebird.

 

Yeah if stressing over $400 is a deal breaker this is the wrong hobby.

 

Stressing no, deciding what you could have spent it on had you not spent it, is a different story. $400 can get you a few niceties, so that's what I suppose I was really getting at. The more you save, the more you can buy!

 

Yeah but the piece of mind of seeing the donor condition is a big deal too. At one point I was looking at two different engines one similar mileage. One I saw the car in person and the core support was within an inch of the damper when it should have been more than a foot away. I figure it hit on impact so I bought the other engine. I also never buy drivetrain parts from a junkyard vehicle that wasn't is some substantial crash, vehicle is there for some reason.............

Just remember like I said the 25hp wasn't just compression, it was tuning as well, rather sure the LQ9 came with a 91 octane recommendation compared to 87 for the LQ4. Not that octane alone does much but OEMs will sort of undertune one engine and give another one a little more effort so they can charge a premiun price for the second even though it isn't really that different.

 

I hear you, the side of the SS was all torn up and I'm guessing the car was totaled. It sounded real good on the video, so I'm good with it.