Chris6060

Hey there guys, so I'm swapping an LQ4 into my 1994 K1500.

Currently have the LQ4 torn down to a bare short block, going to do an entire rebuild and I'm looking for opinions.

Being realistic, this is my first engine build. I'm 19, about to turn 20 with quite a bit of mechanical experience and an extreme desire and drive to make this motor and truck what I want.

I'm hoping to do a pair of small turbos on this motor and am wondering what some good camshaft recommendations would be for a lower-boost, possibly daily driven truck.

What brands of pistons have you guys had good luck with? Bearings?

I want as much info as you guys can shove down my throat. Have small tips about building motors or working on motors in general? Throw it at me, I'm always looking for ways to learn and new ways to do things.

The closest engine machine shop is 2.5 hours away from me. What all will the shop have to do for me, exactly, as far as the block goes? Camshaft bearings, deck the block, get the cylinder heads cleaned up, valve job, new springs, retainers, etc...

I'd like to do as few trips to the machine shop as possible, for obvious reasons.

Thanks in advance guys,

Chris

KCS

iTrader: (20)

If you're not planning on cramming a lot of boost into it, I would suggest keeping the stock rotating assembly. It's more than capable of moderate power from low boost.

Depending on your budget, you can probably skip the machine shop altogether. If nothing is damaged or excessively worn, you could just tear it down, clean everything, open up the clearances and ring gaps, and put it back together. The only specialty tools you may need would be a valve spring compressor and installed height mic in order to rebuild the heads. You will probably end up using them again if you ever go to a bigger cam or need to replace the springs in the future.

Chris6060

What about doing valve seats and stuff? If I'm going the boosted route, I want this thing to be tight. I don't want anything crazy like 1000HP, but I wanna be able to get an honest 550-650HP and have it as reliable as possible.

Whats the best way to clean these parts now that I have this engine apart? Take them to a shop and get them steam tanked?

While I have quite a bit of knowledge built up, I lack on the experience end of things and definitely appreciate any tips possible.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

It depends on if the valve seats are worn. Lapping the valves is a good way to see what shape they're in. Usually they're ok as the seat material is pretty resistant to wear, but sometimes the exhaust will have problems. In that case, you can take it to the machine shop and have them cut a valve job. One of my local shops will clean them, cut the valve job, and surface the heads for $200.

Your local parts store should have cleaning supplies. Carb cleaner, steel brushes, and some elbow grease is usually adequate. If the parts are REALLY nasty, you might want to have a shop run the parts through their power washer or hot tank. Some can even media blast the parts to get them down to clean bare metal.

There is a lot of how to type videos on YouTube which should help you avoid newbie mistakes. Sloppy Mechanics is another site you should check out. Lots of guys building turbo LS engines in their garage with junkyard engines and going fast.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

I agree with KCS.
Stock rotating assy is perfect for what you want to do.
Elbow grease and solvent and patience works well. Although it's going to be difficult to really get the block clean. But can be done by hand.

If you haven't rebuilt an engine before, it will be a challenge for sure.

There is a good book you can get by HP Books which will help.

A few tips.
Keep the piston/rod/bearings together as an assembly.
Ditto for the main caps.
Bag and label bolts.
Take lots of photos.

For the heads. I wouldn't surface them. Just carefully clean them. Odds are good the exh valves and seats aren't too good. So check them out close. So far the engines I've torn down all looked bad there.
Also look at the pushrod ends and mating rocker arm. I've seen those wear badly. Just one or two per engine.

Other than that, these things just don't seem to wear out.

Took apart a 5.3 that has a solid inch of sludge in the pan. Rod and main bearings were perfect.

I did a meticulous tear down, cleaning, regap odd top rings and reassembled my L33 with all the orig parts. It's gone 9.20's at near 150. 75 passes to date. It amazes me.

Ron

Chris6060

I've watched a lot of videos on how to rebuild LS engines, SBC's, read multiple books, I've read How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines by Motorbooks Workshop as well as their LS swap guide. Any other books will be welcome as well. I have time more than anything on my hands. I've rebuilt a twin two stroke 700cc in an '05 Arctic Cat M7 before and have done a lot of work on engines, just not much to their internals.

The thing is, is that I'm not SUPER stressed about budget on this thing and I want this thing to as reliable as possible once the kinks are worked on it. I plan on keeping the motor for as long as possible and the truck for as long as possible as well, so it's definitely an investment. I want it to be daily drivable for the first few years after it's initial build. I live in an environment that regularly reaches -20 and -40 in the winter months.

But I figure if my boss can have a badass compound turbo Cummins with 700RWHP as a DD, I can build a badass TTLS that can eat it up and DD it if I want lol.

I figure with a full synthetic 0w-30(40? Suggestions?) and a nice oil pan heater, as well as block heater, it should be fine. It's absolutely incredible what these new synthetic 0 weights are doing for cold weather starting.

DavidBoren

If you're not super worried about budget, then stepping up to some genIV rods and forged pistons definitely wouldn't be a bad thing. I would use the 6.275" rods out of a genIV 4.8L with some DSS forged pistons with a compression height of 1.140"... Should put you at .005" above the 9.230" LQx deck. And it raises your rod ratio.

Definitely not necessary, but it's something to consider, for sure.