cadben49

I am picking up a used LQ9 short lock with 150k miles on it friday. It seems to be in good shape and am getting a great deal on it, I am swapping it out for my misfiring and shavings in oil l33 at 183k. I was wondering what I should do to the motor while I have it all they way down before putting it together and installing. It is going in my 05 Silverado and I am a firefighter so I use it to tow and need it to get places quickly. Plus it is my daily, I have a tbss intake ,a stage 3 high lift cam, a used set of 243 heads, and a few other add ons going on it. Overall I’m looking for reliability mostly with good power, but nothing crazy expensive. Trying to keep it wallet friendly, any suggestions on what should be done would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou

G Atsma

I would replace front and rear seals, cam thrust plate, rocker trunnion kit (CHE is best), replace plastic barbell with billet one from SacCity Corvette, Melling high pressure oil pump, LS7 or better lifters.

cadben49

Thankyou, And would you recommend getting anything done at a machine shop?

RB04Av

I would not TOUCH the short block in any manner way shape form or fashion. Not mess with the pistons, not mess with the bores, not touch the rods, NOTHING.

G Atsma has a good program. I might consider, additionally, getting the heads freshened up, and of course putting in valve springs that match the cam (PAC 1218 would probably do the trick). But he pretty much covered it.

Might want to consider new oil lines if you're retaining the LQ9 oil cooler.

cadben49

I’m glad you said that because that saves me money, but not even a hot bath to freshen up the block? And I actually already bought the barbell and trunnion kit this morning, and plan on doing his program exactly except plus a pickup tube brace and maybe a steam kit.

RB04Av

Quarter car wash.

cadben49

I forgot to mention in the trade he is offering either 823 or 243 heads with it, I figured the 243 would be better for my setup since they’re cathedral. I like you agree that the 243s would be better for a truck application? Thankyou

RB04Av

I kinda think so, but the squares wouldn't be "bad" or anything. Maybe it's as important that you have all the other pieces to go with whichever heads, and don't have to source a bunch of stuff or buy adapters or whatever, to overcome the minor detail differences here and there.

IMO the LQ9 is a pretty good starting-out foundation for a build; it has the good floating rods, & flat-tops, but all the older 3rd gen stuff. Arguably the best core from that time period.

Sacrilege

iTrader: (1)

If you haven’t pulled the pistons out, just leave it alone, there’s nothing to do. If you already have pulled the pistons, just throw some new rings on them and call it a day, it doesn’t need anything at only 150k.

cadben49

so basically what I’m getting is to not even touch the lower end, and that’s what I plan on doing. So far I have ordered the billet barbell and CHE trunnion kit, and plan on getting the upgraded springs, cam plate, melling oil pump, pickup tube brace, and some ls7 lifters and trays unless I can find some decently priced better ones all to go with my performance upgrades. And I guess that I will probably go with OEM gaskets and seals as I’m assuming those are the best, I’m glad I asked before I started getting the bottom end torn down. Saved me time and money

G Atsma

Check with WS6store or Summit for decent pricing on the parts needed

00cls1camaross

iTrader: (10)

Agreed with the WS6 store and Scoggin Dicky. They don't charge sales tax so you can save a few bucks.

A couple of things people have not mentioned:
Knock sensors, knock sensor harness, paint your valve cover and coil brackets something cool, your oil pressure sensor, MAP sensor, rear main seal

I chose Thompson Motorsports lifters.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I did this swap last year.

RedXray

The Morel 6504 are also a good lifter choice and yes the ws6store is great, it's where I bought my set.

You'll need injectors too. The LQ9 factory injectors duty cycle are almost maxed out in stock form. The 50 lb/hr flex fuel injectors (12613412) from the Gen 4 Silverado/GMC trucks are plentiful, cheap and have good data for the tune. These will fit perfect in the TBSS intake too. The Gen 4 injector data has to be converted to Gen 3... you can find the converted data in the "injector sticky" thread. You'll also need injector harness adapters "multec to EV6" or swap out the pigtails. I'm running these injectors in a LQ9 with the TBSS intake and they work great.

Injector data from the sticky thread...

12613412 injectors