I have a 2006 3500 Express van I picked up pretty cheap. Full glass package, 6.0, 4L80E, 10-1/2" floating rear, which GM stopped using on these vans in 2011. Almost 300K on the clock, GM rebuilt transmission has 18K since installation. Exactly what I wanted.

Engine ran very poorly, wouldn’t rev up, no power at all. After exhausting every possible cause, yanked the motor for a rebuild.

Found a few collapsed lifters, one was missing it’s guts. Loosest timing chain I’ve ever seen. Two pistons had the rings locked in their grooves-collapsed rings? Looks like this engine was abused and didn’t have the oil changes it should have.

Bores look OK, crank looks OK, its getting a light polishing.

The plan:

Boring .030 over for flat top (LQ9) Sealed Power hypereutectic pistons, cleaned up rods and added ARP bolts. Fresh built 706 heads with LS6 springs. Summit Stage 1 truck cam, Morel LS7 lifters, BTR shaft rocker setup. Butler oil pump with O-ring seal to block, double O-ring barbell. Cloyes -.005 or -.010 True Roller timing chain. New front & rear covers, oil pan, tray & pickup. Hughes Performance flexplate, new stock damper.

I know I’ll need bigger than stock injectors but I’m still on the fence. Suggestions welcome.

Peripherals: Bigger 4 core radiator, Tru-Cool H7B coolers for oil & transmission, FlowKooler water pump, dual 16" Spal fans, new exhaust manifolds, head pipes/cats, new starter. New motor mounts.

 

What are you putting this in? What intake?

 

Goes back into the van. Stock intake.

 

Just a heads up, you are looking at around 11.5:1 CR with that combo.

 

If you put ARP bolts in, you WILL have to resize the rods. Are they Gen III or Gen IV full floating rods? If they're the latter, you don't need ARP bolts. Stock will be fine. Have the heads been rebuilt with bigger valves? If not, you're handicapping that 6.0 with a small 1.89 intake valve.

 

You guys are correct, the CR is a bit high and the intakes are small. I hadn't completely settled on heads yet.

LS2 799 heads would yield about 10:1 compression ratio with the 2"/1.55" valves.

I'll look into the rods.

 

LS1Formulation, as a 2006 with a 24x reluctor, it's a Gen III. The rods have floating pins.

I can't find info if later stock rod bolts are better then this engine's originals.

 

If you have floating pins, you have the Gen IV style rods.
You HAVE the "later" stock rod bolts already.

 

Good! Thanks.

 

I'm finding it difficult to find info on these rod bolts.

I've been told torque to 15 ft-lbs then add 85 degrees. Is this correct?

But nobody knows if they get lubed or installed dry??

 

Calling Che70velle!!

 

Yes, 15 + 85…but I go 47-48 lb ft and they are happy. Lube them liberally.

 

Great info Scott, thanks for jumping in.

It’s said that the earlier LS rods & bolts are weak and can be replaced with ARP bolts but because the ARP bolts are made up to a higher torque, the big ends go out of round.

But the ARP bolts are to be torqued to 45 lb ft, the same as the later better LS rods & bolts. Using them should NOT put them out of round.

I’m gonna test this next week at my friend’s shop with a bore gauge.

 

I do 46 with oil. Sounds like I’m a little on the low side.

 

It's not the torque that causes the issue, it's the bolt design. There's a reason Katech manufactured their own stronger bolts that were designed to be drop in replacements for stock. But as far as I'm aware, Gen IV full floating rods don't have bolt problems, so why replace them?

 

46-48…2 ft lbs doesn’t mean much there. You’d likely find that 2 torque wrenches side by side would be off 2-3 ft lbs from each other in a lot of cases. The only true way to ensure proper torque on a rod bolt is to use a rod bolt stretch gauge. They are extremely repeatable.

 

yes i did the same thing with my lq4, with .030 over flat top ls2 pistons….only diffrence is i went with 64cc ls3 style heads and added a LSA blower…..man its a riot, but having to add a bottle of boostane with every fill up is getting old, and expensive…i live in ca. so all we have is 91…….with that being said im building a 408 stroker to replace the 11:1 built 370”…..the 408 is gonna be a 9.75:1/10.15:1 motor…havent decided on head gaskets yet……but the 370” even in N/A form at 11:1 with a ls3 intake and 220/230 cam was a very responsive and streetable ripper….this motor your gonna build is gonna rock….even if its in a big OL’ group home van!!

 

….arent 799 heads 64cc…, if thats the case its not gonna be 10:1 but more likely 11:1…give or take a **** hair depending on the head gaskets and other contributing factors…..either way it will be JUST fine!!!……..but yeah if you havent acquired the heads yet if definetly go with the 799/243’s over the 706/862’s any day all day….im sure much of the others in here would agree with that decision as well……now 706/862’s on the stock dished lq4 slugs would get you around 10:1 or in the nieghborhood…..but 11:1 is much funner and more responsive!!!! But if your trying to do it on the cheap cheap…it could be done with 706/862’s and 10:1 …..just a set of bearings, rings, and a dingleballer……either way you go its gonna be a good time and much better than stock LQ4 configuration…….id leave the rods alone….’06 should have gen 4 floating rods and will hold up JUST fine to what your doing….thats all im running in my 11:1 LSA supercharged 370” flat top iron LS2 hybrid frankenmotor….that started life as a ‘01 crank and block found on craigslist for $500…..i bored it .030” over , added ls2 flat tops with the thin style ring packs, gen 4 rods, hi volume melling oil pump, 64cc LS3 style heads, LS9 headgaskets , and never had any of it BALANCED….runs just fine….and not even a year later i added a LSA super charger to it….3 yrs later and 15k miles down the road and now im trying to decide on a cam for the 408” stroker that im building to replace it….then the 370” can go into my ‘73 c10 swb fleetside that currently has a vortech supercharged 4.8 in it….does it need it…(NO),….the 4.8 with that vortech is a ripper…..but that 370” (6.1) is a ripper and a slasher and with boost its a thriller too…..on top of the fact that i know it can handle it makes me want to run it in that lightweight truck even more…..i know its gotta be a couple hundred pounds lighter than the nova its currently in………or do i wanna put the 408” into the c/10……..damn i hate having to make such gutwrenching decisions!!!….but its a good problem to have

 

Scott & LS:

I already have the ARP bolts.

I’m gonna go to my friend’s shop and have the rods checked for out of round with the stock bolts and the ARP bolts.

I’ll run the stock bolts to 48 lb/ft and the ARP bolts to 45 lb/ft.

If the ARP bolts don’t egg the rods, I’d rather use them over a five buck GM bolt.

 

Check them across the parting line area, not just longitudinally. I did a search and found all kinds of threads about it, some people claimed no problem, others said they had issues with clearances. Good luck!