It's my understanding that the heads are the same between the low compression and high compression 6.0 engines. The pistons being the difference. The H.O have flat top pistons and the stock 6.0 have dished pistons. I know for sure about the pistons as I've seen them. As far as the heads go, The casting on my 2002 escalade motor are 317 and shar the same part number as the low compression 6.0.

 

Who has a low compression 6.0 and ISN'T spraying it heavily or running a supercharger / turbocharger that is producing "SERIOUS" power?

I may not have a clue, but, again, as I said, prove me wrong. You can quote me on this, "No way will a "H.O" 6.0 will produce 360RWHP in an Fbody with manifolds, stock intake, no boltons, etc." Let me know when I'm wrong.

Let me know what it produces when you handicap it with more restrictive manifolds (intake and exhaust).

I'm done with this, because you are taking my replies as flaming, but, as I said, its just my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions..... I look forward to your dyno results. When do you plan the swap? What other mods do you have now and what other mods do you plan to install at the time of the swap?

 

its half a dozen 1 way and half a dozen the other.will you make more power? who knows. will you be heavier? yes. do you have a good foundation for a power adder?(nitrous, blower, or turbo) oh ya!! give it a shot. is your doing it yourself the most you got to lose is your time and around 1500 bucks.(theres always nickel and dime stuff and with our cars those are BIG nickels and dimes!) if its less than great. if the outcome doesnt happen the way you projected than here comes the turbo! good luck guy and keep me informed. thats how we better ourselves, sometimes we got to stray from the norm to be better or find ways to improve the norm! whats the worst that can happen? you will have a low rider suv?!!! have fun

 

Why not just tell everybody with their opinions to shut the hell up!!! And just do the damn thing!!! :p But that's just my .02. I try to be different to and get ridiculed by my friends sometimes too....so just do what you want, and if it works great!!! If not well hope that you learned something and didn't blow a motor learning it

 

your right, the heads are the same but with a stock 6.0 (H.O> or not) if you put on 5.7 heads(milled or not) youll be righ back up there compression wise to a stock 5.7 but with slightly more cubes. 75lbs blah so what, take off the A/C and bumper stuff and do a littl weight savings mods and it wont matter. id say a H/C 6L with 5.7 heads and a H/C ls1 with the same mods will be close or the 6.0 will slightly out perform ... anyway you look at it the iron block is far more forgiving than the disposable alum. block we have( or used to )

 

Spanky LS1.. Not taking it as a flame.. I invited discussion and I can take criticism.. I just got off the phone with Jaun(SUX2BU)It seems I had a little misinformation. He swapped a low compression 6.0 with stock LS1 Heads/cam and Hookers being the only mods. He made 340 HP and 360 Torque. and a lot more tahn that with the juice and the M2.. Not to shabby.. BYBYC5 Thanks for the info man.. Keep the opinions coming

 

What were talkin here is a 6.0 iron short block.

What I understand is the truck intake manifold won't fit in the f-body, so, that has to go.

I don't believe the exhaust manifolds will fit either, so, that has to go.

Unless your thinking of running boost, you will want a little more compression and some port/valve work, so the heads will more than likely have to go in favor of ported 5.7L heads.

You will want a little more cam in it (don't we all), so that will have to go.

What you have left is a good iron 6.0L short block. I would favor that over a 5.7L short block even though you will have a slight weight penalty.
With [all parts being equal], the 6.0 block will make more power than 5.7 liters. Thats just common sense.

Now.... Is it worth the trouble? Well, if there is nothing wrong with your old engine ... probably not. If your old engine was trashed, and you [needed] a new block / or a cyl hone with new pistons .... Then a 6.0 short block with it's greater displacement would certainly be the best performance pick (all other things equal)

Just my opinion,
Ron

 

Ron,

I got the Escalade long block. The D-port heads similar to the Z06 it also has the higher compression stock escalade pistons. The engine is 10:1 in stock form. The engine is going to have LS6 intake, longtube headers, aggressive cam, etc.. I already have my LS1 sold. I'm willing to take a chance that I'll make more power with the same mods with the engine being the only variable. I believe the toque alone will be enough to compensate for the weight. Besides that going to remove some of the weight under the hood by moving the battery to the trunk, and getting rid of air pump egr... etc..

 

bigeller...

OK...I agree with you.

Well then, if it was me, I would mill the heads about .030" and have them ported (just like you would a set of regular 5.7 heads). That would take the CR up to about 10.6 to 1

Of course, since the engine is out of the car, I would have the block bored with a new set of flat top forged pistons. But, that costs $$money$$.

Again, with everything being equal, the 6.0 has to make more power than the 5.7

On the other hand; ... Is about an extra 20 cu. in. worth all the trouble?

BTW, I would find out exactly what cam is in there now. A "strange" grind cam made for bottom end truck performance may be a mistake in the car. At least find out exactly what's in there.

 

Well I'm glad someone agrees with me.. haha Believe me, I'm not going to run the escalade cam.. If I don't get a custom grind, I may get the MMT M2, or the G5x2 or maybe something as laughable as a LS1 hotcam? I just said that so some more folks can laugh at me.. I really just want to see what it'll do before I get it bored .030

 

fyi ,truck cams and 01 and up fbody are the same cam. the only thing the H.O. 6.0 has over any other is the flat top piston vs the dished piston, so if an HO motor has 10.0CR with 6.0 heads then with 5.7 heads you will be over that and even more if they are milled. i have no doubt that you will love the extra TQ, and the hp you will gain, im in the prossess of building such an engine( accually its done, i just have to stop being lazy and drop it in) 6.0l, flattops, milled .015 5.7 heads. tr230,LTs and a large stall...

 

Using that 6.0 truck block is a cheap way to more displacement. Instead of using high dollar stroker kits, Darton sleeves, etc to make more displacment out of an aluminum 5.7, just start with a 6.0 and bore it.

Although it still won't yield as much didplacement as the high dollar big cube aluminum 5.7s, it is a cheap alternative to bigger displacement on a buget.

With an added bonus of a very strong iron block....

Just my opinion,
Ron

 

Guys, the Escalade motor has effectivly LS6 heads, and 6.0L of displacement on an iron block. Its like an IRON 6L LS6, with 10:1 compression ratio. If he puts a good cam in it, I'd guess 375rwhp is possible, maybe more. If he goes crazy with the cam, maybe 400rwhp, just like an LS1. The "HO" version does not have the standard 9.4:1 compression ratio that the normal 6.0 engines have.

I personally think it's a waste of time too, but its not that bad of an idea if somebody is just bored. If I was him I'd just throw on ls6 heads and call it done, as it'd make the same amount of power and take a whole bunch less work, without a weight penalty. But he's more than welcome to go the long way around things to get an "LS1" style motor to replace his....gasp...LS1.

 

I don't think an LS6 intake will work on a LQ9 if you plan on using the serpentine belt set up from the truck, the TB placement is different, But the truck manifold will have clearance issue with your hood. Probley need a cowl hood. The LQ9 ports are identical to LS6 heads, If you were gonna change cams i'd go with a mild Comp XE cam. The truck intakes have longer plenums for low end torque so go with it. If you get a radical cam you will defeat the purpose of the manifold.

 

ok guys maybe we should recap cuz some folks are throwing things out there that are irelevant.
the 6.0 LQ9 "longblock" will bolt right in with NO problems. he will be using an ls1/6 intake
basicly he is swaping a 5.7 longblock for an lq9. there will be no fitment issues, trust me i know.
with the flatops this it comes with and a set of 5.7 heads will yeild him slightly over 10.1 CR now at this piont he as an iron ls1 with a 4.00 bore. plz the guy is asking for help and input, if you havent done it then how do you know. ive done it and are doing it again as we speak. its like asking how a cam works and some that has never had a cam at all telling you how it feels, go on with the project dude youll be happy,

 

Never said their was a fitment issue with the short block, but both enignes use different manifolds and serpentine belt routing that will conflict with either manifold. Well atleast their throttle bodys.

 

I dont get where all the controversy is coming from? The 6.0 will make at least 25hp more than the 5.7 and weigh about 80 pounds more.

I say bore it .040 over for some more cubes and run 11:1 forged pistons and a 150 shot of juice.

 

Guys I'm just wanting to try something a little different than the norm.. I know it would make more power if I have the motor bored and go with forged internals. I got a deal on an escalade motor for $1000. It was out of an interior fire. It's going to the machine shop and will be fully checked and cleaned. I also would like to point out that there seems to be some confusion spurred from a past article in GM high tech performance. It stated the 317 head castings are only found on LQ4 or low compression 6.0s. I myself was concerned when I got this motor and it had 317 castings.. I thought I may have been screwed over with a low compression 6.0 from a salvage yard. We pulled the heads and alas flat top pistons.. So I believe at some point they quit making the 035 casting and put 317s on all 6.0s with the only difference as mentioned above being the pistons, dished vs. flat. I'm only going to be out a small amount of money for the smoke and grime to be cleaned off the engine and probably bearings and rings for insurance when it's apart. I'm trading some parts to a friend to help me do the swap since I'm in the learning mode. That all being said, I'll have a motor that will hang with a modded LS1 in NA form and will hold a 100-150 shot all day long if I choose to go that route.. Not much money involved here and potentially alot of benefit for me.. I don't have a job right now.. That's why this is being done as cheaply as possible. If it doesn't work out, I'll be able to make more money than I paid by parting out the engine dig? Thanks for the input so far.. Keep it coming..

 

Michael...

If you are gonna pull it apart maybe you can put a more nitrous-friendly piston ring setup in there... more gap etc...

I have had a 422ci iron block and the block bolts right now.

Nobody has mentioned that the stock LS1 is 10.1:1 so I will.

I think the swap is interesting but I think I would run a big cam to help make the swap worth it, otherwise the weight of the block can make the extra power even out.

PSJ

 

I definitely give you props for this swap...gonna be really cool to see the outcome.

I am going to agree with Mr. Pro Stock John and also say go with a large cam to make it worthwhile. I think the G5X2 has been proven to make very good power.

As for the heads...if they are the same as LS6 heads as mentioned above, I think that since you'll have them off anyway, why not have them cleaned up a little bit and install the proper components to compliment the cam (whatever it may be). Good Luck and keep us updated!!

TireFryer