Building up my LSx

[65standard]

After reading all the LS swap threads here, I got the itch to do one too. Don't really need to as my 1985 C/10 only has 83k miles. Anyways, I found a donor vehicle with a bad 6.0L.

The plan is to build an 11.4:1 high compression, high torque 6.0L/4L80e combo. Sealed Power flat top pistons and Manley H-beam rods for the bottom. Big valve ported 706 heads and a Dorman truck intake for the top.

The block is finally ready for the preassembly. I'm guessing the motor will have about 425Hp, but the machine shop says closer to 500Hp.

[BR3W CITY]

Stock displacement? Based on what your looking at building, I'd consider going with one of the car intake setups. The cam you'll want to run on setup is going to be making its biggest power north of 4k, and provided you've got the other valvetrain to support it, she'll be turning quite a few rpm's at max effort.

While I have seen some people like that Dorman intake (and I fully admit, for the price, it looks better), I'm not sold first-hand on them as a performance intake. I run the truck intake for now, since it came with my motor, but if I needed to go buy one, I wouldn't be looking for a truck setup. The LS car intakes like the LS6 are always worth a few hp, assuming you don't want to spend money on aftermarket stuff. Like I mentioned above, you'll be making your power in an RPM range where the car intakes shine.

As for power figures, that'll come down to the cam, the head specifics, and the tune. If you can fuel it, and aren't afraid to rev it, then I think you'll be pretty happy with the outcome.

Get a good converter!

[slotard]

From everything I've read there isn't really any need to build up the bottom end... 700 to the wheels on an untouched shortblock with a turbo appears to be fairly common. I've been planning a swap and I don't expect to do much to the bottom end... but if I do, and decide I'm better off with a rebuild than finding another junkyard engine, I'd be tempted to go 408.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by slotard

From everything I've read there isn't really any need to build up the bottom end... 700 to the wheels on an untouched shortblock with a turbo appears to be fairly common. I've been planning a swap and I don't expect to do much to the bottom end... but if I do, and decide I'm better off with a rebuild than finding another junkyard engine, I'd be tempted to go 408.

For the OP's build (high compression n/a), he's going to have to at least do the pistons and rod bolts. At that point, you might as well do the rods, let it spin and not worry about bending a rod the first time you get a little bit of knock.

Plus if he decides to run any spray, he'll be alright doing so within reason.

You NEED to do the rod bolts, high quality bearings and high quality valvetrain stuff if your serious about trying to make the big N/A power. The rod bolts fail under the stretch forces from RPM, which is much less prone to happen on the boosted motors. Seems to me like you can get the stock bottom end to live a little longer on boost than on RPM, but its not always true (ring gap can change that in a heartbeat).

Side note; I'm pretty sure there was a new stock bottom end N/A record set recently. We've talked about chasing that, but the amount of "little" stuff you need to one up the record is frustrating as hell.