alright forget what i said about a mild 383. i went and visited my old vocational instructor and was asking him questions. he told me what i aught to do. he pulled about 6 magazine articles by hotrod,chevy performance etc about a Lq9. it came in 02 and newer 2500 silverados and such. he knows a guy that has a good one for 700-800 bucks. all i need to do from there is buy an eldelbrock victor jr intake and a holley. with that particular engine i need a electronic controller which msd makes and is purpose built for that very application. my question is will it fit under my hood? i have a 85 z with a street dom and qjet on top and i have a little bit of clearance left over but i need to know if it will fit with out running a cowl on the hood. any info would be greatly appreciated

That's an LS-type engine. 6.0 liter.

The early ones were actually LQ4; LQ9 came later (slightly higher compression).

To me personally, a carb'd LS engine is anathema. You'll spend as much getting all the carb crap as you would fitting EFI. But, that's my personal opinion.

You also need to change the oil pan/pick-up/windage tray to f-body type.

Oh, earlier torque converters may not work with it, depending upon year.

Certainly no bolt-in, and I doubt $1800 would be enough to get it installed and running.

Oh, I have two LQ4's waiting for my attention.

ive seen some massive builds on a carb and thats what i prefer to stay with. injection never really did it for me. my price range is flexible so 1800 isnt the highest i will go. i need to know if it will fit and what ill need for the pan, i know the pan and pickup off a ls1 and such will work

The carb intake is very peaky - race only, basically.

Details for install are in the LS1 swap sticky.

You should really have more sound logic behind running a carb than EFI doesn't "do it" for you.I'd trade every carb I have on the shelf for a good EFI settup.

the LQ9 is a sweet engine, but I never have been able to understand why people want to run a carb on lsx series engines I dont see the point just buy a gen 1 small block, and throw a carb on it if that what you wanna do much cheaper that way

proper intake on LSx will do just about anything you want. LQ stuff is pretty good especially for the money. If you buy all the swap parts and such for good price its a nice upgrade. Just have to consider all the swap components prices like mounts/exhaust if not going with stock manifolds, and guages. May need to upgrade all your thirdgen gauges just to get it to work

Another thing to consider is the complexity of the MSD controller. I have heard its pretty damn hard to configure. A good efi setup will do you just fine and can be dialed in perfectly (which no carb can) for the given engine. Once set up you don't have to make any changes to it unless you make mechanical changes. Take it to a professional and have them do a proper tune (NOT on a dyno) and you should be more than fine.

is it so hard to believe that someone wants to put a carb on a ls series small block? ive seen these projects before and i prefer carb so im not dealing with the computer for multiple reasons. the guy that is helping me with this build is a professional, he has been building SEMA show cars for years and been in the business for over 30 years. he builds twin turbo charger setups for late model stangs and has a hell of a lot of knowledge and he is telling me to go carb along with other engine builders.

im not looking for injection im needing to know what i need to put this 6 liter into my camaro. this is my method of building power and it is different than most but i believe i will make more horsepower for less money with less limitation on a carb setup. i have the upmost confidence in this idea and will be sharing my experiences of this build with the rest of the forum and let you guys know how it is going.

Didn't you know it's blasphemy to put a carburetor on a gen-lll+ small block. Your not allowed, thats it!

J/k i plan on doing the same thing to my car, i'll even be bolting it up to a dreaded non-OD trans.

One of the great things about this Board is people don't just tell you what you want to hear, they'll actually make an attempt to save you from yourself. Doesn't benefit them, so it makes sense to listen to what you're being told.

Yes, it is possible to believe someone wants to run a carb on a Gen III engine. What isn't believable is you have all the information and have made a sound decision. From what you've said in this thread, you don't understand what you'll have when you get done. If this is your driver, you don't want a carb and Victor Jr manifold - period, end of story. Yes, there are members with carb'd Gen III engines, and one in particular is very fast - but, he's no faster than a similarly built injected engine, and it isn't his driver.

The details for installing the engine in the car are in the sticky. The details for installing carb on a Gen III would best come from whoever sells the stuff to do the job. You could also check out ls1tech.com. On this forum, almost everyone has stuck with EFI.

Oh, if this professional of yours is recommending carb, shouldn't we be able to assume he is intimately familiar with both carb and EFI Gen III's? If not (and if you are coming here asking how to do it, doesn't sound like he is), why are you listening to him?

From a driveability standpoint I would push upon you EFI the entire way. If this is more a race only orientated swap then a 4000+stall removes all the sogginess down low with a vic jr and carb intake. Since I already had a $800 carb and $1350 fuel setup, keeping the carb was a no brainer for me. With a wideband and adjusting air bleeds, jets, etc I can crank the car for 2 seconds and it'll fire up and idle perfectly after 30 seconds or so. This is a lot more tuning than the average person does on these carbs and you need to know what changes to make to get proper results. The msd controller is the easiest msd igntion I have ever installed on a car. Plug in the harness into the sensors, add a power and ground to the box and a few clicks on a laptop and you're done. I have full control of timing, 2 step, nitrous retard, etc all from a laptop. The vic jr and my carb will outlflow a fast 90/90 setup on a ls1 and most serious ls1 builds are using a carb intake modified for injectors. Personally if this was any type of daily driver instead of my saturday night fun car I would have kept efi. I'm doing another ls based swap into my tow vehicle and I can guarantee that'll be EFI.

Carry on then since you won't listen to advice here. We were trying to tell you that you won't be gaining ANYTHING. The swap won't be any easier (since you still have to wire for the gauges anyway), the car won't magically make more power, nothing. You will be taking a GREAT efi setup, GREAT ecu setup, and GREAT driveability possibilities and throwing them in the trash. At this point there is no reason to do this swap over a standard sbc.

There are a couple local guys here with carbed LS1 4th gens. One has an LSX aftermarket block which has provisions for a standard distributor and it runs in the 9s. However, its a 454 with a HUGE cam, good heads and a th400 with a big stall. The other is a pretty nasty stock iron block with forged internals. Again, a more race oriented setup than a street setup. Both are driven on the street however and both do just fine. But don't think for a minute that the carb swap will make this swap any easier if you don't use efi.

I can tell you the victor intake with carb studs fits flush under a 4thgen.
Past that you can't actually bolt anything on top of it.

Since you can go 9's on a FAST intake you obviously intend to go 8's or better.
I'm confused why you're worried about buying an intake to go 8's but can't afford a hood?

Are you wanting a carb because you're just more comfortable with that type of setup? Have you always owned a carb'd car, and figure it would be easier to just run a carb than mess with all the wiring on the EFI?

If the answer is yes to either or both of those questions, then you need to consider why you are wanting a Gen III block as opposed to your SBC 383. One of the great benefits of the Gen III family is their amazing tune-ability and both seat-of-your-pants and real ET differences with a good tune. Also, if you're wanting a carb because it's "easier", then I doubt you know what you're getting yourself into with a Gen III swap. Really, it's not an "easy" swap. Sure there's lots of information out there on how to do it, which makes it a lot more tangible for folks like me that's trying to tackle it myself, but if you want EASY, you should say with the old school SBC's. There's a night and day difference between not only the blocks on a Gen III and an SBC, but also motor mounts, computers, cross members, etc.


Now if you don't mind spending the extra money to go all the way with EFI, you will be pleased when you're done with the swap.

eh - I say do what you want. If you prefer a carb and are willing to build the setup right (think lots of $ and even more time) - it'd turn out pretty slick and we'd love to see it chronicled on these boards. Just do your research first so you know what you're getting into. Also check prices on LQ4/9s in your area to make sure your good buddy deal really is a good deal. Welcome to the lsx world.... If you don't go broke or give up on your car while it's under the knife - you're gonna really enjoy the result.

Disclaimer - I actually endorse EFI and hope you don't go broke or give up on your car.

Why not stick with an older block and build that, using a carburetor? No need to spend more money on the ls1 type block. You can use the carburetor on the old style block, then, one day, you can switch to fuel injection still, if you ever change your mind. To me, that makes sense and saves money for you, and you can still build a powerful engine.

alright. lets just all chill out for a minute. i wasnt getting arguementative over the efi to carb deal, its simply my choice. ive listened to numerous engine builders, some have told me the smae thing you have same have told me otherwise. i have quiet of few friends and family that build engines and all but one wonders why i didnt go with injection.

the professional does know what he is talking about and when talking to him about it he said i can run a carb and tune it to street purposes. and considering this man was given cars and trucks from dodge directly to modify and take to sema, he has the knowledge. the only thing he doesnt know is if it will fit under my hood and he is on vacation until sunday.

going with carb was a decision i made with a lot of research, the research wasnt specific enough for my application, which is why is asked questions. im documenting the build and will keep it updated. eventually i might be persuaded to go to injection but for right now im sticking to a carb. if i am wrong about this, which i have known to be from time to time, i will apologize to the forum for being set in my ways.

Fair enough. Do you know what cam you are going to be running in the engine? I was just reading a thread on ls1tech yesterday about the LS6 cam NOT being a good choice for a carb setup because of the 117LSA. The guy said it was a huge pain to tune correctly.

carb motors always had tighter LSA (higher overlap) cams to help with fuel mixture in the intake plenum. I think it has something to do with reversion from the overlap creating more turbulence which allows better mixing.