hey guys, i have a 6 liter lq9 longblock with aluminum 317 heads, upon reading it is my understanding that the 6 liter lq9 with aluminum heads is the motor with the standard short crank not needing a spacer. so in this understanding will a 4l60e convertor bolt to the truck flywheel or do i need to add a ls1 flywheel to run the 4l60e. thanks guys for your help i am gathering parts for the swap and will soon be doing a complete write up with pictures from start to finish. thanks

 

Depends upon the year of the LQ9 and the year of the 4L60E, I would think.

 

yeah thats what i thought, i am getting a 4l60e out of a 2002 transam ramair, but i have no idea what year the lq9 is i have the oilpan off and all accessories off and can see that it has the updated stronger rods i just need to know for sure if it has the long crank or short crank. i do not see a spacer between the flywheel and crank. if it doesn't have the longer crank is the truck flywheel going to work with the 4l60e torque convertor?

 

ok upon doing a search i came up with this
To help clarify some facts and add some more insight to the 6.0L engine, the '01 and later engines only used the "good" aluminum heads (all previous versions were iron), and it has the same camshaft as used in the Corvette LS1 of the same years. The LQ4 and LQ9 engines are mechanically identical, except LQ9 uses higher compression, full floating pistons (10.0:1, vs LQ4's 9.4:1). The aluminum LQ4/LQ9 heads are virtually the same (port wise) as used on the Corvette LS1 and LS6, except the chambers are marginally different (mainly for a slightly different bore size).

if this information is correct i should have a 2001 or up lq9 motor, if this is the case then should i be able to use the 2002 transams ls1 flywheel on the lq9 to bolt up the 4l60e?

 

ok well i have a 2003 6liter lq9, i installed my f-body oil pan and i am awaiting the arp flexplate bolts and torque convertor bolts, they should be here friday. the transmission i have is a rebuilt 4l60e. i ordered my 1999 ls1 computer from john at speartech along with the wiring harness and it should be here within the next 4 weeks, i went with the 99 computer as i have hptuners for a 98 and 99 camaro or firebird. so this will give me time to pull out the old tpi and trans from the car before the harness gets here. i will take pictures this weekend to show what i am starting with.

 

ok here is my question on my fuel setup this is my plan let me know if this sounds right, i still need a fuel rail setup as i already have the ls6 intake and throttlebody, i am thinking of going with a returnless style corvette fuel rail and using the corvette fuel filter with built in regulator. my plan is to mount the corvette fuel filter in the stock location and cutting my stock return line right at this spot and connecting it to the corvette fuel filter, this way i wont have a return line running into the engine bay. this is how i would like to setup the fuel system to feed the lq9 in the car does this look right and will this setup work if i go with the corvette fuel rails and fuel filter?

 

That's exactly how I'm doing mine, so I sure HOPE like heck it works...

 

well i worked on putting the motor together and the transmission today, so this is one less thing i have to do now. the motor is a stock lq9 with a rebuilt 4l60e. here are a few pics of the finished motor and trans. i am waiting on my harness from speartech and the computer. i still have to remove the tpi from the car but i made alil progress today.

 

well its still rainy and cool here in memphis today, so i didn't get much done but i did make some progress. i went ahead and got me a small cam from my buddy matt at comp cams, it is a 225/225 .581/.581-113 cam along with 7.4 comp pushrods to install before i put the motor in the car and a set of patriot gold springs. we all know, i would end up doing it anyway, so i am going to do it while its easy and out of the car. i went ahead and painted my fuel rails red and repainted my ls6 intake silver and once i remove the valve covers they will be painted red also. my plan is to run the corvette fuel rail covers once completed. i am running a ported throttle body and 28lb injectors to feed fuel and air to the motor.
i did get the hood off the car today and started tearing down the tpi motor for removal, the tpi motor coming out has gone a best of 11.46@116 with a d-1 procharger. this car has seen a few different tpi setups but i would like to get the car back to where i can drive it everyday and take it on cruises. well here are a couple of pictures of where it sits now. i removed the be cool radiator, the upper intake, all intake tubing, alternator, and a/c unit.

 

spent alittle time today and took the valve covers off the motor and pulled the rocker arms and pushrods. i went ahead and installed the cam, i am just waiting on my spring remover tool to come in and i will install the patriot springs and button the motor back up. i did make me a spreadsheet for all the wiring and what is needed and what is not needed, this took some time but looks like it is coming together good.

 

well the valve springs are installed and while i had the valve covers off i went ahead and sanded and painted them, still cold here so i havent done to much more, i did go ahead and order a set of shorty coated headers, i know there not better than manifolds but they do look better. i am picking up a front main seal tommorrow and will button the motor up so finally it will be ready to install. i still have to remove the motor and trans from the car and i am still waiting on my speartech harness and computer to come in. well anyway here are a few pics of the complete motor and trans.

 

WoW! Man that engine looks hot!

Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

 

Nice set up you have there. One of these days I'm goint to pick up me a 6.0 to play around with.

 

Wow, Great looking motor. You'll smoke some wheels with that combo!

 

What shorty headers are those? Got any part numbers?