Well guys I think my LS1 is singing up to its maker and either time to try to revive it or lay it down to rest.After seafoaming it,I experienced good results and really woke the motor up and the amount of sludge and crap that came out of it was incredible.But I knew this would also show me how bad the motor really was in need of a rebuild.When I bought the motor as cheap as I did...I was told that it smokes on startup and burns oil.Driving it for a year like this it has made it worse ofcourse.Now the car smokes blue especially under acceleration,when I first did my swap and ran open headers..oil was slowly dripping out of the driver side manifold and is the same side that I hear piston slap on cold start up.My dual cats must be clogged after all this lol.

So here is the deal.I have a good mechanic friend that is willing to pull my motor out and tear it down.he thinks its a wrist pin or broken piston..or bad rings and could be an 'easy' fix for $700.He builds some cool race cars so I do trust his input and skills.Im debating whats the best and most cost effective way to get my car running with added power.I just bought a ls6 intake,looking to add 228r cam and maybe port n polish 243 heads.nothing crazy for a build up..just a nice street car.But Ive read that ls1's need lots of lil upgrades i should do at the sametime like the oil pump,dbl timing chain,trunion upgrades,oil catch cans and ls6 valley cover,delete pcv etc. which is going to bring this way up over 6k and Im not sure if I will need an all new rotating assembly or possibly a new block.I keep looking for a nice lq4 to land my way but nothing is pooping up in my area

 

86, keep an eye out for a low mileage short block on ls1tech and anywhere else you have time to search. ls1/lq4/lq9/ls2 and then just add your parts too it. i bought my complete 55k LQ9 for a song, but it took a while to find one. you've picked out a good cam for a DD. the oil pump and timing chain are all must haves if you are breaking into the block(or putting in a short block you picked up), no reason to spend a bunch of money rebuilding and not replace something as important as your oil pump(remember, this is the heart of your engine).

i wouldn't worry about trunion upgrades, or a double roller timing chain. get a good ls2 timing chain and your rocker stands are just fine for the cam you have picked out. depending on idle and tuning, you might also want too look at something in the 220-224 range instead. both will make great streat power.

good luck with the process...if i come across anything reasonable i'll send you a pm!

 

Thanks,yea im keeping my eyes open for deals locally.Im not all to sure what has to be changed from my current ls1 if i do get an lq motor and if i need to change the harness and pcm again.from what ive read i need all my fbody accessories,the oil pain and pickup,maybe the valley cover? im assuming you can just reflash the pcm for the 6l.cam wise im looking for a lil bit more grunt in midrange power..not after a topend screamer since i dont do alot of highyway racing..more light to light and fun,also want some good lope so i think the 228r at 112lsa fits the bill for all around power and torque with decent economy (lol)

 

Oil pump upgrade only required for 99+older LS1's ( halfway through 99 was the switch )

DONT do a double chain just run a single LS2 chain ( around 30 or 40 bucks ) My first LS1 is still running one of those. 7000 RPM daily. Just reused the stock LS1 gears too

Trunion upgrades? Meh never done em, never had a problem. I think most "trunion" failures are too long push rods causing overload but who knows. Regardless a very small percentage of them failed anyways. Save the dough here imo

Catch can? Some need em, some dont, but at $40-140 tops this is not a big deal. I ran a breather on my valve cover on my first LS1 for three years with nary a blip of trouble from it. No PCV at all

One upgrade you didnt mention that I personally thinks needs doing to ALL gen III LS engines is upgrade the rod bolts and make sure you run good push rods

 

Thanks for the insight.I will look into these upgrades for more detail if I should do it or not.And yes i have always been a firm believer of upgrading main bolts whenever I had the chance with Arp bolts,its cheap insurance imo.

 

main bolts aren't too much to worry about, its the mains that have issues moreso on these engines

i'd opt (and have ) to go the ls6 valley pan route and then see if you still need a catch can.

 

Omg..i bit the bullet and jumped on a 30,000km 01 lq4 motor with ls6 intake,317 heads longblock with all sensors and fuel rail included for $2300Can.Asking price was $3000.Its looks brand new still when I popped off the valve covers.I can still hear my wallet crying..screaming out right now since I wasnt prepared to make this purchase but I had to weigh my options.Worst case..the ls1 would need new rotating assembly,machining..plus whatever mods I wanted on top.Easily spending the same amount of money for labour and parts so I bought this instead.I think with literally just the 228r cam and ls6 intake along with my ls7 clutch,and exhaust should be on the nose of 400rwhp and the same for torque.

Now I need to research exactly what I need to swap over from the ls1.I know oil pan,pickup tube,front accessories,change opsu.Is everything else plug and play,will my ls1 ecu run the lq4 on stock tune till I get it to a dyno,can I reuse my flywheel and pilot bearing without issues?

 

you will definitely hit your goal of 380rwhp now! welcome to the 6.0l club. great buy!

your stock computer will probably run it, probably not great, but i'm no expert in this area. you are on the right track with the stuff you need to swap over. buy a new pilot bearing, they are cheap and you will probably destroy the other one removing it. make markings on your flywheel and pressure plate before you take them off, so you can install them the same way. it will all bolt up to the lq4.

now you will have to do like me, and start saving for something heavier than a 10 bolt!

 

lol yeah..i wasnt expecting to join this club so soon not even a full yr of having fun with the ls1 but i cant pass it up.the rear end...im surprised it hasnt blown to dust with the amount of abuse ive thrown at it but thats on borrowed time im sure.

i didnt know there is a different mounting positions for the flywheel and i had a feeling its better to replace the pilot bearing instead of removing the hd one i have in the ls1.as for the pcm..as long as it can start and run long enough to get me to my tuner..is all i need

 

Getting anxious to swap to my lq4 I took "Redbull" for a drive to work today.While at work I got my replacement ContourRoam camera.I figured..why not make a vid going home to see if it works properly.Gotta play with the auto volume settings but its a sleek lil hd cam.Enjoy

http://youtu.be/NIQKwamcsCc

Meanwhile Im getting all the parts I can ahead of time to make this swap easier and doing just a cam only setup for now.Decided for sure on the Tsp 228r cam on a 112lsa,springs and 7.400 pushrods with my ls6 intake.Hoping on this setup once tuned I can make 330rwhp and over 360rwtq.Would love to mill the heads and bump compression up to really squeeze some power out of it but its not in the budget.