I am looking to do an LS swap on my car and I am looking to see what the real differnces btw the ls2 6.0 and Lq4 6.0. There are some ovbious differnces, steal vs aluminum block, differnt manifold etc... What I am really looking for is why are they so much cheaper? Are they that much harder to put in a third gen. If I decide to go with and Lq4 what year or particular one should I be looking for. I am going to use a t56 since I already have one, and love it. I am going to have to find a new ls style t56 to go with whatever moter I find. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cost is based on supply and demand. There are millions of LQ4's and a few tens of thousands on LS2's. From a performance standpoint, the LS2 is better is most aspects, hence more desirable and the lower numbers available demand a premium

On to the details, LQ4/9 are GEN III engines meaning 24x crank reluctor, 1x cam, valley mounted knock sensors, rear cam sensor. DOD, AFM, VVT not available and cannot be retrofitted. LS2s are GEN IV, but were introduced as a hybrid to transistion from GEN III to GEN IV. So they got the GEN IV hard parts like skirt mounted knock sensors, front cam sensor, but could be had with GEN III 24x controls systems. Later corvette and TBSS LS2s were full GEN IV with 58x systems

How that pertains to the swap:
Iron vs alum block, 65lb weight difference
LQ4's had dish pistons, LQ9 and LS2s flat tops for higher compression
LQ4/9's used 317 heads, LS2s 243/799. Same basic casting with the 317's having bigger chambers for lower compression
LQ4/9's were only available in trucks, LS2s from cars were dressed to match the car, low intake, tight accessories etc. TBSS LS2s were dressed up as truck engines
Either way a truck engine is only useful for the longblock. A car engine can be used almost in its entirety
24x systems are the most common and have a massive aftermarket. 58x systems are a bit more difficult

All can be used with a T56 except the 99-00 LQ4's. They had a longer crank flange and no flywheel is available for a manual. These are easy to identify because they are the only LSx engine to ever use iron heads

 

I appreciate your prompt and through response pocket. I just just want to do things right the first time. If I am going to do this it will be a long time coming so hopefully I will make the right decisions with the swap thanks to the members of tgo and you.

 

All LS2s & LQ9s have better connecting rods & are bushed, early LQ4s didn't(I think they got them on 2004)
Also the 65lb weight is incorrect, it' like 105lbs-there's a thread or 2 on tech were a few guys weighed a bunch of different blocks & both came up with over 100lbs.
Throttle bodies are different, cable or DBW plus 75 & 90 mm.
LS2 are few & far between, lot more LQ4s than LQ9s.
Best NA SBE pump gas combo for the money is LQ9 with 799 heads or mill the 317s.

What is your goal?

 

Rod type was based on year. LQ9's from 03-04 would have the floater rods, after 05 all LSx engines were floaters and marginally stronger yet heavier. Doesnt matter because the weaker rods are still quite strong

LQ9's never came with 799 heads, only truck LS2s, FWD 5.3's and later GEN IV 4.8/5.3s
If its a GEN III iron 6.0, it came with 317 heads or the 99-00 cast irons that noone uses
Later GEN IV iron 6.0's such as LY6's had 823 rectangular port heads which are quite nice. The down side is cost. You can usually find a good LQ4/9 shortblock, buy L92/LS3 heads separate and a LS3/L76 intake combined for less than a LY6 longblock

For those hunting cheap/reliable power from a LSx, a L92/LS3 topped iron 6.0 is hard to beat. Throw in a mild cam with a big split and theres an easy 420-480hp engine for under $3k

 

Didn't say LQs came with 799s but they are plentiful, if you put an LQ in a car you usually only use the short or long block because the oil pan & intake dont usually fit.
6.0s also came with L92 heads, aluminum block out of half ton VortecMAX(pretty rare).
Iron block 6.0s out of HDs LY6 & L96, like 9.6:1 compression ratio.
Cathedral port stuff is still much easier to find .

 

My goal is 450 500hp street car. I thinking about which ever block I get making it a stroker. I want to start with a good base, the last moter i had was close to 400 I would like to get into that next tier. I had AFR's on my last moter so I think I am going to put them on this one as well because I had great results with them. I am not sure what i am going to do cam wise. Right now I am deployment dreaming until I get back to the states. I have had spurts of intrest in my car over the years, I have had it since I was in high school almost 15 years ago. My time away and my countless hours of dreaming on TGO of LS strokers in my future has completely revigorated my interest in my car to want to put a new power swap in my car when I get home.

 

Ported L92/LS3 heads are half the cost. If you can't make over 500 RWHP with those heads on a stroker then you screwed up big time.

Just get an iron block 6.0L and move on. If you must have aluminum then you're wasting money not going LS3 with the larger bore size.

 

This is the direction I'm looking at for my build as I'm ready to buy an engine and 4L60E for my build. The LS2 would be nice (if I can find one) but if not the LQ9 would work fine. The roughly 90-100 lbs should not hurt that much. I'm sure that except for a max perf. race car I would not notice the heavier short block. I also have talked to the guys at Hawks about an LS1 with heads and cam kit. I am looking to get 400 RWHP/400 RWTQ. Decisions/decisions I am ready to kick this thing off. Also Pocket I will probably be in touch for one of your excellent harnesses.

 

Awesome

I have 4 6.0's as well if you want an engine package

 

Well I'm in the market what have you got??? If you can PM me a contact number we'll discuss my interest. Also I can arrange to pick it up.

 

2 LQ4
1 LQ9
1 LS2

All rebuilt 0 miles

 

LS2's also have a better crank and it is one of the best aluma block offerings from GM

 

definitly interested sent you a pm

 

How do you figure?

Car 24x LS2s got the same gun drilled crank as any other LS1
Truck LS2s were just like any 5.3/6.0 crank in 24x or 58x

Both interchange freely and are crazy strong for factory parts

 

LS2 drilled, 6.0 truck not drilled. drilled = better

 

And the Uber rich prefer the LS2 blocks for re-sleaving.

 

Its cost effective

Semi-common part, alum, can handle a big bore sleeve

Cheaper than a LSX block and is alum, aftermarket alum LSx blocks are a recent thing, but still more expensive than a sleeved LS2

 

If I decide that I don't want to keep my car N/A in the future is it safer to go with the iron block 6.0 rather then the Aluminum block iron sleeve 6.2?

 

Not really. There are LS2 blocks boosted to over 1000whp out there. Iron block 1200ish but after that the 4 bolt heads really dont cut the mustard and your into aftermarket stuff

 

This is good information thank you for the reply, sometimes I feel like I am getting a popsicle headache looking at all this great tgo trying to sort out my dream build

 

So wait. After 2001, LQ4's came with aluminum heads right?

So if you wanted to do a low compression 6.0 build for a thirdgen (for turbo), an LQ4 with a LS1 fbody intake & accessories would fit right?

-- Joe

 

Exactly. And if you put the Corvette 243 heads on then you end up with more compression than an LQ9. I don't know why people talk about the LQ4 like it is less desirable. I think it is quite flexible.

 

I guess different people have different ideas. So for me, anything other than an LQ4 would be useless because I'd have to change pistons to get compression down.

I'm under the impression that a Gen III motor typically has more maners/driveability than a SBC of the same power output. My 412" SBC is a little rough around the edges. I'm woundering if I could go with an LQ4 and the same T76 turbo and make the same 600hp yet have it drive/idle like stock.

I could probably get a junkyard LQ4 for what my AFR210 heads cost me...

-- Joe

 

Why? It doesn't have to be.

 

Because the displacement swallows up the RPM band, but doesn't smooth out the other cam characteristics enough.

So you end up with a cam that's dead at 5800 RPM, but still wants to idle around 900rpm.

A firing order swap cam would probably cure that to a certain degree, but the LS1 is basically a number of 'fixes' that make it solve the problem - the smoother firing order, port and valve angle help with fuel atomization, spread exhaust ports.

-- Joe