6.6 Duramax swap or performance heads?

[RayRay86]

Good afternoon guys,

I have a 2009 suburban 2500 6.0 and am having random multiple misfires and it currently has 204,*** miles on it. I am leaking coolant as well with residual around the heads and valve cover areas. I really love this truck as it fits the whole family and can tow quite a bit. Was wondering if at this point would it be better to do a 6.6 duramax swap or replace the top end with performance parts? Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks and God Bless,
Ray Ray

 

[Foggy]

That's a huge difference in options you have !!
Personally, I'd keep the gas and stroke it OR if it's still
in really really good shape then do a CAM & Heads w Headers and
good exhaust. Use a very small mild cam from comp or cammotion that
will compliment your cylinder heads. Either way you'll want to do a retune
using HPTuners or similar . That 2500 Sub is a sweet ride !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[strutaeng]

Good afternoon guys,

I have a 2009 suburban 2500 6.0 and am having random multiple misfires and it currently has 204,*** miles on it. I am leaking coolant as well with residual around the heads and valve cover areas. I really love this truck as it fits the whole family and can tow quite a bit. Was wondering if at this point would it be better to do a 6.6 duramax swap or replace the top end with performance parts? Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks and God Bless,
Ray Ray

Yeah, that's a huge difference in options there!

@BigDogYJ has a Duraburb 2500, but GMT800 I believe. I would imagine that's a $10k-$20k+ swap, depending on if you do the work or not.

You can freshen up the 6.0 if it otherwise runs good and suits your needs. I spent like $1300 on my 06 Suburban 2500 LQ4 engine and it had 260k. Your LY6 or L96 would basically be identical, minus the VVT (you can delete if you want and go with an aftermarket camshaft and get a tune.)

TTY head bolts with engine in-vehicle

Hello. I'm doing a top end refresh on my 06 Suburban LQ4 (lifters, cam, refreshed heads, gaskets). I removed the heads yesterday and found the rear most head bolts are pretty tight to the firewall. I happen to have just bought a 24" flex head ratchet, which was perfect for the job (admittedly ...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

I hope this helps.

 

[Marky Dissod]

If you're already happy with how it tows, then you will not upgrade to 4.10 -
even though 4.10 could potentially pay for itself by making your 6L90 even more durable,
plus your MpG will NOT go down, and may very well go up after a tune.

Whether you stick with 3.73 or go 4.10, be sure to choose the cam with the axle gear choice in mind.
LY6 already has rectangle heads which cost a helluva lotta $ to upgrade. Keep them, maybe clean them up a bit.
Keep the VVT, but limit it, then choose a SLIGHTLY more assertive cam that will not lose any low-RpM grunt.

Then think about headers and a catback. Quality is not always the most expensive, but never cheap.
And avoid listening to anyone who uses the word 'backpressure', or who does not know what 'scavenging' means.