Looking to go the 6.0 Route

[ChevyZs76]

Have an 04 Tahoe Z71 3.73 gears. got the 5.3 with over 200,000 miles. Towed 24 ft travel trailer to the Keys. Was a rough ride. Felt like the engine was working way to hard. And going up and down the little hills it had to rev all the way up to keep from losing speed. Also it screamed at 2500 RPM's in 3rd gear. Im not looking to tow more, just tow better. Or should I say tow more efficiently.

So planning on modding a 6.0. Hoping to find a LQ9. Im wondering what the biggest stall I could go with? Mostly just used as a daily driver. But, will be towing here and there. Just want to get a decent cam. And crank some decent TQ out of the motor.

Plans are cam, full exhaust, 243 heads with a mild PnP, PnP Throttle Body and a tune. Stall is my biggest concern. Told you don't wanna go to big cause the will be a lot of heat. Let me know if you can think of anything else.

Thanks guy.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Why bother finding an lq9 if your gonna throw new heads and whatnot on it?

LQ4 should be easier/cheaper to acquire.

 

[jough]

LQ4s are cheaper and easier to find, but the only difference is the compression ratio (9.6 v. 10.1) and the factory tune. LQ9s need premium fuel. Both have the same 317 heads and same cam. Junkyard LQ9s have become ridiculously expensive. I saw one out of an Escalade with 107K on it for $3500 recently. It did have the 4x4 trans, computer and gas pedal. Mine was $2600 installed, with the 4L65 included in the swap. That was a little over a year ago.

 

[ChevyZs76]

I know it has different pistons in the LQ9....was sure if that made a difference in the torque.

Can anybody suggest a nice torque converter? I don't wanna go to high of course. But I want to put in a nice cam that will make some power.

 

[bottomline2000]

I know it has different pistons in the LQ9....was sure if that made a difference in the torque.

Can anybody suggest a nice torque converter? I don't wanna go to high of course. But I want to put in a nice cam that will make some power.

The flat top pistons make for a higher compression ratio hence more power in the lq9. The biggest difference seems to be the floating pins and better connecting rods in the lq9 and maybe new lq4. I'm running a circle d 26-2800 stall with my lq4 and Vinci Trucker cam. It's definitely got a lot of tq and I don't regret doing the lq4. U can always mill the heads on the lq4 to bump the compression up. I think the highest you want to go on a stall for towing is 3k. Upgrade your Trans cooler cause a higher stall creates extra heat. These are the dishes pistons on my lq4 and probably the easiest way to tell them apart .

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[#1taho]

LQ4s are cheaper and easier to find, but the only difference is the compression ratio (9.6 v. 10.1) and the factory tune. LQ9s need premium fuel. Both have the same 317 heads and same cam. Junkyard LQ9s have become ridiculously expensive. I saw one out of an Escalade with 107K on it for $3500 recently. It did have the 4x4 trans, computer and gas pedal. Mine was $2600 installed, with the 4L65 included in the swap. That was a little over a year ago.

How do you like it ?

 

[TheAutumnWind]

I know it has different pistons in the LQ9....was sure if that made a difference in the torque.

Can anybody suggest a nice torque converter? I don't wanna go to high of course. But I want to put in a nice cam that will make some power.

Trailblazer v6 torque convertor should stall up to almost 3k behind the 6.0. Probably a good cheap option for you.

 

[Chizzychase]

I'd have the tranny gone through before you go straight to a new motor. With 200k the tranny is probably straining pretty hard to get all the torque put down to the ground

 

[Chizzychase]

And maybe some new gears in the rear end. Maybe 4:10's

 

[ChevyZs76]

Def plan on doing the trans first.