Mild 6.0L Build Suggestions?

[Jimmyy]

40 amp is a good size fuse. Hopefully someone can post the schematic of the circuit. If it’s a dead short you could see it with a multi meter.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

Factory service manual says under description for that fuse "IGN A FUSE #3 40A STARTER RELAY, IGNITION SITCH-IGN 1, TURN, SEO IGN FUSES".

I wonder if I accidentally shorted out the starter when I put the heat shield back on it? I was worried about that when I was installing it but it looks hard to do with the design of the heat shield and I don't recall any arcing when I put it on.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I found this. Saving it here as I dianose. It's AMAZING how difficult it is to navigate All Data DIY. Would be awesome if the images were searchable. I had to find this in an internet image search:

 

[Jimmyy]

If it was the shield the battery would be dead or you would have some hot or smoking wires. The thinking the shield would be touching the positive cable. I would pull the relay and replace the fuse, maybe with a light fuse 5amp or less. If it doesn’t pop turn the key on and check it. This would limit some of the circuit.

(starter relay)

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

No clue what it was. My grounds appeared good motor to chassis, battery to alternator, chassis to battery. Although one of them was 3 ohms which I think was battery to block. I fiddled and fiddled and fiddled. I pulled neagive battery cable off of block and frame. Then it went away. However I also probed the negative battery cable alone and was nearly 0 ohms. No clue. That maybe my issue, but it is elusive. Maybe also my 6 year old battrry. I swapped it for new battery from my corvette. am chasing phantoms but the damn wiring keeps me up at night. I have a masters in engineering and helped design aircraft avionics with thousands of feet (even miles) of wiring. But those systems are a bit easier to understand haha or so I remeber from 15 yrs back.

Battery is holding charge. I fired up the truck and all went well.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

 

[mattt]

Hey, I've only made it thru 25 pages of your thread so far, and jumping to the last page I see it's fired up now. Thought I'd chime in and say you're not the only one with the Gen 4 rods with the notch. Mine came from a mid 2004 Yukon Denali engine that I picked up at the local Pick Your Part. I checked mine after reading here and I have the same notch on the rods. I wonder how long the notched Gen 4 rods were made??? Pic attached, this is a pic after the rods came back from the machine shop. New pin bushing and resized for the slight O/S bearings that are available.

My 6.0 is coming together albeit much slower than yours. I have all parts back from machine shop and ready for assembly, except the heads which aren't even there yet(more on that later). Bored 020, decked the block, lq9 pistons, all new bearings, crank prepped, new lifters, rods rebuilt, new oil pump, new lifters, etc. I haven't done the heads yet because I don't have springs figured out. My stumbling block is cam choice. I see you had a custom cam by Vinci but didn't get to the specs on it yet in the thread. Do you know the specs on the cam? Big question cam related, do you have to submit to a bi-annual smog check where you are? That is what has me trigger shy on cam selection as I am in CA. I'm looking at 500-5000rpm range, daily driver, towing duty during boating season, run it on 87 often and switch to high test when necessary. Been looking at a TSP stage 1 or 2? low lift version so I can use LS6 springs. 212/218 .500 lift. From what I've seen this cam is mild for a 6.0....ideal for my situation with smog check, etc. Also saw Dantheman lost a head on the high lift version, possibly from high spring pressure necessary with high lift. Option B is run the factory GM 6.0 lq4/lq9 "1721" camshaft, but that might leave some untapped potential.

Good luck with the rest of the assembly and project. Looks good. Interested to hear your take on cam choice taking into account smog checks if you had to factor that in. I did read where you req'd lower comp to avoid knock and used the 317's. I did the same. My plan A was 243 heads, but I backed away from that.

 

[Rocket Man]

Glad to see it’s running, it’s been a long road. Hope you figure out what blew that fuse and you get the rest of your parts in. Almost there!

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

@mattt congrads on your build! It's crazy fun to do this. I would have LOVED to go for 205 Mongoose heads from AFR. If I had a big build budget those would have hit the spot with the cam I bought.

I also think those rods are DEFINATELY superior. I just was concerned about oil pressure tolerances and had no way to validate them in the design, yet I installed low pressure drop lifters haha.

Per the cam, call Roger. You won't regret it. There is a guy on Youtube that reviews Cams on the dyno for LS stuff. Roger Holdener. Everybody LOVES his stuff and don't get me wrong it's very valuable. However, I have issue with most of the information out there on the internet on building these engines.

They assume you're interested only in wide open throttle pulls. Dyno runs aren't able to do much for us at partial throttle or lower RPMS. The internet is fantastic at building a garage warrior big cam high peak output motor but not a truck build.

I think you are looking for something similar to me. I wanted good performance down low where it counts with a truck. I too wanted good partial throttle response. This takes a person who really knows their stuff to spec it out.

The home builders are IN LOVE with lots of overlap and big cams. They are fun no doubt. However, the more I studied the more I learned you won't want that overlap. LS heads are very good and don't require much overlap. Overlap also is lost pressure (power) out the exhaust and not creating HP in your cylinder.

Next when I dug deeper into cam design. I learned RV Cams were a better route, almost pulled trigger on a Comp Cams XFI truck cam. I called up Comp Cams to ask how hard they are on the springs. They didn't really have an answer for me. Those cams decrease overlap by making a steeper ramp on the cam, and flatter top (more time with valve open farther). I was concerned that would wear fast on my valve springs and when I called they said they haven't got data on that, which worried me. I don't want to build a truck motor that lasts for a few years then drops a valve.

Long story short. I called Roger Vinci. Don't regret it one bit. He saved me money, I got superior parts, and exactly speced to what I want. He also spent a good 2 hours on phone helping me with my build. I'll be posting here once I'm out on the road. Got me dual valve springs that don't have a ton of seat pressure, yet give me redundancy. He understood my concerns and has decades of experience designing cams not just for his customers but also the big name brands and racing teams. He knew EXACTLY what to do for a truck cam too / partial throttle, low RPM torque, and high MPG.

I'm sure he'd know how to make you a cam that could meet your smog requirements. Tell him the guy who build his motor with Johnson Lifters referred you haha. He'll remember me. If you have any further build questions PM me. I'd be more than happy to help out

[email protected] | 407-478-8388

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

Glad to see it’s running, it’s been a long road. Hope you figure out what blew that fuse and you get the rest of your parts in. Almost there!

I cannot wait to get some road testing in! I got my front diff all bolted back in (dropped it to inspect oil pan on old motor). Just waiting for those pesky water pump bolts! eBay says they'll be here friday.

 

[Rocket Man]

@mattt congrads on your build! It's crazy fun to do this. I would have LOVED to go for 205 Mongoose heads from AFR. If I had a big build budget those would have hit the spot with the cam I bought.

I also think those rods are DEFINATELY superior. I just was concerned about oil pressure tolerances and had no way to validate them in the design, yet I installed low pressure drop lifters haha.

Per the cam, call Roger. You won't regret it. There is a guy on Youtube that reviews Cams on the dyno for LS stuff. Roger Holdener. Everybody LOVES his stuff and don't get me wrong it's very valuable. However, I have issue with most of the information out there on the internet on building these engines.

They assume you're interested only in wide open throttle pulls. Dyno runs aren't able to do much for us at partial throttle or lower RPMS. The internet is fantastic at building a garage warrior big cam high peak output motor but not a truck build.

I think you are looking for something similar to me. I wanted good performance down low where it counts with a truck. I too wanted good partial throttle response. This takes a person who really knows their stuff to spec it out.

The home builders are IN LOVE with lots of overlap and big cams. They are fun no doubt. However, the more I studied the more I learned you won't want that overlap. LS heads are very good and don't require much overlap. Overlap also is lost pressure (power) out the exhaust and not creating HP in your cylinder.

Next when I dug deeper into cam design. I learned RV Cams were a better route, almost pulled trigger on a Comp Cams XFI truck cam. I called up Comp Cams to ask how hard they are on the springs. They didn't really have an answer for me. Those cams decrease overlap by making a steeper ramp on the cam, and flatter top (more time with valve open farther). I was concerned that would wear fast on my valve springs and when I called they said they haven't got data on that, which worried me. I don't want to build a truck motor that lasts for a few years then drops a valve.

Long story short. I called Roger Vinci. Don't regret it one bit. He saved me money, I got superior parts, and exactly speced to what I want. He also spent a good 2 hours on phone helping me with my build. I'll be posting here once I'm out on the road. Got me dual valve springs that don't have a ton of seat pressure, yet give me redundancy. He understood my concerns and has decades of experience designing cams not just for his customers but also the big name brands and racing teams. He knew EXACTLY what to do for a truck cam too / partial throttle, low RPM torque, and high MPG.

I'm sure he'd know how to make you a cam that could meet your smog requirements. Tell him the guy who build his motor with Johnson Lifters referred you haha. He'll remember me. If you have any further build questions PM me. I'd be more than happy to help out

[email protected] | 407-478-8388

I also have high regards for Roger Vinci. He is an absolute monster of knowledge on LS valve trains and helped engineer lots of things other than cams like Yella Terra full roller rockers etc and he loves to help one-on-one with his customers. I had a lot of questions when it came time for a cam for my supercharged 6.0 in my 02, and some of them had more to do with other stuff like what stall would work best with the cam etc. He returned my emails even on weekends and in fact the dude called me when I was having an issue and at the end of the call he said this was his personal cell number- keep it and I can call him if I ever need to talk. I actually did once, just to see if he would answer. I was ready to do a cam swap on my Silverado and had a couple questions. He answered. Unreal.