cpelton

Allright its time!, i've done a lot of research on the forums but I want to put it out there to see what you guys think about my situation. Currently have a turbo'd 4.8l running 5psi and its not enough. I have found a Lq9 and Lq4, which would you go with? Its my daily driver and must be reliable, I want to boost it but still have good driveability since i commute around 60miles per day. As for internals, what would you suggest as upgrades from stock since I will have it apart to rebuild anyways? Looking to be in the 5-600hp range. I have hptuners which takes care of the tuning.
thanks in advance!

beastmode

iTrader: (52)

from what ive heard if your going FI go wit the LQ4... lower compression

Tootall

iTrader: (79)

You'll need to look at how many miles are on the motor. You'll want the LQ4, (dish pistons) for the compression.

If this is your daily driver and you're wanting 500-600hp, you're going to have to change out the internals, like the cam, pistons, crank. After doing all of that, it's not much of a daily driver, it'll be a gas *****. If you're going to do all of that work, there's no sense in buying a complete motor, just get the block and heads only and build it up.

What trans are you going to use?

beastmode

iTrader: (52)

yea i would either try to get something else for your commute or not build it so much... your gonna be sorry when your gettin 10mpg lol, just my opinion though

jnoehl

iTrader: (2)

IMO, an engine swap is kind of un-nessacary. your 4.8 block, since it is iron, can safely be bored out to 99mm and with a stroker crank you can start easily adding up some displacement. as far as the lq4 or 9, the block isnt really going to do much to help you except that it already has a bigger bore. the stock intake is geared to make power low down, not in higher rev applications and on the 99 and 00 lq4's the intake was plastic not aluminum, meaning that you would definitly have to change it for a FI application. The biggest advantage of the lq motors are that the pistons are cast aluminum and you can pust some serious muscle down with out worrying about the pistons, but they are still stock pistons and i wouldnt go over 500hp with them. esp on a daily driver. for all the trouble of swapping the motor and the parts that it would take to get the motor running the way you want, intake, pistons, rods ect. i would just put all that into you current setup maybe pistons rods and crank, go for a set of heads and call it a day you could easily get what you are looking for, unless you reallly want to do a motor swap

cpelton

Thanks for the advice guys, Yea i may not build it as much afterall, definately want to go with the 6.0 though. I was planning on doing a 4l80e swap at the same time.
cheers

Quik

iTrader: (7)

what the hell you taling about willis?
for teh lsx motors they never offerd a aluminum intake for them
the older LQ4 had iron heads the newer had aluminum...maybe thats what you were trying to say
truck intake does help alot down low but dies off around 6k
boring the 4.8 isnt worht the effort, you can drop the 6.0 in for alot less
also you get teh better flowing heads with the 6litres
tearing down a motor involves money some ppl dont have to dump in which they could just drop a larger cubed motor in and call ita day and less down time
plastic intake will hold up well, many have done it including parish and never blew one apart

beastmode

iTrader: (52)

dont be knockin the 4.8, id hate to have to leave mine in till the flash light drags and beat you

no but seriously dude as soon as brian from jjs auto finds my motor ill be wit a 6.0 , until then im stuck wit my slow 4.8 too but from wat i am told the swap is def worth the money

cpelton

ok if this puts it in perspective I found good condition, low km longblocks (lq4 or Lq9 my choice) for $400 I was thinking about putting in some forged pistons + rods, cam and running low boost and leaving it at that. (for now lol) If i even decide to boost it, I may just cam it and leave it n/a for the time being it will definately be in improvement over the 4.8

1SlowHoe

iTrader: (28)

For the LQ4/LQ9 the block and crank are the same. The rods are slightly stronger in the LQ9. If youre going to replace the pistons anyway, you'll probably replace the rods as well. So, it doesn't matter which one you pick. Grab the one with the least miles on it and start the teardown.

And the stock pistons suck. They break with very little detonation.