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New Avalanche Arrived, Time To Begin 6.0L Conv.!

It's going to take more than just "a few mods" to make up the 55hp difference between the 5.3L and the 6.0L in the Cad. Do the same basic stuff to the 6.0L and it is even further ahead. Those extra 40 or so cubic inches come in handy. Not to mention a bore/stroke ratio more suited to "running upstairs" than that of the 5.3L. What is slowing down the Caddy is the parasitic losses from the AWD set-up.

So Jason... How is the transplant coming?
 
Am I missing something here???
The last thing I want to do to my new truck is tear it apart and wreck it. I want the truck to be new, not
all honked up and ruined with huge engine mods that will make it unreliable. I restored a WWII jeep and built a street rod, but tamper with a new truck?

You got to be kidding....I hope you do not live in a state that requires a smog check to register.

Thank God I'm 42 years old!!!! much wiser nowadays.
 
djfcars said:
Am I missing something here???
The last thing I want to do to my new truck is tear it apart and wreck it. ?I want the truck to be new, not
all honked up and ruined with huge engine mods that will make it unreliable. ?I restored a WWII jeep and built a street rod, but tamper with a new truck?

You got to be kidding....I hope you do not live in a state that requires a smog check to register.

Thank God I'm 42 years old!!!! much wiser nowadays. ?
Click to expand...


herb. :2:
 
Forgive me for reviving a 14 year-old zombie thread. Well, the whole issue of "voiding the warranty" is out the window for me with a 12 year-old vehicle with 163,000 miles. I'm considering doing a 6.0L LQ9 swap. I'm thinking either finding a salvage motor and going a full block-up rebuild, or getting a crate engine from Turn Key and strapping a Magnacharger on it.

The stock 5.3L runs pretty strong for its age and mileage. I did notice a little pinging at WOT, but after running some 91 V-Power in it, it seemed to take care of that. I'm probably going to run a few more tanks of V-Power through it, and maybe a bottle of Techron.

Since it's not my daily driver, I can afford it to be out-of-commission for a little while. The only complicating factor is that I live in CA, and I want it to stay smog-legal. The actual written rules don't preclude engine swaps. The restrictions are it can't be from HD to LD (so LQ4 is probably out), and it has to be the model year or newer of the vehicle. If anyone has any experience in this area and can chime in, I'd love to hear your experiences.  
 
I'm running an ATK 6.0 that ATK says is a 460 hp / 470 ft-lb motor.  Price wasn't too bad and in fact the first one dropped a lifter after 4k miles.  After shipping the first one back to them the replaced it and paid for the remove and replace of their failed engine.  Got about 10K now on this second one.
 
Did your truck originally have the 5.3? Was the power difference pretty noticeable? I would think a 170-hp difference would be pretty dramatic.
 
Yes, originally 5.3, although over the course of the 289K miles that it powered the truck it had been cammed a couple of times and supercharged with water/meth injection, among a few other things.  The ATK engine is quite a bit down on power compared to the 5.3 at its peak.  That said we recently sold my son's 02 AV with a cammed 5.3 and higher stall torque converter.  The ATK is much stronger and you really notice the increase in torque in daily driving - much less converter unlocking and downshifting when climbing hills.  It does require larger fuel injectors and for that reason alone a tune.  My truck was not a flex-fuel vehicle - you may be able to get by with stock injectors in that case as they are larger in flex-fuel vehicles although the 42 pound injectors I put in the supercharged 5.3 seem to be a nice size for this 6.0.  I'm also running a booster fuel pump.  Not sure if I need it - the supercharged 5.3 did.
 
Mine's not flex-fuel. It has the black gas cap. I'm probably going to need a full crate motor, not just a long-block. Another intriguing possibility I'm considering is an "iron LS1" basically punching out the LM7 to a 5.7 (from what I've read, there's plenty of meat on the iron block to do it safely), and adding a hotter cam & heads while I'm at it. It's not really a "need" right now. The stock 5.3 scoots along fine for now, but I definitely didn't buy it just to leave it stock.  >:D
 
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