How Much Hp Can You Get Out of a Gen3 6.0 Lq9

The General Motors (GM) Gen III LS1 V-8 is one of the many successful engines to come up out of GM Powertrain since information technology was formed to be the global powertrain provider for GM. As this book goes to print, about viii,000 Gen Three modest-block Five-viii engines are built each day, in multiple cubic inch and power combinations, in multiple plants all over Northward America. These engines are the production powerplants for everything from Chevrolet Corvette sports cars and Australian Holdens (the Pontiac GTO in the States), to GMC Yukon SUVs and any of the V-8- powered Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks. They're also sold as crate engines by GM Operation Parts and marinized versions are sold past GM Powertrain.

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Gen III LS1 Five-8 Usages

The Gen III V-eight is built in four displacement sizes, with three initially using a cast iron engine block and one using an aluminum block. The near well known Gen III Five-8 is the five.7-liter all aluminum engine — known by its three-digit alphanumeric regular production order (RPO) engine lawmaking: LS1 (all GM engines are denoted by an RPO code). The LS1 was the offset version of the Gen Iii Five-viii compages to hit the streets in the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette and and so soon after in the Camaro and Firebird. It made such an impression that the majority of car enthusiasts call all the Gen Three Five-8 engines an LS1, whether it is a Vortec LQ9 in an Escalade or a LS6 in a Z06 Corvette.

A variant of the Gen III 5-8 powers every vehicle yous see here and more. This humble pushrod engine has proven itself as a formidable powerplant in multiple production vehicles, and now you lot're going to learn everything you need to know to add together fifty-fifty more power.

The half-dozen.0-liter bandage-iron block, aluminum-head, Vortec-branded LQ4 and LQ9 truck engines volition likewise be covered extensively in this book, every bit automotive enthusiasts ordinarily lean toward engines with bigger displacements. The LS1 and LS6 are the functioning engines from GM, and the LQ4 and LQ9 are the biggest deportation production Gen Three V-8s available, so it is like shooting fish in a barrel to empathise why this book would focus on them.

There will too be some give-and-take of the two other Gen Three V-8 variants, the 4.viii-liter LR4 and v.three-liter LM7 cast-fe block, aluminum-head engines. These are very common in trucks and SUVs. The 4.8- and 5.iii-liter engines use common compages to the LS1 and LQ Gen III V-8 engines, and then the information presented on the five.7- and six.0-liter Gen Iii components and modifications can be applied to them. They won't be discussed as much as the 5.7- and 6.0-liter Gen IIIs because these smaller engines won't make the aforementioned corporeality of power for the investment of time, effort, and coin due to their smaller displacements. But many of the upgrades performed here volition piece of work on the iv.eight- and 5.3-liter engines, and then if that'southward what y'all've got to work with, they volition respond to improvements. In fact the 4.8/5.3 castiron block can be bored out to a five.seven-liter bore size – all the more reason to discuss 5.7-liter performance packages.

The original vi.0- liter Vortec LQ4 (right) originally came with iron heads and an iron block. After 2001, all Vortec 300- and 345-hp 6.0-liter LQ4 and LQ9 engines switched to aluminum heads. The LQ Gen Three engines have a strong post-obit for their strength and power to handle considerably more ability than they made in stock course. The iv.8- (left) and 5.three-liter (eye) Gen Three Five-8 engines provide solid power, but most hot-rodders become for the 6.0-liter considering of the "when in doubt, punch it out" rule of thumb. More than cubes mean more than power.

As you'll see, later chapters in this volume accept specific engine buildups on 5.three-, five.7-, and half dozen.0-liter engines to give you "recipes" for making sure levels of power. Too, there is a racing-only aluminum engine block available from GM Operation Parts, called the C5R, which will be used every bit the foundation for a 1,000+ hp engine later in the book.

The Details to Brand Horsepower

This affiliate will requite you lot the technical information regarding the bones materials, manufacturing processes, and assembly methods used past GM to create the Gen III V-8. There is a plethora of details and minutia we could bury yous with hither, but instead of trying to teach you how to blueprint an engine for mass product, the data shared in this volume is focused on helping you create performance with the existing Gen III V-8 engine.

To that end, the details listed here usually have explanations on why they were washed and how they bear on the operation of the engine. Perhaps more important, the usages of the Gen Three Five-8 are discussed along with how to place the diverse engines and components, and then yous can notice desirable engines and components using external and internal visual clues. Y'all can combine this info with the info in the next chapter to decide which factory components are desirable when building a productionbased performance Gen III V-8.

(All office numbers (PN) were gathered in 2003 and are discipline to change at whatsoever fourth dimension.)

Engine Cake

The LS1 and LS6 version of the Gen Three Five-eight cake is created using a semi-permanent mold casting procedure with 319- alloy aluminum estrus-treated to T5 specs. The block design is a bout-de-forcefulness of technology to maximize strength while minimizing weight and noise. The design was mainly washed with the aluminum material in heed, so the iron block is much stronger than whatsoever previous GM production iron block. The Gen 3 team knew a stiff block would be needed to maintain round bores for maximized fuel economic system and performance while minimizing durability issues and emissions, so that'south what they built. To exercise all that, the caput bolts pull from the principal webs, the crank master caps are cross-bolted on the deep skirt block, and the blueprint was fully evaluated with finite element analysis (FEA) computer modeling to add ribbing in areas that required increased rigidity.

The original 6.0- liter Vortec LQ4 (right) originally came with fe heads and an atomic number 26 cake. Subsequently 2001, all Vortec 300- and 345-hp vi.0-liter LQ4 and LQ9 engines switched to aluminum heads. The LQ Gen III engines have a strong following for their strength and power to handle considerably more power than they made in stock class. The iv.8- (left) and five.3-liter (middle) Gen III 5-8 engines provide solid power, merely most hot-rodders go for the 6.0-liter because of the "when in doubtfulness, punch it out" rule of thumb. More cubes hateful more power.

Diameter centers are at the traditional small-scale-cake Chevy iv.40 inches (111.76 mm), but the cylinders themselves are the story. On the aluminum LS1 and LS6 engine blocks, each bore is actually a thin, centrifugally cast iron liner with a serrated exterior diameter. The liners are cast in a centrifuge to maximize the density of the iron, and then bandage in identify with the block. The thin liners limit how much the 3.898-inch (99-mm) inside-diameter cylinder bores tin be machined out — GM recommends the '97 to '98 LS1 blocks be honed only 0.004 inch and '99 and subsequently blocks tin can only be machined 0.010 inches. The serrated exterior diameter surface helps to lock the liner in place in the block and misemploy heat through the increased surface surface area. The fact that GM figured out how to hold these liners to such tight tolerances during the casting process is an impressive engineering feat.

The atomic number 26 engine blocks don't have cylinder inserts. Because of this, the 4.eight- and v.3-liter iron blocks can be bored out to 99 mm (from the 96 mm original bore) to build an iron version of the 5.7- liter engine (the 4.8-liter engine needs the three.662-inch stroke creepo to attain 5.7 liters of displacement). The 6-liter engine block'southward four.000-inch (101.6-mm) cylinder bores are nearly the max for wall thickness, so it isn't recommended to bore these out for more cubic inches.

Cylinder Heads

The Gen III V-8 cylinder heads take replicated ports and combustion chambers like to many aftermarket, high-functioning cylinder heads offered for past pocket-sized-block and bigblock GM pushrod V-8s. This means all eight cylinders utilize the same shape ports and combustion chambers, which allowed the engineers at GM to focus on optimizing but i combo of ports and bedroom shapes. Doing this made information technology easier to maximize power and efficiency in the overall engine while minimizing emissions.

The distance betwixt the frazzle and intake valve guides and hence, the valves, is common for all the production Gen III 5-eight cylinder heads. This was viewed as a power potential limiter past the port, chamber, and valvetrain engineers, but was done to minimize tooling investment and simplify manufacturing. Changing the valvestem centerline spacing is a large chore, but information technology'southward best-selling that moving them around to work with bigger intake valves volition release more power potential.

This cutaway of a Gen III engine shows how compact and busy the rotating and reciprocatingcomponent surface area is. To get everything tight, GM engineers did things like have the bandage crank counterweights cam-basis to clear the bottoms of the pistons. The powdered-metallic rods and eutectic-aluminum pistons were chosen because they accept skillful durability, performance, and piece cost for their size and weight.

The small chamber volumes of all the cylinder head variations provide splendid quench area to piece of work with the flattop pistons. This helps to put all the air/fuel mixture in a tight area to maximize the combustion procedure and provide the maximum strength pushing on the piston.

The loftier-output LS6 features cylinder heads with college-flowing ports and chambers compared to the base of operations LS1, but the heads aren't the only reason for the increased power output. A more ambitious camshaft, freer breathing airbox and mass air flow sensor (MAF), lightened valvetrain components, and diverse other pieces took reward of the improved ports and more efficient combustion sleeping room for college RPM and more power product throughout the powerband.

The reason this needs to exist explained is and then you don't bolt on a fix of LS6 cylinder heads and wonder why y'all didn't get a huge leap in performance! Meliorate flowing cylinder heads crave all those additions and possibly a freer flowing exhaust to take advantage of the increased flow capabilities. The heads are the core role of the success with the Gen III V-8, but you'll need to enable them to brand the power potential they contain.

Crankshaft

The Gen Iii LS1 V-eight engine crank is made of nodular bandage-fe but has far superior force to what most would think of from a bandage creepo. This is because the Gen III crank has rolled fillets on the journals to reduce stress risers and variable-radii undercuts on the counterweights to increment the bearing area.

Rolled fillets are created by a roller being forced into the edge of the crank bearing edge around its circumference to compress the material into the shape of the smooth transition. This minimizes the chances of a stress riser, or crack, forming in this area by compressing the fabric in this area and eliminating a sharp edge where the crank transitions from a machined surface to the as-bandage portion of the crank.

The creepo also has a 0.9645-inch (24.5-mm) hole drilled through the number 2, iii, 4, and 5 mains to reduce its overall weight 143 lbs (65 kg) and allow air and oil vapor to flow through the holes between the cylinder bays to improve bay-to-bay breathing.

If yous're looking at a Gen III V-viii with bolts effectually the perimeter of the valve cover, information technology's a 1997-98 model. The Gen III engine design was originally proposed with a center-bolt design, but the design wasn't fully validated for the 1997 launch. Since the perimeter blueprint was well known from previous small blocks, it was implemented instead. The 1999 and later center-bolt valve covers and heads are more desirable for other features that better their performance and immovability.

I of the biggest evolution snafus and manufacturing challenges was the "batwing" oil pan for the Corvettes (left). The oiling issues were resolved before going to production, but the shallow pan made oil control a challenge. The starting time batwing pan was a unmarried casting that was very difficult to industry. In 1998, a ii-slice batwing pan was introduced. Both pans perform well under the most extreme conditions. The Camaro and Firebird oil pans (middle) are called rear sump because the deep portion of the oil pan is towards the rear of the engine. Since the oil pump is at the front end of the engine, a long pickup winds its way from the everyman point of the oil pan up to the pump. This pan is often used when a Gen 3 is installed in a by model vehicle — but oft the beginning two inches of the pan hits the crossmember, and so either the oil pan or crossmember needs to exist trimmed to fit. The Camaro windage tray does non run to the front of the engine, like on the Corvette or truck pans, since the oil pan is very close to the creepo at the front of the engine. The truck oil pan (right) has a deep sump, which is practiced for oil capacity and power product, but it's difficult to bundle on cars with low hoods and depression ground clearance.

Connecting Rods

Automotive enthusiasts take found the "cracked," powdered-metal Gen 3 Five-eight connecting rods weigh less and handle just every bit much power every bit the famed Chevy "pink" rods. In case you lot're wondering, the Gen Iii 5-8 rods are chosen a croaky rod because the big end cap of the rod is created through a neat process. Information technology goes similar this — subsequently the rod is created, a groove is machined on the within bore of the rod'south large end where the parting line is intended. And then, a side load force is applied to the rod to split off the cap portion of the rod. When torqued in place, the two pieces mate up precisely and lock tightly together on the jagged micro-edges of the pause.

The rod itself is fabricated from powdered steel that is packed into a mold under pressure and heated to just below the melting point of the steel to get the steel to bond. A forging procedure is then performed, followed by shot peening, to finish up with a rod of very predictable size and weight. This eliminates the demand for material pads at each end of the rod (like on the pink rod) and machining to get the proper sizing, balance, and lengths.

Initially, the low-profile machine intake was
to exist the intake for all the vehicles.
But the truck and SUV intake inlets
concluded up needing to be about iii inches
higher to clear the radiator fan. The
alpine truck intake flows a little less at
high-RPM, high-horsepower situations
than the LS intake, just information technology does
pretty well below 5000 rpm — though
it'due south not the prettiest thing in the earth.

Pistons

As with the cast crankshaft, the piston material, bandage eutectic aluminum, is not usually idea of for high-performance applications considering many consider them more brittle than forged aluminum pistons. All the same, these pistons work in this application because the engineers at GM did their homework to create a blueprint that is low-cal, seals the bore, and works well with the combustion chamber. As a testament to their ability, it is widely accustomed that the stock pistons can handle just over 500 hp before needing to be replaced by aftermarket forged pistons.

Since the pins are pressed into these lightweight pistons, some performance engine builders exercise not like to remove and reinstall these pistons more than than one time to minimize the chances of introducing stress risers in the piston pin bores.

If you do swap aftermarket forged aluminum pistons into your Gen Three, the factory knock sensors will likely need to exist disabled or desensitized in the factory powertrain control module (PCM) software, as the forged pistons "sound" similar combustion detonation to the knock sensors. You'll know this is true when the "Service Engine Soon," or SES, lights upward during performance with the forged pistons.

Valvetrain

Some might write off the Gen III V-8 as rough because it is a cam-in-block, pushrod 5-eight; simply don't be fooled. While the basis is simple, the engineers at GM spent considerable time and effort to create a system capable of high performance.

The factory camshaft is gundrilled to reduce weight and actuates hydraulic roller lifters that let for aggressive cam lobe shapes. The rockers are investment cast with a roller fulcrum for lite weight and minimal frictional losses. The valvesprings are coiled in varying diameters with oval-shaped wire, so they look like a "beehive" and are called then. These springs eliminate the need for a damper jump inside the principal spring and the ovate wire helps to amend the loftier-rpm valve control.

Initially, the depression-profile automobile intake was to be the intake for all the vehicles. But the truck and SUV intake inlets concluded up needing to be virtually 3 inches higher to articulate the radiator fan. The tall truck intake flows a footling less at high-RPM, loftier-horsepower situations than the LS intake, but it does pretty well below 5000 rpm — though information technology's not the prettiest matter in the world.

The camshaft is a large diameter equally compared to previous small blocks, which improves rigidity to provide increased valvetrain stability at high engine speeds.

Oiling System

The Gen Iii V-8 oiling system improves on the simple even so constructive design of the Gen I and Ii small-block Five-8s. The oil pump is no longer driven past a shaft connected to the benefactor, like on the Gen I and Ii. Instead, the pump is a gerotor pattern that slides over the snout of the crankshaft. The pressurized oil flows out of the pump body into a main galley that runs lengthwise downwardly the driver side of the cake. At the end of the master galley, the oil flows downwardly through a fitting on the oil pan, through the oil filter, and then up a passage in the back of the block into the lifter galley passages that oils the rest of the engine.

Oil control is very of import to GM equally higher oil pressure level ties up horsepower in pumping losses and increases oil consumption, which tin lead to higher emissions. Considering of this, whatever performance upgrades should be accompanied by increased spring pressure level on the oil bleedoff spring in the oil pump and a unproblematic port task on the oil-pump outlet to insure maximum oil flow.

Intake Tract

The Gen Iii LS1/LS6 V-8 intake manifold is impressive for its depression height, light weight, and high flowing characteristics. The intake is made with injected nylon and has a wall thickness of 3 mm. The injector bosses are located at the end of the intake manifold ports, pointing directly at the back side of the intake valve caput. The air enters the intake manifold at the front through a mass airflow (MAF) sensor and throttle torso. The airboxes and connecting tubes on the Corvette, Camaro, and Firebird are located just over and in front of the radiator. This was done to maximize laminar airflow into the engine and minimize engine estrus from increasing the temperature of the intake air.

The original LS1 intake was impressive, only the 2001 and later LS6 dropped-floor intake (shown beingness installed) has more volume, flows better, and doesn't need an EGR valve considering of an improved camshaft/controller combination. The LS6 intake blueprint became the standard car intake in 2001 on all LS1s, too.

The depression-profile Gen III car intake manifold takes in air from the forepart into an open up surface area under ports that loop over the tiptop of the open up area and into the cylinder caput intake ports. The intake and cylinder heads were designed from the showtime for a fuel-injection system. To take full advantage of the setup, the fuel injectors are located at the end of the intake manifold ports to shoot the fuel at the backside of the intake valve (shown).

The higher-flowing '01 LS6 intake was standard across both LS1 and LS6 in '01 and beyond and is highly sought after for its power to increment ability output as a simple replacement of the pre- '01 intake.

The truck manifold has similar lowRPM, low-valve-lift menstruum capability of the LS1 intakes, merely doesn't have the same flow figures at loftier rpm. This makes sense, as trucks are used more in the low to mid-RPM range. The truck intake is approximately iii.eleven inches taller overall than the LS1 intake and the throttle body mounting bespeak is virtually three inches taller than the LS1. This is to clear the radiator/fan clutch/fan on the trucks.

Electronic Fuel Injection

The fuel-injection system on the Gen III LS1 V-8 is sequential. This ways each injector opens to release fuel into the intake port only earlier the intake valve opens. Previous GM fuel injection systems were batch fire or bank fire. With a batch-burn down system on a V-8, all the injectors open viii times for each complete firing sequence of the engine. On a bank-burn down arrangement, the injectors on each bank of the engine open four times per complete firing sequence of the engine. On a sequential fuel-injection system, each injector opens only one time per complete firing sequence. The sequential system doesn't offer a big leap in ability output, but it reduces emissions while improving depression-RPM driveability and fuel mileage.

The calibration to operate the sequential fuel-injection arrangement is exponentially more than complex than a batchor bank-burn system. It uses many sensors on the engine and vehicle to make its decisions. The Gen Iii Five-8 is equipped with very advanced crank and cam position sensors, so the PCM can quickly determine which cylinder is the next to burn down to initiate the fuel injection. The crank sensor is located next to the starter on the rider side of the engine and the camshaft sensor is located at the dorsum of the engine above the lifter valley. The crank has a 24x reluctor wheel on information technology, which means it is a bike with 24 steps on it so the computer can read where the crank is in its rotation very quickly. The cam sensor has a 2x shape into it, which allows the computer to quickly determine where the creepo is in the four-stroke bicycle of the number-one cylinder and fire the appropriate injector and spark plug to run the engine.

Simply put, GM has invested in engineering science resources, along with tooling and piece costs to create a sequential fuel-injection organisation that produces impressive emissions, fuel consumption, and driveability results.

Electronic Controls and Scale

Probably the near circuitous system on the Gen III V-8 is the powertrain control module (PCM). And so far at that place have been two PCMs for the Gen III.The commencement is called the "cast" controller, a name given for its external case. The PCM used now is called the P59 within GM, and has computing capability on par with a dwelling house computer. The reason for the increased computing power is the size and complexity of the calibrations. The Gen III V-eight scale started as a 375-kb file that had jumped to a little over i Mb in size in 2003. The scale is made up of many, many tables that cross-reference each other, then it's very complex. The reason for the cross referencing is to take advantage of the ability of the sequential fuel-injection organisation to alter fuel and timing many times per degree of crank rotation based on input from various sensors located on the engine.

Ed Koerner, Gen Three Chief Engineer, said, "The Gen Iii needed the electronic throttle control (ETC) so cars like the 400-hp Z06 Corvette wouldn't be undriveable (due to traction command beingness able to minimize tire spin). I wanted something my married woman, son, and anyone else could drive safely." The ETC outset came on the '97 Corvette, and then on the selected trucks. The F-cars and well-nigh trucks have cableactuated throttle bodies.

The oiling organisation was inverse to simplify the manufacturing and associates process of the engine. This is a cutaway of the gerotor-style oil pump and balance caster, which slides over the crank snout and is driven past the spinning creepo. A gerotor pump has excellent qualities for a production engine: compact, simple, efficient, and durable. Note the combination creepo balancer/ pulley and its efficient design.

One of the neat advantages of the electronic PCM is its ability to diagnose issues through data interpretation. Belatedly-model performance enthusiasts oftentimes talk nigh codes or DTCs they are experiencing. This is a reference to the on-board Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) that are issued by the PCM when information technology deduces a problem exists. The driver volition be notified through the SES, or Service Engine Shortly, light on the dashboard being illuminated, that an issue exists. To meet which of the 2000 or so DTC codes is causing the SES to come up on, a Tech Ii or other manner of scan tool is plugged into the data link connector nether the dashboard of the vehicle.

Ignition

The coil-near-plug pattern of the Gen III V-viii ignition is often called a coil-on-plug design, but that's inaccurate. On the early prototype Gen IIIs, the coils were located on the plugs, but they didn't survive early testing schedules due to the exhaust manifold temperature. To cure this, the coils were moved to the valve covers with a shorty spark plug wire connecting them to the plug.

The coil-well-nigh-plug ignition system is driven past the PCM reading signals from the creepo and cam triggers, the knock sensors, and a few other assorted sensors to determine when to fire each ringlet. There are three different- actualization coils on Gen IIIs, but GM engineers tell u.s. that's only because different suppliers build them — they are supposedly identical in their operation. Most high-functioning engine builders say to use the truck coils, since they seem to work all-time in high-RPM, loftier-combustionratio engines.

The beginning-year exhaust manifolds for the LS1 (right) were made of ii thin-walled stampings welded together to maximize the temperature going to the catalytic converters. In 1998, GM introduced a cast-iron manifold (left) that still met the startup emissions requirements simply reduced the slice cost.

The PCM tells the coils when to fire the spark plug. The PCM references the 24x crank trigger and the single-phase (2x) cam location sensor located in the lifter valley to know where the crank is in its 360-degree rotation and what cylinders are on the pinch stroke.

This angle-based system is dissimilar from most aftermarket controllers, which work in 90-degree time increments. The reason the angle-based system is used is because it is more authentic than the fourth dimension system, which makes it possible to reduce the emissions and increase driveability.

Equally a tip, the truck coils have slightly larger heat sinks, so many Gen III enthusiasts believe they are better suited for high-horsepower, loftier-heat applications.

Frazzle

The exhaust manifolds on the early Gen IIIs were pretty high-tech to get the catalytic converters up to temperature very quickly to minimize startup emissions. The '97 to '98 car-based Gen III LS1 V-8 engines used made frazzle manifolds that were made of 0.eight-mmthick 309 stainless steel inside a 1.8-mm 409 stainless steel wall, with a 3-mm air gap between the two walls. This manifestly expensive exhaust manifold was replaced with a conventional cast iron manifold in the 1998 model year vehicles once the engine direction was improved plenty at startup to keep the emissions in line.

Beyond the manifolds, the manufactory exhaust systems all take O2 sensors before and after the catalytic converters. The onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) software in the PCM is ever comparing the inputs from the O2 sensors, expecting to come across improved emissions on the downstream sensor. This way, when the converter starts to loose its effectiveness, the SES lite comes on. This light volition also come on if the catalytic converter is removed.

An interesting indicate to note is the placement of the O2 sensors. About always, the sensors will be pointing downward into the tube to minimize the chances of moisture collecting on the sensor. As well, a standard of O2 placement on tube headers is to have information technology 8 inches down from the merge-point of the primaries into the collector — when you take 2-inch primaries.

There are four oxygen sensors in the exhaust organisation, while there are just two catalytic converters. The exhaust tubes are stainless steel for the Corvette/Camaro/Firebird from 1997 to 2003, except for the Z06 exhaust, which is made of titanium for lighter weight.

All Gen III engines use an integral harmonic balancer/pulley associates to save weight and simplify the forepart drive system. The 'Vette balancer/pulley has a hub that looks centered over the pulley to relieve space in front of the engine, though information technology'south really get-go past 0.600 inch. The truck unit of measurement has a considerable amount of drop, approximately 2.25 inches, in the hub as it has infinite to spare. The balancer/pulley is but pressed onto the creepo hub — there is no fundamental locking it in place on the crank.

Front Accessory Drive

The Corvette and Camaro/Firebird front accessory drives are generally common, while the truck Gen III V-eight engines use multiple front drives. The difference is the placement of the A/C compressor, power-steering pump, and alternator.

The F- and Y-body automobile systems use a single belt to run everything simply the A/C compressor, which runs on its own chugalug to minimize NVH.

The LS1 F-car front drive will work in about hot-rod applications. Here are the part numbers to assemble a complete front end engine accompaniment drive (FEAD).

The LQ4 and LQ9 vi.0-Liter Gen IIIs

The Gen III engine many automotive enthusiasts desire is the half dozen.0-liter and it comes in two varieties. The GM names for these two engines are the LQ4 and LQ9. The LQ9 engine is the high-functioning 345-hp version that was first available only in the Cadillac Escalade. The 300-hp LQ4 is available in many full-size Chevy and GMC trucks and SUVs. The external differences between these ii engines are slight, merely you can withal determine the type of engine using available internal and external clues.

When GM went racing with the C5 Corvette, the GM Racing division developed a 7.0-liter aluminum block to use equally a foundation to build a powerful, durable engine. The resulting piece, chosen the C5R cake (PN 12480030), is a high-cadet slice with siamesed, 4-ane/8-inch bores and the ability to handle over chiliad hp. Information technology's bachelor from whatsoever GM dealer through GM'south functioning storefront: GM Performance Parts.

Short Block: cast-fe cake, bandage crank, powdered metal rods, cast aluminum pistons (with coated thrust faces and domes)

Acme End: aluminum heads with 72- cc combustion chambers, plastic truck intake, iron heads on '99-'00 LQ4, aluminum on both engines afterward '00

Fuel/Air/Spark: crank-trigger activated, sequentially fired EFI organisation, coilnear-plug ignition organisation

Valvetrain: hollow factory camshaft, hydraulic roller lifters, investment-bandage rockers with a roller fulcrum, and beehive valvesprings

They counterbalance approximately 520 lbs fully dressed and are the aforementioned external size as the LS1/LS6. The 6.0-liter LQ4 and LQ9 cake casting numbers are 12551364, 12573581, and 12577184.

Building a High-Performance vi.0-Liter Gen Iii V-8

You can put together a high-performance six.0-liter with some simple GM parts swapping. The loftier-performance LS6 cylinder heads and intake volition bolt straight to a 6.0-liter engine (the stock LQ4/LQ9 intake is non designed for loftier-RPM power, but volition make excellent ability in the low to midrange powerband).

In fact, bolting the LS6 cylinder heads on a 300-hp LQ4 is similar to the recently released LS2 half-dozen.0-liter performance engine in the '05 C6 Corvette. There is an upshot with compression ratio on the LQ9 swap, as it already has a 10:one compression ratio with the 72-cc LQ cylinder heads. Bolting on the LS6 heads, with their 64-cc chambers, will crave a piston change to get back to a streetable ten:1 compression.

As a note, the blocks are the same on the 300- and 345-hp 6.0-liter engines, as are many other internal components.

The pistons are beefier on the LQ engines than on the LS1 engines, and they are easy to differentiate from each other. The pistons on early LQ9s have a top and side coating, while after versions of the LQ4 pistons are coated.

If you plan on making over 400 hp with the LQ9 or LQ4, information technology is recommended the engine be disassembled and the bores exist honed with a surface plate on the engine earlier calculation some aftermarket forged pistons. This process will ensure bore symmetry and set the diameter for the new pistons. Many engine builders feel the factory cast-aluminum eutectic pistons are non as robust to high cylinder pressure situations where detonation and preignition have a higher trend to occur, which is why information technology is recommended they be replaced with forged aluminum pistons.

Quality Built Engines

In 2002, the Gen III engine architecture was rated every bit one of the nearly trouble-gratis Five-8 truck engines in N America, according to J. D. Power survey results. The 5.3-liter truck engine achieved a rating of 9 issues per 100 engines ("problems per hundred" is a J.D. Ability standard abbreviated as pph) in 2002. This is impressive, as the Toyota 4.7-liter 5-8 had 13 pph and the Ford 5.4-liter V-8 had a 17-pph rating.

In 2002 alone, the GM engine associates plants produced over 1 million Gen III V-eight engines. On average, it takes about 4.five hours to build a Gen III engine in the assembly plant, and many plants tin can build up to 4,000 engines per day. If you exercise the math, y'all'll find that millions of Gen Three V-8 engines accept been produced since 1997.

The GM engine assembly plants apply sophisticated systems to eliminate associates problems and and then document these solutions so the other Gen 3 assembly plants do good from that i plant's work to meliorate quality. One manner they exercise this is past testing a part to brand certain they are within specification every 60 or so pieces. Every engine is run through a cold-exam that checks over 400 parameters in systems like the ignition, oiling, valvetrain, and more to insure the highest quality. There are even high-tech machines that check every threaded hole in the engine cake before it enters the assembly constitute to ensure the threads are practiced.

This final issue was a big one in engine manufacturing for years, but with this new machinery, cantankerous-threading problems have been minimized. This has allowed engine plants similar Romulus Associates, located just exterior Detroit, to get from 125 problems per million (ppm) to 0. This technology was rapidly integrated into the plants in St. Catherines, Canada, and Silao, Mexico. In full general, 99.98 per centum of Romulus' engines exit the assembly plant free of bug.

The result of this trouble-solving innovation has been high productivity and excellent quality from all the associates plants, and awards in highly prestigious benchmarks similar the Harbour Report — which awarded the Romulus Engine plant the "most productive Five-eight Found in North America" in 2002.

Written by Will Handzel and Posted with Permission of CarTechBooks

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