Pwnage1337

Yeah it's a little more than I'd like to run. Should come out about 11.2:1, with a .051" gasket which should put my quench right around .040.

Mike Holmen

The extra compression should work out great with that camshaft your going to use. Curious on what head gasket your going use Pwnage?

Pwnage1337

It's a GM MLS gasket .051" thickness

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12610046

Mike Holmen

Not sure if you guys saw this but Summit has a brand new line of camshafts available for the LS engine
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2018/...g-pro-ls-cams/

https://www.onallcylinders.com/wp-co...pdate-1-19.jpg

and the best part is that there priced pretty decently

Marv thread on LS1tech was using the summit stage 1 camshaft, seems to be making some pretty decent power for what's in the engine
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...a-trailer.html

Pwnage1337

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Performance....c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FOR-97-04-C....c100005.m1851

I'm looking at buying either of these and hacking them up and welding to fit the car.

I'm pretty skeptical given how cheap the stainless ones are..I refuse to pay $1000 for a set of conversion headers that don't even have a 1 7/8 primary.

Krusty84

These ^^^^ look like the exact header on my car. Just got to hope you can position the engine in the same spot and you should be golden. They have the same ball style collector and O2 bung placement.

Krusty84

I am going to do a cam swap in the next month because I am in search of 450 rwhp. I like the Summit LS3 Stage 4 but I might end up getting the package deal from BTR or Texas Speed. Still on the fence as I think I can get the TSP setup cheaper than everything at Summit.

I found out with a bore scope today that my current setup does not have dual valve springs like I was told. I assume the wavyness in the upper RPMs in my dyno graph is a valve control issue. I wouldn't doubt that it has stock pushrods and a cheap single spring upgrade, so it is probably floating and the pushrods are also deflecting a bit.

Confirmed that I do indeed have flat tops and the cylinder walls still have a nice crosshatch.

Mike Holmen

Pwnage, I know that those ceramic tubes are going to be a pain to weld. Your definitely going to do some tweaking. I was going to try a couple different sets of LS cheap headers just to see if they fit in decent. I would tig the weld, it keeps the heat down and nicer looking welds. You could alway build a set of headers, there tons of room for big tubes once you get rid of that AC evap unit. I bet a cheap camaro or C10 pick-up set long tubes will work., worst case you send them back or sell them. Stuff like that sells pretty easy here.

Krusty, make sense why your down on power. You car should be more than what that dyno indicated, at least in the 450rwhp area. I found one of my spark plug wires was disconnected and few wires where burnt at the boot area. I was running MSD wires. I replaced them all with a set of 9mm 12in wires for a 1500 silverado and running the heat shields now. Funny I was getting 8-12 feet of tire slipage on take-off with my stock converter and 2.73 gears, with only 7ish cylinders running, lol. I found a 2012 LS3 engine that was pulled with camshaft/lifter issues, for $2400 cdn. Complete (less wire harness, front accessories and computer). Last year I found a 2010 6.2L/6L80 out a caddy for $2800 cdn. I'm still on the fence whether to buy a built long block engine from Texas or just building one.

Krusty84

I just don't think my 220/224 cam is going to pull 450rwhp. The tuner and shop owner said the cam is really small for the setup and there is 30-40 rwhp on the table with a 23X/24X cam.
Maybe their dyno reads low though. They told me not to get my hopes up on a number because the 480/495 LS3 crate motors they install on a regular basis only put down 370-390 throug an auto.

They did get ~430rwhp out of it but backed the timing down to a safe area and then tuned the torque up from ~400 to ~410.

I just have a hankering it has some valve float though. Every once in a while it feels really flat at 6200-6400 and will kinda hang there. Reminds me of an old SBC I had that would float the valves around 5800-6000, it just isn't quite as noticeable in this car.

But maybe you are right, sure looks like it wants to keep going north at that ~5800 mark.

Pwnage1337

I contacted the seller and he said these headers are 16 gauge, and have a 3/8" flange. I think those are the ones I will end up buying and cutting up. I don't want to get cheap stainless that is super thin and is going to crack when I wrap the headers with header wrap to keep the underhood temps down.

Do the mounts that you used bring the engine forward that much? I was going to use the adjustable LSX mounts. I really don't want to change the transmission positioning too much because I have a 4L80E in my car that I made a custom bracket for that I don't really want to screw with modifying if the trans needs to move fore-aft. I'd rather spend a few hours cutting and welding headers and leaving the trans as is.

I didn't see where it said they were ceramic? Unless I missed something! Is it necessary to get rid of the AC Evap? I saw where some guys took it and cut it out then re-glassed it and gained some clearance. That was my plan.

Any concerns with P to V with that much duration? Do you have valve reliefs in your pistons? I am hoping for 430ish through my setup. Not sure how much the aftermarket heads are going to gain. I'm still tossing around intake ideas. Right now the most feasible thing is picking up a loaded used LS3 intake that comes with rails and injectors for $400 ish. I also believe these make the most low-end torque out of all the manifolds available, something that is interesting to me. I want to spin this thing but its primarily street driven so the time its going to spend above 6k is limited. The custom grind cam was ground with these specifications in mind.

Krusty84

I don't think so, I think my mounts move it back. If it were any further forward I don't think the headers would would fit. My crossmember has been welded with mounting pads that are behind the stock C4 mounting area and used stock C5 stands on Mopar BB engine mounts. If you can position your motor back, it should be fine.



The headers fit with the hvac box in place. It might have to be removed to install the headers and then reinstall it after you have them bolted up. I removed my hvac box a couple of weeks ago, used the box as a template and cut two sheet metal plates. One to cover the fan hole and the other the evap hole. I then installed flanges and that flex duct seen in the picture to retain vented heat. Works great as long as the car is moving, might install a bilge blower next season so I have forced heat. During the summer I have 3" rubber caps and I will simply cap the flanges.

Yes, P to V will be of concern but Texas Speed is telling me to just send it, Summit says their stage 3 or 4 should work but to check and BTR says to run their stage 3 to be safe but still check. I have flat tops, no valve reliefs.

Summit told me they spec'd their LS3 cams on a flat top LS3 that was .006 out of the hole which should be really close to a stock LQ9, within +-.002.

Pwnage1337

Rods are here! Pistons still 3 weeks out

Mike Holmen

Pwnage, sorry I saw the shiny stainless header and thought they where ceramic. With you going with the larger tubes its going to close the evap unit. Even my tiny shorties come close to the evap unit and make working on the spark plug #8 fun. Just throwing out some of my experience, I'm using the SBC engine mounts. Those comp star rods look pretty awesome.

Krusty, my car put down 346 rwhp (stock LQ9 inners) on a dynojet a few years back. Curious on which T-56 gear did you ran the dyno on? I thought that you had the TFS .585 228/230 cam

Krusty84

I have a TKO 600 5-speed, dyno was is 4th gear which is 1:1 and I have a TFS-30602002 which is .575/.575 220/224 on a 112 lsa.

383vett

Pwnage, sorry I haven't reread the whole thread. Those are apparently H beam rods. What rpms do you plan to run. I beams are strong and much lighter than H beams. Maybe you plan to rev past 7K.

Pwnage1337

I got H beams because H is before I in the alphabet and if you're not first you're last.

I will probably touch 7000. They were part of a combo pack that I bought from tick performance. I will be able to use them when running boost too. (hopefully)

DMITTZ

This is a great thread, I am really enjoying it as I am starting to gather parts for my LS swap. I recently picked up a T-56 and LS2 I'm hoping to start my swap this fall.

Keep up the great work!

Pwnage1337

Thanks!

Waiting on these pistons..hopefully shipping this week lol

BLKMAMBA

also from south Jersey.

Mike Holmen

Pwnage, Can't wait to see how the short block looks. Going to be sweet set-up.