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Salvage Yard LQ9 or Stock or Stroker


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After two long years of looking, I finally found my 2003 Arrival Blue SS in November with 59k miles. Last week I tossed a rod through the block, not the pan. My question is this. Should I go the salvage yard route, buy a crate stock 6.0 or go with a 408 stroker? It is my daily driver. I am not sure which route to take. None of it was in the budget. I don't want to miss an opportunity for an upgrade, but don't want to be replacing the rest of the drivetrain next. Thanks for any help you can offer. I am in the Tulsa area.

 

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To the best of my knowledge you can not get on from GM any more. I would buy another one from a place like LKQ They are usually legit and tell you the milage of what they have in there system. They also offered remanufactured engines as well. You probally lose the core charge with the block being damaged though.

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After two long years of looking, I finally found my 2003 Arrival Blue SS in November with 59k miles. Last week I tossed a rod through the block, not the pan. My question is this. Should I go the salvage yard route, buy a crate stock 6.0 or go with a 408 stroker? It is my daily driver. I am not sure which route to take. None of it was in the budget. I don't want to miss an opportunity for an upgrade, but don't want to be replacing the rest of the drivetrain next. Thanks for any help you can offer. I am in the Tulsa area.

 

Although it is my daily driver, I have my wife's old van I am driving for the time being. An honest budget would be zero, since I used all my budget to get the truck (way too many health issue's have hurt the bottom line), but I have access access to whatever money I need if it is good bang for the buck. I am thinking I am going to have to spend somewhere between $2500 and $10k for parts. I guess my main question might be, is a stroker really worth the extra investment? I also don't want to do things twice. We all know the 6.0 liter is a bit lacking in low end and a cam makes that worse, so I have had the stroker recommended to address that. My Blazer is a good example. LQ4, Brian Tooley Cam, long tubes, but no real bottom end. It does pull like a striped ape once it gets to the sweet spot on the cam and runs high 13's. But for around town it is a bit lazy. Can't have the foot to the floor all the time. I guess I want the best of both worlds. I don't know if that helped any. I am really torn by all this and the heath issues make decisions like this very hard.

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The stroker kit alone is going to cost you some money. Probably around the same as a Getting a pull out replacement engine.

 

If you drop the coin to have a Stroker engine built, Chances are you will just break the transmission shortly after.

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For what's it's worth, I had a 1997 K1500 before my SSS. When the 350 L31 got tired, I built a 383 out of a L31 from the junk yard from the ground up. After the swap the truck was nice and light on its feet (it was lifted w/37's) but I finished off a tired 4L60E in 40,000mi.

 

I'm all about the upgrade, but do your 4L65E a favor and beef it up/fix it up when you put the new, bigger engine in. OR, just put the new engine in and see how long the 4L65E lasts.

 

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The stroker kit alone is going to cost you some money. Probably around the same as a Getting a pull out replacement engine.

 

If you drop the coin to have a Stroker engine built, Chances are you will just break the transmission shortly after.

Correct you will then replace the next weakest link.... Trans, tcase or a diff.... No such thing as cheap speed....

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with a budget of 2500-10k i'd go with the 408, even just a mild 11:1 pump gas set up will be a amazing. you're absolutely right about the low end. you can program your shifts to stay down low too and take advantage of that TQ. do some mild upgrades (servos, shift kit, tru cool trans cooler) to the trans to help it deal with the extra TQ and you'll be laughing while that thing chugs along. Tcase and diffs will be fine.

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Thanks for all the input guys. My local Chevrolet dealer can replace the long block with factory new with 3 year 100k mile warranty. Bad part is after the $2500 core charge (block has hole in it), we are talking $9000 parts, labor and tax. I am kind of leaning that way just due to the fact that I have a 60k Blue Silverado SS that even as my daily driver will only see about 5-6k miles a year. Once the warranty is over at 3 years, I can add a cam. That being said, I am still reaching out to various engine builders to see if I can't build a budget 402 or 408 with a mild enough cam to see lots of improvement but keep it in the daily driver category. Just having trouble finding people that have LS engines in the truck variety is hard. The problem is that honestly don't know what is the best long term plan. Sorry for the wishy washiness but I am currently battling some difficult health issues that make decision making and dealing with stressful situation very difficult. Bad time for an engine explosion, all things considered. I don't want to create more problemsor add little gremlins here and there, but don't want to miss out on my chance to improve the truck either. I keep praying God will open a door that is best for the situation and close others. Thanks again for everyone's input. I do read them all and add them to my data base.

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The reason you don't find engine shops with the truck engine is they don't wear out. The LS platform is bullet proof. I'm really surprised yours threw a rod it's super uncommon. You might luck out and find a low mile junk yard motor and they typically have a short warranty like 90 days but most of these trucks now have a LOT of miles on them. Other candidates for donor motors are GMC Denali and the Escalade but most people bought them to drive they didn't park them like SS trucks. If you want piece of mind get the GM motor enjoy the warranty and piece of mind for 3 years and then have fun.

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A Lot of custom built engines are going to have short warranty periods if any warranty at all. This is due to the fact that they can not control how it was tuned, supporting modifications, Installation, and many other factors that are uncontrollable after it leaves their shop.

 

As mentioned A replacement is the way to go. Either a low mileage used one from someone like LKQ or A New Remanufactured unit through the dealer or some other source.

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Here is the GM performance crate engine site http://www.chevrolet.com/performance/crate-engines.html

 

That only Shows current production engines. It will require additional components to make it work in his vehicle.

 

19301554 Is the New/ Reman LQ9 long block. It shows online pricing as follows.

Your Price $ 4068.94 + Core Charge $ 2500.00

 

Not sure if any valves or pistons broke but, if they did, you will also want to replace the intake manifold as well. Some pieces can lodge in there that you can not remove but will com put later while the engine is running and destroy a new motor.

 

I would circumvent the $2500 core charge by finding an LQ4 long block for the exchange. They wouldn't even know the difference and I usually see long blocks for $600-$1000 as a long block. They must be assembled when exchanging them for core credit.

 

I know LKQ also offers Remanufactured units through Various builder's like Jasper. You might price shop those as well.

Edited by 1FASTBRICK (see edit history)
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Had a great conversation with the local Chevy dealer. Apparently, they will not charge me a core charge, even after explaining that the block had a hole in it. They are also looking at their willingness and ability to install either the LS376/480 or LS376/525. I doubt they say yes, but that would be nice build with the LS3 heads, bigger intake throttle body opening, etc. We will see.

 

I have another question. I am considering adding headers, y-pipe upgrade, high flow cats, etc. Does the Silverado SS require lifting or pulling the engine to get the headers in? There seems to be ample room, but you never know.

 

Truly feeling good about one of the factory choices. It was funny to see all the dealer guys swarm my Blazer when I went in to chat on my options. Not many 2wd ones running around and even fewer with the LS setup. Did have to lay into it leaving the lot. Could not resist. Too fun.

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