Houston Texas newb

[r.barn]

Hey all,

Got a 2002 Tahoe as my dailey driver.
Plan on doing an LQ9 swap with some mild boost from DIY twin turbo

Will be asking lots of newb questions as I learn.
Got skills, just never messed with Gen-III chevy stuff yet.

In the garage
2002 Tahoe - 2wd - 5.3L bone stock
1989 LX vert Mustang - 351W swap with DIY twin turbos - nasty fast
1993 LX coupe Mustang - high compression high rpm 347 stroker - work in progress

[txarkitekt]

Welcome to the site man! Nice stable of vehicles...always been a fan of the Fox body cars. I bet the LX convertible is bad arse! What all is left on the LX coupe? Any pics? The LS (Gen III) stuff will be easy--the motors are super easy to work on and are damn near bullet-proof motors. Mild boost with TTs?? How much of "mild" boost we talking about? The 6.0L swap will be nice...but I would choose an LQ4 for boost over the higher compression LQ9. But if you already have the LQ9 ready, its cool--they can handle boost just fine. The swap should be pretty straight forward...

[r.barn]

Probably just thinking 8-10psi of boost for the Tahoe.
Dont need to get too crazy, got the stangs for that, just want to wake it
up. Thinking like 400-425rwhp on the Tahoe will be more than enough.

Could go LQ4, but read the LQ9's had little bit stronger internals.
10-1 compression and 8psi with intercooler should be ok on the LQ9 i think.

Wondering if I should maybe just do a mild cam and intake swap on
the 5.3 and boost it to 400rwhp - thoughts ?

Always had special place in my heart for the 5.0's since growing up with
em in the late 80's. Love the LSx series engines, but GenIII camaros are just butt ugly to me
and a Corvette aint in the books right now, lol


The Tahoe ......nothing special ........ for now



1989 Mustang LX convertible - just my 600+rwhp weekend fun car.
357ci - DIY twin T3/T4 60mm turbo - custom DIS ignition with LS1 coilpack








1993 LX coupe - 4cyl conversion.
Traded a Trickflow intake for total rust bucket of a non-running 4cyl coupe.
I have 11-1, 6,500+rpm 347 sitting in garage ready to go.
Just need to get this one put back together now. Thinking autocross racer
with this one.

[txarkitekt]

OH SNAP! Effin badass cars mayne!!!!

The LQ9 had stronger piston rods and bolts, along with flat top pistons, which result in the higher CR numbers. The LQ9 can easily handle 8-10 psi. But if you are only going 8-10 psi, why go twins?

The 5.3L would respond well to FI too. You could save the $$$ on the 6.0L swap and use it for modding the 5.3L and get a nice LVL 5 tranny to back it up--cause the stock 4L60e is not going to like 8-10 psi at all. But with either motor, I would definitely go with all supporting bolt on mods with a nice turbo cam to get the best output. As for the intake...I would keep the stock truck intake--cause if you go the LS1/LS6 route, you will need to do the LS1 style accessory brackets to make it all work with the shorter intake.

[r.barn]

Sure nice single would work too. Sometimes its just easier to stick
two small turbos in than one large one with big down pipe.

Was thinking might try and stick couple of internally wastegated
Super-60 T3's hanging off stock manifolds down by the bell housing.
Little small for the application, but not trying to make crazy power
past 6,000 rpm either.

Just a street SUV so no worries on them being exposed to anything
too bad, and use a small oil return pump to pump oil back up into the pan.

Might just boost the 5.3, just seen some good deals on low mile
LQ9's all the time and figured it'd be good way to beef-up the engine
and pick up hp with relatively easy swap.

If did a cam swap on the 5.3, will it still pass emissions ?

[TurboMic]

welcome

[txarkitekt]

Sure nice single would work too. Sometimes its just easier to stick
two small turbos in than one large one with big down pipe.

Was thinking might try and stick couple of internally wastegated
Super-60 T3's hanging off stock manifolds down by the bell housing.
Little small for the application, but not trying to make crazy power
past 6,000 rpm either.

Just a street SUV so no worries on them being exposed to anything
too bad, and use a small oil return pump to pump oil back up into the pan.

Might just boost the 5.3, just seen some good deals on low mile
LQ9's all the time and figured it'd be good way to beef-up the engine
and pick up hp with relatively easy swap.

If did a cam swap on the 5.3, will it still pass emissions ?

It would be 10x easier to do a 67mm on a FMT setup on the passenger side...a lot of room, easy to run a 4" DP in that area, plus it is all under hood--easy to install and get to when needed. You can also reuse the existing pass manifold and turn it upside down to mount the flange. Putting twins underneath would be a PITA..IMHO. The only advantage I see is to keep the temps down from it not being under the hood. But with your turbo experience, I am sure you will have a nice setup with it.

Well, if you can find a good deal on a 6.0L, then take it. But if you don't--throwing some mods and boost on the 5.3L would put down some good numbers. Yeah, you can pass emissions. Once you do the cam, you will need a custom tune. And once evrything is tuned, you will have no issues getting your inspection down there in Harris County...

[r.barn]

Yeah, I may just build simple single for the 5.3 and have some fun.

You can pick up cheap but decent Master Power T-70 for like $650

Bet I could fab a single kit using stock driver header, crossover under trans
and simple log header on the passenger side for well under $2,000.

How much will a rebuild on the 4L60 cost to hold some real power ?

[txarkitekt]

Yup---sure can. You can actually use the stock passenger side manifold and turn it upside down versus building a log style... That will save even more $$$ and time. With the $$$ saved from using the 5.3L and single turbo, you can use that towards other mods...cam, valvetrain, tranny, locker for the rear, TB, electric fans, minor head work, etc. Each builder has their set prices, so I do not want to say specific numbers online. But there are some good builders...FLT, Jerry's, etc... You can have a 65e unit built (using your core) to Level 5 specs that will hanble the power created by a modded/cammed/turboed 5.3L in the Tahoe.

[rutroe]

Welcome to the site! Sounds like you are well on your way to a fast Tahoe...don't we have another one of those around here somewhere...?