I'm bored, so I'm throwing this out for everyones input...

[DamnYankee]

The engine and tranny I now have in my possession is in my sig. I will be putting approximately $5,000.00 more into the engine. I forget how much the True Trac and all of that is (not much I don't think so I'll call that an anniversary present in March - so disregard that as an expense).

Talking to Billy, Greg, Allen, Virgil, and some others, I've been given some pretty good routes to go. I would like to find a good used turbo setup (undecided front or rear). I'm undecided on forged rods, pistons, and rings. I thought I was definitely going to go with them but Donny at Prostreet Motorsports thinks I'd be fine keeping the stock internals which also means keeping the stock bore and not balancing anything. Thoughts on that?

Another option is do send it HKE and have it bored, balanced, and have forged internals put in. Since that would cost some dough, I was thinking if I went that route I could throw a nitrous system on until I could swing a turbo down the road.

One of my main lines of thinking is that once the engine is in, I don't want it out again (if possible). So that makes me think do the stuff in the last paragraph to ensure (as much as possible) that it can take the nitrous or turbo or whatever I decide to throw at it.

Anyway, throw me your ideas...and for those of you who I've been hounding about this, don't think I'm not listening to you...like I said I'm just bored and want to see what everyone else has to say!

As a P.S. the guy I bought the combo from said in his regular cab 2wd truck he was running 12.8's on motor and 11.8's on a 150 shot. That being said I'd like to be in the 11's (or better obviously) with my remaining budget.

Let 'em fly...

[farmtruc]

Change the cam and go turbo.
The lq4 engine can take the abuse and just look at JJ's as an example (crossing fingers lol) it's been running about 15psi for 2 years now, no issues so far.

Since forging an engine requires getting rid of everything in the engine, find another used 6L block only, and build that one and enjoy the fun with your current setup until you get the forged engine built. If not, you're going to contemplate 1,000 things you can do with your setup and before you know it, it'll be 1 yr later, hahah, oh wait, that's me.
of course, that's just my opinion.

btw, what truck is this going in?

later,
allen

[DamnYankee]

Assuming I can find one in a timely manner when I sell my truck, it'll be going in a '99-'02 RCSB stepside Silverado. I'll be getting one with a 4.8 or 5.3 so I can use the harness, alternator, and starter and whatever else I need.

I only want to do this once (fingers crossed here as well), that's why I was contemplating forged and setting it up for a turbo even if I can't swing the turbo right now - I can't have this breaking if at all possible.

I've contemplated a progressive nitrous system, but I don't think I want to mess with a bottle. I'd rather have the constant of turbo.

That being said, I need to know the best route to go to set it up for a turbo:

How safe is it to keep the stock internals? Because if it's at all "iffy" I'd rather go bored and forged and enjoy the gains from that until I have some dough for a turbo.

Assuming it is safe to keep the stock internals, what kind of numbers (hp or ¼ mile) will I be looking at with the setup in my sig and a turbo?

What kind of numbers (hp or ¼ mile) would I see by going bored and forged ONLY?

What kind of numbers (hp or ¼ mile) would I see by going bored and forged and turbo?

[1slow01z71]

If this is going to be a daily driven vehicle leave it the hell alone. You are starting to get into the territory where shit breaks and requires alot more maintenance. I would do what Allen said if it was me. A low compression motor is going to suck without a turbo especially in the 6.0 variety, with a stroker it wouldnt be bad. The main thing is keep the cam small to keep it nice and driveable, maybe you will listen to me this time on cam size:p

[txarkitekt]

Surprisingly enough, the LQ4 block has some pretty beefy internals, so FI can be done without tearing the motor down. It can take a good amount of abuse... I might only wanna run about 7-9 psi to stay on the safe side, but you can push it to 10 psi and still be ok... If I could pick a turbo, I would go with a front mount and FMIC. I would also run a meth kit in coordination to keep my IAT's from getting too high... You might be looking at 475-490 rwhp and about 510-520 torque with a stock bottom end and a good turbo system... And about 410-420 hp/430-440 ft./lbs. on a forged, non-turbo... Actually, the number might be lower than that if you build the motor with FI in the future cause you would want to build it with a lot lower CR than you would if you were staying N/A. You would really have to make up your mind on FI or N/A before you start modding because it is all in the details when it comes to that... Like you said, you'd rather build it right the first time vs. going back and redoing it later on down the line...

[DamnYankee]

If this is going to be a daily driven vehicle leave it the hell alone. You are starting to get into the territory where shit breaks and requires alot more maintenance.

Isn't that the point of doing forged stuff, level 5 tranny, etc. - so stuff doesn't break as often (or is less likely too)? Sounds like you're saying a turbod daily driver isn't an option...or maybe I'm not understanding "leave it the hell alone" correctly...

I'm not being argumentative in the least here, just want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

[ducky]

Isn't that the point of doing forged stuff, level 5 tranny, etc. - so stuff doesn't break as often (or is less likely too)? Sounds like you're saying a turbod daily driver isn't an option...or maybe I'm not understanding "leave it the hell alone" correctly...

I'm not being argumentative in the least here, just want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

Im not speaking on codys behalf, but the advice he gave me is, basically if you want a DD with alot of power, and not necessarily worry about it quite so often, dont go forged. He said the same thing in my post about what direction I wanted to go in with my truck. It did make alot of sense just to leave the black alone and not do extreme stuff to it (forging it) make it simple; a custom grind cam to accent the turbo. I dunno if thats what he means, but since we are in the same boat as to where we want to go with our trucks, thats how I took it.

[1slow01z71]

Isn't that the point of doing forged stuff, level 5 tranny, etc. - so stuff doesn't break as often (or is less likely too)? Sounds like you're saying a turbod daily driver isn't an option...or maybe I'm not understanding "leave it the hell alone" correctly...

I'm not being argumentative in the least here, just want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

I know you arent, I was just picking at you a little with the cam comment.

Here is the deal, I have seen it time and again and experienced it myself, no matter what you do when you modify something there is always other stuff that can mess up. When you add in all sorts of additional aftermarket stuff to support the HP you are going to be running it adds alot of complexity to your rig and something always seems to go wrong.

Ill go over alot of the system you will need for a forged FI motor and the problems it will cause.

Lets start with the fuel system, when you are going to be running a forged turbo setup you are going to need a dual pump setup. The second pump is run of a hobbs switch which needs a vacuum port for boost reference, the second pump comes on at pre-set boost level to supply fuel when you really start putting out the power. With that setup you cant get below 1/4 tank of gas either. Then you have all the connections for a vic jr style intake that could leak. Then you have the rear end you can beef up but if you take it to the track on slicks you may break an axle if you launch with a two step and full boost. Then you have all the intake piping of a turbo kit, and the blow off valve and wastegate, which both need a vacuum reference hose to operate right. A motor like you are talking about needs special attention always looking at teh gauges to make sure everything is working right. The wastegate could stick and over boost the motor, the seal on the turbo could go bad and dump oil into your exhaust causing a nice smoke show and possible fire hazard. With the proximity of the spark plug wires on the passenger be so close the turbo manifold you could melt plug wires or the manifold may crack later on down the road.

There are more situations I could think of but I think you get the point, these things I listed may very well never happen to you, Im jsut listing these to show you the complexity of the system you are going to be running and how many stupid little things can go wrong and drive you nutts.

I wouldnt mod a DD truck like you are planning on doing. Little problems can be big problems when you rely on your truck to get you to and from work. Im lucky in the fact that I have a company truck otherwise my truck would have been gone long ago.

Me personally after driving a highly modified truck I just wouldnt do it due to all the problems you can have very easily. Also remember that type of truck is going to drink gas. Allen tuned my truck for abotu 30 minutes a couple weeks ago and my truck drank half a tank of gas and that wasnt even beating on it the whole time. I can do a 0-120 blast and the gas gauge will drop one mark and thats not even running a big shot of nitrous or a turbo, just on motor.

Working on a truck that ahs to be up and running by monday to get to work would get very old. You cant make a drag truck a work truck, it just doesnt work, eventually you will be left hanging out to dry. If you have other modes of transportation available to you then go for it if not I would think heavily about what you are trying to accomplish.

Do what you want with my advice but it isnt as easy as it seems. Im am living proof of that. Look what virgil got into with his truck. The best stuff in the world still breaks, and at teh 600+rwhp level of a forged turbo truck you are going to breaks tuff period and it gets expensive quick. I have 20K in just performance stuff into my truck over the various builds over the last 3 years and Im still not where I want to be. After I get some times out of this truck and play with it for a while its going to be for sale and Im getting a NNBS Duramax and leaving it alone. If you cant do the work yourself I wouldnt even attempt what you are talking about, laor alone will eat you alive.

I would drop the LQ4 in there with a good turbo cam, run low boost and build aforged motor ont he side then drop it in and turn up the boost. Get and 80e and build the rear end.

[mean05]

while it's out of the truck put better rods and pistons in it...leave the stock bore and don't ever listen to Donny......