What have you done to your square lately??

[Ken B]

another step closer!!!

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

got a spray out of potential new paint....old vs new....little more metallic. 90% certain this is the color the color flops dark out of direct light..but gonna do a couple other options

 

[ChuckN]

@ChuckN I’ll echo some of what others have said, don’t jump ship yet on what’s in the truck now.

Clean the deck surfaces up and take some basic measurements to determine where things are at and see what you have to work with. I’d have a hard time believing the compression would be that low with flat top (4 valve relief) pistons, the 461 heads should be around 64CC chambers, unless if it was rebuilt using super short rebuilders pistons, not decked, with a super thick head gasket.

A stock 70s smogger 350 should blueprint to around 8.5:1, with dished pistons, 76cc chambered heads, etc etc.

The bores might not look great, but if it ran well, didn’t have excessive blowby, smoke, make oil, or lose oil, I personally wouldn’t be above overlooking some things.

I suppose it does boil down to what you want from it as a result, if you are dead set on not building a 327, I’d put it back together with the old parts, then you can continue to enjoy it, find a good 350, maybe a factory roller block w/mech fuel pump provision, that’s still a 350, go through it, put your go fast goodies on it, get it ready to go, swap them, put the old mill up for sale. I’m sure that someone would want a running “327” for their traditional hot rod/t bucket/whatever.

Having something that in some capacity runs and drives is more fun than having something blown apart for months. BTDT.

Just my 2¢ for free.

My good buddy Mark, who I’ve been working on cars with for 30 years on and off, basically said the same thing last night.

After staring at the ceiling last night and gathering my thoughts, I think the first step would be to take out of the engine and straight to the shop to have the block looked at to have it assessed- I’ll leave that part to the pros. Reason being, I don’t have room to have an engine in the garage. Because of our parking situation, my wife has to park in the garage, we literally have no driveway here. It’s a shared parking situation with neighbors that is terrible. But it is what it is. And that has 5 feet of workable space behind her car when she is there.

I’ll stop by and look at that LS tomorrow because I have an appointment with him for that. Maybe @TotalyHucked can comment, but after looking around, 1750 for a LQ9 engine these days isn’t a good deal with that mileage, even though it’s a 6L and pre-DOD.

 

[ChuckN]

You must be registered for see images attach

got a spray out of potential new paint....old vs new....little more metallic. 90% certain this is the color the color flops dark out of direct light..but gonna do a couple other options

Love the color!

 

[TotalyHucked]

My good buddy Mark, who I’ve been working on cars with for 30 years on and off, basically said the same thing last night.

After staring at the ceiling last night and gathering my thoughts, I think the first step would be to take out of the engine and straight to the shop to have the block looked at to have it assessed- I’ll leave that part to the pros. Reason being, I don’t have room to have an engine in the garage. Because of our parking situation, my wife has to park in the garage, we literally have no driveway here. It’s a shared parking situation with neighbors that is terrible. But it is what it is. And that has 5 feet of workable space behind her car when she is there.

I’ll stop by and look at that LS tomorrow because I have an appointment with him for that. Maybe @TotalyHucked can comment, but after looking around, 1750 for a LQ9 engine these days isn’t a good deal with that mileage, even though it’s a 6L and pre-DOD.

What kinda mileage was on the LQ9? I might've missed that part. Around here, 6L's are still going for $1200-2k depending on mileage/condition and what's there, that's usually with the computer and harness, sometimes with a trans too. And that goes for both LQ4 and LQ9. Considering it's got a warranty too, I'd say that's not out of line.

Just to throw it out there to give you another option (like you need more to ponder lol) if you decide to go down the LS path, don't sleep on certain 5.3s either. If it's a gen4 out of an '07-up truck or out of an Envoy Denali/V8 Trailblazer, they've got the good heads/intake/more compression and are serious performers and can be had cheaper than 6.0s. They're aluminum block too. My LH6 5.3 came out of an Envoy Denali - 10:1, 799 heads (same as the Corvette/L33 243 heads, just don't have sodium filled exhaust valves), TrailBlazer SS "breadbox" intake and larger throttlebody. I've had several people tell me they thought it was a 6.0 the way it runs, they're always surprised it's a 5.3. It's PLENTY of engine for our trucks.

What gear do you have in the back? That'll also play a roll in my opinion of you doing an LS or a small block based build

 

[ChuckN]

What kinda mileage was on the LQ9? I might've missed that part. Around here, 6L's are still going for $1200-2k depending on mileage/condition and what's there, that's usually with the computer and harness, sometimes with a trans too. And that goes for both LQ4 and LQ9. Considering it's got a warranty too, I'd say that's not out of line.

Just to throw it out there to give you another option (like you need more to ponder lol) if you decide to go down the LS path, don't sleep on certain 5.3s either. If it's a gen4 out of an '07-up truck or out of an Envoy Denali/V8 Trailblazer, they've got the good heads/intake/more compression and are serious performers and can be had cheaper than 6.0s. They're aluminum block too. My LH6 5.3 came out of an Envoy Denali - 10:1, 799 heads (same as the Corvette/L33 243 heads, just don't have sodium filled exhaust valves), TrailBlazer SS "breadbox" intake and larger throttlebody. I've had several people tell me they thought it was a 6.0 the way it runs, they're always surprised it's a 5.3. It's PLENTY of engine for our trucks.

What gear do you have in the back? That'll also play a roll in my opinion of you doing an LS or a small block based build

It’s 196k after talking with them. There’s lots of 5.3s around here.

Rear gear is a 3.42 and I have a 2500 stall.

After adding up the cost of all the stuff it would take to do a conversion, it’s less and less likely. It’s probably going to be cheaper to get a 383 rotating assembly and the machine work and be able to put it in a run it as the truck is. And have a fresh motor rather than something that’s lived over half its life already.

 

[TotalyHucked]

It’s 196k after talking with them. There’s lots of 5.3s around here.

Rear gear is a 3.42 and I have a 2500 stall.

After adding up the cost of all the stuff it would take to do a conversion, it’s less and less likely. It’s probably going to be cheaper to get a 383 rotating assembly and the machine work and be able to put it in a run it as the truck is. And have a fresh motor rather than something that’s lived over half its life already.

At that mileage, if it's been maintained, it may still be a decent buy if they'll do $1500. I don't think I'd go any higher than that. It also probably would benefit from a ring/bearing at that mileage as well. If that's the case, it's essentially a core and you can find 6.0s cores much cheaper.

Not to mention the 3.42 gears. A stock cam/cruiser 6.0/4L60 setup would be fine with 3.42s but you'd be wanting more gear soon I'd wager. LS's, especially cammed, don't really wake up till you put a 3.73-up gear. I've got 3.90s and plan to put 4.56s in mine for next year.

Just throwing some rough numbers off the top of my head, it'll be $6-7k to do the LS swap. And that's not even factoring in any machine shop work or a trans rebuild. I lucked out with mine, it had 104k when it was pulled so I didn't go through the bottom end or the trans, just did a top end rebuild and filter/fluid in the trans.
- 6.0 basic rebuild with rings/bearings/seals/gaskets - $1200
- Swap harness - $800-1500
- Motor/trans mounts - $400
- Exhaust work - ? varies widely
- Converter for the 4L60/80 - $800-1500
- Driveshaft - $400
- Regear/rebuild the rear axle - $1500
- Tune - $4-600
- Electric fans/shroud - $500-700

I think since you were pretty happy with the truck before and just looking for some more power, plus you have a healthy trans and and converter already, I'd agree with sticking with the small block. A healthy 383 with a 3.42 and a little converter would be a pretty sweet little setup

 

[legopnuematic]

I don’t have room to have an engine in the garage.

Oh I bet there’s room. Might require a little creativity.

My first thought would be pull the tailgate off of the truck, store in bed (or wherever). Then you should be able to roll an engine stand under the truck/the block would hang over into the bed, maybe 6-8” of protrusion from the back of the truck. Just wheel it out when ready to work on it, wheel it back over when done.

Or build it in the kitchen…

Just some ideas.

 

[Sad Sack]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZHLNWPW/

 

[ChuckN]

At that mileage, if it's been maintained, it may still be a decent buy if they'll do $1500. I don't think I'd go any higher than that. It also probably would benefit from a ring/bearing at that mileage as well. If that's the case, it's essentially a core and you can find 6.0s cores much cheaper.

Not to mention the 3.42 gears. A stock cam/cruiser 6.0/4L60 setup would be fine with 3.42s but you'd be wanting more gear soon I'd wager. LS's, especially cammed, don't really wake up till you put a 3.73-up gear. I've got 3.90s and plan to put 4.56s in mine for next year.

Just throwing some rough numbers off the top of my head, it'll be $6-7k to do the LS swap. And that's not even factoring in any machine shop work or a trans rebuild. I lucked out with mine, it had 104k when it was pulled so I didn't go through the bottom end or the trans, just did a top end rebuild and filter/fluid in the trans.
- 6.0 basic rebuild with rings/bearings/seals/gaskets - $1200
- Swap harness - $800-1500
- Motor/trans mounts - $400
- Exhaust work - ? varies widely
- Converter for the 4L60/80 - $800-1500
- Driveshaft - $400
- Regear/rebuild the rear axle - $1500
- Tune - $4-600
- Electric fans/shroud - $500-700

I think since you were pretty happy with the truck before and just looking for some more power, plus you have a healthy trans and and converter already, I'd agree with sticking with the small block. A healthy 383 with a 3.42 and a little converter would be a pretty sweet little setup

Thanks for that, Huck. Initially it seems like not too bad, but all the nickels and dimes really add up quickly.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Thanks for that, Huck. Initially it seems like not too bad, but all the nickels and dimes really add up quickly.

That it does. I've never added all my receipts up and never will but even just doing off the top of my head lists like this make me pucker a bit lol. There's not even headers, adapters for the gauges (let alone Dakotas), making power/battery cables, etc in there. There's probably another grand of just "oh yeah, I need this too" little stuff.

There's plenty of guys online that have done down and dirty swaps for a grand or less by buying an NBS or NNBS truck, pairing down the harness themselves and selling off the hulk but it's hard to do that. I just sat for a minute and really tried to think about what I did with mine and I'm already above $8k not counting the Dakota gauges or rear axle rebuild. I had zero machine shop work done and didn't touch the trans, did 100% myself other than the tune. So add in the rear axle rebuild, I'm above $10gs just for the original LS swap let alone what else I've done to it since. Thankfully that was spread out over a year's time but still.

 

[TotalyHucked]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BRetty]

My transmission (TH350C) has been spitting transmission fluid in reverse, so bad I lost reverse gear. I couldn't find it but today my buddy came by and he got under there.

Blown reverse light switch. Fortunately, I had another th350 sitting around. We replaced the switch with a plug from the other unit. Fixed but I dont have reverse lights, fine with that for now. Thank God for friends with more knowledge than yourself.

Dead switch (he crushed it taking it out)

You must be registered for see images attach

Old transmission with plug that we cannibalized

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[DoubleDingo]

@ChuckN I’ll echo some of what others have said, don’t jump ship yet on what’s in the truck now.

Clean the deck surfaces up and take some basic measurements to determine where things are at and see what you have to work with. I’d have a hard time believing the compression would be that low with flat top (4 valve relief) pistons, the 461 heads should be around 64CC chambers, unless if it was rebuilt using super short rebuilders pistons, not decked, with a super thick head gasket.

A stock 70s smogger 350 should blueprint to around 8.5:1, with dished pistons, 76cc chambered heads, etc etc.

The bores might not look great, but if it ran well, didn’t have excessive blowby, smoke, make oil, or lose oil, I personally wouldn’t be above overlooking some things.

I suppose it does boil down to what you want from it as a result, if you are dead set on not building a 327, I’d put it back together with the old parts, then you can continue to enjoy it, find a good 350, maybe a factory roller block w/mech fuel pump provision, that’s still a 350, go through it, put your go fast goodies on it, get it ready to go, swap them, put the old mill up for sale. I’m sure that someone would want a running “327” for their traditional hot rod/t bucket/whatever.

Having something that in some capacity runs and drives is more fun than having something blown apart for months. BTDT.

Just my 2¢ for free.

^^^^^^^LOGIC!!^^^^^^

 

[mxer147]

Stick with your plan, maybe a different cam based on your findings. Run it, if you hate it, formulate a plan B for a future date. You might be surprised it performs better than you expected. I try to remind myself not to overthink everything.

 

[Camar068]

That’s an option. Just depends on whatever else comes along with it. Block work to be gone through completely (and I’m not going forward without that) would be at least a grand locally.

Locally I had my LS block done for $450. Heads were $150 each I think