ls or 406 ?

[406 SHAKER]

roller406 bu i was wondering if you are running 7.30 on motor or on spray ? my bu has a mild 406 and just blew a head gasket so im considering going 6.0 ls or to wake up this 406 this winter . any advice from anyone that has switched from a old school to a ls would help me make this decision. thanks .

 

[blubaldmontess]

I can't remember my old stroker motor times, but my old combo was a 383 stroker, .30 over, 10.5:1 compression, big bumpstick, 2600 stall converter and a 200r4 with 4.11 gears. Upside, it was peppy, it had some nice things going on, but very poor street manners, and horrid gas mileage.

I went with the 6.0L motor, and the swap was rather cheap, add on a cam and a good intake and computer tune, and you'll be running, or you can sray the motor, either way. What I do love about the new setup is, my transmission is damned near bullit proof (4l80e), gets 22+ mpg cruising around with 4.11 gears. I can reprogram it over and over, or put different tunes on my laptop and just change back and forth (or do it like a switch, like the "tow button" on newer vehicles). I can't tell you how much I love the swap. At first, there were a lot of things that I had to learn, maybe not the most fun, but like here, the http://www.ls1tech.com board is a wealth of info, just not with as nice of people there as here.

HTH, and if you have more questions...let us know

 

[406 SHAKER]

thanks bluemonte i think i will go with a carb. if i do the 406 i will do a forged rotating assembly and roller cam and alum. heads and i know it will get expensive . soooo im trying to decide to go with a 6.0 . i think i could go 6.0 for about the same . so my question is can i do less to the 6.0 and get just as much power as the 406 . i understand the LS engines cost more to build . so thats my dilema . thanks for your time.

 

[blubaldmontess]

Stock 6.0L has appx 400 HP, right? and gobs more torque. Its the changing of the bumpstick that I've seen that gives it huge gains. Mine, engine and trans (6.0L and the 4l80e) was 2300 shipped to my door. It had 70k miles on it. I put the zo6 cam in it and it ran a low 13 at 109/110 with no tune and losing timing because I didn't have everything dialed in. It also didn't have the transmission dialed right so I hit the rev limiter at 6100 rpm appx in 1st and second gear. That shows you where it starts from, usually people with carbs and bigger cams get it much betterthan me though, as far as times and such. Oh, and stock, the truck motor was an iron block, but had the aluminum heads on it.

There are also the newer 6.2 motors with the cathedral heads that are running even more power, but I don't know if they make a carb conversion for those heads (though they should). Again, more questions, or need help finding stuff, lemme know. If you look for a built one already ls1tech is the place to look, but if you want a stocker one, go to craigslist and look for vortec 6.0L or lq9 ect. You'll see the price difference in car vs truck engines have fun and happy hunting!

 

[78Bu88SS]

I've run a best of 7.50 in the 1/8th and 12.07 in the 1/4 with the combo in my sig. Its simple, small cam (easy on the valvetrain) and runs great. I drive it everywhere. This winter I'm putting 4.10s back in and converting it to fuel injection (EFI victor jr, 1000cfm TB, 42lb injectors, Megasquirt II and MSD 6010). My goal is to run 11.80s with out digging deeper into the motor. Once that happens, I'll put a plate on it and spray for high 10s, problem is I'll need a 6pt before that. LS motors are cheap, reliable, and easy to work on.

 

[406 SHAKER]

thanks guys ! i think its going to cost me around 5000 to 6000.00 to build this 406. i would like to know how much power i can get out of a 6.0 for this type of money. thanks for everyones help.

 

[455_82malibu]

well...Im running 10.7's on a stock 6.0 shortblock, l92 heads, with a small shot, the motor would cost a little over $2000 to duplicate. Plus you can run cheap gas....

 

[blubaldmontess]

A general breakdown, depends on how far you want to go with this, but search ebay for the l92, basically the new version the the lq9...say for the motor and transmission 3k, an upgraded cam 400-500 right? rework the harness for 300-400 as well, unless you buy the 20 dollar book to do it yourself? Fuel pump, lines, ect about 300, and 300 for your crossmember and your motor mounts. Oh, and you can get the kick *ss BRP headers (top o the line eh...) for around 700, ceramic coated and work like a dream. I only got mid length, and they work well, but full potential, might as well get the full length.

Sounds easy enough, really it is alot easier to work on, as you can get the EFILive or other programs and do a working scan of the system, watch where your fuel is lean and is too much, I mean, its f**kin bad man, I love it most days, some days not so much, but yeah. What i've got in fuel mileage more than makes up for what I spent doing the swap. That and all the pieces you take off, say you take off the a/c condenser, sell it for 150-200 bucks, the old engine, a few hundred here and there. Again, you'd be amazed, think about this, there are 8-9 second daily driver lsx motor cars weighin in at 4k lbs...example here:

friends car, yes its turbo, conservative tune, this is before a few more mods but jerry's car is the hottness, and yeah, he drives it around on pump gas (best on race gas I believe is 9.3x or somethign like that):
http://mssftw.com/videos/SD-MSS-Cablebandit.wmv

And Dave, stock suspension truck, turbo, best pas has been...10.8x I believe, and this is his work truck, daily driver/hauler of crap truck...and on the weekends he beats the hell outta it:
http://mssftw.com/videos/SD-quicksilverado-11-35-sdr-9-4-09.wmv

 

[406 SHAKER]

that all sounds real good . 455 if i had your skills and connections i would go your route but since i dont i will have to figure somrthing out . do you want to build another one . lol. both of you make it sound easy but i would never get that figured out . thanks .

 

[455_82malibu]

there is nothing to figure out on my car, its a stock truck motor with the stock fuel injection, you can use the MSD box and carb intake and get the same results. I run a very basic th350 with a shift kit and 3000 converter, 3.73 gears, so looks like you already have that and can use it all..... FI might get tricky with the wiring, but you want the carb anyway so thats just plug and play...