My new project truck: '99 K2500 Suburban

[Dravec]

My grandparents' '02 Silverado 1500HD 2wd has the 14 bolt ff axle w/ 3.73s behind the LQ4 and the 4L80E. That truck is anemic as hell down low, and reverse is pitiful. Once it's actually moving down the road, it pulls about 80% as well as my K3500 454 w/ 4.10s did. I just was never a fan of how high up in the rpm band you had to get to get off the line with a load. I love my engines to put the power down by 1500 rpm, and run to about 4800-5100. I know the LQ4 has more power at almost all points than the L31, but I much prefer the 350 for where it makes its power. And the big block is just that much better.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

My grandparents' '02 Silverado 1500HD 2wd has the 14 bolt ff axle w/ 3.73s behind the LQ4 and the 4L80E. That truck is anemic as hell down low, and reverse is pitiful. Once it's actually moving down the road, it pulls about 80% as well as my K3500 454 w/ 4.10s did. I just was never a fan of how high up in the rpm band you had to get to get off the line with a load. I love my engines to put the power down by 1500 rpm, and run to about 4800-5100. I know the LQ4 has more power at almost all points than the L31, but I much prefer the 350 for where it makes its power. And the big block is just that much better.

Yeah, the LQ4 needs some RPM to do the same work. The 2010 2500HD I had was a horse, different engine (still 6.0l though), and it had VVT. If you're pulling with the LS its hard to beat 4.10s or deeper gears. I agree with most of your sentiments, but one thing about the LS is the ease of maintenance....and they seal up so well. I'd much rather do plugs and wires on an LS any day than my Vortec 7.4l!

 

[Dravec]

Yeah, the LQ4 needs some RPM to do the same work. The 2010 2500HD I had was a horse, different engine (still 6.0l though), and it had VVT. If you're pulling with the LS its hard to beat 4.10s or deeper gears. I agree with most of your sentiments, but one thing about the LS is the ease of maintenance....and they seal up so well. I'd much rather do plugs and wires on an LS any day than my Vortec 7.4l!

Surprisingly, it only took me an hour to do my plugs and wire on my 7.4 recently. And that included beer time!

Although I guess it helps when the last person to work on her didn't have everything properly tight.

Cap and rotor on the 7.4 is absolute bullcarp though. That engineer was an a-hole.

Also, for some reason, every time I work on an LS, the #8 plug and wire always fights me and I wind up bleeding. Every friggin time.

 

[Supercharged111]

7.4 plugs are easy. I always destroy plug wires on LS motors. Dravec reverse is lame because the ETC is programmed to be that way in reverse. They wake up with a tune, but so does a 350.

 

[stutaeng]

My grandparents' '02 Silverado 1500HD 2wd has the 14 bolt ff axle w/ 3.73s behind the LQ4 and the 4L80E. That truck is anemic as hell down low, and reverse is pitiful. Once it's actually moving down the road, it pulls about 80% as well as my K3500 454 w/ 4.10s did. I just was never a fan of how high up in the rpm band you had to get to get off the line with a load. I love my engines to put the power down by 1500 rpm, and run to about 4800-5100. I know the LQ4 has more power at almost all points than the L31, but I much prefer the 350 for where it makes its power. And the big block is just that much better.

I thought the 1500HD got the 9.5" SF 14 bolt? At least all of the ones I've seen missing the little caps seem that way. All 2500HD 6.0 got the 10.5 FF 14 bolt, as was previously stated. But those 1500HD, 2500LD, and even GMT400 2500LD are so weird. They are like mix and match trucks, LOL.

I think the 6.0 LQ4 on the trucks were derated to like 300HP. The same 6.0 LQ4 on the 2500 Suburbans are rated at 325 HP. Everything is the same as far as I know, just different tune. Torque is pretty close though for both. My 06 Suburban 2500 with 4.10 is pretty peppy for being like a 6,000 lb vehicle. I can't even remember pushing it past 3,000 RPM entering highway ramps, but I don't really drive like a maniac either. The only thing I can think of is GM derated the truck 6.0s to get longer life. A lot of them were lived hard lives as work trucks.

You'd have to compare both power curves. Sometimes the curve profiles (and maximums) are the same, they just get shifted along the RPM scale. I'm no expert, but I thought HP was a product of TQ x RPM...which is by the way why the LS make more HP than the previous BBC/SBC: they rev higher, even more so than the BBC. But for TQ, "there's no replacement for displacement."

Richard Holdener on YT does these pretty cool comparisons on engines, and what I like is that he's always comparing the HP/TQ curves. Helps to visualize things and get them into perspective.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

7.4 plugs are easy. I always destroy plug wires on LS motors. Dravec reverse is lame because the ETC is programmed to be that way in reverse. They wake up with a tune, but so does a 350.

Wasn't claiming it was difficult to do the plugs by any means on my 7.4L. I'd just rather do plus/wires on the LS platform. Coil on plug is definitely better.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I think the 6.0 LQ4 on the trucks were derated to like 300HP. The same 6.0 LQ4 on the 2500 Suburbans are rated at 325 HP. Everything is the same as far as I know, just different tune. Torque is pretty close though for both. My 06 Suburban 2500 with 4.10 is pretty peppy for being like a 6,000 lb vehicle. I can't even remember pushing it past 3,000 RPM entering highway ramps, but I don't really drive like a maniac either. The only thing I can think of is GM derated the truck 6.0s to get longer life. A lot of them were lived hard lives as work trucks.

There was no "derating" of the engines. LQ4=LQ4, didn't matter what platform it was in.

 

[stutaeng]

There was no "derating" of the engines. LQ4=LQ4, didn't matter what platform it was in.

Ok, maybe "derating" is not the proper term then..

From Wikipedia:

Silverado:

1500HD/2500HD/3500HD 1999-2006 6.0 L Vortec 6000 V8 300 hp (224 kW) @ 4400 RPM 360 lb⋅ft (488 N⋅m) @ 4000 RPM

Suburban:

• Vortec 6000 364 cu in V8 (335 hp at 5200 rpm and 375 lb⋅ft (508 N⋅m) of torque at 4000 rpm).

My point is that one is rated higher than the other, in spite of them being both LQ4s. Where does the extra 35 HP come from? They are obviously at different RPM, so like I said, you'd have to compare the power curves.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Ok, maybe "derating" is not the proper term then..

From Wikipedia:

Silverado:

1500HD/2500HD/3500HD 1999-2006 6.0 L Vortec 6000 V8 300 hp (224 kW) @ 4400 RPM 360 lb⋅ft (488 N⋅m) @ 4000 RPM

Suburban:

• Vortec 6000 364 cu in V8 (335 hp at 5200 rpm and 375 lb⋅ft (508 N⋅m) of torque at 4000 rpm).

My point is that one is rated higher than the other, in spite of them being both LQ4s. Where does the extra 35 HP come from? They are obviously at different RPM, so like I said, you'd have to compare the power curves.

I wouldn't trust the wikipedia for those numbers....

 

[Supercharged111]

I thought the 1500HD got the 9.5" SF 14 bolt? At least all of the ones I've seen missing the little caps seem that way. All 2500HD 6.0 got the 10.5 FF 14 bolt, as was previously stated. But those 1500HD, 2500LD, and even GMT400 2500LD are so weird. They are like mix and match trucks, LOL.

I think the 6.0 LQ4 on the trucks were derated to like 300HP. The same 6.0 LQ4 on the 2500 Suburbans are rated at 325 HP. Everything is the same as far as I know, just different tune. Torque is pretty close though for both. My 06 Suburban 2500 with 4.10 is pretty peppy for being like a 6,000 lb vehicle. I can't even remember pushing it past 3,000 RPM entering highway ramps, but I don't really drive like a maniac either. The only thing I can think of is GM derated the truck 6.0s to get longer life. A lot of them were lived hard lives as work trucks.

You'd have to compare both power curves. Sometimes the curve profiles (and maximums) are the same, they just get shifted along the RPM scale. I'm no expert, but I thought HP was a product of TQ x RPM...which is by the way why the LS make more HP than the previous BBC/SBC: they rev higher, even more so than the BBC. But for TQ, "there's no replacement for displacement."

Richard Holdener on YT does these pretty cool comparisons on engines, and what I like is that he's always comparing the HP/TQ curves. Helps to visualize things and get them into perspective.

I thought the HD got the full floater? Don't quote me. I'm told a 2500 non-HD did not get a floater but a 2500HD did.