Project rolling casket

[Tyeler18]

The montero forum was taken down. Trying to pull what's left of it with the wayback machine. I figure the crowd here would enjoy this thing though. This is V2 of my turbo LS montero. Currently making 615hp/670ft/lbs on 9lbs.

Since I get asked about a build thread frequently, I've finally started to compile my pictures. I have no intentions of this being a how-to guide to LS swaps, but hopefully some of the pictures can help people decide if they want to tackle this (simple) swap. I'd like to treat this like a standard build thread to help document the truck for myself.

1991 Montero-

Drivetrain: Gen 3 LQ4 (6.0)
Truck intake
VS Racing 78/75 turbo
VS 44mm wastegate
4" full exhaust
Hooker aerochamber muffler
2.5" intercooler piping
3"intercooler core
4 bar GM map sensor
4L80E trans
NP263 Tcase
Custom steel driveshafts

Fuel: intank walbro 450
Snake eater 1000cc injectors

Cooling: Becool 35202 radiator
Dual 12" spals

Suspension: KYB shocks
Cranked torsion bars
Gen 2 rear coil springs
2" body lift

Axles: Gen 2 SR 4.63 rear
Stock gen 1 4.63 front

Brakes: Gen 2 sport fronts
Gen 2 SR rear disc brakes


I've owned the truck almost 5 years now, bought it basically stock from a buddy. We planned to pull the 6g72 out for his mighty max and junk/sell the shell. Neither of us knew much about monteros at the time, and I had no idea how attached I would become to this thing.

His mighty max and the montero right after he bought it.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Paid $600 for the truck because it was hit in the front. The bumper was bent and the front grill broken/bent, but it ran and drove great otherwise.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Back at my house, you'll notice in future pictures how much that slammed 2wd mighty max changes after getting the montero. I learned low trucks really aren't fun or practical after mobbing around in the montero.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr


First order of business was ruining the power, or lack of already, and gearing with a set of 33x12.5 deegan 38s on some old K5 steel wheels. I think this aided to the demise of the already high mileage and under powered engine, but it made the truck so much better looking and fun to drive.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Some testing on the trails behind my house.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I put a bunch of miles on it like this, it eventually burnt an exhaust valve on cylinder 2 and I gimped it around for another near 10k miles on 5 cyls. Finally the waterpump began to weep and I had no intentions of putting money into a high mileage 3.0. LS swap had been on the table from the start, but it was time to get it now. I picked up a complete 6.0 LQ4 for $800. We drove my 4" lowering blocked, mono leaf spring mighty max 70 miles up the interstate to pick this up. It was frame on axle the whole drive home. Not a fun ride back, but we got it. I can't seem to find the picture but I'll post it when I find it. Next was a 4L80 and NP263 tcase, I had no intentions of dealing with the short comings of the 4L60's, the swap would be a lot easier with a 60, but having been in enough GM builds I wanted a reliable trans.

Started with a 2" body lift to make sure everything clears. This actually wasn't entirely necessary as I have a pretty decent amount of room. I plan to put 35's on so this was necessary anyways.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

3.0 out, 6.0 test fit in

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Mocked up the trans/tcase where I wanted them and to see how much room there was. I have an LS1 swap in my e30 which required a 3lb sledge to portions of the firewall to fit. This was much easier. Minor rework of the firewall for extra clearance.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Tcase to torsion bar crossmember clearance. I ended up pulling the engine forward in hopes of being able to remove the tcase with the engine in the truck. This ended up not being possible, my current position is farther in front of this but it was mocked up originally at this position and I will eventually move it back to this.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I spent a lot of time determining the best route for engine mounts. After going through a bunch of different styles I decided to mimic the mounts in my C5. This allows me to use stock C5 corvette mounts, or any version of C5 aftermarkets which come in shortened height, lifted height, and varying types of materials. Stock mounts were more than adequate for what I wanted as this is a daily driver and I didn't want the vibration acquainted with poly or solid mounts. I planned to use the factory frame horns and making adapter plates off of them, but there was no nice way to do this. Executive decision was made to remove the factory frame horns and weld in frame plates. They are leveled/gusseted and they allow quite a bit of movement to change engine position both fore and aft, height can be altered easily to change pitch.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Here's where things began to snowball. Decided to pick up a turbo setup because why not. 76mm 76/65 with a 44mm wastegate was purchased.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Oh a whim huron-speed had their silverado turbo log manifold on sale. Hoping it would fit I grabbed it, fitment was even better than expected. Like it was made for the truck

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

My e30 uses a 35202 radiator, after some test fitting with it it was as perfect fit for the montero too. I didn't want to cut up the core support, so I notched the frame. I ended up cutting the top of the core support anyways so this was kind of a waste. The radiator sits low at least.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Crossover for the exhaust built along with the down pipe

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Intercooler was next. Frame notched, core support hole sawed for the piping. This was a chore since I kept a/c and wanted to ensure I had room for the condenser and high side hoses.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I wanted to stay drive by wire as I wanted cruise control and easy idle control when this engine gets cammed. This meant wiring up the TAC module to control the throttle pedal as well as mounting a throttle pedal. The GM pedal damn near bolts in with some minor cutting/rework of the pedal arm. This was very satisfying how easy this was.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Now that the engine was situated it was time to set the driveline. I grabbed a stock silverado trans mount for a 4L80 and made a bolt on plate extension to the factory trans crossmember. Very easy, I can adjust output shaft angle up/down with shims from here.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Driveshaft measurements made. I bought this pinion flange that converts to a 1310 GM u-joint. It's actually for a samurai but the center hole is the exact same bore as a montero. Just need a minor re-drill of the pinion flange and it bolts right on. Driveshaft built with 1310 joints and a stock GM slip yolk.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Lokar supplied the shift cable. I was hell bent on using my stock shifter. Still could use some minor adjustments to be perfect but it works well enough I'm not concerned with changing things.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Got a little side tracked here with interior improvements. Evo 8 steering wheel and a touchscreen stereo install to make the cabin nicer. The wheel is such a nice upgrade over the big truck wheel.

Montero build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I won't go too indepth into engine wiring since it varies from year to year too much, but it's very easy. All my gauges, speedo (cable) aside work like stock. The temp gauge uses the montero sender with an adapter in an open port of the LS passenger head. Oil pressure comes from the oil cooler adapter with a montero sender. I kept the LS digital sender so I can log real oil pressure through the LS computer as well. Being drive by wire cruise was an easy addition. The montero switch works opposite of the GM switches (normally open vs normally closed) nothing a couple of relays couldn't solve. I added in a stealthy "trans brake" to the cruise set switch for launching the truck. Cruise operates under normal conditions just like stock, flip a switch near the fog lights and the cruise set turns into a spool valve button which locks the trans in 3rd gear. This allows me to foot brake the truck up into boost and launch. Release the button and it power down shifts into 1st with full boost pressure.

Air conditioner all operates like stock through the LS pcm. DBW is nice as it controls idle very well with the A/C and fans kicking on/off. I bought a universal 134a condenser mounted up front, then built new hoses to mate the montero evaporator to the LS truck compressor. It was 110F at the time of this picture.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Couple of pictures post swap, pre accident. The truck was hit september 2020 by a drunk driver outside my house. My next post will be on the repair and upgrades done post accident.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr


4lb wastegate spring wasn't cutting it. Turned it up to 6lbs, this turbo is way to small. It spools instantly on the 6.0, 78mm should help with that

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

Fuel upgrades involved swapping what appears to be the original factory pump with a walbro 450. The sock on this pump was non-existent, im mildy suprised it even still worked. All the rubber had turned to goo.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Catching up to current, the truck was hit by a drunk driver while parked in front of my house at night. The rear axle was shoved into the front of the wheel well, trailing arm mount ripped off the frame, axle bent, suspension bent, and amazingly very minimal damage to the body. The rear bumper end was bent in and there was some small impact areas on the body, but the wide tires actually saved most of the truck.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

As of this post I still haven't settled with insurance on this. While the truck is down it was time for some upgrades. The 76/65 turbo i've been using is way too small for a 6.0, I've been wanting a 78/75 since the start of the build. Christmas this year the gen 2.5 billet 78/75 went on sale, so I grabbed one. Going from a .80 A/R turbo to a 1.25 A/R will greatly help as well as gaining 10mm of turbine wheel size. This turbo has made over 900whp on multiple 6.0 setups as it is, which is more than I plan on making.

Out with the old, the compressors look similar since ones 76mm and the new 78mm. The exhaust housing is significantly larger.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I ended up trading the old turbo for a 5.3L swap for a buddies international traveall. I sold it with the 44mm wastegate planning to upgrade to a 50mm instead. I wasn't expecting the size difference of the 50mm to the 44mm. Space was already a concern and the height difference wouldn't allow me to fit this and close the hood easily, so I ordered a new 44mm gate and will be welding this to the new turbo hotside just like the previous turbo. 44mm left, 50mm center, tial BOV right.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Next was to fix the rear diff. Mine was beyond what I wanted to spend on saving, I wanted disc brakes ideally too. Gen 2 montero's are normally fairly common in the local yard, naturally when I need something there's none to be found. I contemplated buying a full truck just for the diff and any other upgrades I could scavenge. After some research it seemed the montero sport diff had potential to work, we pulled a 9.5" sport rear axle with 4.63LSD only to figure out why they wont work. The montero trailing arm mounts toe inwards as the trailing arms mount on the inside of the frame rails, the sport mounts have zero toe as the arms mount under the frame. There's enough difference that it won't bolt in, looks like the mighty max gets a coil spring rear upgrade and a 9.5" LSD. Over christmas I found a salvage yard in Colorado with a 96 SR being parted. 9.5" rear, disc brakes, 4.63 gears and a factory air locker, perfect for my truck. I paid just under $600 shipped and they included the e-brake cables, track bar, and gen 2 trailing arms to upgrade from my gen 1's.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

We swapped the diff in over New years, now I'm just waiting to fix the trailing arm mount. I'm building a new 4" exhaust as the 3" that I built for the old turbo is too restrictive. 3" was a big enough pain to fit, this 4" is going to be even more fun. Luckily I made accomodations while building the 3" for up to a 5" exhaust so I have some work cut out for me.

Had some free time at work today so I started prepping my exhaust housing. Wastegate hole drilled, burred, and ready for welding.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Housing is cast, the flange is stainless, luckily these weld nice and easily. Pre-heated the housing to 350F before welding.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Wastegate mounted. Wish I had remembered to bring my downpipe to work, I would've merged the wastegate dump back into the downpipe if I had it. Maybe a weekend project now.

Playing catch up again. Spent a sunday afternoon building my downpipe. I didn't plan to finish this, I was just planning to tack weld things together but it was a perfect day out and I got caught up trying to see things finished. This turned out really nice, I'm glad I made room for 5" exhaust because this gave me near perfect fitment for the 4".

Downpipe tacked up

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Obligatory wastegate dump to appease all my buddies that still want to see this thing spit 3' flames out the hood.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Actual wastegate dump routing and finished routing. I forgot to upload a finished install picture, but I'll do that later. Now that this is built I can transition this back under the frame into the factory exhaust tunnel. Downpipe is going to be coated and either wrapped, heat shielded, or wrapped and shielded. Goals with this new setup is to keep engine bay temps down as low as possible.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Silver was a boring color for the compressor cover. This isn't exactly the green I had in mind, hoping for a more metallic green that matches the body color. Valve covers and BOV (if I add one) will be done in the same color as this.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Lucky me, finally a gen 1 shows up in the yard and it was clean. Spent a sunday clearing parts out of this, carpet, interior bits, a RR door panel, grab handles, a minty gauge cluster for future experimentation, window seals in nice shape, and a second bouncy seat frame.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Also stopped across a flex fuel truck that still had the flex sensor in it. I've been lazy about ordering these as they're very inexpensive, but now I have one so I can actually utilize the flex fuel portion of my tune which will come in handy when this turbo starts getting turned up. I have plenty of access to ethanol locally, so I'm excited to be able to transition between pump 91 and e85 as I please.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

Slowly plugging away. Intake built, 5" long 4" inlet K&N just barely fit with a 4" 90* coupler and small junction pipe. It's a tight fit but its in there. Planning to build an air box around it to seal off bay heat, water, and just improve ducting. Once the exhaust is finished it'll get ceramic coated along with the turbine housing. Turbo is getting a blanket and wrapping/heat shielding the downpipe to keep engine bay heat as low as possible.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Turbo blanket and exhaust wrap after ceramic coating black.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

This is as far back as I could save from my build thread, I'll have to start over from here up to it's current chassis.

July 2021- Out wheeling in the mud with a buddies SAS tacoma, drove through a flooded road to clear the mud off and pulled off to let my buddy unlock his hubs. Pulled out onto the road and laid into it for far longer than I should've. Like a mustang driver at a cars and coffee the truck went hard right ~50-60mph and 130+mph wheel speed. Came up over a landscaping boulder, spun 180, and flipped on it's lid. I opened my eyes and was staring at the front of my buddies tacoma which had been behind me. My girlfriend ended up in the back seat, blew all the windows out, totaled the body. Pretty incredible we didn't get seriously injured considering no one was wearing a seat belt, I was still in my seat on my side holding the wheel. Within 5 minutes we had it flipped, cleaned, and I was on my way home with the A-pillar against my forehead. I had a few weird looks as I passed cars home

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

So that moves us into the new truck. I posted on the montero facebook page the day it happened and I had an outreach from the community that I was not prepared for. That first day I think I had 30+ sales listings sent to me across the US for various gen 1 monteros to use as a new donor, luckily for me one of the guys put me in touch with a local that was an hour away with a 1991 LS model that had rod knock but was otherwise in good shape. He hadn't listed the truck for sale yet so I had first dibs. 2 weeks later, truck and trailer in tow came monstero V2.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

The PO smoked heavily in and around it. It wreaked of smoke, had ash dust all over it, and it was filthy, but it was all there and very minimal pieces inside needed replaced/were missing. I stripped it down, cleaned, steamed, shampooed, and swapped any good panels, parts and seats in better shape from the green truck over making what's definitely a nicer truck than V1.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Previously the truck was making 14lbs of boost and would run right along side a buddies 625whp procharged C5 up until around 110, but the stock cam and converter were always holding it back. I couldn't foot brake the car into boost which really kills the launch and the cam was taming ~100hp at the boost it was making, with the engine out it was prime time for cam, converter and intake manifold. Summit's stage 2 turbo cam (.600/.575) and some trick flow .660 springs for the cam, and since I wanted to tow, drag race, and street drive the truck a 3000 stall circle D billet triple disc converter came in. I also swapped my crappy gen 3 intake for a gen 4/TBSS intake.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

We spent labor day weekend swapping the driveline between the trucks and another couple weeks improving swap parts and wiring the new truck up. And we're back in action!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Tested the converter out towing the green truck and my 98 montero out to a buddies house for storage. Circle D didn't think this converter would tow that well but we cruised at 70mph with the cruise set and the converter locked up in OD without ever needing to build boost. Taking off from a light put it right into power and had no issues there either. This towed nicer than the chevy trucks I normally use.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Dyno day was next, I tuned it myself on the prior setup, and had it good enough to drive with the new cam and converter, but wanted it done professionally now. My original goal with the truck was 600hp, which has snowballed since. We were shooting for 20-25lbs of boost, but after the first pull on 91 and wastegate 7psi we made a rod scaring 650ft/lbs of torque. The tuner wasn't sure how to rescale my load tables and I couldn't remember off hand, so 7lbs of boost was maxing the stock airflow table. I told him to stick the e85 in and turn it up as much as he felt comfortable using the last load cell to lock AFRs and timing. It picked up 100whp to 587whp and despite trying to back down the timing to reel in torque it matched it's torque still on wastegate. We decided to turn it up a little more and call it quits for the day, I had a 3000 mile trip planned across the US for christmas and was happy to drive it home and not put it on a trailer. On a measily 9lbs it made 615whp and 664ft/lbs, still trying to keep torque low and not winning that fight. I made my goal for power, and was able to drive it home. It was a good day despite not being able to crank it up.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Don't mind the weird loop at the end, he wasn't sure if I was overspinning the hubs and they couldnt equalize or if the 3rd gear clutch was trying to slip (this is a junkyard unknown mileage 4l80).

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Hauled all 6 of my huskies from AZ to SD for christmas without an issue. Managed 15mpg as the best mileage averaging around 13mpg the whole way. Not horrible for a 2800rpm cruise at 80 in a 6.0 truck with the aerodynamic of a large toaster.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Back home with some new (warranted) fog lights after driving through one hell of a snow storm in new mexico.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

And with my new to me Evo 9, I trade my C5 for. One more mitsubishi to the collection and a 9 to go with my 8. Now that were back I'm going to go back and see what she makes on a kill tune. Itll make 600whp on pump 91, hoping for 850+ on e85. Then i'll see if I survive.

Evo 9 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

I fought tooth and nail to keep a factory ecu in this truck for all the functionality it has and the OEM reliability. In an effort to reduce module clutter I tried to avoid as many add on's as possible. Unfortunately at this level there's no easy way around it. In my quest for simplicity I made things more complicated. I have a throttle control module, wideband, EBC and some extra wiring for functions like cruise, A/C etc that wouldn't normally be needed. I came to my senses and finally caved for a standalone ecu- the holley terminator X max. I no longer need a wideband gauge as the ecu uses wideband based fueling, I can ditch both my stock narrowband O2's, my profec B EBC is getting removed in lieu of computer controlled boost, A/C no longer needs diodes to run the fans and clutch as the holley will control outputs. The tac module and it's associated wiring is gone, and I now have fail safes, ignition cut launch control, and a whole slew of extra features I wanted (paddle shifters, boost scramble) that the stock ecu couldn't do. My only gripe is the lack of DBW cruise control, I will have to add one dakota digital DBW module to run the cruise but that beats the 4 other modules I can remove from the truck in the process. Now I can see if this will make 900whp and feel a little better about preventing a rod on this SBE from entering the nasa space program.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

Ironic my last update was the terminator saving the engine, only for my next update to be about how turning off the safeties in the ecu (or not turning them on) was a dumb idea

So I've been driving this thing since pretty much the last update. We put the holley in and with a little holley (china) QC issues with the harness we were up and running. This was such a simple install, we went from first start to WOT pulls within 5 minutes. Holley has a real easy/basic start up tune and the closed loop AFR's and boost control make things really easy to mess up. It worked so well that I ordered another terminator for my LS swap E30 the same day we had this running. I ran the truck on wastegate and my tune for a few months through summer, even did a no prep cash days event at a local private air strip. This was against a 750hp procharged coyote, 1/8th mile runs, no launch control and wastegate pressure (480hp) and he came around me around the 400' mark as the truck fell on it's face shifting into 3rd. I think everyone there was a little humbled by the truck at that point.



I had a guy remote tune my e30 on the holley and ended up having him do the montero as well which is where things went sideways. The tuner had just complimented us on how well both cars run and how easy they were to tune. No sooner were we cranking up the pump gas tune (14lbs) and fighting traction issues into 2nd, so the tuner asked us for a 3rd gear pull to try and get some better data down in the lower RPM range. We were spinning the 33x12.50's through 2nd to ~90mph and he wanted some solid data. We apprehensively tried a 3rd gear pull which is 139mph at the limiter and is honestly terrifying in a lifted brick on G-rated mud terrains. I had noticed during the pull the headlights were dimming but stayed in it like an idiot, unfortunately we didn't have any AFR safeties on during the run. We stopped for gas right after the pull and refiring the truck up greeted us with enough of a smoke cloud to clear the mosquitos within a 5 mile range. I was hoping it had just loaded up real bad on that last pull and it did clear out as we drove down the road, but we tried a couple more test hits to make sure everything was good and kept noticing the headlights dimming so we called it a day and went to review what happened. The truck was stilling running fine and making power but I was concerned with the smoke and the headlights dimming. This truck is fed by a single 450 walbro through the stock feed and return line adapted to the LS fuel rails. We were hoping for around 600hp on the pump gas tune knowing the single 450 would be the limit, the tuner isn't super familiar with SBE turbo LS engines and while reviewing the log I was a little concerned with the amount of timing it had in it, but the real problem came watching voltage and AFR's. The alternator decided to tank on the 3rd gear log dropping from 13.5V to 11.5V by the end of the run which consequentially dropped fuel pressure leaning the AFRs out from 11.8 to 13.2 by the end of the run. The truck was nearing 740hp on the last few runs and probably would've survived fine with proper fuel and about 5* less timing (the fuel being the issue, I dont blame the tuner at all) but that was 100+hp more than we were aiming for on pump 91 and definitely at/beyond the edge of what I'd consider safe for a stock LS with this size turbo. The truck was ripping though and definitely scary enough I'd be very nervous letting anyone drive it that isn't comfortable in a higher powered vehicle like this.

It's time for engine #2. I fully expected a melted piston in this engine and planned to just grab a 408 stroker kit for it and building a 408, even considering removing the turbo for just an n/a 550+hp setup. I ended up with a great deal on a gen 4 6.0 (L96) these have forged factory rods and just in general are must stronger than the gen 3 I was running. The new engine came with LS3 style 823 heads which are some of the best flowing LS heads short of the LS7 so I opted to ditch my truck intake to go to a rec port LS3 intake. This entire setup should hopefully kill the 700+ ft/lbs this engine has always made at lower rpm and shift some top end power, it's also much cleaner and lower profile than the previous intake. I opted to powdercoat some pieces of the new setup and swapped the fresh engine in with gapped rings and my old cam. I just need some time to finish bolting everything on and fabbing a new upper intercooler pipe and we should be good to crank it back up again.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

Back with another update! Gambled on engine number 2 and to no fault of anyone's I lost. We put the gen 4 in, fired it up and it seemed to run great, however, oil pressure was pretty poor. 40psi cold and 20psi hot which is pretty low for an LS. I pulled the pan as I had inspected everything except main bearings and found the fresh pan full of metal and the main bearings trashed. I wasn't sure if I just overlooked the mains since the rods and cam bearings looked great, or if there was another underlying issue so we did a sloppy main bearing swap in the truck. I was happy to find over 50psi of oil pressure cold on start up, but driving it out to a buddies to drop off a trailer I was greeted with 20psi of hot oil pressure again. I decided it was time to just pony up and build a fresh engine. I enjoy this truck far too much to have it sit and it's probably the most versatile vehicle I own, so it was time to fix it.

I was going to build my original 6.0 but the main bearings were all torn up in it with 2 that had started to spin. The cost of line boring the mains on an LS is more than just buying a good builder block, so I sold my gen 3 for $400 and picked up a gen 3.5 6.0 for $450. The "3.5" are gen 3 electronics and block but have the floating forged pistons the gen 4's have become desirable for. This engine was sold as a core with a "cracked" piston, if you want to call it that.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Amazingly the bore was perfectly fine. Part of me wanted to just order a set of forged pistons and toss them in, but 2 cylinders had some water sitting in them from someone pressure washing the engine. It honed out fairly well but decided I'd have a machine shop check it out and he recommended just boring it eliminate any of the remaining water staining. Unfortunately the pistons I wanted only come in 5, 30, and 60 over and this needed at least 10 to clean, so we punched it out .030 turning it into a 6.1L and i tossed in some forged summit pro LS (wiseco) pistons

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Saturday night I yanked the old engine out and dropped the new short block in. This was a running and driving truck at 5pm, but 7pm the short block was on the ground.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

We decided to tear apart the old engine as I needed the cam and oil pan for the new engine. I started to pull the cam and the 2 and 3 cam bearing both came out with. The 6.0 blocks are notorious for kicking the #3 cam bearing and although it looked good when I put the cam in it may have been loose in the bore and probably pushed out as I installed the cam leading to the low oil pressure. Luckily I didn't drive it very much and the cam was able to be hand polished out and went in no issues into the new engine. We had the new short block dropped in by 11pm and decided to call it a night as it was 40 degrees, windy, and lightly sprinkling.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

We spent the next day swapping my LS3 heads and intake over along with the turbo etc. First fire up went great aside from a noisy serpentine pulley that must've had some dust in it. I had 60psi of cold oil pressure which is by far the best this truck ever has had. 42psi hot after a trip around the neighborhood and to the gas station. Surprisingly the tune is within 5% fueling. I still only have my single walbro 450 in so we tried not to rip full boost until I put my second in.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Figured I'd do some QOL upgrades now that it's running again. The backup lights are horrible in this thing, I'm not a fan of pod lights on 90s Japanese trucks but I have a set of flush mount rigid lights that make for great back up lights. These are far better than the stock you can see dimly lit.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Lots of upgrades coming, but I need to start with some more fuel so the second 450 goes in this week and it's getting turned up! I'm just enjoying driving it to work and around for now

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[Tyeler18]

I've been having a blast driving this thing. I think i've driven it almost every single day since getting it running again. This forged build has a lot more grunt out of boost than the old 6.0's, it would definitely hurt some feelings without the turbo on it. We took it for it's maiden longer distance journey the other night for a friends birthday. Around 100 miles down the freeway cooking along at 85mph. On the way back some guy in a new bronco really wanted to hurry home and came blasting by, once traffic cleared he wasn't too far ahead so I tagged behind him while he tried to outrun us, I'm not sure if they are speed limited at 105 or if he just got scared there but he thought he was going to outrun us while we just toted along behind him in lockup like it wasn't even working.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Took it out for some cars and coffee with my spyder and got a picture with my evo 9 while dropping some stuff off at my girlfriends work.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I've never been able to foot brake this thing super well into boost. I have a 3000rpm stall billet triple disc from circle D, but when they spec'd it I told them give me the best you can between something that can foot brake into boost and still tow. They weren't confident it would do either very well which I expected but they sure did nail it for this 6.1 build. My launch boost is set at 5lbs and it has no issue now making 5lbs and I'm sure plenty more on the brake if I turn the launch limit up. I've got a couple videos I need to finish uploading but it works really well with the new engine.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I always break this thing before the rainy season, but I got lucky with some rain. I just washed the truck so I was trying not to make it a muddy mess which ended up being a complete failure, but we managed to get some cool pictures out in the desert before slowly creeping it out of the mud hole and home.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

 

[CrackedDSM]

New broncos are speed limited to like 120mph, but in stock, untuned form they're pigs up top.


That's if it even was the twin turbo 2.7. The bronco "sport" is essentially just a bigger Ford EcoSport with the 3 cylinder in it, and yeah. Top speed is like 105. Lol.

But yeah, pretty much any "off road" SUV or any Truck drives like an absolute ass these days. I get cut off more times than I can mention while running full lights and sirens by pick up trucks and 'off road' vehicles than anything else.