V8 street build. truck motor swap. LQ9 t56 pbm etc.

[Beas]

My Instagram, if u want more pics and vids between updates.

@chris_beas


Ok guys, going ahead and starting my build thread. Main point will be to get as much info as I can out there for others. I used this site a lot in my research, so ill keep the cycle going.

So, last year, I lucked out and came across a 1997 one owner that was completely stock. 5 speed, 5 lug, all the good stuff. the only thing I could even find wrong with it was that it had a broken sunroof, which I didn't really want a sunroof at all, but more on that later. the car was pretty much perfect for what I wanted.

here it is the day I picked it up.



first thing on the to do list was coilovers. researched around a bit and ended up going with some powered by max Pros. Parts shop max is only 10 minutes away so I stopped by and picked up the coils, rucas and toe rods.





pretty straight forward install.



how it looked with a light drop and oem lip.




Next up was replacing all the brakes. kept it simple. I wanted to save money for bigger and better things. got the q45 upgrade kit from frsport.com. replaced everything except the rear calipers. stops great now.



Next up was wheels. This was a big decision. I love some big 3 piece wheels. my last 2 sets of wheels were CCW LM5s and LM20s.


however, they are expensive and I was saving for a motor swap which is not cheap at all. I decided to go with RPF1s in 17 inch. I feel like 18s look great with aero, but since mine was going to stay stock body for a while, I played it a bit more conservative.

17x9.5 +18 with 235/40/17 all around.



I picked up a quick release and sparco wheel to make it tougher on the thieves, as well as a cheap bucket seat(which sucks and ill replace it down the road).



Another problem I had to address was head room. Those of u that have sat in an s14 with a sunroof know what I mean. I'm 5'11 and I like to sit fairly upright when I drive so I started researching some options. I picked up some sunroof delete brackets from a member on here. you can read more about it in the sunroof delete thread. gave me another 2-3 inches of headroom.




with those mods complete I had a fun daily driver while I saved up for the engine. LQ9 details next post.

[Beas]

For the motor I went with a 2006 LQ9. that's the 6.0 out of several different GM trucks. Iron block, with aluminum heads.

HP:345
Tq:385

At the time I believed that I could save money over just buying a LS1/2 full swap. Turns out that swapping a truck motor over to car specs is fairly expensive and is a lot more involved than I expected. I will go into more detail on that later.

First thing I did was buy the motor. found a company in Colorado that had a motor for a decent price and 100k miles.

the day it arrived at Tom's shop.

[turbo2nr]

Nice start! keep it up, Interested to see where this end up..

[ksuberk54]

100k miles? Yeesh. Hopefully it turns out okay

[TwelveAM]

Subscribed to this build, can't wait to see more on this.

[Beas]

Originally Posted by ksuberk54

100k miles? Yeesh. Hopefully it turns out okay

when I was shopping around i found a ton of LQ9s around 200k miles. 100k with great compression numbers seems fine to me.

[Mschiano.]

In, plan on starting a similar build soon, can't wait how this ends up

[psi999]

That S14a is mint.

dis is gunna be good...

[1Day]

What spring rates are you running? I'm running an LQ9/T56 combo also. Just a heads up, if you plan on running a Fast 102 and 102mm throttle body, the intake is a lot taller then a stock (like a 1.5"). I'm running Fueled mounts and the intake is mm's from my hood, its also a tight fit for a air intake in 4" diameter.

[smokescreen240]

normally i enjoy 18's on an s14, but you're making those 17's look really good. props to you good sir.

[Nissansota240]

Car looks awesome, looking forward to seeing the progress on it.

[2muchboost]

100k miles for this motor is nothing. As a matter of fact there is an entire 200k+ mile thread on another forum (I am sure you can guess which one) with lots of guys beating the balls off their high mileage setups with no issues.

As far as the intake goes, unless you are going boost I would stick with an OEM LS1.

You are absolutely right, these motors are usually cheaper than the LS1 or LS2 brethren and it doesnt take much to swap the parts over. Unless you are hell bent on saving every pound of weight the difference between the iron and aluminum block is approx 70-80 lbs from what everyone says.

Nice build man. I wish you good luck and if I can help in any way please feel free to shoot me a PM. I am currently trying to figure out the last bits of my LM7 (5.3 iron block) turbo setup into my S14. Unfortunately between work and work travel I have had almost no time to work on it but I have gathered lots of info regarding the swap. The LQ9 is a nice choice and if I am not mistaken it has the LS2 type rods and timing chain which allows you to really put a whoopin on those. My buddy just finished his S13 LQ4 swap and on 12 lbs of boost on a stupid conservative tune he cracked the 600rwhp and 600 lbs tq mark with no sweat. I will see if he posts some videos up here.

[Beas]

Originally Posted by psi999

That S14a is mint.

dis is gunna be good...

yeah, I was really excited when I found this s14. couldn't believe stock 5 speed koukis still existed.

Originally Posted by 1Day

What spring rates are you running? .

10k and 8k. its a bit stiff for the streets. might get a 6 and pull the 10s out. not too bad though

Originally Posted by smokescreen240

normally i enjoy 18's on an s14, but you're making those 17's look really good. props to you good sir.

yeah, I think 17s are perfect fit for stock aero.

[Beas]

parts came in, so time to get started on the motor.




several changes had to be made to fit it to car specs.

the guy I bought the t56 from had a ls2 intake manifold sitting around so I bought that off him. which made things a bit more complicated because it fits a 4 bolt throttle body. also, running a cable throttle complicates this even more. I believe fast makes a 4 bolt throttle body that's cable and 90mm but they are about $500. instead, I picked up an ls1 TB for dirt cheap and bought an adapter plate to convert 4 hole IM to 3 hole LS1 TB. also the injectors are different (from LS1) and I ended up having to send my harness back to get the plugs changed out. I will also have to get a custom throttle cable bracket made since ls2 has none. If I had known all this a few months ago I would have just bought the LS1 intake mani from the beginning and saved some headaches.

the front accessories need to all be changed over to fit as well. I couldn't find any used here in san diego, so I ended up buying a CTS-V front accessory kit and crank pulley. there are a few issues with this.

first is the power steering. cts-v pressure line comes out the bottom, different from LS1. I had to get custom fittings for my sikky PS line.

the alternator will only be held on with 2 bolts since this is a truck motor. there is a spot to drill a 3rd hole if u need to.

also, the crank pulley was a pain in the ass to swap out.

here is everything assembled



and the sikky oil pan and mounts bolted up.



I picked up a GTO t-56. a local shop had one they had just rebuilt. it was pricey but I liked the idea of having a fresh trans in the car, plus the GTO version is supposed to be the best. ordered a stock LS6 clutch and flywheel combo to go with it.



more to come soon.

[Oakville]

This things sick! Just curious, how much did the motor alone set you back?

[d_nice]

looks good man keep it up

[BlewByYou]

I did the LS2 Corvette intake as well. 4 bolt Fast TB DBC, making a custom throttle cable bracket.

Harness was setup for Ls2 top end as well, Corvette belt setup with P/S delete as i went with an Electric p/s pump

[Beas]

nice throttle body. that's def going to be one of my upgrades down the road.

[Beas]

Originally Posted by Oakville

This things sick! Just curious, how much did the motor alone set you back?

$1400 for the motor, and they threw in an ECU. from my research I think I paid about average for one of these. saw a lot that were going for $2k, and im sure there are some steals out there for $1k or less.

[BlewByYou]

Originally Posted by Beas

nice throttle body. that's def going to be one of my upgrades down the road.

Yea Bit pricey but a must lol.

Noticed you said Ls6 clutch? Looks like a Ls7.

Crazy you paid 1400 for the engine there $400-800 here in Texas. Mine had 77,000 miles pulled it myself.

IMO go with a Nick Wilson TB bc it has a hole in the back for a bracket. The bracket is $40 instead of having to go my route and have a custom bracket made from the 2 intake bolts thats $100-150

[Beas]

well, the motor was delivered to me and had already been tested. I paid for convenience. several places I called wanted over 2k for these motors with low mileage.

im hoping to have the guy that makes my exhaust Y pipe also fab up a throttle cable bracket as well.

[niscur29]

You can make a throttle cable bracket for about 8 bucks with some 1/8 x 1" wide steel. Make a small 90 deg bend and a slot for a stock throttle cable and you are good to go. I used the OEM throttle cable in my S13 and its more than long enough to reach the NW 102 TB.

You make want to think about drilling the block for that third alternator bolt too its not too difficult and gets the bracket secured to the block in the front without going through the alternator like the lower bolt.

[CamberWear]

This thing is gonna be monsterous... Keep up the good work!

[SaVAgES14]

Whats the name of that shop and where is it located?

[Beas]

Originally Posted by SaVAgES14

Whats the name of that shop and where is it located?

im doing all the work in my garage at my house. the motor was delivered to the shop pictured above, just to save on shipping cost.

[PureRush]

Can't wait to see where this goes

[Beas]

so, pulled the KA24 last weekend. took about 6 hours. lots of time crawling under the car and back out to get tools. got most of the stuff out I don't need. now its sprawled across my garage.




got the engine bay cleaned up a little. I would love to take the time to paint the engine bay and really make it look good, but I need to get it back on the road.




spent all day Thursday dropping the motor in. bolted the trans up myself and dropped it in myself, which if u have ever lifted a t56 u probably know its not easy. it took so long because the trans tunnel wasn't beat back enough in certain places. I had to pull the motor out twice and hammer it back for clearance. spent all day with it on the hoist

wife came down to the garage to see how it was going before heading out.

"grab some gloves and push the hoist while I guide the motor in". she didn't go for it, oh well.




finally got it in and mounted up. without the headers and radiator theres so much room for activities.



header clearance on the drivers side.



shifter alignment. its fairly centered. the pic isn't straight on. one thing to mention about the GTO t-56 is I had to swap out the shifter for an F-body shifter. the metal shifter block that the bottom of the shifter sits in has to be changed and its $100 from chevy.




I didn't mess with it much over the weekend. I installed the willwood clutch master and the starter. I also removed some more stock junk that I wont be needing anymore. feels good to strip out all the extra crap from the car.

over the next couple days ill need to install the power steering lines and oil filter lines. still need to mount the oil filter and fuel pressure reg. I should have the wiring harness and radiator within a few days.

[4-20sx]

Sweet build!

[ksuberk54]

Sweet build man. By the way, your wife is smoking.

[SaVAgES14]

Originally Posted by Beas

im doing all the work in my garage at my house. the motor was delivered to the shop pictured above, just to save on shipping cost.

That's the shop I'm asking about, is that the pbm shop?