How much power am I giving away? 6.0 swap

Pacfanweb · February 19, 2017

Stuck an LQ9 6.0 in my 2004 Z71 Suburban about a year and a half ago. Came out of an 05 Escalade.

Literally swapped right in....the only thing I had to change was the oil pressure sensor....had a different plug on it. Everything else from the 6.0 bolted up...manifolds, flywheel, etc.

I did reuse my intake/injector assy, because my Sub is Flex Fuel and had a pressure and a return line, whereas the intake from the 6.0 had only a pressure line. Plus, I needed to remove the intake to get at the bellhousing bolts anyway, so it was already off and ready to go.

So....still has my absolutely stock Flex Fuel programming. It fired up and has been running like a champ all this time. Definitely has more power. Took a trip to New York last summer (to the Pinewood Derby World Championships in Times Square, very cool) and it got 17 mpg on the nose. Can't complain about that.

However.....is my stock program doing everything it should be? I know in the Escalade, it says "premium recommended", so that means it'll bump up the timing, etc if you put premium in it. Will my programming do that as well, or no?

Just wondering if it's worth messing with since it runs so well. Not interested at all in making it so it must have premium, but if a slight tune might get a bit better mpg and more power, I might go for that.

Suggestions?

And I'm still praying for my 260k untouched transmission sitting behind the engine, lol.

krly79 · February 19, 2017

It is probably running more lean than it should be. The 6.0 will need more fuel. I would pull plugs and read them just to make sure. White means its running lean, tan is where its supposed to read.

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Chris · February 20, 2017

Have it tuned. I used black bear for my LQ9 swap. Didn't have to deal with flex fuel. And they will urge you to use premium. Mine does not like 87. I can sometimes use good 89 in a pinch, but 99% of the time I run premium. And your transmission is not long for this world. I got almost 200k out of my transmission, 65k was with the LQ9.