If I could pick up an 04 LM7 (intake to oil pan) for ~$400, would that be a desirable engine to mod? I know is a 5.3 liter iron block and heads. Looking for either head/cam swap or supercharger/turbocharger. Thanks for the help.

 

What would you put it in???

Everything you can do to the LSX family, you can do to that...But for what reason??? You can find an LQ9 and whatnot for the same price

 

I guess I will look for a 6.0 liter. I only ask cause the junkyard near me has a couple LM7's sitting around. I never find LS1's and I hardly find 93-97 Camaro's there, much less a Z28. I want to get a long block on a stand for a build up for an F-body, but I don't want to spend alot of money on the block. Whenever I see a long block for sale, its always in IL, WI, or somewhere else really far away.

 

You could get it, nothing wrong with it...You're just a little low on displacement...With boost it would be cool i think...Uses the same stroke as the LS1 at 3.622, with a slightly less bore...You could do an overbore if you wanted to, or stroke it...

and then some good heads and a cam on there, and you've got yourself a good motor...

 

Do you think $400 is a good deal. I have heard the truck heads are good for boost, but I'm not sure about the block. I know the cr of the LM7 is lower than an LS1. I will look into the cost to have the block bored. I just wanted to ask some questions so that I wouldn't be wasting my time with that motor.

 

Honestly, it's a waste of time IMO.

 

I guess I will keep looking. Question: If a 383 was in mind, bore and stroking and LT1 and an LM7 would cost the same correct?

 

You're better off to start with an LS1 or 6.0...Just keep looking...

 

Your probably right. I never seen them nearby, and never for $400...haha.

 

The LM7 would still make more power due to it being an LS-based design. Building a stoker motor LS is going to be a little more expensive than using a traditional Gen I or Gen II setup.

Two completely different bore/strokes, though. The LS is going to be 3.905" x 4.00" and the LT is going to be 4.03" x 3.75".

If you're still serious about using the LM7 you can bore it and get a 3.9" bore out of it and make it into a 5.7L or even a 383. However, if you were looking into doing machine work to a block, I'd start out with a LQ9 or LQ4 block and make it into a 408. You can build them to handle power, but why start with less cubes? You could throw some aftermarket forged pistons/rods in a 346 LS1 to handle a ton of boost without worry about much.

Mike

 

If I see an LQ9 or LQ4 I might pick one up.

That's what I really want to do. Need to find a good deal on an LS1.

 

$600 for an complete LQ4...worth it?

I went back to the junkyard, and discovered one of the engines I thought was a LM7 is actually an LQ4. I believe its an 00', its complete and it looks in good shape.

As said before, I want to get a motor on a stand and build it up. Is this a good platform?

 

Yes , that is a 6 liter truck engine if I remember correctly . If that is a running engine I would say that is a pretty good deal . You could try to bargain on the price, who knows... you might get a real good deal !

 

Yes, that's your dog right there dog...

 

It has a machanical fan, I can still change that to use the engine in 98-02 fbody right?