Donor Escalade



Picked this up from a Texags bro a little over a week ago. 2006 Silverado 2wd w/ 270k, seized 5.3, and 3.23 rear gear. Per the 2006 Owners Manual, the truck has a towing capacity of 6,700 lbs with its current drivetrain. With a 6.0 & 3.73 gear, the chassis has a capacity of 10,100 lbs. I don't plan to haul anything that heavy, guessing most I'll pull is approximately 7,000 lbs, but I like the extra safety factor. Racetrok and 20' car hauler is approximately 6,800 lbs and also have a Yanmar YM336D tractor that I plan to start moving around that's approx. 3,400 lbs (not including trailer weight).

I've already snagged a LQ9 (HO 6.0) to drop in and longtube headers. I'll be leaving the engine internals stock. I'm planning to swap in a Truetrac & 4.10 gears. I'll see how the trans holds up, likely swapping the 60e for 80e eventually. When tires are needed, 3" spindle lift and 1-2" lift block.

Once all is in good working order, I'll be getting rid of Basic Birch.

If you don't throw a cam in that 6.0 while it's out of the truck and easily doable, you deserve to be tea bagged.

No contacts, I just pulled up car-part.com and started calling around to junkyards. Ended up finding my engine in Hearne.

I initially found a LQ9 w/ 98k for $1500 in Austin. I went back and forth with the seller a bit to confirm it was a LQ9 and not a LQ4. Once I felt confident that it was a LQ9, I was out of my driveway within 5 minutes.

I pulled out of my Dickinson driveway around 1010 and got a message from seller while going through downtown Houston that someone else was going to pickup at 1 PM...my ETA was showing 1:20. BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LETS GO RACING BOYS.

I'm passing through Elgin at 1215 and get a message that engine has been sold. I take this opportunity to stop, take a piss, and then discuss another engine with seller. Turns out they had another LQ9 with similar mileage, same price, but was still in vehicle. Since I was so close, I decided to mosey that way regardless. Even with the 10-15 minute stop in Elgin and slowing down, I still got the the shop at 1 PM.

During my inspection, I find that the cluster is showing 210k miles and am told that the owner of the shop actually wants more money for this one for some reason unknown to the girl that's showing it to me. I say thanks, but no thanks and start looking for more engines.

Couple days later, girl messaged me and asked what the mileage was of engine I looked at. She then tells me that the guy who bought the engine I raced there for had came back the previous day because the engine was blown lol

PROPS FOR THIS THREAD FROM THE PRIOR OWNER!!!

I'm really looking forward to this.

9 posts in and not a single comment about Silvy letting his Chevy get towed by a Ford.

At least when I had to pick up my brother in law's broke down Tundra I had the decency to do it with my Tundra and not let a Ford tow it.

I finally got time to start working on the truck last week and had the engine pulled out on Thursday. The 5.3 was LOCKED up. I put a breaker bar and jack handle (for extra motivation) on the crank bolt and the crank never budged.

Given this, I opted to pull the engine with the torque converter bolted up and am crossing my fingers I didn't bust the trans pump in the process. Once it was out, there's only enough room between the block and TC bolts for an open ended wrench. I gave the first bolt some heat and got after it...wrench slipped and rounded the bolt.

So rather than fighting it, I'm just going to go snag a new TC from the parts store. The TC found in the 4.2 Trailblazers is of slightly smaller diameter and a slightly higher stall speed. A good budget upgrade to rock until the 60e gives up.

Next up is cleaning in the engine bay, replacing trans front seal & TC, then installing the 6.0.

Good to see some progress here. I am going to have to bring BlueV2 by soon, so you can get a look at your next project 15-20 years from now.

Surprised I'm the first on a silvy thread to suggest a LSX454 swap and slamming it

FINALLY fired it up this evening, have been finding it difficult to find time to work on it. Not sure how soon I'll have the exhaust completed and then tuning, sounds like the shop is a bit backed up.

The CEL is saying random misfire, tuner says likely that it's just from the swap and I'm hoping he's right lol

Aggieangler93 said:

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Sounded kinda rough in the video. I hope that newer motor wasn't crap buddy! I hope the tuner and some exhaust can help out. Buy 10 or 12 oil pressure sending units, while you are out picking up parts. They seem to last about 5K miles each!

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May as well tap in an analog gauge instead as those sending units are junk.

Finally got into the shop. Exhaust in it's entirety is 1-7/8" long tubes, 3" y-pipe, 3" Vibrant resonator, 24" Jones muffler, & 3" tailpipe.

It's a bit louder than I expected, but certainly bearable in the cab.





New driver side seat foam & seat spring assembly is on the way.

Went and saw Fabian today. 20% up front, 20% on top of OE privacy glass, and 70% on the windshield. Did the seat foam and spring assembly a few days ago, it made a huge difference and was a pretty simple job.

I found some time today and installed a little lift on the truck. 3" spindles for the front and 2" blocks for the rear, it looks like stock Z71 with a tiny amount of crank. I'll get some 285/70-17's for it sooner than later. Also had a good opportunity to check the front end, it could go for some new control arms and front brake hoses.

a....lift?

you've changed