Has any one ever heard of a crank breaking? Thinking of doing a 6.0 swap!

[stokes_osu]

Jn

[Ascinder]

I'm doing one now, it isn't easy.

[Triathlete]

Has any one ever heard of a crank breaking?

Sounds VERY painful!

Since Ascinder is the only one in the process of being the 1st he can tell you what he has gone through.

[RamAirZ]

I've done it in other vehicles but never a VX. If you don't have the mechanical aptitude to do it yourself or have the money to pay someone to do it, I would just find another 3.5 because it will get expensive. You would want to change out the transmission/transfercase (the 4L30E won't work OR standup behind a 6.0), you'll need to weld in engine mounts, modify or make a transmission crossmember, new driveshafts, not sure if the radiator can stay in the stock spot or needs to be moved forward (have you gotten to this point yet Ascinder?), you'd need electric fans for sure (good ones!), then all the wiring, exhaust work, running new AC and power steering lines, and the list goes on. It's pretty intensive when you do it in something that never had that style or similar engine in it. Was your engine making any noise prior to this? It'd be weird if it just all of a sudden blew up without warning.

[Ascinder]

The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

[RamAirZ]

The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

Or if you want aluminum AND cheap, the LM4 5.3 is all aluminum and can be had fairly cheap (under $1000 complete, still alot cheaper than LS1/6 or LS2's). Check out LS1tech.com or performancetrucks.net, the classifieds section over there is nice and can save some dough on different parts. Dimensionally the long blocks are all the same and the LSx series of engines are awesome and a breeze to work on.

[nfpgasmask]

Whadda'ya think happened? Ran her dry of oil? Just curious.

Bart

[RamAirZ]

I'm guessing it was a rod hanging out of the oil pan and not the crank, it'd take ALOT of force to punch the crank out of the main caps and clean through an oil pan unless the caps weren't on very tight, but there would be ALOT of noise before it happened. The only time I've seen a crankshaft actually break was in a 1st gen Camaro running a WHOLE lot of nitrous and a few pro stock cars. The Camaro had one hell of a pre-ignition explosion and shattered the crankshaft at about 7K rpm

[Ascinder]

Originally Posted by Ascinder
The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

Or if you want aluminum AND cheap, the LM4 5.3 is all aluminum and can be had fairly cheap (under $1000 complete, still alot cheaper than LS1/6 or LS2's). Check out LS1tech.com or performancetrucks.net, the classifieds section over there is nice and can save some dough on different parts. Dimensionally the long blocks are all the same and the LSx series of engines are awesome and a breeze to work on.

. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

FWIW that's the 5.3 I was referring to, and from what I understand, $1000 for one is outrageously expensive. My 2004 6.0 shipped to me in 2009 was $1200 complete, so the far more common 5.3 should be $800 tops for a good condition engine, and even that's high. Check craigslist. 5.3's are a dime a dozen, but they are good engines.

[RamAirZ]

The aluminum 5.3's aren't as common as the iron versions (they came in SSR's, some Envoy/Trailblazers/Rainiers/even Isuzu Ascender lol, a different version but still aluminum came in some 4x4 Silverados from 05-07, known as the L33 or 5.3HO instead of the LM4, it made 310hp instead of 295) but I was talking $1000 for an engine with almost no miles, I see them going for 5-600 all day long complete with accessories, wiring, computer etc. The newer 5.3's (all 07' later and even some 05' and up versions) are a different animal, same basic design but the computer systems are different as they use the active fuel management and the lifter assemblies and what not are different. The iron ones I see for $200 around here with 80K miles lol, there is one in Alabama right now I've been eyeing.

[stokes_osu]

I will be pulling it out next week and getting pictures of the damage... I am a GM ASEP service certified tech, so i know what a crank looks like and I am about 110% it is the crank. I also know it was full on oil and am about 110% sure it is completely F' ed any way.... there was no weird noises or anything is why i am completely bum-fuzzled
If i go with the 3.5 again do you think the supercharger is worth it? where do i get the one i will need, will this take a lot of modding? Really what i am getting at is i would like to get my rig up and running without a lot of headache and not poring a lot of time into her. I need her up and running soon but want to get more Hp in my machine

[RamAirZ]

Well you'd be surprised at the people that don't know, including certified tech's (i've worked with some real idiots in the past, not saying you are by any means, just saying I've worked with some DUMB people that shouldn't even be changing oil), and having a crank go out the bottom is ALOT more uncommon than a rod, so that's why I said that. That's really weird that it just up and blew up like that with no warning and full on oil, especially at cruising. You won't be able to get a supercharger for it right now, Robbomaz is working on a new kit and the Alpine one is discontinued. If you find someone selling one used is your best bet at the moment.

[Ldub]

I've heard of it happening one time before, but gotta agree, pretty unusual to spit it out the bottom...

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/sh...hp?photo=10246

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=12519

getting her back on the road......

[stokes_osu]

Wow looks just like what I can see inside of mine for the hole in oil pan. I am need of an oil pan any one knows where one is, that is if I go back with a 3.5. Looks like that is what I will be doing. Found one rebuilt already and ready to drop in with a 2 yr un-lim millage warranty. Super bummed about the supercharger. I hope to hear some one pop up with one quick… plan to be back on the road in 1 week…. We will see! Dose anyone know of any other options to think about?

[etlsport]

search the forum for "engine swap canidates" it will bring up a thread i started last year sometime about engines that bolt directly to our transmissions.

they include a couple of V-8s iirc