LML with a blown motor

S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
4,008
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Quncy, Fl
Up pipes and manifolds were done 4K miles ago with the s369 install. At this point I'm waiting for the shop to pull the motor and take it apart. Based on their findings we will determine where to go with the build. I'm going to keep it as cheap as possible without cutting any corners and still maintaining their 2yr warranty. After the 2yrs are up I'll probably dump the truck for something new and stock.
How does it run with the 369 vs the stock charger with the 475? Drivability differences? Power differences?

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Digmax

Member
Jan 23, 2016
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If he had 100 psi drive before prob wont be realistic comparison but yea curious

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Rudy1

New member
Jul 6, 2016
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Wow that sucks! Id be looking for awnsers from who built it. 100k into anything is alot! Sorry to hear that:confused:
 

Brshan01

New member
Aug 19, 2013
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Zimmerman, MN
How does it run with the 369 vs the stock charger with the 475? Drivability differences? Power differences?

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The truck felt and sounded a lot healthier, until the motor broke... I never got it on the Dyno with the 369 but it was on the Dyno before the compound setup on a cp3 with trans and again with compounds - when the shop ran it they pointed out the bad head gaskets so I'm not sure that run is accurate unless HG's won't play into the outcome. It felt a lot more powerful than s475/stock.

The street manners of that charger with my setup were pretty good, a lot of smoke from a stand still until it lit and we were never able to fix a shift point issue. The truck ran really well until it got into 5-6th gear then it would refuse to downshift without 100% throttle or manually shifting down to 4th (unless it dipped under 50mph then it would go into 4th). Basically you would black out a highway if you were doing between 55-65 trying to pass someone unless you manually shift into 4th.

I was pulling my toy hauler into a head wind trying to hold 75mph and eventually had to flip it in manual to hold 5th gear because every time it tried to up shift I would start dropping speed and blowing smoke.

Overall I don't have enough time on the charger with proper tuning to give any accurate real world info. I have faith I will really like the setup once it's tuned correctly.

When I said I had 100k in it I meant the truck as a whole with the various configurations, I kinda lost self control and went nuts. Realistically it's probably more.
 

S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
4,008
18
28
Quncy, Fl
The truck felt and sounded a lot healthier, until the motor broke... I never got it on the Dyno with the 369 but it was on the Dyno before the compound setup on a cp3 with trans and again with compounds - when the shop ran it they pointed out the bad head gaskets so I'm not sure that run is accurate unless HG's won't play into the outcome. It felt a lot more powerful than s475/stock.

The street manners of that charger with my setup were pretty good, a lot of smoke from a stand still until it lit and we were never able to fix a shift point issue. The truck ran really well until it got into 5-6th gear then it would refuse to downshift without 100% throttle or manually shifting down to 4th (unless it dipped under 50mph then it would go into 4th). Basically you would black out a highway if you were doing between 55-65 trying to pass someone unless you manually shift into 4th.

I was pulling my toy hauler into a head wind trying to hold 75mph and eventually had to flip it in manual to hold 5th gear because every time it tried to up shift I would start dropping speed and blowing smoke.

Overall I don't have enough time on the charger with proper tuning to give any accurate real world info. I have faith I will really like the setup once it's tuned correctly.

When I said I had 100k in it I meant the truck as a whole with the various configurations, I kinda lost self control and went nuts. Realistically it's probably more.
Shift point corrections are one of the major problems with this tranny and the A50 tuning parameters that are available. The best way to approach that part of the equation is through WOT enable parameters. You can really make each gear shift where you want it to and especially the 5th and 6th gears. I wish GM had never changed up from the 2010 year A50 tuning. You had control of that tranny and previous years. EFI Live really needs to step it up on breaking code for more control in this version of the A50 parameters.

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Brshan01

New member
Aug 19, 2013
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Zimmerman, MN
It seemed like it would shift to 4th under WOT but it sure liked to take its sweet time to make up its mind and commit to the shift, smoking out everyone behind you in the process.

The shop that has my truck had a 2016 with a very similar setup, difference being they built the trans instead of Mike, to my understanding they were able to fix that one with TCM tuning but only in tow haul from the sounds of it. Mike strongly advised against touching any TCM tuning and the motor went before we had time to dig further. That stuff is out of my skill set so I'm leaning on my local shop to sort it out with Mike and maybe a new tuner when it's back together.
 

malibu795

misspeelleerr
Apr 28, 2007
8,205
526
113
42
in the buckeye state
Kinda passed trouble free when the 10 mm cp3, 40 overs, 369 went on. That's enough for lots of power. If you keep that around the 400hp mark and treat it good the stock motor should last a long time but turn it up with that list of goodies and nothing lasts

I'd do better rods and pistons, maybe an alternative firing order cam and call it a day. Keep the power level down around stock area, 400hp, and it should live a good life
Oval pistons, billet rods, LMM cp3 run 500 hp all day long
With max 6-650.
Billet hard parts in the trans won't be mandatory either
 

nick31

New member
Apr 14, 2016
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It seemed like it would shift to 4th under WOT but it sure liked to take its sweet time to make up its mind and commit to the shift, smoking out everyone behind you in the process.

The shop that has my truck had a 2016 with a very similar setup, difference being they built the trans instead of Mike, to my understanding they were able to fix that one with TCM tuning but only in tow haul from the sounds of it. Mike strongly advised against touching any TCM tuning and the motor went before we had time to dig further. That stuff is out of my skill set so I'm leaning on my local shop to sort it out with Mike and maybe a new tuner when it's back together.

Mine is the same way man, really really hard to get it to downshift out of 6th or 5th to pass someon. I've been using towhaul for highway driving now and it helps out a ton. I'm on my second TCM tune from ppei and the 2nd one they sent me didn't make any difference at all. I have a 3rd one they sent me to try which is the exact tune Josh got PPEI to write for that guy with the 16' you mentioned, but they have to fix it because it's locked and won't let me load it in explorer...lol
 

Sandiesel

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Jan 20, 2015
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It seemed like it would shift to 4th under WOT but it sure liked to take its sweet time to make up its mind and commit to the shift, smoking out everyone behind you in the process.

The shop that has my truck had a 2016 with a very similar setup, difference being they built the trans instead of Mike, to my understanding they were able to fix that one with TCM tuning but only in tow haul from the sounds of it. Mike strongly advised against touching any TCM tuning and the motor went before we had time to dig further. That stuff is out of my skill set so I'm leaning on my local shop to sort it out with Mike and maybe a new tuner when it's back together.
i miss shift points all the time on my lml with a built transmission only in 4x4 launches. did it with stock tcm tuning dont know if it has to do with ecm tuning or not.
 

Digmax

Member
Jan 23, 2016
289
2
18
They're not all like that, I have a stock trans with korys trans tuning with 475 over stock and zero shifting issues

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S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
4,008
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Quncy, Fl
They're not all like that, I have a stock trans with korys trans tuning with 475 over stock and zero shifting issues

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I wish you were close enough so I could see that in person to get my own opinion of that.

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Digmax

Member
Jan 23, 2016
289
2
18
No... need sleeves for I can feel good about that lol. I was really refering to the part about it shifting down when its sposed to

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Digmax

Member
Jan 23, 2016
289
2
18
My brother got an lml with built trans and it will sometimes stick in a gear under wot till you lift off the pedal makes me wonder if the valve body mods that are done on these trans with the a50 controllers if there compatible with each other like the controller is seeing something it don't like so won't let it shift. Pure speculation. Just most people that have shifting issues have built trans

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Brshan01

New member
Aug 19, 2013
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Zimmerman, MN
Oval pistons, billet rods, LMM cp3 run 500 hp all day long
With max 6-650.
Billet hard parts in the trans won't be mandatory either

This site is dangerous, I've been reading a lot about the oval Pistons the last couple days... From what I have gathered so far it sounds like they are aimed toward someone looking for big power but doesn't want the negative effects of a forged piston?

I guess what I'm getting at, what would I be gaining in running the oval bowls vs a standard race cast Mahle? Also can someone shine some light on the piston coatings? Is it needed in a street truck application? I'm going to try keeping this build as cheap as possible, I don't want to under-build it or over-build it.
 

Brshan01

New member
Aug 19, 2013
55
0
0
Zimmerman, MN
Damn man sorry to hear about this. This is making me second think throwing a 72sxe on with my 10mm n sending my injectors out lol
Hope jags gets ya fixed up quick.

Thanks man. For what it's worth, if I had a choice to do-over I would stop at CP3 and tuning. The rest is super cool when it works right but not worth the cost or risk. Driveability and reliability start going down the drain past that.
 

Brshan01

New member
Aug 19, 2013
55
0
0
Zimmerman, MN
Mine is the same way man, really really hard to get it to downshift out of 6th or 5th to pass someon. I've been using towhaul for highway driving now and it helps out a ton. I'm on my second TCM tune from ppei and the 2nd one they sent me didn't make any difference at all. I have a 3rd one they sent me to try which is the exact tune Josh got PPEI to write for that guy with the 16' you mentioned, but they have to fix it because it's locked and won't let me load it in explorer...lol

Hopefully you can get yours ironed out, it sounds like it's kind of a bandage at this point (only working in tow/haul). Are you selling due to being frustrated? Lol
 

malibu795

misspeelleerr
Apr 28, 2007
8,205
526
113
42
in the buckeye state
This site is dangerous, I've been reading a lot about the oval Pistons the last couple days... From what I have gathered so far it sounds like they are aimed toward someone looking for big power but doesn't want the negative effects of a forged piston?

I guess what I'm getting at, what would I be gaining in running the oval bowls vs a standard race cast Mahle? Also can someone shine some light on the piston coatings? Is it needed in a street truck application? I'm going to try keeping this build as cheap as possible, I don't want to under-build it or over-build it.

We can spend each other's $$$ well :rofl:

Fingers pistons are cut from mahle race cast blanks. Bowl design changes strength of the piston drastically!
IMO coatings are waste of money below 1000hp.

Fingers designed the with strength #1 at the time(8 years or so ago) there was really nothing in between modified OEM lb7 and full blown fordged pistons.

If you're cutting back to stock fuel levels you can get away with LMM rods.. or self-control with big fuel and current air..

IDK of current aftermarket pistons fit with the LML small wrists pin area without machine work, as they are bigger/different than the LMM older design. Wrist pins are still the same.
 

S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
4,008
18
28
Quncy, Fl
I beleive pistons will need machining if using stick rods. If you are going to build a engine pistons and rods are a must have. Otherwise don't waste your money building. Fingers pistons are the best cast piston offering period. Believe me when you start performance work it usually gets out if hand and grows into something that you were not planning on. A reasonably cheap durable engine at under 900 hp would be fingers pistons and cheapest rods that I would use are the Manley rods. I personally prefer Howards rods but they are not cheap. Coatings are not needed but I always do them. They help reflect the heat instead of absorb the heat so that helps spool turbos. Good coatings are durable. Cheap ones are not durable. You will never get the LML truck to be as refined as the previous versions until the tuning parameters come around. I'm not sure that is going to happen except through tuners creating their own Cax files so you will have limitations.

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