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8.1L or 6.0L?

6.0L, or 8.1L?

  • Total voters
    81
redneckdude said:
5.3s aren't bad motors at all once you toss a small cam in them and have a good pcm tune with TQM removed, added spark, etc. I seriously have under $2,000 into my cammed 5.3 in my blazer to get it running. I NEVER could have built my 350 to do what the 5.3 does as cheap or efficiently as the 5.3 does. I have a 80e behind it and it totes the blazer around REALLLLLLL well. It pulls so much stronger than all the stock 1500s with 5.3s that its ridiculous...drove my dads 00 ext cab 5.3 2wd thats totally stock and it was a DOG. Mine just $hits and gets! wiring on them is REAL easy too. Using a full complete engine/trans stock wiring harness, there is 7 wires to hook up to the pcm to make it happy (4 grounds, pins 1 and 20 on red and blue, 2 12v+ constants, and 1 key on 12v, forgot the pins for those...), hook up the red wires in the harness to keyed on power (can use stock fuse box if you get your hands on it) and ground the black wires in the harness. Remove VATS in the PCM, give it adequate fuel pressure and it runs. You can buy the motor mount adaptors on ebay and whatnot for about 45$ shipped and it allows you to drop the motor in to your stock genI/II mounts.

Now with all that said...i would not doubt that a properly set up/tuned 5.3 could tow well. The stock tunes are so anemic that its crazy and a cammed 5.3 with good tune should outpull a stock lq4...even with a crappy tune i can spin my 37s over with 513s and my bed half full of crap for 15-20 feet. Also, you can always do what im doing, find a cheap 5.3, install it, run it for a while, then casually look for a 6.0. Once i find a cheap enough 6.0, ill throw it in, with a cam and whatnot, and call it good.

Personally, i still think you should go back to the LSx small block idea. i had essentially 400$ into a complete motor that i could have swapped into any 99+ silverado, hooked up wiring and fuel and it would have run. You can get good PCM tunes for 200$, exhaust work for $200, and redo the wiring harness yourself. a couple hundred dollars on odds and ends and that is about it.
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Exactly!!! LSx small block FTW
 
beastmode said:
Exactly!!! LSx small block FTW
Click to expand...
oh yeah...i forgot about fuel system. i had to buy a 110$ fuel pump from summit...that was the only thing i really had to change since i had a TBI motor beforehand. It still easily puts mine under 2000$, and 400$ of that was cam/springs/pushrods.
 
Lets put it this way, I have a set of engine mount adapters sitting on the shelf, not to mention a walbro 255lph fuel pump, and already have the fuel lines run from the EFI tank to the front of the truck.

If I could find one cheap enough, I'd put it in tomorrow
 
Ha, speak of the devil...

Just found a totally complete running 2002 5.3L near Calgary. The fella is asking 800 bucks for it, which is really, really cheap around here... He claims it is totally complete right down to the exhaust manifolds, pulled out of a totaled truck with approx 50 000 miles on it...

I'll actually be in Calgary next weekend, so I have a week to do some fundraising and make it down there :)
 
Wound up being a piece of junk... The engine was all there, but it didn't have the right intake on it, all the wiring was hacked right up, and it was missing the exhaust manifolds, air intake, MAF sensor etc

Think I'm gonna go 6.2L instead :)
 
Yep, thats correct :)

I know lots are gonna raise an eyebrow in me choosing an old weak diesel over a new gen III sbc, or a bbc, but I've always been a bit of a diesel nut, just something about that rattle that is just so cool :D
 
i hear ya there... i got to drive my dads buddies cummins the other day to go get pallet of concrete mix... gotta love a diesel :D

GL with the swap
 
Thank ya!

I plan to do a couple minor mods to the 6.2L, and run it until I can get my hands on one of those new 4.5L Duramax engines to swap over someday :)
 
8.1l is the way to go!!!! I get 13mpg pulling 8500lbs The oil thing had to do with bad intake gaskets.. And they are not hard to find I can get you all you want with the allison There are 4 with under 50 miles on them and 6 with less then 500 you get what you see!!!
 
I have a 6.0 in my 2500hd, edelbrock headers, bbk throttle body, msd coils, taylor wires, aem cold air intake, 4in single exaust with 5in tip, 4l80e, 4:10s 8inch with 37s and it gets 14mpg all the time and on trips it gets 16, towed a car trailer with a suburban on it for 400 miles and it got 12-13ish but yes it likes hills at 3000-3500 rpms. Does me real well, friends have the 8.1 and on the highway its not much diff. Up hills without weight its tha same but with weight the 8.1 does better but not enough to deal with 9-10 mpg everyday..its really all up to you everyone has there different ideas..... rob
 
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