8.1 Swap

[joeydirt]

Just curious if anyone out there has an 8.1 installed. My 5.0 needs head gaskets and I can get a high mileage 8.1 truck for little to nothing so Im half tempted to swap it out. Maybe I can also use the hyrdo boost

[Tropical Snowstorm]

My suburban has a factory 8.1. Great torquey engine with a decent cult following. Parts are easy, lots of u-haul trucks and marine applications to scavenge. The heads and intake choke it pretty bad and hot rod parts are high dollar but I'm happy with it as is in the 3/4 ton heavy 4x4 Burb so far.

[mr48chev]

Not to be a spoiler but I'd think the extra parts you would need to do the swap would kill any savings that you might be thinking about but my oh my the torque and high Bubba factor would be worth it. I've got 2 396s in pieces in the shed plus the 454 in my dualie so I'm a bit of a fan of big blocks.

[yossarian19]

It's no harder than mounting a BBC and wiring / fueling an LS1.
The aftermarket isn't super rich but it doesn't have to be. It makes 450+ ft-lbs bone stock and all mounting dimensions, header patterns, etc are exactly same as BBC stuff but with metric bolts.
I say, go for it.
It costs a lot more money to make the same torque out of an LS engine and any other BBC is downright primitive by comparison. The 8.1 is absolute top of the heap for torque in a gas burning engine, unless you want to go forced induction or have a perversion for V10s (even then, I'm not sure the Triton or Magnum 10's are any badder than the 8.1)