i kno im driving some of yall insane by now, but i keep tossing up ideas that sound better to me, i have a 03 sierra, and instead of a ls1 or a 6.0 what about a 8.1L? how hard would it be, i kno i couldnt run the 4l60E, so what tranny would i have to run? and what would it take to do this?

 

not worth it, a stock 6.0 will outrun most 8.1's Plus the frame rails in the 2500's are are wider and the truck has a body lift i know it's been done but the weight and size of the motor would tax a 1/2 ton

 

o wow, i didnt kno the 6's would out run the 8.1, well thanks for that info, looks like im just going to go with a lq9 and get a built 4l60E, would a stage 2 4l60E be ok to run on a 6?

 

im not sure a 6.0L will out run a 8.1L never trackd both of mine.... One thing the is the 6.0L stock turns 6000 rpms, or at least our truck does. the 8.1L only revves to 4500 rpms so it feels faster becuse it goes faster in each gear.

But yea as they said, its a heavy motor. the title on the suburban shoes the empty weight 6850.

Ive got stock tires and 373 gears. the suburban only goes 17.4's. I put on a volant intake with ram air scoup, gibson cat back and have JBA headers laying in the garage. People have said there is a lot of a power to be had in the ecu...


they make heads and cam package that take you to 500+ hp and 600+ lbtq....

and if you can find one the old whipple blower was suppose to make 500+ hp and 800lbtq...


I dont know what your building, but i would think head and cam + 100 shot on a 8.1L in say a regular cab short bed would be a lot of fun... Its just hard to compair that motor to anything eles.... all they came in was the heavy trucks. i mean if you left it 100 stock and put it in something that was 3-4K lbs it would be fun, or very tracktion limited...


I guess in a nut shell the only reason to get a 8.1L would be to get the TQ the trucks make. But if you dont tow them........

I know the 8.1L will walk circles around the 6.0L with 10K lbs behind it, but unloaded both will get spanked by a armada... my wifes ran 15.8 stock

the game plan on mine is head & cam, then a whipple or a custome turbo kit....

 

Not a good idea, little aftermarket for 8.1's then the stuff you find is $$$ then you will have to make new motor mounts, get a 80e, fab this and that, yada yada. By that time a built 6.0 could be in there and done..

John

 

ok how much would you pay and what kind of miles would u take on a lq9 and what transmission should i run? stage 1, 2, 3? keep the 60e or what?

 

In my opinion the 4l60e's dont hold up to much unless you really go and get a BUILT one. I've heard good things about the FLT tranny's! But if your going to spend the cash I would rock a 4l80e it robs a little more power but will hold alot more!! As far as the motor I would definately go with the lq9 many more options when it comes to mod's and all around a better performance motor. The 8.1 was meant more for torque and pulling not to produce HP.

 

i seen alot of the ppl around here with 8.1 s they use a quart too quart 1/2 btw oil change

 

My old 8.1L RC, 4x4 2500HD went 15.22@91MPH stock with exhaust, and a diablo predator. I didn't think that was too bad for those two mods. Truck had heavy 285's and 3.73's, might have gone 14's if I had launched in 4x4. I didn't know about that back then. Thing guzzled gas bad though 12~13MPG was the best mpg I got, usually 10 or less in town.

 

damn maybe you had a freak truck or my suburban sucks! im sure our track plays into it as well. we about 2000 feet above sea level.

The problem is the heads. they are designed for torque. it has 455lbtq at like 14-1500 rpms. But up top they suck.... sorta like drinking a slurpy threw a straw.

They do drink some fuel, but to be honest with you its only about 1 mpg off what the 6.0 truck is.

If you not a die hard GM guy have you looked at the viper trucks. those things are showing up all over the place used. There are two in my town now and both are priced in the low 20's.

And they do use some oil... im usualy a quart or so low each change, and the dumb dip stick doesent reall 100 % correct says the GM dealer, and Gm put the sensor up high, so if you get a quart and half low it trips all the dummy lights and shows you out of oil. The GM dealer told me that when the dip stick reads nothing, it still has 4.5 quarts of oil.