They will give you nothing for it on trade. Just sell it privately and go buy something else. Stock 317's would keep your compression ratio roughly the same as it is now, 243's would put you up to 11:1 or so. You need the intake manifold as well as the cathedral port heads.

I wouldn't even muck around with it though, it's just a waste of money and time.

 

I think if were to put money into modding it, the best thing for you to do would be a Roots or a twin-screw. Otherwise, only a diesel will give you the torque you're looking for.

 

I think the problem lies in displacement. It's still only a small block, smallish displacement etc in a huge freakin truck. They make good power, but at 'Vette type revs. The 8.1 and old 454 were both better suited to heavy duty truck use. It's too bad they dropped the 8.1 option.
I'm happy with my old LQ4, but my truck is significantly smaller than the newest ones.
A blower or a diesel are the only answers that really make sense in my opinion.

 

l92's are square port heads
243's are cathederal port, you would need a diff. manifold
i would get the Duramax

 

Everybody is right here. Engine better suited for high hp, heavy truck, not a diesel....all these things work against you in the mileage department when it comes to using your truck to do a truck's job. I always laugh to myself when I see a 2500HD gas work truck, because the driver probably hates life driving that rocketship around. The more often you carry/tow heavy loads, the lower RPM at which your engine should make peak torque. In the case of work trucks who haul 100% of the time, it doesn't make sense not to get a diesel.

 

And the problem is cost and maintenance on a diesel. I myself would never buy one for a work truck, ever. The initial cost versus mileage gain is more than offset in most instances. That's why you see all the gas engine rigs out there. Fleets don't like the retards driving the diesels wrecking them either, so the cheaper simpler gas is always the alternative.

But you have to maybe define work truck. My "work truck" runs around with at least 1000 lbs plus gear. It never tows enough to mention either. Even making $250 a day on a truck I wouldn't want to bother paying down some $60K plus diesel rig ( I do live in Alberta so yes the trucks are more) versus a $40K gas rig. So running a diesel to me is completely pointless except for just power. If you live with a heavy trailer or some retarded heavy service body the diesel starts to make more sense because of the demand on the truck.

It would just make more sense for them to build a nice low rpm torque producing gas engine and be done with it. My previous LQ4 handled the load better than the LY6 ever could.... and doesn't need to be through the floormat constantly to accelerate either. Maybe stop focusing on big stupid horsepower peaks and high rpm and build an engine that can actually work. It's not rocket science, but it's apparently not a priority either for GM at least. I find Fords 6.2 in the Super Duty's to be much more useful than the latest GM offerings. They pull much more like my old LQ4 except even stronger. If Ford can pull it off, GM can too if they chose to actually design and build a "truck" engine.