Should I keep the 8.1L or 6.0L?

[MartyMcFLy]

I have the following:

'03 Suburban 2500 LT 8.1L 2x4 w/ 164,000 miles

'01 Suburban 2500 LT 6.0L 4x4 w/ 174,000 miles

I have a video on youtube showing the condition of these two 'burbans.

I can't really justify keeping the two as I don't have much space and don't really tow anymore. I love how the 8.1L rides. It's really fast for an SUV, but it is a gas hog. Plus, it is staring to rust pretty bad.

The 6.0L is nice aesthetically and isn't that rusty. Of course, it is the more boring of the two, but it is clean on the inside and outside and has 4x4. It is around 1-2 mpg better in city and 2-3 better on the highway than the big block. it is slow, but rides a bit better than the 496.

As soon as spring rolls around, I could patch up the rust (grind it off and weld meta/bondol). I'm pretty handy with body work.

My question is, which do you think I should keep? Do you think it would be worth it to engine swap (put the 8.1L into the '01)?

 

[wjburken]

I have the following:

'03 Suburban 2500 LT 8.1L 2x4 w/ 164,000 miles

'01 Suburban 2500 LT 6.0L 4x4 w/ 174,000 miles

I have a video on youtube showing the condition of these two 'burbans.

I can't really justify keeping the two as I don't have much space and don't really tow anymore. I love how the 8.1L rides. It's really fast for an SUV, but it is a gas hog. Plus, it is staring to rust pretty bad.

The 6.0L is nice aesthetically and isn't that rusty. Of course, it is the more boring of the two, but it is clean on the inside and outside and has 4x4. It is around 1-2 mpg better in city and 2-3 better on the highway than the big block. it is slow, but rides a bit better than the 496.

As soon as spring rolls around, I could patch up the rust (grind it off and weld meta/bondol). I'm pretty handy with body work.

My question is, which do you think I should keep? Do you think it would be worth it to engine swap (put the 8.1L into the '01)?

I vote for the motor swap.

 

[MartyMcFLy]

I vote for the motor swap.

Do you think I can drop an 8.1L in a 2500 body built for the 6.0L and it would fit properly? Do you think it could hook up to the transfer case?

 

[wjburken]

Do you think I can drop an 8.1L in a 2500 body built for the 6.0L and it would fit properly? Do you think it could hook up to the transfer case?

I don’t think there is a problem with it fitting. You might need to bring the transmission along for the ride. One would have to research all the nuances of swapping such as transfer case and differentials to make sure they all can handle the 8.1L output.

That being said, there are many folks on here that have a whole lot more experience swapping motors than I do and can give you some very good advice.

 

[mikeyss]

The 01 has a different computer interface, it's why your 01 has the message center box in the dash..while the 03 has a DIC. The motors will swap since they're both 2500's, but the 8.1 has an Allison trans which has a separate controller usually mounted to the cooling fan shroud, so if you motor swap, you'd have to keep the 8.1 driveline all matched up. The 8.1 has a 10.5 bolt rear that would bolt up to your 01 with the 6.0. There are a lot of small and not so small differences between the 01 and 03. You would need electrical information between those 2 years.

 

[MartyMcFLy]

The 01 has a different computer interface, it's why your 01 has the message center box in the dash..while the 03 has a DIC. The motors will swap since they're both 2500's, but the 8.1 has an Allison trans which has a separate controller usually mounted to the cooling fan shroud, so if you motor swap, you'd have to keep the 8.1 driveline all matched up. The 8.1 has a 10.5 bolt rear that would bolt up to your 01 with the 6.0. There are a lot of small and not so small differences between the 01 and 03. You would need electrical information between those 2 years.

The 8.1L has the 4L85e, which I believe is a bit smaller than the Allison in size. I could swap out the electronics completely if needed (ECM and all). I would just need to wait until spring and dedicate a couple of weekends to get everything out and swapped.

 

[mikeyss]

Oh, that's right. Trucks got the Allison with the 8.1, but the SUV were stuck with the 4 speed 4L85