I have a 02' vortec 8.1 pullout going into my tube chassis rock buggy. I am looking for some simple power upgrades that leaves the internals "reasonably" stock. Reason being, I just sold a motor that made great power but I had to CONSTANTLY work on it! Nothing will **** you off more than traveling 8-12 hours to go offroading, wheel for 1 day and work on it for 3 more days. I want to retain the factory reliability but up the power if at all possible. I have a "hyperjoke" that I will probably sell on e-bay and exchange it for a westers tuner. Also, will run a custom exhaust using 2.5" tubing to retain the scavenging effect. Any other suggestions? I have seen talk about the 1.8 rockers versus 1.7 and I know that they are a very minor upgrade (But easy and easily accessible). Help me out here.

Thanks,

OMalley

 

CAI, PCM tune for starters.

 

long tube headers?? cam???

 

That sounds fun. Id get a little larger cam over teh rocker arms though, and you could possibly look into HPtuners or EFI live for your tuning. Definatly Long tube headers, and stay with small pipes after that. Ill need some pics to make better judgement though

 

yep... pics are definitely needed to make a safe assumption of what to suggest LOL...

 

You may wanna try something like this:

Heads

and there is also an intake that goes along with it, in the intake section of the site.

 

Once I get the motor slung into the chassis, I will post pictures. I have a feeling that long tube headers are out of the question because of space constraints. The COI may be an option but at slow crawl speeds, the results may be questionable. I was trying to stay away from a cam. Which do ya'll recommend "HPtuners or EFI Live"? Perhaps something that has the capability of adding a cam at a later date after the motor is in and running. This buggy is running the 8.1 to a Turbo 400 through a 3.9:1 transfer case to 6.17:1 military axles to 48"x18" R20 military tires. Needless to say, I want something to knock me in the *** when I hit the tall skinny pedal.

Thanx for the input!

OMalley

 

Why staying 'away from a cam'?

 

My experience in getting too far away from factory has been that I would run into reliability issues with the engine itself and how the engine runs. This buggy if it breaks down is MILES away from nowhere. Not exactly beside the road waiting for the rollback to pick me up. How reliable has your 8.1's been after the cam swap and computer re-program? By that I mean do you have problems with the motor running? Similar to old school engine problems when the cam was too wild, engine running too rich, cutting off at stoplights but ran like a scalded dog at WOT. I need low RPM reliability and WANT the kick in the seats power at WOT. Yep, I want the cake and eat the damn thing too. Your thoughts?

 

There Are Many People On Here That Run Quite Large Cams In Daily Drivers. You Could Run A Small Low End Torque Cam With Some Good Springs, Stock Retainers, And Hardened Pushrods, And It Would Be Fine Without Sacraficing Reliability...... That Will Be The Best Upgrade. Imo. If You Will Be Using Your Own Tuning Software, Then That Would Be Even More Reason To Use A Cam, So You Can See What All Is Going On With It.....