Motor mounts welded in, chassis painted, firewall painted, engine re-installed, O2 sensor bung welded on and headers shipped off for ceramic coating, radiator ordered (last long lead time part), and I am almost done rebuilding the heater box. It is really surprising how well this motor fits. I have a business trip next week and won't be home for 2 weeks so I will not be able to wrench for a while but that will give me time to order more parts, research, and prep.

When I get home, I hope to mount the hydroboost and then will install the front accessory drive in prep to start wiring up the Holley Terminator Max LS. I also hope to start powder coating rims and getting the new tires installed.

 

SCORE!!! I had some time to kill this morning on my bidness trip so I swung over to HF to grab a couple tools and headed to a local pick-a-part in San Diego.

They had one 8.1L in the yard. It was in a 2002 GMC 2500 and was about 2/3's removed.


My priority was pulling the water pump pulley; I bent mine when I was pulling my accessory drive and it has been really hard to find a replacement for a decent price. Notice I had already removed the water pump pulley in the pic. The fan and clutch were sitting in the bed and I was actually stoked to grab those because I had to cut the stock TopKick one off. The TopKick fan was also massive. As I was driving away, I noticed the water pump pulley seems bigger (diameter) on the 2500 so my fan should spin a little slower... but so will my water pump. Hopefully that is not an issue.

While I was at the yard, I also grabbed the power steering pump/Alternator bracket with the complete pump in place. I did this because this donor truck also had hydroboost and the hose was still attached. I am hoping by grabbing this pump/bracket/hose, I will be able to save some time figuring out plumbing for my hydroboost.


As I was staring at it on my hotel floor, I thought maybe I could cut this top chunk off and save about 5 pounds of dead weight and declutter my engine bay a little too?


Now I need to find a box to fit all this and mail it home!

 

That's funny, I was just in Pocatello early this week for business.

Honestly, It will be cheaper to pack it and check it as luggage on the Airline. I shipped a small 12 x 6 x 5 box weighed just under 1lb and it was $50 to go Ground to Chicago...

Tried to ship an LS crankshaft to Ohio a few months back and they wanted $150 to go ground...

If you can pack it and keep it under 50lbs. It would be easier to take it with you and check it as luggage. Not sure what airline your with, but it's probably around $40 to check a bag. Some offer a discount if you check the bag on line.

 

I saw a 4.3 swapped over to a 8.1 and a 4l85 at cars and coffee yesterday. It looked like a factory truck, I talked to the owner and we are going to meet up at the track and see what it can do. I was thinking of this thread while we were talking.

 

That's a bucket list build for me. I love the 91-93 454 SS trucks, so having that swap in a GMT800 would be the modern version for me. I wonder how well a factory AWD T Case and front diff would hold up to a cam + bolt on 8.1L

 

you talking NV149? that one should be fine.

 

Yup, that's the one.

 

@1FastBrick That's a great idea! with that idea in mind, I went to Dome Hepot and bought a box and some tape. I fly home Friday so today I will start packing it up! The box is pretty big to fit the fan and pretty stout to carry the bracket/pump; I can only imagine what USPS/FEDEX/UPS would charge to ship it!
@smokinlmm I appreciate you thinking about this thread! This is the first "engine swap" I have ever done and will take all the advice I can get! I have done an EFI install and several engine rebuilds/upbuilds but never a swap. If you do get talk to him again, ask him for any advice or lessons learned or recommendations. My goals for this build are reliable and burnouts. Also let me know how he does at the track too! My truck should weigh about 4300 pounds when done, the 8.1 will be stock other than headers and tuning, so I am hoping that gets me into the 14's on 33" tall tires.
@Bluecollar Hotrods and @zebra that truck does sound super cool! One of my dream builds is a late 70's wide track Cherokee but built to look like Jeep/AMC wanted to go to NASCAR. They built this nasty Cherokee in AWD (Quadratrack) but NASCAR rejected them at tech inspect becuase of the AWD. Maybe when I build mine it will be an 8.1 with an NV149?

 

hmm... cool concept

and i mentioned the 149 AWD as preferable compared to the borgwarner units, which ain't as stout & are electrically-controlled

 

Like I said , Keep it under 50Lbs in the box if you can. If you have to, get some cheap luggage bags. Just make sure you wrap everything good to protect it. Depending on the Airline, when you go over 50Lbs there is usually an additional $100 charge on top of what ever 1 or 2 bags cost.

If your traveling with someone for work and you cant keep everything to 2 checked bags, Ask them if they are only checking 1 Bag and see if they will check your 3rd as there second with you paying them for it obviously. It can help keep cost down. Some won't allow a 3rd checked bag, some charge a premium for a 3rd bag just depends...