Boosted 350 vortec, or stock 8.1?

[letitsnow]

Just dreaming here...

If I put together a truck to tow my 7500 pound toy hauler, would you guys choose a stock 8.1 swap, or a supercharged vortec 350? I would be using this truck to go from MN to CA in the winter, so it needs to be 4x4. I also would want it to be a 5 or 6 speed manual.

Supercharged old school 350, or stock 8.1?

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Which would give you more torque? I'd guess the 8.1 would.

 

[Christian Steffen]

Just dreaming here...

If I put together a truck to tow my 7500 pound toy hauler, would you guys choose a stock 8.1 swap, or a supercharged vortec 350? I would be using this truck to go from MN to CA in the winter, so it needs to be 4x4. I also would want it to be a 5 or 6 speed manual.

Supercharged old school 350, or stock 8.1?

The 8.1 will probably last longer doing a lot of towing, might get better mileage while pulling hard too. 8.1 will probably be more reliable? Not sure which would make more torque at low rpm? 350 would probably get better mileage unloaded.

 

[John Cunningham]

Just dreaming here...

If I put together a truck to tow my 7500 pound toy hauler, would you guys choose a stock 8.1 swap, or a supercharged vortec 350? I would be using this truck to go from MN to CA in the winter, so it needs to be 4x4. I also would want it to be a 5 or 6 speed manual.

Supercharged old school 350, or stock 8.1?

Hands down an 8.1..keep the rpm down to make the power..go 200k mikes..you will be unhappy with a boosted small block..u will have to keep the pounds of boost very low which will also be prone to detonate during a tow

 

[Gibson]

A casual search of towing capacities of the GMT 400 platform shows that even with 4.1 gears, the 350 Vortec maxes out at ~6>7K in a Sub, and hardly little more in a K2500. The DWR K3500, with 4.56 gears does a little better, but not much.
Adding boost, for more top-end power in a SB is of little value for towing.
If you really want to tow 7,500lbs cross-country, get an '01>'06 GMT 800, with the 8.1, either the Sub with the 4L85E, or the K2500 with the Allison.
Forget the manual, either auto is better.
You need low-end torque for that kind of weight in the mountains,, not some SB screaming its guts out at warp-drive rpms in 1st gear.

 

[letitsnow]

A casual search of towing capacities of the GMT 400 platform shows that even with 4.1 gears, the 350 Vortec maxes out at ~6>7K in a Sub, and hardly little more in a K2500. The DWR K3500, with 4.56 gears does a little better, but not much.
Adding boost, for more top-end power in a SB is of little value for towing.
If you really want to tow 7,500lbs cross-country, get an '01>'06 GMT 800, with the 8.1, either the Sub with the 4L85E, or the K2500 with the Allison.
Forget the manual, either auto is better.
You need low-end torque for that kind of weight in the mountains,, not some SB screaming its guts out at warp-drive rpms in 1st gear.

The gmt 800's up here seem to rust so bad that they scare me. They also seem to have a lot of electrical problems. Would rather have a gmt 400 platform.

Thanks for the input though.

 

[letitsnow]

350 would probably get better mileage unloaded.

I was thinking that with the 8.1's torque, I could gear it a bit higher and maybe only use 4th while towing, then use 5th like an overdrive to try and get decent mpg while empty - uneducated thinking though, just guessing that would work.

 

[Gibson]

OK,, well, if you want to stay with the 400 platform, why not go with the 454.
They're cheap and easy to work on, and with just a minimal amount of aftermarket goodies they will have the same HP and torque figures of a stock 8.1,, and can even beat it.
In the 400 series, when you go to bigger HP/torque, the weak link becomes the trans. The 4L85E from the 8.1 vehicles is a better unit than the 4L80E for heavy duty use.
If you must have a manual, then one of the later units from the 800s that was used in 2500/3500 series are better,, the ones they used with the diesels.

 

[letitsnow]

Back when I was 1st out of highschool, I was a carney. The vehicle that I drove from fair to fair was a square body 3+3 dually with a 454, pulling a 5th wheel camper. We changed cam and did a few mods. The 454 did ok, but always felt sluggish, and usually got 4-6 mpg. I have driven a couple vortec 454's and while better, the 8'1's that I have driven seem to be in a different league. May be just how they feel though.

 

[letitsnow]

But... I also had a buddy with a 454 in a Nova. It was scary fast...