If it were your truck ????

[b454rat]

454. I hear so many people talk about LS swaps, and they don't get much better mileage than a 350, some worse than a 454. And we all know the torque a 454 has. I love 454s, and never had one that was a slouch. Good heads, nice cam, lil compression, and depending what fueling, it will be an awesome street engine. Last 454 I built cost me $3k, got lucky on the heads, they were ready to go off C-list for $250, 781s. But a 4L80 is a must....

 

[Hipster]

The 454ss trucks have a bit of a cult following and are approaching collector car status. That adds value. I'd find a nice generic truck if I wanted to do an LS swap.

The non original block might hamper value a bit but I don't think it would kill it as much as oblitering everything 454 and turning it into a generic LS swapped truck.

 

[b454rat]

I had a sticker on my old truck; Imports are like tampons, every ***** needs one. Now I feel it's the LS swaps....Stay with what the truck is, everybody does LS swaps, actually getting tired of hearing it.

 

[Jglew82]

I had a sticker on my old truck; Imports are like tampons, every ***** needs one. Now I feel it's the LS swaps....Stay with what the truck is, everybody does LS swaps, actually getting tired of hearing it.

I mean, people like what they like. What I don’t understand is why certain people feel the need to put others down because they like something different. If you don’t like imports, don’t buy one. If you don’t like LS swaps, then don’t do one. Let those others do what they want and don’t worry about it. I’m sure your “*****” sticker was a huge hit on the streets, though.

 

[Jerryred94silvy]

I’d stick to 454 personally. Or if you wanted a blend of old and new, you could swap in an 8.1 liter. Not the most practical option for a whole slew of reasons. But it sounds like a cool idea anyway.

 

[df2x4]

I mean, people like what they like. What I don’t understand is why certain people feel the need to put others down because they like something different. If you don’t like imports, don’t buy one. If you don’t like LS swaps, then don’t do one. Let those others do what they want and don’t worry about it. I’m sure your “*****” sticker was a huge hit on the streets.

Well said. Hence the thread title, "If it were your truck." I gave my opinion, I'm not about to put anyone else down for theirs though.

If this truck had the original block then my thought process would be different. Personally now that the originality of the engine is gone, I would just put what I wanted in it. Which in my case (and keeping with the street truck theme of the build) would most likely be a cheap junkyard small block LS that I could add forced induction to down the road.

I’d stick to 454 personally. Or if you wanted a blend of old and new, you could swap in an 8.1 liter. Not the most practical option for a whole slew of reasons. But it sounds like a cool idea anyway.

I was actually thinking about this earlier and was going to mention it but you beat me to it. If you wanted to stick with a big block but gain some modern features then an 8.1L L18 would be a pretty cool choice. You could even have some new stickers made that say "496SS" if you wanted to get fancy.

 

[Jerryred94silvy]

I feel like the L18 would be cool just because you never see them swapped into stuff. It would give your truck the “unicorn” status, which I’m all for. Engine swaps that catch the automotive community completely off guard are quite possibly the best kind. Imho.

 

[df2x4]

I feel like the L18 would be cool just because you never see them swapped into stuff. It would give your truck the “unicorn” status, which I’m all for. Engine swaps that catch the automotive community completely off guard are quite possibly the best kind. Imho.

Plus the stock PCM from the 8.1L donor vehicle would be supported by HPTuners, so tuning would be a breeze. That setup would have no issues controlling a 4L80E as well.

EDIT - You could probably pull the transmission from the donor truck as well if you found a 2WD, I could be mistaken but I think the only automatics that came behind the 8.1Ls were 4L80/85Es.

DOUBLE EDIT - On second thought some of the 8.1Ls probably came with the Allison automatics...

 

[Jerryred94silvy]

Also this:
http://www.raylarengineering.com/vortec-8100-496cid-truck-performance-parts.html

Idk if the cost of an 8.1 vs building/buying a 454 would make sense to most sane people. But I doubt most of us here are that sane anyway. Plus, who buys anything with a big block because it makes sense? Lol.

 

[Jglew82]

DOUBLE EDIT - On second thought some of the 8.1Ls probably came with the Allison automatics...

Correct! Buddy of mine had an 03 2500 4x4 8.1/Allison. Beast of a pickup.