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best engines ever put in a gm truck


steveo2155

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Posted

Late 70's and early 80's V8's made so little horsepower...dark days.

Still a 305 V8 was a lot better than straight sixes in cars of the same era. I remember one of our friends had a 1978 Ford Fairmont with a straight 6 (250 cu in ?) and the car would barely maintain 55 MPH up hills on I 79 in West Virginia with the gas pedal on the floor. My 1977 Camaro with the 305 V8 would easily do 80+ MPH on the same road.
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Posted

I am a huge fan of the L76 6.0L Vortec Max engine, without the AFM being active of course! Strongest engine I've ever had in a vehicle.

Fuel economy isn't the best but that's not why we buy trucks and SUV's with V8 engines.

 

With all of the cuirrent production engines GM offers, it's difficult to get the best performance out of your engine because GM slapped AFM into all of them. The only way to get the true performance in the current engines is with the AFM deactivated and a custom tune. They would all be very impressive if it weren't for the AFM system and all of the power limiting nannies GM has programmed into them from the factory. Take away the torque management, throttle response delay, and the AFM and they would all put out some impressive numbers.

Posted

For me I would personally say the 1999+ 5.3L non AFM and the L92. The 5.3L is basically the modern day work horse, ultra reliable Vortec 350. Then the L92 was just a stud from day and always put out great numbers. I'd also say the L86 but with the DI engines it's too early to say how these hold up down the road.

  • 7 months later...
Posted

Any of them for different reasons, except for the early attempts at the diesel. Great memory's of them all....mostly.

Posted

The 350 and the 4.8 first truck had a 350 and my current has the 4.8. both solid engines and easy to work on.

Posted

350 - good old days. and YES you could work on them . Today you end up at the dealership .

Posted

I've seen 350's run with a hole in the block and a piston missing ha ha...

 

Probably the only engine that can sit for years and with a little tinkering they start.

Posted

Gasser...Hands down 6.0L Vortec thing is indestructible.

Diesel...LML 6.6 Duramax Best of new/old tech & reliability.

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