8.1 Liter V8

pm26 · December 2, 2007

I know that GM no longer offers the 8.1 liter big block motor in their heavy duty pickups, but is production of that block totally discontinued? I see it being used in class A motor homes in GM "workhorse chassis", and also marine industry uses this block for their high performance engines, e.g. 496 magnum.

GM will lose a lot of business to Ford if they quit making this motor altogether. Ford V10 is very common in gas powered motor homes.

And marine industry almost exclusively uses GM engines for stern drive boats, because GM engines are probably the cheapest, being of the traditional pushrod design. Ford blocks have practically disappeared from the marine industry when they switched to the overhead cam design. No doubt it had a lot to do with the increased price tag of their motors. As expensive as boats are, it is incredible how cheap boat builders are when it comes to power. I had a 1989 18 ft boat with a 4.3 liter GM V6 engine. It was of course carbureted, but it did not even have electronic ignition! Yes, it had points in the distributor, just like a pre- 1975 car!.

ChrisNJ · December 2, 2007

As much as I loved the 8.1L (owned 3 or 4 of them), they will not come back in light duty trucks. The new medium duty trucks (forget the name) to compete with Fords E450, offer the 8.1 and Duramax with most opting for the diesel. With gm's new small diesel already slated for production next year, the big gasser is not coming back. I remember years ago the new DOD tech. was first tested in the 8.1, and I thought it might have some life, but for whatever reason, it was canned. The 6.2 is the biggest gas avail. currently, and I've heard rumors that the small block might go to 7.0, but haven't seen anything concrete.

I am personnaly not fond of diesels, and would prefer any increase in gas litres for my uses. My experiences so far with the 6.2 are good. It does a very good job towing 8K with the 6sp, pretty much equal to my 8.1/4sp's in towing performance. However, it is tuned for high HP, and could be even better if tuned for torque. It has a decent amount at 417 ft-lbs, compared to the 450? of the 8.1, and 360's? of the 6.0. I'm sure it's just gm designers saying we can sell more trucks 'this way' than sacrificing a lot of HP to move the torque down in the rpm's. Just my opinion. Granted the 6.2 is currently only avail. in the AWD Denali or Caddy set-up, which are not rubust drivetrains, so probably not very long lifers if pushed hard towing.