Where to buy used take out engine 8.1L Gas

[rvir4us]

Finally toasted my 8.1L 496 engine in my 2001 2500hd work truck. 412000miles of fun. Looking for a used complete engine to drop in and let her rip!!! Anyone here have an idea where to start looking for a low mileage take out? I’m sure my 17year old and his friends would love to experiment with an engine swap lol.. thx in advance..I’m in Temecula area

 

[lbhsbz]

considering when GM stopped making these, I wouldn't even consider a used one, except as a core if yours has a hole in it. I spent about 45 seconds googling and it doesn't appear as if any factory new longblocks exist either. Maybe you can find one. If you can, I'd go down that road first.

If you can't the only options are reman units from the usual suspects.....and I don't trust assembly line reman shit either.

What did you break? what does "toasted" mean? I'd be more inclined to fix/rebuild your engine with a trusted local machine shop than I would be buying a reman unit. If you want to make it a project for the kids, I've got bore gauges and mics and whatever is required to verify the machine work was done correctly and I'd be more than happy to loan it all to you.

 

[RogerThat99]

Can you do a search for an 8.1 at wrecking yards?

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Does the thing have to pass smog? If not, just go build a nice performance long block with a World block some good heads (brodix) and a good valve train (Johnson lifters) and a good reciprocating assembly and put the rest of the crap back on.

We had a 1978 3+3 and we built two race motors for the boat. Put one on the boat and used the other one in the truck.

 

[Fun Times]

What seems to have broke?

[WTS] - 496 HO

Sorry moderators, not sure where to put this. I have the new motor in my 22 Daytona. So the 496 HO is up for sale. 220 hours nothing wrong with it. I just needed to go faster. Hit me up if you need a motor for you boat. no headers, kept them.

www.riverdavesplace.com

Maybe a good time to add more fun power to it as well while repairing it with components within the following 8.1 specialist,

Vortec 8100 8.1L Chevy GM Performance Parts - 496cid BBC Truck / SUV Performance Packages - Raylar Engineering

Vortec 8100 8.1L Chevy / GM performance parts. Raylar 496cid truck and suv performance kits and performance packages.

www.raylarengineering.com

 

[evantwheeler]

Finally toasted my 8.1L 496 engine in my 2001 2500hd work truck. 412000miles of fun. Looking for a used complete engine to drop in and let her rip!!! Anyone here have an idea where to start looking for a low mileage take out? I’m sure my 17year old and his friends would love to experiment with an engine swap lol.. thx in advance..I’m in Temecula area

There is a facebook group for the 8.1 that i see them listed for sale on often, but they are usually in the midwest or east coast. I have also seen them on Facebook marketplace from time to time locally. I would scour marketplace, may even be cheaper to buy a used truck if you love you current chassis/shell

 

[evantwheeler]

 

[NIKAL]

If you consider rebuilding your engine, there is a good shop in Santee. Action Cylinder Heads. Richard does all the machine work & assembly in house. He did a very nice 5.3 for my 01 Silverado. He knows all the tricks and upgrades to fix the GM flaws, including some very good USA made lifters. He also fixed the Chevy oil usage through the pvc system. He will also pull & install the engines in you vehicle and offers a good warranty too. His shop has been around for a long time and is always packed full of cars & engines, so he must be doing something right.

 

[mjc]

Does the thing have to pass smog? If not, just go build a nice performance long block with a World block some good heads (brodix) and a good valve train (Johnson lifters) and a good reciprocating assembly and put the rest of the crap back on.

We had a 1978 3+3 and we built two race motors for the boat. Put one on the boat and used the other one in the truck.

Unfortunately you can't do that as the 496 in completely different than previous big blocks.

 

[Ricks raft]

Car-part.com
quite a few. Low mileage are not cheap

 

[mothershipper]

I've the same drivetrain setup in my 01' HD. It's at around 275K miles right now. With the price of new vehicles today, I'll be rebuilding the motor when it's time. I've not heard very many positive things about these engine remanufacturers, mostly because of the cost saving shortcuts - i.e. different bore sizes cylinders, cheap chinese internals, etc. . Following this thread to see what route you take. Try looking on some forums for this setup and see what others have done. This is such an undertaxed motor that if taken care of it should have no problem making it to 400 or even 500k miles. The Allison transmission paired with this engine is pretty bullet proof in itself.

 

[Sharky]

There is always new. . .

HT502 – truck replacement engine - 406 HP

Check out the deal on HT502 – truck replacement engine - 406 HP at GM Performance Motor

www.gmperformancemotor.com

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

I've learned the hard way...if an engine had low miles and was taken it, it was for a reason. I won't buy another engine I can't pull the pan off and see what is going on. The Japanese engines that get sent over with less than 80k miles are the only engine I would be tempted to buy.

 

[evantwheeler]

You may also have some luck using Avalanche as one of your search keywords. Some of the the avalanche 2500's came with the 8.1.

 

[pwerwagn]

Might be a moot point, but I have a buddy that owned a junkyard (here in NM), and when I had my 8.1 he told me he had 2-3 of them that he got out of wrecked trucks when the 8.1 first came out. He said he still had all of them, never sold a single one. My point being, they dont seem to go bad very often and if you do find a low mileage one thats been at a yard for years, it might be because nobody ever needs to replace 8.1's.

Unfortunately, sold his yard to a solar company a year ago and all of the stuff he had got scrapped, otherwise I would know where 2-3 low mileage ones were at.

 

[dribble]

RV wrecking yard. They were used in the Workhorse chassis.

 

[Havasu blue label]

Have it rebuilt

 

[Bigbore500r]

Finally toasted my 8.1L 496 engine in my 2001 2500hd work truck. 412000miles of fun. Looking for a used complete engine to drop in and let her rip!!! Anyone here have an idea where to start looking for a low mileage take out? I’m sure my 17year old and his friends would love to experiment with an engine swap lol.. thx in advance..I’m in Temecula area

Check LKQ auto salvage. these things are in a ton of motorhomes that get junked with low mileage as well, should not be hard to find one

 

[Bigbore500r]

Finally toasted my 8.1L 496 engine in my 2001 2500hd work truck. 412000miles of fun. Looking for a used complete engine to drop in and let her rip!!! Anyone here have an idea where to start looking for a low mileage take out? I’m sure my 17year old and his friends would love to experiment with an engine swap lol.. thx in advance..I’m in Temecula area

Check here - https://cpprohomeky.car-part.com/

 

[wishiknew]

I had 2003 2500 hd 365k miles 8.1 WTH Alison trans never one problem with motor trans or rearend rest of truck was falling apart though