81 blazer:350 vs 6.2L?

[halffastcustoms]

i just bought an '81 4wd blazer without an engine. i am planning on using it for a daily driver with some towing and light offroad use. i have an opportunity to purchase either a 350 or 6.2L diesel. which engine would be best? list some pros and cons if you can. thanks

[ayev8r]

Cons of 6.2, weak. Injection pump problems. Little power. Weak. Problematic. A diesel with no turbo, c'mon. 6.2's like to consume oil, weren't very efficient(mpg) and they are built shi@tally.

6.2 pros._____________________________________________ _____!

350 all good, if you got a good one.
350 cons. MPG suks when fuel is 2.29 a gallon.

[tony1784]

Cons of 6.2, weak. Injection pump problems. Little power. Weak. Problematic. A diesel with no turbo, c'mon. 6.2's like to consume oil, weren't very efficient(mpg) and they are built shi@tally.

6.2 pros._____________________________________________ _____!

350 all good, if you got a good one.
350 cons. MPG suks when fuel is 2.29 a gallon.

I'm going to have to totally disagree there. The 6.2 in my 86 K5 burns very little oil, has about 180K on it and still runs like a champ. I replaced the inj. pump at 120K but other than that no problems with it at all. Granted its not the most powerful but it tows a normal car on a trailer just fine and I get about 20 MPG with it. Theres alot of info on them on CK5.com.

[NqSilverado]

just custom fit a dmax/allison in to that blazer then you would have the sickest blazer of all time.

[halffastcustoms]

just custom fit a dmax/allison in to that blazer then you would have the sickest blazer of all time.


someone's been watching too much SPIKE TV. :D

[ayev8r]

6.2 out Duramax in. I still say 6.2 sux. Get a real engine.

[halffastcustoms]

i think i'm going with the 350. thanks to everyone who replied.

[Greenbuggy]

just custom fit a dmax/allison in to that blazer then you would have the sickest blazer of all time.

Fork the allison, get an NV4500 behind the Dmax.

I had a 6.2 in my old '83 K5 with 3.73's, 700r4, NP208, 33.5" boggers and a 4" suspension lift.

The biggest problem I had with the motor was that it was really really really slow accelerating. Once up to speed, it got over 20 MPG cruising at 70 MPH which was really nice (especially for the 230 mile cruise between home and school)

The thing was relatively torquey, when pulling stuff with the truck it didn't really have much of a problem but it was slow doing it. I don't think I'd have wanted to pull a trailer with the truck.

The old Stanadyne MFI pumps are quite reliable - most would last until 140-160k without a problem. The newer 6.5 EFI IP pumps had PMD problems that would overheat and leave you stranded every few months. Some ebay sellers sold kits to relocate the PMD off of the injection pump which fixes this problems.

One of the biggest problems the 6.2's had, IMHO, was that the 6.2 heads really liked to crack and lose coolant. This ended up being the death of my blazer as a friend didn't pay attention to the gauges when he was driving the truck (I was sleeping in back) and overheated the **** out of it. 6.5 heads will bolt right up, flow better, and don't have cracking problems.

A lot of people don't like the 6.2's glow plug controller and wire in their own custom switch. For that matter, a lot of people don't know **** about diesels - mine had a switch butchered in and when I checked the glow plugs (the thing had a hard time starting) a whopping one out of 8 was still working.

If you do desire a turbo, get the top end from a 6.5 or get a banks kit. Personally I'd much rather get a 6.5 MFI TD and use that instead.