4.8, Yes or No

[geezer#99]

There’s a truck up here that’s powered by a 4.8.
It’s been for sale for about 4 months now. It’s a quad cab 4x4 2002.
Is the 4.8 less desirable over the 5.3.
Any known problems with them?
A few people have told me to stay away from the 4.8.

Could a few of you experts enlighten me?

[Keith Seymore]

Should be fine. They are the same basic engine.

We introduced the 4.8L engine originally (on the GMT800 program) in an attempt to get buyers to purchase the smaller V8 engine and get a little better fuel economy for themselves (and therefore help our fleet average).

There were two things that torpedo'd that plan:

a) The 5.3L ended up in an unexpected sweet spot - the fuel economy wasn't really that much worse and it ran quite a bit better performance wise.

b) Truck buyers tend to buy the biggest engine available, so it doesn't really matter what the attributes are of the smaller engine.

So - as I say - it should be fine. Same basic family as the 5.3, 6.0, 6.2 etc.

K

[mongocanfly]

I would say the 4.8 is less desirable....to most people...(me included)...but it can make great power and is often overlooked....Like Keith said...bigger is better..i saw one on a dyno make 450hp...then theres where hotrod put boost on one and had it over 1200hp.. the people I know that have 4.8s usually complain about mpg...

[Daaaanz67]

YESSSS. I currently run one in my 69. They love boost. Check out some videos on u-tube. Think the guys user is sloppymechanic just strapped a LSA charger on one and made somewhere in the neighborhood of high 4s and low 5s on the Dino with stock bottom end. My truck is running all stock and has plenty of power for daily driving. Guess it all depends what you’re going to do with it.

[nsb29]

No replacement for displacement

[Overdriven]

Originally Posted by Daaaanz67

YESSSS. I currently run one in my 69. They love boost. Check out some videos on u-tube. Think the guys user is sloppymechanic just strapped a LSA charger on one and made somewhere in the neighborhood of high 4s and low 5s on the Dino with stock bottom end. My truck is running all stock and has plenty of power for daily driving. Guess it all depends what you’re going to do with it.

Sloppy made about 350rwhp on e85 with an 07-08 Gen4 4.8 with a 230ish cam, valve springs, decapped stock injectors, TBSS/new style truck intake and tune. He toned the tune down to make it nitrous safe and was still over 320rwhp and sprayed it to almost 500rwhp. With the LSA blower it’s over 500rwhp without spray.

He also did a Gen3 4.8 but with a turbo and the same 230ish cam that pushed past 550rwhp through an unlocked automatic. He didn’t do any naturally aspirated testing on this 4.8 gen3 though.

There’s no replacement for displacement but the 4.8 is still a nice engine in stock form and it responds to mods (simple or more involved like boost) very well. Generic 5.3’s (like LM7) aren’t that much more $ than a 4.8, you pay extra for the less common and more desirable 5.3’s (like L33) and 6.0’s.

[Clyde65]

I have a 4.8 and it suits my needs. It was also about 20% of a 6.0 cost when I got it, had about 7k miles on it. With a CAI, Performance tune, headers, it puts out more hp than my old 350.

[geezer#99]

This is the truck the 4.8 comes in. It’s a bit high priced for around here. And it has a rebuilt status. Anything over 2000 bucks damage gets that title. I’ve been watching it awhile to see if the price drops. Gotta sell my Charger first.
https://www.usednanaimo.com/ReportSe...osition=1&hb=1

[Clyde65]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

This is the truck the 4.8 comes in. It’s a bit high priced for around here. And it has a rebuilt status. Anything over 2000 bucks damage gets that title. I’ve been watching it awhile to see if the price drops. Gotta sell my Charger first.
https://www.usednanaimo.com/ReportSe...osition=1&hb=1

Where I live, there are salvage titles, rebuilt titles and blue titles.
Salvage are vehicles that insurance collects and/or in need of extensive repairs.
Rebuilt are vehicles that were once salvage but have been rebuilt and inspected by local/state authorities and are deemed safe.
Blue is the clean title.

That is a very nice truck, if I were you, head down to your local wrecking yard and see what they have and how much. I got my 2005 4.8 with 7k miles for under $800 with all accessories and harness.

[BR3W CITY]

I think Borowski just built a 4.5 ls-based motor (yes, 4.5) with a blower for a retro Buick. That thing made nasty power (given its a specific race build and not a pullout 4.8, but for sake of conversation).

[truckdude239]

i have a 4.8 in my 71 c10 i love the thing has more power then any of the sbc that where in my truck

[Jstock85]

Im with truck dude on this one! Just put a 4.8 in an 85 c10. Way better than the 2 previous SBCs I've owned in the past. Plenty get up and smooth idle. But like I've said a few times in my posts I'm just a cruise around guy not a HP junkie so it really depends on what you want out of it.