The 8.1 in my 2002 truck has 210,000 miles on it and I love it. It's basically a tall deck, stroked, 454 with Vortec heads, a one off intake manifold, and coil on plug electronics. Mine is an earlier one and does not have a crank case vent set up, so it has always sucked a little oil into the intake...usually uses about a quart every 800 miles or so (worse with synthetic oil).
It's a truck engine in it's stock form, so it builds huge torque down low and not a lot of upper end HP. They are used in marine applications and generators a LOT. When they decided to quit making them, Kohler bought all of them they could. Mine gets 11 mpg...pretty much no matter how I drive it. It'll get just under 10 MPG pulling a trailer down the highway at 80 MPH.
Is it good for a car? I'm sure it would be fun but the only ones I've seen transplanted had the throttle body sticking out a hole in the hood as they are very tall. What do you know about the history of the engine? Hoe many miles on it? Do you want to sell it?
