I have heard that parts (at least readily available from non-military sources) for the 6.2 are hard to come by.
My local repair shop (staffed by former Chevy dealer refugees) said in terms of parts availability, to go with the 6.5 non turbo.
True?
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They also like the idea of a Duramax swap, saying it's a good engine.
There is a large wrecking years here that gets lots of GM stuff, including factory salvage.
Is there a kit or instructions for a swap?
For an idea of how many after market and OEM parts ARE available for 6.2L diesel motors, surf on over to the forbidden auction side (fleabay) and do a search for "6.2L diesel motor/engine/parts/rebuild/etc".
There's only been several million Detwah (Detroit) diesels manufactured in the past four decades, 6.2s are generally easily found and most shops know how to rebuild/service them.
From what I've learned through this forum, talking to guys like "Scrounger" (Andrew), reading RWH's and many, many other posts here, unless you're going with the turbo upgrade, there's little HP/performance increase with the 6.5s and they seem to grenade about as often as any (even the turbos detonate from time to time).
I'm writing this partially as a self-serving note as I have a 6.2NA in mine with a 3-speed, absolutely HATE highway traffic so 40-50mph is fine with me (still considering taking the truck down to TN in a few years, sticking with backroads, take a few days to cover the 800 miles), there's less electronics and such to deal with than a 4-speed and the TH400 3 speed is SO smooth I can't even tell it's shifting (look into how many of these transmissions have been used in dragsters)... I AM still looking for a good/used salvage 6.2 with/without transmission/TC for a "spare" (little bit of "scrounger" in all of us) as I have boocoo storage space at my farm in TN.
Keep us posted with your decision process, triumphs and travails, costs, details.
Norm