What type of truck do you have in mind to build? A daily? A race truck? A weekend drive or what. For fuel efficiency I would definetly go with the LS2, as well as if you plan on adding forced induction at any point, for a N/A build go with the 454, as there is no replacement, for displacement!

The two main thing to take from what Lic said are:

What are you going to do with the vehicle?
There is no replacement for displacement.

If you want a seriously fast vehicle, remember that it isn't just the motor. You need to build the tranny, get a bigger driveline, probably better gears and maybe a whole new axle.


There are a lot of people that say they want to build a fast vehicle, but they don't know what actually makes a vehicle fast. The two (main) things that make a car go from 0-60 really fast is horsepower and weight, and this is where the "there is no replacement for displacement" gets phased out. I had an old 1999 F-350 with a big ole 6.8L V-10 that made I think 310 HP. My brother has a 2013 Ford Mustand with the 3.7L V6 that makes 305 HP. Even though that car has a smaller engine and a little less HP, it still beats the truck hands down in terms of speed because it weighs have as much.

Honestly, before you do bit mods like a new engine, take out weight. I assume the truck is a steel body, so get an aluminum hood, and doors (if you can find the doors), and a fiberglass bed and fenders. This will save you a TON of weight. Also look at your wheels, get light alloy ones if you're on steel wheels. Look at your tires, what load range are they? If they are load range "E", find load range "C" or "D" tires, or even a "P" rated tire would be better (instead of saying like LT255/65R17 it'd say P255/65R17) Load range E tires are a 10 ply tire and are extremely heavy. Also look at the gears in your diff. I'm going to assume you're around the 3.55 area, jump up to 4.10's and you'll see a hell of a difference.

All in all, not trying to tell you don't get a new engine, I'm just saying if you're looking for speed there are other ways to obtain it, and basically I'd personally get everything else done, then look at an engine swap.