I had one too..... it was in a 1983 GMC 6000 dump truck which grossed around 24,000-26,000 lbs most of the time. It ran ok, never had any major problems out of it, but it didn't really run good enough that you wanted to go into the local diner and brag about it at lunch time. It didn't overheat, even with running it at full throttle 75% of the time. It DID get really good fuel mileage, like one of TD's pasted comments stated. It was underpowered for the size of the truck that it came in from the factory. That is not necessarily the engines fault, more like the people that decided to put a 170 HP diesel into a medium duty truck, but it does contribute to the engine getting a bad rap.
I advised against it as a replacement for a 6.5 because of several reasons. An 8.2, even a great running one, has no benifit over a 6.5. You aren't really gaining anything, other than maybe the "wow" factor people may have when you open the hood.
1) The 8.2 weighs 300-400 lbs more and is physically bigger (taller and wider) than a 6.5. Those two things will raise challanges in fitting an 8.2 into a GM pickup and finding suspension that will live a long and happy life holding it.
2) The turbo version of the 8.2 will cause even more fitment problems. The turbo sits in the middle of the valley at the very rear of the engine. The exhaust housing on the turbo sits on top of the bellhousing and exhaust outlet points directly toward the rear of the engine, so in other words it would be butted up against the firewall with no room for a down pipe.
3) Even with the turbo version, you only have 230 HP and 495 FT LBS.
So suppose you found a great running 8.2 for a real good price. You spent a lot of long hours, sweat, and money out in the shop modifying the engine mounts, firewall, cooling system, coil springs, oil pan, throttle linkages, exhaust system, etc, etc and got the 8.2 mounted into your Chevy truck. It fires up without any issues and purrs like a kitten, you take it around the block and all goes well...... now, for the big question..... What have you gained from spending the time/money/sweat doing this swap?
The 8.2 has known and documented factory design issues that WILL cause HG's to blow, not a matter of "if", but "when". There isn't a fix to that problem, studs won't fix it, different gaskets won't fix it.... the problem is in the design of the free standing cylinders. It weighs anywhere between 1,000 and 1,200 lbs, enough said there. The "high output" version only has 230 hp / 495 ft lbs and there aren't any bigger injectors readily available or magic screws to turn to get more power out of it.
A bone stock 6.5 had what, 215 hp / 440 ft lbs in the late 90's?
