I guess I did miss the part about the swap. As an old timer I see mass as the only thing to get these ships moving, that would be the mass of a v-8 crank and flywheel.
I know these trucks came stock with I-6 engines, and they were good engines, just don't even try to drag race a fully loaded Conestoga wagon with two ponies pulling it, you will lose every time. What you could do with those I-6's is pull a dozen of the Conestoga wagons over Donner pass in a snowstorm all at once. I see the v-6 as an entirely different animal. It's not a good high torque puller, it has no mass for it either, but they also don't have great high rpm horsepower. They are what might be called eunuchs of the automotive world. They do get good fuel mileage if the power to weight ratio is in their working parameters.
With that said, I had a new 2000 Silverado with the v-6. It was an awesome truck. But it was a standard cab, step-side. It got 20mpg easy. But it was a finicky drinker, the fuel injectors clogged every six months and had to be replaced each time. I got tired of that and sold the truck. Iowa is (was anyway) notorious for dirty fuel. It was hard to get brand name fuel around here though, just convenience store fuel.
OK, I digress....
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