The 8.1 swap is a running beast now. Been driving it to work on Saturdays and to Denver to visit my folks and get more miles under it's belt. So far no major issues. Two snow wheeling trips complete, no major breakage. Having the low end torque and 5-speed makes a major difference in how I drive it in the snow for sure.
The new combo did great, but it's a bit heavier and breaks through the packed crust of a snowmobile trail pretty easy.
Don't mind the lack of headlight bezels. I intended to swap the 4 headlight core support for a 2 headlight version and got the 91 grille/bezels for it. Problem was the core support turned out to be from a 88 and not the 89-91 like I was looking for. I've aquired the right one, but havent had the time to pull off cleaning it up and painting.
I've had a couple of teething issues on the swap that I've fixed. One was a ground on the back of the head for the injection system. The bolt wouldn't stay tight and when it did the ground was lost and the engine would stall. Took a little bit to find but easy fix. Next was an exhaust leak on the driver side. Stupid paper based manifold gaskets. Now that I got that side done, the other side is starting to make noise.
Fun fact, the 8.1 is getting the same mileage driving back and for to work or hitting the highway that the 5.3 did.