I tried this years ago, and seem to recall that the File Server will run under 8.1, but not the Print Server. (I wanted the latter: it was a Color Classic/ Mystic, and I wanted the OS8 GUI just to show it off - a CC in the corner running 8.1 that well - impossible! - AND make it useful as a bridge between a Cube and a Laserwriter 4/600, but the Print Server was inoperable under 8.1, and the project died.) YMMV, but you could give the File Server idea a shot, as there's nothng to lose but an idle hour in setting it up.

What the performance/ stability would be like in use I don't know, but I suspect that there might be anomalies.... I do know that Appleshare 4 under 7.1 is very solid.