Hey i have question for anyone that would like to answer. i am looking at buying a new style chevy body style 88-98. i know a lot about them.. but i was wondering if i could get first point veiws on trucks with 305, 327, 350 power wise and what you are able to do with them with no problem. and which one you would prefer. For the body style i was looking at either a short box standard cab, or a short box extended cab. thanks for all the help. if anyone needs help and i can help them i will let you know. THANKS...  

I've heard of a guy in a magazine who had his TBI 350 rebuilt and stroked to a TBI 383. He was able to get either a new computer or re-program the old one. He even showed the cost and it didn't look fairly high. Under $5000 I think. He was also able to retain all the factory emissions equipment. I believe the engine made between 425 and 445 ft. lbs and 325-375 hp. That's much better than what a factory 454 V8 from 88-98 could put out.

Personally, I'd like a regular cab truck since I often drive alone and the regular cab is pretty roomy. I've also been in many kinds of fullsize trucks with ext. cabs riding in the back and with few exceptions it was not fun being stuck back there. I'm only 140 lbs and 5'8" and even I wouldn't want to sit there for more than an hour. (grin)

 reg. cab- very roomy for two, not bad for three.

 ext. cab- surprisingly cramped for 3-4 or more adults. (considering overall truck size)

327 not an option 88-98.

I tow 5000lbs+ all the time with my 92 k1500, it tows fine, but the truck certainly wont win any drag races (towing or not).

If you can live with the short bed, get the ext cab (or if you like the long hauler, get the ext cab long bed), you will want the inside, dry, warm storage. Trust me. 2 people in a reg cab with a loaded bed and gear that needs to stay dry in the cab sucks!

My work trucks and personal truck is a reg cab, I love it dearly, but I want an ext cab, and I never have more than 1 passenger and the dog.

Does anyone ever remove the rear bench in an ext. cab truck? I suppose if you did there'd be a ton of storage room.  

All the Enforcement trucks at work have buckets and the back seats removed. Makes for a tonne of storage space, especially with the 3rd door on ext cab trucks.  

Nice! Would you consider doing that if you had one as a daily driver?  

I don't have an Ext cab....If I did, still no. My subs would go under the seat, and the dog on top of the seat.......and the front bench would be all mine.....

Ext cab starting to sound like heaven.

If I could fanangle an ext cab truck for work, then yes, I would do it for sure.

 You may have allready made your decsion by now, but as the owner of a 97 long bed ext. cab 2500, I can say I love the truck, but not the engine. I also owned a 94 long bed reg. cab 1500 before it got hit by a drunk and was totalled.

 I can tell you as a G.M. tech that if you want reliability and lower cost when things do go wrong, get a 94-96 with the K motor TBI, after that they went to the R motor with SFI, both are 350's. The R motor makes a little more power in stock form but it's more of a pain to work on, and if the injection unit goes bad ( as they often did, as it did on mine ) it is considerallbly more expensive to fix. And I'm not even talking about labor, as I did it myself. 

 Plus there are tons of parts to bring the TBI motor up in power easily. On my 94 I did a cam swap 1:6 ratio rockers, intake, headers with a real dual exhaust (not one pipe in and 2 pipes out of the muffler as I've seen alot), a chip from Hypertech, underdrive pulleys, a cooler thermostat (180 vs. 210 ) and some trans mods to the 4L60E auto. All of it is realitivy easy, for anyone compotent in mechanics. I know most of the guys aren't into drag racing on here, but I took it to my local track to see how much it improved. It ran a best of 17.20 stock with 34 inch mud tires and after on the same tires it ran a 14.96. Bye the way that was in the 1/4 mile not the 1/8th. It's was no drag super star, but at least I saw a significant improvement over stock, and ran great in the mud. I think I had maybe alittle over $1600 in everything, of course doing the labor myself, but all in all not bad!

 By the way, you can tell which motor the truck has quickly by reading the VIN on the drivers side dash, through the window, the 8th digit, if reading left to right, is the engine code.

 Hope I've been some help !

As the happy owner of a '95 ext cab short-bed Chevy, I would recommend one to anyone who asks. The extra space always comes in handy, and the rear seat folds up if you need a little more space.(There is a lever on the pass. side underneath) Good Luck whatever you decide.  

I wouldn't recommend IFS to anyone who really wheels. Has a heck of a ride on the street and on fire roads, but leaves you empty handed in the tough stuff. That being said I love my 95 k1500, and I can change a front cv out in less than 45 minutes on the trail, guess it is good for a few things....  

I guess im spoilt, but I workrd my ass off to get both trucks.....a 95 ext cab Z71 loaded and done up nicely, 33's etc.... it is a sweet truck and I find it easy to work on which is nice, I think it's the last year where you could open the hood and still see something that resembled a chevy 350, love the room in the cab and I do pull the backseat out for long trips, I also have a 81 chev 3/4 ton 4" lift, 35" MT's, 350ci, TH400, 208 and some other goodies, it is a tough truck, I'm pretty impressed with places I've taken it. You definately need to know your truck when wheeling such a big beast, being big definately has adventages and dis-advantages.

If I'm headed for the city or a casual drive up the logging road with the wife and kids I jump in the Z and have some fun. My wife hates my 81, it is way too obnoxious for her....she just doesn't understand!

If I wanna go crash through the bush, run over some trees, rocks or whatever else gets in my way I take the 81 beast and go have some fun.

I think you need one of each to fully appreciate the difference between IFS and solid axle.

Old chevs are cheap, I paid $3000 for my 81 and $20,000 for my Z71, so if you got some money get both. Considering the price of new trucks that's cheap.

Cheers

Did you buy your chevy new? 20 k is preety steep!  

Obnoxious rules!!!   Nothin sexier than a woman driving a big beast though!  ...and the kids always have a great time, but I don't take 'em off road with me.  I can relate with the beast being a handful to handle sometimes. If you're not careful you can end up in a world 'o hurt - not just pain but mostly financial hurt. I paid 1,500 for my '77 k5. I never got into the 'new truck' thing myself. Everything's weaker - suspension, frame, axles, gears, - you name it, and the replacement parts cost 4-times as much sometimes. Can you imagine the sort of monster I could turn my K5 into for 20-K ???  I crawl inside my engine compartment to work on my 350!. You can't do that on new trucks - as you said. To each his own - I don't put anyone down for doing their own thing.

That was back in 2000, it only had 50 k on it, pretty much brand new, it's only worth about 10 now, still in really nice shape its got around 170 on it now though. 

I have gotten away from buying new junk, I have the two trucks that I have always wanted and with the money I save on payments I buy bigger tires and stronger parts, for both. While there are people out there paying through the ying yang for new truck, I guess if you make a tonne of doe it would be nice but 60 G for a new truck....aarrrrg.

Cheers

I hear you on that one, all the trucks I have owned have been used. I mostly just buy local from family and friends, guys go down adn try to use there trucks for trade-in then I offer them a little more and it works out great both ways.