I am looking at 2 different trucks a 94 silverado and an 89 fullsize blazer both have the 350. i am looking for a truck for some offroading and mudding but for a couple of years it has to be my daily driver to. i was just wondering whats the better buy and if theres any + or - about either one. (about the same price)

 

What size is the truck  

its a 1500 with a rebuilt trans and its pretty much stock.  

This one is easy, full sized blazer. Couple of reasons. One is solid axles for it is easy to lift if you want to or to install even bigger axles because the chassis roots go back to 1973 so there is a lot of parts that fit it. Second is tranny, 89 has a 700R4 and 94 has a 4L60e (a 700R4 with a electronic valve body). 700R4 is more trouble free as the get some years on them.  

I have just recently stopped using my 89 K5 as a daily driver and i kept it in pretty good condition but the only issue i had was because of its age the maint. was high, it is still a good truck and has low miles and depending on how good you are with maint. it will be around for a long while and if you get ahold of one don't let it go, a vehicle like the blazer will always be loved and wanted plus there are many things you can add to a blazer without having to deal with computers. Another thing to consider is the high gas prices, mine was eating me alive so thats the main reason why i made the switch.  

How you configure your blazer has a big effect on its MPG. If you lift it with knobby tires and dual exhaust MPG is gonna be bad. I have a 89 4x4 burb that I bought new and it has over 180K miles on it now. It is still pretty cherry and it has never been a maintenance problem and is arguable the lowest down time truck I have ever owned. It has never left me stranded even once nor even came close to it. It has never failed to start and run well. Still has original starter and alternator (except for a new rear bearing in alt 8 years ago) I have changed water pump about 50K ago, a TBI manifold gasket about same time and a few sensors and that is it. It gets pretty good gas mileage too for a beast averaging 15.6 last tank in city/urban driving. It will do 18 MPG on road. No duals and no aftermarket air cleaner, all stock. I do use 89 in winter and 93 in summer and NEVER 87 with timing set to 8BTDC not TDC and it runs much better that way too. I also have a 2000 K3500 I got new which is same body style as 88 to 99 P/U and it has been a maintenance nightmare. I have had to replace rotors, metal brake lines, oil cooler lines, two intake gaskets, ABS sensors just to name a few. Right now it is down because of another bad brake line running from front to back. It only has 43K miles on it too. It replaced a old J20 Jeep truck that did not have a fraction of those problems in same usage in 21 years.  

i have to agree w/snoman on this one...i too have owned a sub, mine was an 86 gmc and w/350, and auto and have never had a breakdown w/it. I had to adjust lifters for a clatter noise and that fixxed it and also rebuild the quadrapuke 4brl carb and got 16mpg w/it too.Theyre pretty much indestructable rigs...
I own now a 93 K1500 and had to put alot of work into it to get it to run like a new truck, I bought it w/143000 miles on it and it now has over 166000.now mind you that it needed alot because my cousin owned it first and beat the hell out of it,litterally.
I put a new fan clutch,wiper module,alt,belt,starter,clutch kit,clutch mstr cyl,slave cyl w/tube,IAC valve,major tune up,tires,shocks,brakes ft/rr,frt rotors,tie rods l/r,new gear oil in frt/rr diffs.,speakers,fan speed switch/knob,new radiator,deleted the oil cooler lines so no more leaky lines and 150$ for repairs on that...oh and a new frt bumper,grille,rh fender,core support,and left inner fender because my retarded cousin hit a parked car w/it. now its mine and now it run and drive like a new truck.  

What kind of gas mileage would i be looking at if i lifted the blazer 4 inches with 35" all terrain tires.  

Lemonhead:
What kind of gas mileage would i be looking at if i lifted the blazer 4 inches with 35" all terrain tires.

Depends on fuel octane. engine/tune and axle ratio. If you do not regear it, your MPG will be worse than if you do because engine will have to work harder. Take what you are getting now and subtract 25 to 30% for starters.  

would the 89 k5 have a carb in it or not? 89 is pretty close to the year they switched i would rather not have a carb if i can get fuel injected.  

They went/switched to FI/TBI in 87.  

again i agree 100% with snoman. blazer is more bang for the buck when it comes to a wheeling machine. the one i had was an 85 with a soft top and 33's. i got 15 mpg no problem, but i kept it light in all areas and regeared it. if it has a 203 t-case then the full time 4wd will hurt mileage a bit, but you can always swap that out