So what would you do?

[island66]

Let me start by saying that I have looked at every page of threads in this section and...WOW!!! You guys have some serious knowledge going on. And, you seem like really good guys willing to help one another out at the drop of a hat. So, I'm glad to be here. Thanks in advance for any assistance you might be able/willing to offer.

SOOOOO, here's the situation. I am the proud owner of a 1979 Chevy K5 Blazer (350 [or 305, we haven't verified yet], TH350, NP205, 4.10, 31x10.50x15 mudders). It was my Grandfather's. He bought it new in '79 and gave it to me in September. It currently does not run. A rat the size of a small house cat chewed through just about every wire under the hood. It has been sitting for about 5 years due to either a bad tranny or broken transfer case chain (NP203 originally...we're converting it to the 205). My granddad had someone install a new longblock in it a couple of years before the tranny/t-case crapped out, so the motor should, theoretically, be good.

We are in the process of building this into a hunting truck. It'll be driven 8-10 weeks a year, mainly off-highway, some off-road. I would like to, at some point, bring it home and do a semi-restore on it. I have the opportunity to buy a 2001 6.0L Vortec, tranny, and wiring harness out of a totaled truck with 31K miles for $1000. I have about $5000 to spend to finish the project.

Here's my options...I need to pick a direction in the next couple of weeks so we can get started.

1. Keep factory setup, tune it up, deal with horrendous MPG's, poor power, etc. and save the money I'd spend on the swap.

2. Swap in the 6.0 as a stand-alone system, run it with the TH350/205 (BIIIIGGG plus for me...I love the 205)

3. Swap in the motor and 4L80E, buy an adapter from advance for the 205 ($600!!&#33 and modified driveshafts

4. Other.

My whole reason for considering this is more about the reliability than it is about the power and performance, but that never hurts, you know??? Anyway, your expert advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Jason

[RedHeartbeat]

For no more than you'll be running it I'd just fix it as is and then start the restore. If you get it restored and decide you're going to drive it more then maybe I'd swap engines. With the price of fuel these days so many projects like your's get started and never finished due to economics. That big truck would be sweet with the 6L but I don't know if I'd throw that kind of money into it if it were me. I understand it was your granddad's and that would make me want to restore it back to it's glory days to keep the magic in it.

[bud8fan]

yep...and being a 4x4 it would cost you a bundle to change everything over from the orginal stock parts....fix what you got and go from there...

[mercuno]

there is a reason why they made that engine for sooooo many years. you could do more to the ole small block than you think to get some pretty decent mileage out of her and still be able to handle your power needs. the 6.0 is just one of those hey look what I did things. But it would be a hot item.

[1BADC10]

If the motor's actually a 350, I'd stick with that for what you guys plan to use it for. If my '86 came with a 350, and I wasn't so hot for a fuel-injected powertrain, I'd have gone that route with a 700R4 (highway use) & short gears. With a 350, you can spend your initial dollars on performance parts rather than just acquiring the base hardware.

[adz]

I ran a 350 in my for years and it had a lot of power with only a few upgrades (intake manifold, cam, headers, Jet performance q-jet, HEI). Decent mileage on the highway too with my old factory gears and axles. So that wouldn't be bad and it'll be a LOT easier, esp. since you won't use it much.

If you can get that engine/tranny combo together everything will work properly and you'll have overdrive so you can gear it down a bit if you want, but it isn't exactly a bolt-in project going to the gen3. There's a lot more than the motor to consider.