Picked up my son his first tow vehicle

[ls1mike]

He will use it to tow a quad and some dirt bikes when we go camping.
160,000 miles. I am the 3rd owner. Picked it up from a buddy who had it since 100,000 miles. All service records. I need to do a few small things. Great oil pressure 50 heading down the road 35 at hot idle.
Pretty clean too. He is happy. Starts driving in October. 3500 bucks.
1997 Z71 350/4L60E

[Grit_dog]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
My 2000 has a vortec 350 in it. It's the last year the body style starting in 88 was made
Marty

Maybe 99 was the last year for the Tahoe???

2000 was, but I think they made some 2000 new body style as well. Like 00.5s.

[blt2ski]

Same body as I had for my 88 K3500 ext cab, and 96 k3500 crew cab. 2000 was last year of that body for 8 lug trucks. I'm recalling the 6 luggers stopped in 98 or 99. As the 8 lugs with dmax, 8.1 Allison combos started crying omjng out in early 2000 as 2001s. They did build a few reg cabs like I have in base and LS models for construction trade.
As far as power goes on this motor. It's not bad, at 255/355 specs. I've gone down the road at 20,000 and it did better than my TBI and 4bbl 454s with higher gcwr's etc my 6.5td was better for the most part, except top speed, with 70 less HP, one should expect that. Having the nv manual gave it a better gearing spread to work with.
I do find that using 1999 as it's year gets better parts options.

Marty

[MFL]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
My 2000 has a vortec 350 in it. It's the last year the body style starting in 88 was made
Marty

Maybe 99 was the last year for the Tahoe???

My neighbor had an old 99 Chev 2500 with the 350, that he purchased new. He told me back then that it was the last year for that engine, which was under powered, and the reason they gave him a good price.

If Marty says his 2000 has the Vortec 350 in it, he ought to know. What series truck is your 2000 Marty?

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

blt2ski wrote:
My 2000 has a vortec 350 in it. It's the last year the body style starting in 88 was made
Marty

Maybe 99 was the last year for the Tahoe???

[deltabravo]

kellem wrote:
That truck has never been driven in salt, amazing frame.

Yep. Bremerton doesn't see much snow.

[ls1mike]

Grit dog wrote:
Mike, between you, me and 12V, we should stop posting pics of rust free 20-40 year old vehicles from up here, or all the Rust Belt residents may start coming and snatching up our gems! Lol.

FWIW, having lived in many parts of our great country, the coastal PNW IS the best area in the country for preserving old cars.
Enough that I’d barely consider desert SW and southern vehicles , in general, compared to up here.
While the south and southwest is rust free, the vehicles from here also benefit for the serious lack of UV degradation for 2/3 of each year AND they receive complimentary fresh water undercarriage washes each day they’re driven during the same time of year!

And based on the tire life I get out of tires here compared to other areas of the country, there is a component of decreased drivetrain wear on vehicles operated in the rain the majority of the year. You generally accelerate, corner and brake a bit lighter in wet roads compared to dry and the simple objective proof is Tires last longer.

Even if it’s rust free, it’s almost unheard of for a 20+ year old vehicle to have good factory paint, Anywhere else, unless it was a garage queen, in which case the climate doesn’t matter.

I’m not helping our cause by bragging about it......lol

You are correct and both of us need to stop telling people. I grew up in upstate New York. If you could keep a car clean for 7 years you were doing good. I tell people all the time it is not rare to see a 20 to 25 year old daily driver out here. No rust and clean as can be. "Yeah but you get rain so you should have rust" Nope, but we don't get heavy snow in the low lands and we don't use salt. First Ford Pinto I ever saw in person was when I moved out here for the Navy in 1995. It was an orange wagon with a bubble window. I'll take the gray winter for the summers and how nice our cars stay.

[blt2ski]

My 2000 has a vortec 350 in it. It's the last year the body style starting in 88 was made
Marty

[Cummins12V98]

MFL wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I thought 99 was the last year for the Vortec 350???

I think you are correct, maybe just Marty's wording is confusing??

Jerry

HA, that seems to be a constant theme. :B

[GWolfe]

We had a 2000 2500 that was that body style, it had the 454 in it but I'm sure some could be had with the 350.

[MFL]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I thought 99 was the last year for the Vortec 350???

I think you are correct, maybe just Marty's wording is confusing??

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

I thought 99 was the last year for the Vortec 350???

[blt2ski]

FishOnOne wrote:
Probably the best truck platform GM has produced.

my favorite truck of the 88, 96 and 2000 I've owned is the 96 CC 6.5td with an nv4500 emanual trans. I did see the 88 around a bit after I sold it, new owner put a new trans, 454 sucked a valve in the 225K range. Front axel iirc too. ALtho it was probably the funky valve/solinoid GM used to turn the 4x on.....
The 2000, even tho a 350, is probably the most powerfull of the three due to the vortec vs TBI 454 and the 6.5....well what can we say. Good motor for what it was ment to be. Try to do more with it.... it sucked....I did ok due to the manual vs the supposidly higher rated towing with the 4L80 auto.....now that setup sucked!

marty

[rjstractor]

Grit dog wrote:
Mike, between you, me and 12V, we should stop posting pics of rust free 20-40 year old vehicles from up here, or all the Rust Belt residents may start coming and snatching up our gems! Lol.

FWIW, having lived in many parts of our great country, the coastal PNW IS the best area in the country for preserving old cars.
Enough that I’d barely consider desert SW and southern vehicles , in general, compared to up here.
While the south and southwest is rust free, the vehicles from here also benefit for the serious lack of UV degradation for 2/3 of each year AND they receive complimentary fresh water undercarriage washes each day they’re driven during the same time of year!

And based on the tire life I get out of tires here compared to other areas of the country, there is a component of decreased drivetrain wear on vehicles operated in the rain the majority of the year. You generally accelerate, corner and brake a bit lighter in wet roads compared to dry and the simple objective proof is Tires last longer.

Even if it’s rust free, it’s almost unheard of for a 20+ year old vehicle to have good factory paint, Anywhere else, unless it was a garage queen, in which case the climate doesn’t matter.

I’m not helping our cause by bragging about it......lol

Having lived here all my life, a lot of those things I've never really thought of. We get a little bit of snow and ice, and while they use deicer they don't use salt. And there's always rain following up snow to wash it away. I agree that rust is rare around here... except for right on the coast. Down in Long Beach or Ocean Shores live some seriously rusty cars!

[FishOnOne]

Probably the best truck platform GM has produced.