which motor for daily driver

[DMCK]

Hi, I am fairly new here. I have a 71 GMC 2500 4x4. Originally bought it for my son when he got his learners at 14. Over the next 2 years we worked on it to get it ready for when he got his licence at 16.
He drove it for about a year, and now I bought him something more reliable.

So now its mine

this has probably been beaten to death, but i am going to buy a crate engine
and not sure if I should get the 260 or 290hp 350.

I want the warranty, it will be a daily driver, regular fuel, best mileage of the two??
turbo 400 trans is getting rebuilt now and new torque converter will be a little bit higher stall speed from stock, if that matters much.

any feedback appreciated
thanks.....Dave

[steelhorse]

ALWAYS buy the higher horsepower engine

[68corvair]

My 71 has the 290 horse 350. 700r4, 373 rear . Decent grunt, 12-15 mpg I am happy with it,drive it everyday.

Ed

[jeh]

502/502HP.......
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[TobyArnot]

IMHO< The big difference is the camshaft profile and the cast iron crank vs. nodular iron crank. If you are looking for a dependable street motor, save the ~$400 difference. If you're thinking NOS, etc. go with the 290 motor. FYI, JEG'S is offering free shipping on GM crate motors.

[DMCK]

Originally Posted by 68corvair

My 71 has the 290 horse 350. 700r4, 373 rear . Decent grunt, 12-15 mpg I am happy with it,drive it everyday.

Ed

thats exactly what I am looking for, would the 260 get any better milage??
is the 30hp extra worth the extra bucks??

[DMCK]

Originally Posted by TobyArnot

IMHO< The big difference is the camshaft profile and the cast iron crank vs. nodular iron crank. If you are looking for a dependable street motor, save the ~$400 difference. If you're thinking NOS, etc. go with the 290 motor. FYI, JEG'S is offering free shipping on GM crate motors.

dependable street motor is what i want. yes i seen Jegs offer, that seems pretty cheap really.

thanks

[Dirtiebyrd1]

I have the 260hp with a turbo 350, and 4.11 gears. Great driver. Gets around 10-12mpg.

[68corvair]

I don't think you would see much difference in mileage, I bought my truck with the 290 horse in it,with zero miles. My goal was dependable driver, so I put a new edelbrock carb on it, new st arter, internal regulated alt, radiator w elect. Fan, got deal on a 700r4,so I used it. Truck is very dependable, Got about 20 k miles on this setup, can't beat it.

Ed

[DMCK]

I think I will save the $500 and get the 260hp, sounds like they are both decent....thanks for the feed back
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[Mint68]

Have you looked into the cost of putting a 5.3 in it? I think you can buy lower mile pull outs with harness, computer, and all accessories for a decent price. I haven't priced crate motors so I don't know what the difference in cost would be, but I think for reliability and mileage, the 5.3 would be a good way to go. There is added work to make it fit/mate up, but people who have done swear by them.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by steelhorse

ALWAYS buy the higher horsepower engine

Agree. Less horsepower is always a bad idea.

[kenbob87]

the way i see it is the less hp you have the more your going to need to put your foot in it to get to speed which in turn uses more fuel... with more power you dont have to put your foot in it as hard to get and maintain speed using less fuel

for instance in my 93 w/t 1500 and a 4.3l v6 i was getting about 15mpg with it i dropped a 5.7l v8 in it and bumped it up to 18 mpg

[piecesparts]

With what I have seen from my late model truck, I kind of like the 5.3 engine idea. They can be bought in salvage yards for a great price, including everything from the radiator hose to the tranny output shaft. I have a guy in my area that buys them and installs them in just about everything from a toyota to an airplane. They can be punched up quite a bit with just simple computer tune mods and they are capable of great gas mileage.

Otherwise I would definitely consider the 290 HP engine if I had to choose. My son's 86 SWB has one in it, but we changed out the cam to a little larger profile. WIth a 700 R4 tranny (W/O the Lockup converter), and 3.73 gears he gets around 15 MPG.