97C1500TJ
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I’m looking at buying a 95 extended cab short bed with a 305 and NV3500 for $1300 My main concern is power with the 305. I’m used to the 350 Vortec in my 97. What are your opinions?
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I don't vote for the 305. It's underpowered and needs a lot of massaging to get it out of it's own way. In a light car staying stock OEM built it's fine but in a light truck with the lightest GVWR being 6100 lbs it's not a favorable item to keep in the engine bay. My 96' K1500 came with one and a whipple supercharger. The S/C cracked a ring land on the #7 cylinder so I moved up to a forged set along with rebuilding a L31 engine in it's place. When I drove the truck while it had the 305, it rowed through the NV3500 gears up to 85 mph with ease but I wouldn't put a car on a trailer behind it. I'm not building a race truck, just one with a functional torque curve to tow engines to and from customer's locations. That is a simple chore for the 305 but I want the bottom end grunt of a 350 so I opted to go to a different cubic inch block.
The nice things about the 305/5.0L are that it won't make enough power to break the NV3500 unless you really try; and they're a great placeholder for a real engine.
Short of a supercharger or NOS, you can't get enough power from a 305 to do much damage. They're just too limited by the tiny bore size which leads to tiny valves and poor breathing.
Short of a supercharger or NOS, you can't get enough power from a 305 to do much damage. They're just too limited by the tiny bore size which leads to tiny valves and poor breathing.
97C1500TJ
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So from what I’m reading, it’s really just a good cruising truck which is ok with me. I have my 97 with a 350 and then a 1 ton D300 if I really need to pull/haul something. It’s to replace my Isuzu Rodeo which is also a 5 speed but weak V6. It’s definitely not aimed to be a tow rig.
97C1500TJ
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What are y’all looking at on fuel mileage? I understand there are a lot of variables. I get about 13 mpg out of my Vortec 350. I’d expect maybe 15?
Sounds like it'll be a good truck for your needs. It'll get slightly better mileage than a 350 but its negligible. Like others have said, its biggest strength is its weakness, lol. It wont blow anything up and it'll run forever because of its lack of power.
Supercharged111
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Something is wrong. Even if you put a 350 computer on your 350, I wouldn't drive it. 411 or nothing. My dually had a blackbox and Whippletronics on it for 80,000 known miles, likely more prior, and it worked its ass off and never blew up. Sorry for the threadjack OP, I like Schurkey's comment about the 305 being a placeholder myself.
The_Family_Tahoe
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It's fine. A 305 will go just as many miles as a 350 or 4.3l v6.
From your posts above it looks like you already have a tow rig, A gmt400 with a 5.7, and an isuzu. From a utility standpoint I'm not sure you gain or lose anything by replacing the Isuzu with this 305 powered truck. I wouldn't expect it to be anymore powerful than the isuzu, but if it's a clean truck go for it. I like to tinker with automobiles, and a good clean rig at a good price is not easy to come by.
If it were me, and clearly it isn't, I would buy it and sell the isuzu. Then I'd drive one of the other two rigs while I cleaned up this one. Once it was sorted out, I'd drive it full time while I focused on making the other 5.7 gtm400 what I want it to be.
From your posts above it looks like you already have a tow rig, A gmt400 with a 5.7, and an isuzu. From a utility standpoint I'm not sure you gain or lose anything by replacing the Isuzu with this 305 powered truck. I wouldn't expect it to be anymore powerful than the isuzu, but if it's a clean truck go for it. I like to tinker with automobiles, and a good clean rig at a good price is not easy to come by.
If it were me, and clearly it isn't, I would buy it and sell the isuzu. Then I'd drive one of the other two rigs while I cleaned up this one. Once it was sorted out, I'd drive it full time while I focused on making the other 5.7 gtm400 what I want it to be.
97C1500TJ
I'm Awesome
That’s the plan. I’d like to sell the Isuzu while it’s still running good. It’s at 245K miles and this new 400 has a reman motor with 90K. The trans needs synchros but that’s it. It’s a pretty clean rig. Plus I have a hoard of parts for my other 400 so that makes things cheaper.
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