kevinkpk

looking for more hp from a 302? Well, good luck with that.

1Ton-K1500

I know this isnt where any of you were planning on goin but heres my two cents. I have a 97 1500. had the stock 5.7l and worked fine, have a hypertec and a jet piggyback on it. the hypertec made a big difference, one you can feel. the jet was on it when i bought the truck. only problem with "chips or programmers" is that it bumps you redline to 6000. thats fine if the engine can take it. stock 5.7l CANT. I spun two main bearings and three rod bearings when i was whippin dounuts on the road. (thats with 6 inch lift and 33" tires) cost for a stock 5.7 in my area for a long block is 1500 but then you limited to the stock 300hp and 290ft lbs. it works but not for me so about a year and half ago i put in GMs 383 crate yes its more money in the short time but i think its worth it in the long run. with my straight pipe, cia, stacked chips,throttle spacer, and headers im puttin out 430hp and 460ft lbs. and yes the stock fuel delivery will supply enough fuel. 4.10 gears and 35" mickey thompsons i can turn them into high third gear. it chirps them shiftin into third when in her heavy. i have installed a straight axle and still get 16 hwy mpg. engine cost me around 5k after replacing things that should when doing engine swap....was it worth it...absolutely!! only down fall to engine is have to run 93 octane or higher. well worth the power. anyone who is dumb enough to try and race me looses so far they dont expect a truck with 9 inch lift to go that fast ha. So long story short if you plan on keepin the truck for quite a while i would do the 383 I LOVE IT!!

basilkies

It seems to me the power issues with the Vortec have more to do with lag than actual power. It's like the gas pedal is connected through a blue tooth connection and the signal doesn't get there for three seconds. I find that when I go over speed bumps in the truck I can't get the gas to react fast enough to give it a little goose of speed to stabilize the rear springs as they go over. This follows through to acceleration most other times also. It's like push the gas and read a book until the actual exceleration starts.