I'm buying a blazer for the winter, and there's 2 good candidated available locally. Both are 4wd and very clean, but one is a tbi 350, recently rebuilt and bored .30 over. The diesel is a non-serpentine 6.2l. I'm wanting something to get around in the snow, but something reasonably fast and fun for when i want to put my foot down. any thoughts?

1)reasonably fast and fun for when i want to put my foot down: tbi 350, recently rebuilt and bored .30 over.

2)slow and economical:the diesel , non-serpentine 6.2l.

what do you really want? answer is obvious.

turbo the 6.2 and it will be about like a 350

most of the time though when you bore out a 350 then theres other upgrades and that which means about 8 MPG

try to get the diesel cheap and it will be the better decision.

can you make a 6.2 fast? i went and drove it today and it was SLOWWWWWWWWW compared to the 350

Depends on how fast you want the money to flow from your pocket. You can make a 6.2 move ok but thats not what most people buy them for, they buy them because they get great fuel mileage and are dependable. The 350 on the other hand is going to drink fuel so it'll be FAST at emptying your wallet on a regualar basis.:D When I bought my 84 K20 6.2 the ONLY reason I even looked twice at the truck is because it had a 6.2 diesel in it, if it would have been a gasser you couldn't have paid me to take it. Just remember my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.:D;)

well whatever i get, i have a dana 44/14 bolt axle setup i'm gonna drop under it, with 3.73 gears. I do alot of highwaqy driving, and i've heard the diesels drop off in gas around 65, and unless you're doing 80-85 you're gonna get run over around here.

I have examples of both. My diesels are not hotrods! Dependable, good fuel economy, fair at towing, etc. I have an old, rusty '81 K5 Jimmy, 4-bolt 350, Holley Pro-Jection TBI, complete w/Holley TBI manifold. Open loop system, but ECM controlled, (one O2 sensor for monitoring A/F ratio). Properly tuned, 12 mpg. Not racer fast but quick, dependable and fun. It requires attention, steering tends to wander a bit, short wheelbase.

I tune EFI with a laptop and multiple sensors hooked up so it's not a guessing game. I have the whole Inovate Motorsports system, data logger included. Spent many hours trying to 'get it right'.

When used for snow driving and a little off-road travel, I prefer the TBI to my Diesel's just for personal reasons, either vehicle will do the job. For fuel economy, highway vacation travel, my Suburban is more comfortable and easier to drive. For hauling/towing, the truck!

both of mine i can do 80 in them

I have an old, rusty '81 K5 Jimmy........ Properly tuned, 12 mpg. For hauling/towing, the truck!
what do you get when towing? do you have to stop every 200 miles and fill up? i had an 82 that i put in a 50 gal tank but it was a p/u so it was in the bed. i still miss that one. owned it 15 years and i put 200,000 miles on it myself. drove it everywhere.

The 350 is quick if that's what you want... You better not care about fuel economy though.

I've never been disappointed with my 6.2 though - it will break the tires loose hitting second gear. It's slow right off the line though. It'll go plenty fast to - I've had my 3/4 ton in excess of 90 mph (long story, you wouldn't believe it if I explained, but I actually had a legitimate reason) and it had no issues and had quite a bit more pedal left. But the truck is not so good there... :rolleyes:

well i think it'd do a little better with a 5 speed like yours versus the 700r4 in terms of pick up. if i can spend some money and get it reasonably quick (where i'm not getting passed by loaded dump trucks) i'd rock the 6.2. i just cant find any good mods for it.

Yeah, without a turbo there's not a ton to be done with it. You can add fuel, but you're very limited on the air side of things, so you're pretty close to peak to start with.

i've also heard the non-serpentine were prone to problems. and i've heard they underpowered compared to the newer 6.2's. i was reading a build up where you can swap to a serpentine setup and put the banks kit on and make some decent power. i hadnt found any exhausts either, i'd imagine you could make some power that way

Nah, serpentine isn't that much more power. You can convert but you have to change water pumps and everything as they used a reverse rotation water pump, which requires the use of the front engine cover from a serpentine belt equipped engine.

DeeJaaa, my '81 Jimmy has a 40 gal fuel tank, so stopping for fuel isn't a problem. Highway driving, the mileage goes up to around 16 mpg. The 12 mpg figure I quoted was all-around average since most of my driving is combined city & highway.

Vehicle usage is subjective and everyone has different needs. I guess there isn't one vehicle to "do it all". That's why many of us have a multi-car discount with the insurance company! They, and the State of Oregon think I need to consider a dealer's license..no way!!!!

My current list of registered and running includes: '96 Suburban (wife's hauler), '96 Pontiac Gran Prix (daughter's vehicle), two '88 Buick Park Avenue's (daily drivers), '84 Suburban, '82 Pickup, '81 K5, '79 Pickup, '76 Nova, '93 JD425, '68 JD 140 H1, '63 JD 110, '55 JD 40W, and the list goes on......

i have owned plenty of tbi engines, while the 350 is a fairly strong engine, i have edelbrock cam lifters and timing chain in mine, and i got 223,348 miles on it, it just started a slight rod knock