How do these years of rigs compare while driving them?

[thatK30guy]

I drive a '98 Sub at work as my boss's "company car" and its a standard 5.7 liter TBI with automatic o.d. tranny. It runs real good and has lots of power when I mash the go-pedal.

Now I'm looking at my '91 K5 at home, set up with the same motor and tranny, but it runs like crap.

My question is, do both of these years of rigs run comparable as far as power goes? Should my '91 "get up and go" like the '98 does? Should mine run, idle, etc., like the Sub does?

 

[NEK5]

I wondered the same thing with my 90 k5, and our 99 suburban we have. The burb has the 4l60e (glorified 700r4) and a vortec 350, so the two combined must make the difference.

 

[k20]

the 98 sub isnt tbi it is vortec, and the tbi is 210hp, and the vortec IIRC is 260 (or 280) so its got a fair bit more pickup. Also the burb will have the 4l60e and the k5 will have the 700r4, so if the cable isnt properly set on the k5 it will result in shifting being a little off.

 

[NEK5]

That's another thing I always wondered does the 4l60e have the same TV cable type thing?

 

[jonathon]

Aren't the 92-99 Subs a little lighter too?

When my 91 sub was stock it had some pep to it. My 89 is very peppy, but it has a 700r4 with a shift kit in, holds first up to 45

 

[Jason4x4]

TBI is up to 1995, 1996 later is the vortec.

and a 4l60 is computer shifted, no tv cable

 

[pauly383]

My 99 Sub was factory rated at 250hp net . And it goes really well . All I have done so far is the K+N filter . Has factory duals out to a single muffler . I did score a Flowmaster I need to install .

The Vortec SFI rigs just go .

By comparison , my 93 TBI K2500 with the first of the 4L60E's goes just as well , although it is down on power a little bit .

I think an injected motor with a electronic tranny is an awesome DD . If your having trouble with your 91 theres got to be a bug somewhere ( sensor , wire , or something ) , and watch the gearing and tire size . Even a tired old 89 Sub my buddy owns can get out of its own way

 

[solowookie]

at work we buy the exact same trucks with the same engines, and even these perform much differently from one another...

all things being equal nothing is equal

 

[dhcomp]

Like said, the newer burb is the vortec. Feels way different than the 91 or 94 tbi setups. I have a 94 tbi blazer, and a 91 tbi burb, and they perform/feel way different. Granted, one is a 4l60e with 3.73's, and the burb is a 4l80e w/4.10's, but still. The blazer loved to rev, and spun up quick. Full throttle under load maybe sees 3700-4k in the burb, and takes forever to get there. Different animals.

The vortec's have a higher redline, but always sound uncomfortable when spun up. The tbi motor will sing at 4500 way more "comfortably" in my mind than the vortec, but i think its just the way it sounds. The vortec is designed to rev higher for longer periods of time than the tbi.