1997 Chevy Z71 350 Vortec 160,000 miles, under the valve cover

[ls1mike]

Looks good, thanks for the pic. Is that a Fel-pro gasket set? I used a Fel-pro on the civic.

It is, worked great stayed in the channel while I was installing them. I have always had good luck with Fel-pro.

 

[OVERKILL]

Looks very good! A bit of varnish on what I assume to be the PCV-side rockers, but that's to be expected.

 

[FADEC]

It is, he starts driving next week. Valve cover gaskets were the last minor maintenance item I had to do. I bled the brakes, fixed the door hinge pins, replaced the drives side exterior door handle and replaced the coolant quick disconnect on the intake. It is all ready to go. Truck was really well maintained. I have all the service records from 58,000 miles.

I replaced the outside drivers door handle on my 1997 Silverado a few weeks ago. Their fun aren't they?

 

[Nick1994]

Too bad with the Xenforo upgrade the drooling emoji is gone.

These are my favorite trucks. To heck with the fancy boujeeness of modern trucks. This is the one to have.

 

[ls1mike]

I replaced the outside drivers door handle on my 1997 Silverado a few weeks ago. Their fun aren't they?

LOL!
I got in there and was like What in the actual.......The old one worked but was cracked. I couldn't believe what you had to do to get it out.

 

[ls1mike]

Too bad with the Xenforo upgrade the drooling emoji is gone.

These are my favorite trucks. To heck with the fancy boujeeness of modern trucks. This is the one to have.

It is a great little truck and was good for its time, but it would never do the amount of work my current 1 ton or even a 1/2 ton does.

 

[Nick1994]

It is a great little truck and was good for its time, but it would never do the amount of work my current 1 ton or even a 1/2 ton does.

It’ll do what most people need in a truck though. Haul bricks, pavers, drywall, an ATV, a modest camper, a car on a car hauler trailer etc.

My dad had a 93’ C1500 with a 305 when I was a kid, a couple times a year he’d pull an 18’ enclosed trailer with 2 Honda ATC’s, all of our camping gear, and a Meyer’s Manx dune buggy to the dunes in Yuma, AZ. Also to Gordon’s Well, the Cinders up North, and to the Coral Pink dunes in southern Utah. It wasn’t gonna win any races but even being lowered 3-4” it got the job done.

 

[wtd]

Very nice. I've never had the valve covers off my 98 K1500 with the 5.7L that I bought new. It's mostly had 3,000 mile oil changes it's whole life with many different brands of oils over the years. I'm curious if mine would be that clean.

I bought my 98 K3500 with 94,000 miles on it back in 2007 and had to replace valve cover gaskets on it and the engine was spotless like that under the covers. I've stayed with 3,000 mile changes on it as well with different brands over the years.

 

[Driz]

They had their time in the sun, but newer 5.3L’s have 383 FP & 355 HP along with far better MPG

That all comes at a heavy price In the questionable long term reliability. 40 years since they invented AFM and all the other makes versions that came after and look at all the problems they still have. Oil guzzling and wiped cams aren’t all that uncommon. Honestly, if you use a truck as a truck what’s the point in 1-2 more MPG ,saving a pittance in exchange for poor reliability and a potential down the road bill of 2-4 thousand bucks ? Great while under warranty maybe but how about the next owner.
Ive owned GM trucks for decades , I have one now, 2000 Sierra beater but I wouldn’t touch one today. A friend has a 2012 silverado with under 50k miles. It began starting poorly so I put my ancient scan tool on it. It wouldn’t scan so I wrote it off to being newer technology ect. She took it in and the dealer messed with it twice . Finally the mechanic said he’d had one like that and the best fix he found was running high test through it every few tanks Oh well it worked.
Then a year later no surprise it pops a code. it runs fine but won’t go away so she can’t get it inspected here in The Peoples Republic. I’m happy not to deal with it due to the no read thing with my cheapo reader so in it goes. It stayed there for a month. Their explanation was with what it was showing the engine should be destroyed On and on it went straight to whoever handles the GM X- File cases gets it and it’s Then suddenly after a couple more weeks it’s back and ok. Again no explanation but it’s inspected and no codes showing. How long do any of you savvy guys think that’s going to last........ And that’s a 2012. With the new ones having small engines boosted by turbos and a new and improved tranny I wouldn’t touch one unless it was free.

 

[ls1mike]

That all comes at a heavy price In the questionable long term reliability. 40 years since they invented AFM and all the other makes versions that came after and look at all the problems they still have. Oil guzzling and wiped cams aren’t all that uncommon. Honestly, if you use a truck as a truck what’s the point in 1-2 more MPG ,saving a pittance in exchange for poor reliability and a potential down the road bill of 2-4 thousand bucks ? Great while under warranty maybe but how about the next owner.
Ive owned GM trucks for decades , I have one now, 2000 Sierra beater but I wouldn’t touch one today. A friend has a 2012 silverado with under 50k miles. It began starting poorly so I put my ancient scan tool on it. It wouldn’t scan so I wrote it off to being newer technology ect. She took it in and the dealer messed with it twice . Finally the mechanic said he’d had one like that and the best fix he found was running high test through it every few tanks Oh well it worked.
Then a year later no surprise it pops a code. it runs fine but won’t go away so she can’t get it inspected here in The Peoples Republic. I’m happy not to deal with it due to the no read thing with my cheapo reader so in it goes. It stayed there for a month. Their explanation was with what it was showing the engine should be destroyed On and on it went straight to whoever handles the GM X- File cases gets it and it’s Then suddenly after a couple more weeks it’s back and ok. Again no explanation but it’s inspected and no codes showing. How long do any of you savvy guys think that’s going to last........ And that’s a 2012. With the new ones having small engines boosted by turbos and a new and improved tranny I wouldn’t touch one unless it was free.

It really depends. Lots of folks have had no issues, lots of people complain too. I will say the 3/4 ton and 1 ton 6.0 gassers don't suffer from that as they have no AFM, larger transmission cooler with no thermostat which is a lot of the problem with the last gen and current generation 1/2 tons. It is still just a run of the mill push rod with the 6L90E which is better than the 80E and the rest is 3/4 or 1 ton running gear.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Wow. I've never seen one like that with anywhere near those miles.
I'm gonna go change the oil in all my cars with no-name dino...

 

[ls1mike]

Wow. I've never seen one like that with anywhere near those miles.
I'm gonna go change the oil in all my cars with no-name dino...

I was really surprised too. I look through all the records, talked to previous owner and as far as I can tell the heads have never been off.