Pro's & Con's of Donor Years

[LostMy65]

I'm just banging things around for the Pro's & Con's of different Donor Years.
.
Generation 73-87 (91 Suburban)
Power Steering
Power Disc Brakes
14-Bolt for C-20.

Generation 88-98
Engine and Engine Accessories?
Transmission?

Generation 98+
LS Engine
What else?

This is just a start.
Please contribute.

[AcampoDave]

Generation 88-98 have a well fitting seat without integrated belts.

[verdell]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

Generation 88-98 have a well fitting seat without integrated belts.

I agree 100% on the seats. The factory serpentine belt system is great too..

[65truckowner]

The 73-87 front ends are an easy swap. Drill one hole on each side and enlarge one more. Plus 5 lug if doing the 5 lug swap.

[AcampoDave]

Some 73-87 trucks came with an additional weatherstrip on the door itself. These days of course, they are best purchased new from Soffseal (pt# 9352) and will fit our doors quite well providing a noticeable reduction in wind noise especially if you use an additional piece to carry it all the way down the door.

[gmc684x4]

I know c10 63 to 87 use any year spindle with stock a arms only need to use appropriate year ball joints and tie rods.

I have not looked into c20 swap 63 87 I would say there probably the same.

96 - 02 vortec motors are the best out of gen 1 motors ditch the fuel injection or upgrade it to a marine injection setup for over 400 hp

I know someone will say race ready heads flow better they should they cost more
I have gotten good running L31 engine in a van cheap because most mechanics look for any excuse not to work on vans replace leaky intake gasket (l31 known for leaky intake) mechanic blamed blown head gaskets and warped heads

97 up ls based engines are great biggest con i would say would be adapting a fuel pump to feed them. I am using a blazer/burbon tank cutting the ring out of the donor tank and welding it up to use the donor pump setup so there are no noisy pumps on the rail or behind the seat

Prefer dbw as donor comes with pedal tac box dislike dbc as it can get expensive making up a throttle cable if you don't have good luck scrounging one that may work for your application

Cost can be very steep on a ls swap if you buy every thing my favourite option buy a complete truck on the cheap part it out end up with a free engine buying a pulled out engine adds lost of cost many pick a parts are around 250 and see guys asking 1000 to 3000 for a pulled engine.

I picked up my truck 500 has parasitic draw swapped gauges almost good enough to drive on the street sold bumper now a 400 dollar engine

[vince1]

So far I am OK with the not so high horsepower 350 from a 79 C10. It cruises up the hills a lot easier than the old 250 and the fuel mileage is about the same, so IMO good enough for an old farm truck. The down side is, don't expect to find one that doesn't need an overhaul because the original camshafts are crap.