heavy85 Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Look for a Service Bodied Work Truck. My acquaintenace here bought a 2002 City of Los Angeles DWP 3500 Chevy for $1000 from an auction reseller. Guy bought it at auction for $300. Has put thousands of miles on it. Not the pretty truck, not a lot of comfort options, but it's got a SERVICE BED on it that you can literally load every tool you own into it and STILL tow your car on a trailer! He gets 15 unladen, but he also resembles Fred Sanford in both physical appearance and driving habits... You mean like this? http://chambana.craigslist.org/ctd/1487832882.html Hard to haul the kids but this could otherwise pretty decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Is that the NA diesel? If so, don't bother. I remember going with my dad and uncle to a lake pulling a LIGHT 14' fiberglass boat and aluminum trailer with a 6.2 diesel blazer. The trailer and boat had to weigh 1/2 or less of what your car and trailer will weigh. Foot to the floor, puking out black smoke, we climbed a minor grade at 27 mph. Check the specs in the page below: A whopping 140 hp and 255 ft/lbs of torque. http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1990-to-1998-gmc-sierra-6.htm Look at this "awesome" build up of a 6.2L diesel, complete with turbo. With the upgrades it still makes less hp than your race car, and if you have any mods like a cam the car probably has more torque too. http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/chevy/0554dp_62l_buildup/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Interesting Jon. That's probably why it's so low priced for a diesel. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc052685 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I bought a 91 toyota shortbed 5-spd 2.4L truck. Good ol 22re! Then bought a 16ft dual axle car hauler. Got the truck about 5-yrs ago with 74k miles. since then the truck has made countless trips from houston to all over texas. Dallas, Austin and San Antonio being the main destinations. Aways to pics up a Z of some sort. 240z-Z32, uphill, down hill, 70mph on flat ground was easy. Averaged about 17-20mpg LOADED. Only things That have been replaced in the 75,000+ Miles are, The clutch when I first got the truck, alternator and the diff. Never once checked the fluid. I am sure that is what killed it. Probably has the original fluid in it. Oh, did the front brakes twice. It also has slotted rotors and hawk pads for good reason. Not in the Z parts business anymore but it is stil my daily driver and it NEVER has left me stranded! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Jon's right about the 6.2 Chevy's. They're weak, the injection pumps are problematic, they need the oil changed every 2500 miles, and noisy as all dickens. I used to have a 89 4 door we used as a crew truck, and they joked if there was a head wind it took them longer to get to the job. If you want a diesel, the Dodge Cummins are hard to beat. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 I'm not hooked on a diesel just was looking at Suburbans which you can find cherry one's for around $3k but they get 11 city /15 hwy MPG. That my fiends just sucks IMO. Something closer to 20 highway would be the desire so diesels are closest or go to smaller V6. So how much does towing reduce the highway MPG typically? Would it be closer to the 'city' or even lower? This one caught my eye. Ridiculously low miles, KBB ~$2400 so it's overpriced and need to negotiate, queen bed nice for camping, comfortably hauls kids when needed. Rated at 13/17 MPH which does not sound like much but that's almost 20% better than Suburban. Again I wonder what mileage would be towing the Z? If it's in the middle say ~15 mpg then I could be temped but if it's down in single digits then I need to keep looking for diesel ... http://decatur.craigslist.org/cto/1490894763.html Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Pulling a Z on an open trailer, I would guess you would drop 4-5 mpg, but that's just a guess. One consideration is you're not going to be towing a lot, so several trips to the track a year wouldn't be a big expense overall. Be sure to check out if it's got a hitch that's strong enough for your trailer, or if you're going to have to add a hitch. If you can buy something like that reasonably cheap, it's not going to depreciate a lot, so you could buy it, try it, then resale if it doesn't work out. The big vans are very comfortable on a trip. jt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Go for a Dodge with the Cummins 12 valve diesel and a manual 5 speed. 2wd models can be found descent priced and knock down 20 mpg on the highway, and 16-17 ish towing a Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 If you get a van I wouldn't get a 1/2 ton. For some odd reason the manufacturers tend to really under-brake and under-driveline 1/2 ton vans. I'd go 3/4 ton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Go for a Dodge with the Cummins 12 valve diesel and a manual 5 speed. 2wd models can be found descent priced and knock down 20 mpg on the highway, and 16-17 ish towing a Z. My 03 Dodge 2wd is a dully and has an auto transmission. If I drive very conservatively at our just above posted speed limits on the interstate, I can get about 20 mpg. When running at 75 mph the mileage drops to about 16 mpg and when towing my 24 foot, V nose enclosed trailer with z car inside, the mileage drops by about 5 mpg. I have about 100K on the clock and with the exception of a minor transmission problem, the truck has been great. I love my diesel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 My 03 Dodge 2wd is a dully and has an auto transmission. If I drive very conservatively at our just above posted speed limits on the interstate, I can get about 20 mpg. When running at 75 mph the mileage drops to about 16 mpg and when towing my 24 foot, V nose enclosed trailer with z car inside, the mileage drops by about 5 mpg. I have about 100K on the clock and with the exception of a minor transmission problem, the truck has been great. I love my diesel! Yea the 24 valve common rails (03-07) can also knock down some great mileage numbers. But as you mentioned the Dodge automatics can be problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Well I looked at that van today. It's real nice. Just about perfect interior and exterior. Drives nice but get as low as 11-13 short in town driving and 16-17 interstate. It seems very well maintained. Its only got 80,000 miles. He said he's had problems in the past with it running hot so it has a new radiatior which seems to have fixed it. That scares me a bit but the gauge is flaky and jumps around which may have been the problem all along. It's got the factory tow package but he took the hitch off. Anyway he said $3k I offered $2k but he didn't bite. Kbb is $2400-2800 Only thing wrong is an ac leak the temp gauge and he took the hitch off. What do you guys think? It would be perfect IMO with the fold down bed, lots of space, etc. I would like to haul the kids daily in it if it got better mileage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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