345 hp Vortec 6000 LQ9 2004 Silverado 1500 RWD extended cab

[White Lightening]

Greetings,

Recently I bought a new Chevrolet Silverado 2004 extended cab 1500 series truck rear wheel drive (RWD).

All stock - it came with the Limited Appearance Package (20 Chevy wheels, low profile 20" Goodyear tires, and high perfromance suspension "Z60").

Also stock it came with the Vortec 6000 LQ9 V8 gas engine with 345 hp, and the Heavy Duty 4 speed automatic transmission. Came with the HD trailering package (and included coolers), and gets between 19.5 and 20.5 mpg on premium gas.

Some people claim these aren't available - isn't possible to have one - yet that is what I have. Its a 2 wheel drive version of the SS with better more attractive wheels and a lower height and better handling. Extremely smooth and quiet ride (all stock) - yet power to burn and excellent handling. Also it is several hundred pounds lighter than a 4x4 1500 or AWD SS version because it is rear wheel drive.

Before buying I test drove 5 Ford F150's and 2 Nissan Tundras as well as several fully loaded minivans etc. - this Limited Appearance package suspension combination is superior to all of them in my opinion for handling, extremely quiet ride, and smoothness. (Note I never test drove a standard RWD Silverado 1500 to compare that did not have the Z60 suspension).

I'd be glad to answer any questions or get any suggestions how I could further improve my truck mileage while maintaining existing performance.

(Note - I installed Slick 50 at my 750 mile oil change "the first oil change is always the most important". I also installed a folding hardtonneau cover by Advance which is super, and am considering the FRAM Air Hog washable air filter.)

Again - comments, suggestions, things to watch for, or questions are welcome.

Catch U later,

White Lightening

[Slowprocess]

Originally Posted by White Lightening

Greetings,

Recently I bought a new Chevrolet Silverado 2004 extended cab 1500 series truck rear wheel drive (RWD).

All stock - it came with the Limited Appearance Package (20 Chevy wheels, low profile 20" Goodyear tires, and high perfromance suspension "Z60").

Also stock it came with the Vortec 6000 LQ9 V8 gas engine with 345 hp, and the Heavy Duty 4 speed automatic transmission. Came with the HD trailering package (and included coolers), and gets between 19.5 and 20.5 mpg on premium gas.

Some people claim these aren't available - isn't possible to have one - yet that is what I have. Its a 2 wheel drive version of the SS with better more attractive wheels and a lower height and better handling. Extremely smooth and quiet ride (all stock) - yet power to burn and excellent handling. Also it is several hundred pounds lighter than a 4x4 1500 or AWD SS version because it is rear wheel drive.

Before buying I test drove 5 Ford F150's and 2 Nissan Tundras as well as several fully loaded minivans etc. - this Limited Appearance package suspension combination is superior to all of them in my opinion for handling, extremely quiet ride, and smoothness. (Note I never test drove a standard RWD Silverado 1500 to compare that did not have the Z60 suspension).

I'd be glad to answer any questions or get any suggestions how I could further improve my truck mileage while maintaining existing performance.

(Note - I installed Slick 50 at my 750 mile oil change "the first oil change is always the most important". I also installed a folding hardtonneau cover by Advance which is super, and am considering the FRAM Air Hog washable air filter.)

Again - comments, suggestions, things to watch for, or questions are welcome.

Catch U later,

White Lightening

Is this the VHO package? The video of my 12.67 run is beside a truck like yours. This is a nice packaged truck, and I like it more than the stock SS. It is faster than the stock ss, just not as quick out of the hole. I answered with the last one. There are tons of things you can do to it to make it really fast(check out my sig). If you have any performance questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them. Nice purchase!

[White Lightening]

Greetings Slowprocess,

Thanks fro your response. I know I spent alot of time emailing Chevy customer support - and them telling me what I was considering buying wasn't available. Here is what I do know. The Limited Appearance Package wasn't available until late May 2004 - with 1st ones in dealers in late June in our area.

Chevy had a "performance package" option - but that added 12 grand to the list price. What I got was not that - yet it has all the same options as that one did. One last thing that I did not previously include - is that my axle ratio is 3.73 instead of the 4.10 normally used for the SS. I wanted the 3.73 and it was stock. 3.73 with the Vortec 6000 gives me better mileage - and for trailering - power wasn't an issue for me with the 6000.

I'm not a "performance" kinda guy - but I love good handling - and didn't want to give it up because it was a truck. With a lower height (RWD and the stock Z60 suspension) - I sit at a good height - yet have great handling in corners to date - no "boating". Other than the catchy Limited Appearance wheels and tires and the horizontal flatness of the vehicle (front to back - no tilt) - the truck looks like many others - yet it handles and runs more like a 3 or 4 cylinder motorcycle than a truck.

My goal is long term reliability and continuing the decent mileage while maintaining existing performance (or better). What I'm amazed at - is that Chevy doesn't seem to even know they have trucks like this - and certainly doesn't promote them (not in brochures or their CD or their website that I can find).

Your thoughts would certainy be welcome and considered.

White Lightening

[Nigel215]

Any way tou could post some pics? I would like to see this animal....

[White Lightening]

Greetings,

I'd love to post a couple pictures - I tried a bunch - but I'm doing something wrong - I guess I have some learning to do about the process and I'll get some taken this week in a JPG format.

White Lightening

Figured out how. Here we go.

[busta]

Originally Posted by Nigel215

Any way tou could post some pics? I would like to see this animal....

-----------ya ya ya ya yay ya ya yayaya ya ya ya pics

[nineball481]

[jumpingjack66]

slick 50 recommends not installing untill your rings are well brokin. like 5 to 15,00 miles but my experience with slick fifty is that it destroys all the seals and eventually your engine. bad move imoo...JJ

[texascody20]

Yea this chevy yall are talking about with the 6.0. I have it in GMC I bought it on my b-day just because it looked good, then I went to look up info about it and couldnt find nothing on it. Then i start hear small stuff about it which i dont know if its true or not but, I have a frind with a Dodge hemi which he fixed up with cold air, exhaust, and super chip, and i raced him stock and smoked him, which got me to question what i have. But now i have cold air, super chip, and flow master, and i havent found a mustang gt in town that can out run me and ive got a few z28 camaros, but its a bad truck ill get some pics on here.

[dr_of_lovephd]

Sometimes dealers will special order a truck and add on some better wheels and tires themselves, maybe even supention packages. Do you remember if the tires and suspension options on your truck were listed under the dealer installed column on the sticker when you bought it?

[White Lightening]

Originally Posted by dr_of_lovephd

Sometimes dealers will special order a truck and add on some better wheels and tires themselves, maybe even supention packages. Do you remember if the tires and suspension options on your truck were listed under the dealer installed column on the sticker when you bought it?

Greetings Dr. Love,

I can't answer for Texas with his GMC - I can tell you my Chevy Silverado 1500 LS with the options shown was all factory options including tires and wheels.

The Limited Appearance Package is ONLY available on rwd - it includes the 20 inch Chevy Chrome alloys (special convex - not SS wheels), includes the Goodyear 20s and includes the special high performance Z60 suspension and limited slip differential. This is a set package.

The Silverado Performance Package is also only rwd available and includes the LQ9 6.0 liter high output 345 horse V8 and the heavy duty auto transmission. Again was not dealer added. This is a set package.

BOTH of the above are clearly indicated as manufacturer packages on the factory window sticker sheet. But you won't find it on the Silverado CD, or on the Chevy website, or in the fancy brochures. But they are out there in dealer lots - you just have to look maybe 1 in 25 Chevy dealers might have one (that was my experience) and if you want just the Limited Appearance Package combo - you'll find about 1 in 10 delaers has one or more of those.

With both packages as described above and with deluxe cloth, window tint, climate control, XM radio, and fog lights - about MSRP 33K. Obviously any rebates lower that.

One last point of interest - neither of these options were available prior to late May 2004. The first of these optioned trucks hit dealers in late June early July 2004. It is Chevy's rwd version of the SS. rwd version is same power - but 400 pounds lighter than SS. See gallery for my full description. Hope this helps.

White Lightening

[White Lightening]

[quote=Storm442]Here's White Lightening's Truck:

White Lightening's Truck

Thanks Storm442. At the time - there were only 2 vho trucks on the forum - and now there are a few more as 2005's 2wd SS is out and about now.

As for pictures of my truck - I've now figured it out - in case anyone is still reading this older thread - here they are:

http://files.automotiveforums.com/ga...?ppuser=268509

[twomorestrokes]

Originally Posted by jumpingjack66

slick 50 recommends not installing untill your rings are well brokin. like 5 to 15,00 miles but my experience with slick fifty is that it destroys all the seals and eventually your engine. bad move imoo...JJ

I don't have any personal experience with Slick 50, but I sure agree with the first part of your statement. Synthetic oil or oil additives should not be used in a new engine. Even when breaking in a freshly rebuilt engine, regular petroleum based oil should be used for the first few thousand miles to help the rings break in and start to seal. Using too slippery of stuff right off the bat can cause the engine to be a long term oil burner.

[NoRiceHere01]

this oil discussion may be a bit off topic for this thread. well actually it is off topic, but since ur a captive audience ill say this: i have heard things about synthetic not being so good for new seals, but ive also heard that is advantages arent really seen unless its been used since an engine is new, so i really cant help u with that so much. what i can say is that castrol syntec is $5 a quart, castrol GTX petrolium oil us about $1.75. i have a 76 C10 with its original 350 and 160k miles that i have dogged and it doesnt leak, burn or otherwise consume its oil at all. i promise. i used it in my mustang till it got totalled and i use it in my 01 i have now. changing ur oil regularly and frequently is the absolute best care for the engine, regardless of the type of oil. thats not a statement thats debateable. o yeah, and chevy should be givin slowprocess royalties for their sale of blatant rip-offs of his truck lol. chevy has done a good job of staying tru to their roots and offering factory hot rods to those in the know. moral is: dont just buy somethin off a lot. do ur research. get a fast truck. beat the hemis.

[skipr]

Isn't Castrol syntec just a synthetic blend as opposed to true synthetic oil like Mobil 1? The synthetic oil that may have negitive impact on seals is synthetic oils based on polyglycols. PTFE and flourinated rubber seals are resistant to synthetics.I know it's off the topic, but I haven't a clue about the actual topic (VHO SS) so this is all I could add.