i have an 85 silverado and im looking to do a 3 to 4 inch lift, 33 or 35 inch tires, wheels, and a low "growl" sounding exhaust, any suggestions or website links would be greatly appreciated

 

Lifts should be easy to find and relatively cheap for that year. Personally I like the Superlift stuff and I think Rancho is overpriced. There are tons of other companies though. Look into 4wheelparts.com One of the big options in price is going to be if you want blocks or lift springs for the rear. Springs are more expensive and generally a better option for off-roading and hauling. Blocks are just fine if it's more for show and usually provide a little better ride quality. Although you can still do some serious off-roading with blocks in the rear.

As far as tires I think 33's are the best you are gonna do with 4" of lift unless you plan on doing some fender trimming. I had a 4" suspension and 3" body lift on my 1984 with 35's and still managed to tweak the front of the rear fenders while offroading... Not enough to cause problems though.

Exhaust sound is more personal opinion than anything. I had some dynomax super turbo's on my truck with a 383 stroker and dual exhaust. It sounded great, but I don't recommend them cause they are cheap and don't last long when playing in the mud. Most people on here don't like Flowmaster's but they do sound nice and are a welded muffler that should last for a while.

 

Here are a couple pics of my old truck before I sold it.

 

man, thats exactly the look im going for, what are the specs on that thing

 

o, my bad, you already said

 

I bought that truck with the lift already on it, but if I were to build another one I would get a 6-8 inch suspension lift with rear lift springs which would give room for 35-36" tires. I'm not a big fan of body lifts, but they are a cheap way to fit bigger tires.

 

how much did you pay for that, i need an truck that age thats also reliable to drive to and from texas from iowa, do you think that would be hard to find
for a good price

 

I could tell you what I paid but it won't help you much... After I bought the truck I replace the engine with a 400+hp 383 put in a TH350 trans and a NP205 T-case. So it was built to play with and I really had way more invested then what it was worth. I can tell you that I sold it for $4000 a few months ago. The body was getting to be fairly rusty or I probably could have got more. This would not have been a good truck to drive that far either getting maybe 6 mpg.

As for finding one in good shape for a decent price it's hard to say. In good shape they used to be really expensive, but it seems the market for them has declined some so you might be able to get a good deal on one. If you are looking for one with a stock engine I would look for an 87 model because I think that is the only year they had fuel injection in that body style. Replacement crate engines can be found fairly cheap if you need one, but the stock 700R4 trannys suck. Fuel mileage on a stock one, lifted, at best would probably be 15 mpg highway.

If you want something in that year range and want it to be reliable I think the best thing you could do is find one with a decent body and swap in a 5.3L and a built 4l60e.

 

Check out 1BADC10's truck on here. It's not lifted and it's a 2wd but it is an 1986 with a 5.3L in it.

The only thing I'm not sure about is if the 4L60e will mount to the np208 T-case or not. Most likely if it won't bolt right up an adapter can be found or made.