Buying a Suburban. 350, 454 or Diesel?

[mtesta1985]

Hello, I'm shopping for a 1996-99 Suburban 4X4. I picked those years because I like the body styles and I want it to have OBDII. I currently have a 99 Tahoe with 235K miles and its been great. I'm a geology Grad student, and I go camping all the time for field projects in areas where there is no road, also to get to those sites I usually put 200+ miles highway roundtrip. I'm not horribly worried about the reliability differences between the three motor options. I've done my research, I know the 350 once I swap the injectors to the new style (like I did my Tahoe) its good to go. The 454 is solid and I have to move the PMD for the diesel and then it should be good. I'm leaning more toward the diesel for the extra power and the better fuel economy over the 350. Although I know when the 350 breakes, most repairs I already know how to do myself and parts are cheap, where I have no idea what I'm doing with the 6.5L turbo diesel. More then likely this truck will stay with me to the end of days, I don't ever really get rid of my cars. So any suggestions would be great. Thanks