I'm going to be purchasing a new 4.3L v6 to replace my 350. what i was wondering was which year would be the best choice for me. i was gonna go with a 95' being that was the last year that had T.B.I., the thing is that it supposed to be a complete engine but it doesn't come with an intake, so if i got the 1995 T.B.I. engine where will i be able to get an intake from or does any of the older years fit?
which engine?
- Thread starter notime2d8
- Start date
the 95 tbi 4.3 is a balance shaft motor, and uses a specific tbi intake casting. You can get any 87-95 intake and grind the casting for clearance if you cant find the 95 tbi correct intake. look for stick shift s-10 trucks in the junkyards, those are all tbi if they are 95 and older. all 96 up are scpi (MPFI) engines.
80ECLT said:
But would the 95 engine be the better choice for the swap or an older year? and what should i do for wiring, i can't find any T.B.I. G-body's to get a harness from.
A 95 would be a good choice becasue of the balance shaft, and it comes with better flowing "CPI" heads then the earlier engines. It will idle and run smoother due to the balance shaft takeing care of the secondary rocking couple imbalance inherant with all 90 deg V6 engines. Yoiu can use a tbi harness from any 87-95 4.3, s-10, astro, full size truck, caprice, etc. Your best bet is to have a whole running parts vehicle at your disposal. Or you can get a brand new harness and computer from howell Like I did. The tbi harness is 350$ from them. Mine was 650$ because i built a cpi 4.3 engine... TBI is dirt cheap and super reliable!! Good luck!!
BTW, Which body is it going in? wagon, coupe, elky??
BTW, Which body is it going in? wagon, coupe, elky??
you could try to find a stock 85-87 efi elky tank and sender. or do like i did and modify a sender from a blazer, and make it work in the stock elky tank.
80ELCT-I had a 95 GMC Jimmy with a Vortec 4.3L. the 95's were the first year for the new body style I think. 94 is the old square body style with tbi OR Vortec. I have seen many of those with a Vortec also.
StreetBu said:
Regarding S-10's and S-SUV's:
95 was the first year for the new body style on the SUV's, 94 was the first year for new body style on the pickups.
87-95 pickups were all TBI except for 95 pickups with auto, they were CPI. All 96-up pickups are SCPI (true Vortec)
87-91 SUV's were all TBI. 92-95 SUV's were a mixed bag of CPI and TBI, all stick's were TBI only.
All 96-up SUV's were SCPI (True Vortec)
92-95 "Vortecs" (Like what I have in my elco) do not have real vortec heads, its just a neat name for their new fuel injection at this point. All 96 up Vortecs have a V6 version of the infamous V8 Vortec head "Real Vortecs"
Confused yet? :| :lol: :x
Sorry, I guess I didnt realize that the "VORTEC" equipped vehicles pre 96 didnt have Vortec heads, just the intake setup. It's been along time since i've seen a tbi 4.3L, most of the ones left around here are all "vortec's" intakes. See ya learn something new every day :lol:
No biggie! Its hard to keep track sometimes.. GM called a lot of different pre 96 engines "Vortec", it was kind of Chevy's brand of engine since GM had their "Corporate" engine program.. Now Everything in a chevy or GMC is a "vortec" and it lost all meaning... it used to be the HI-PO designation. I have seen a few new Silverado's that have a "Vortec MAX" badge on them. Maybe thats the new HI-PO option?
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