Thanks for all the response gentlemen... this has obviously been considered before. I never thought the 4.3 was a dog. Maybe there'* a difference between the Blazer/S10 motor and the High Output in the Astro van. Either way, you can't argue with the torque numbers. With a little TLC I bet you could really wake up one of those babies. Plus you'd have the deeper idle rumble than an L67 or smaller Northstar. As I said before this is strictly a thought experiment for me at this point in time. But I might come back to it later in life. We'll see...

my friend has the 4.3 in his S10 and it pulls very nicely. Maybe a little faster than my bonnie, we havnt had a chance to compare yet.

THe problem with the 3.8 isn't displacement at all. It'* larger then A LOT of engines over seas. It just needs to make some real power. The head design is very conservative, and the cam is almost as flat as a ruler. It does drive likea truck motor, hard off the line, and flat torque curve, with a 5kish redline.

the 4.3 is even more of a "truck motor". You're really getting about the same performance, and just using more gas.

I have a 97 Sonoma with the H.O. 4.3 motor. Also have a 2000 4.3 H.O. to put into it when the original needs replacing. The problem with trying to install this in a bonneville is that the bell housing bolt pattern and layout is totally different that the 3.8 engines. There is no way you can bolt it up to the car transmission without a bunch of headache, and then motor mount issues on top of that. The 4.3 seems to last quite well as I have already 175000 miles on it and it still runs just like new but have been using Mobile 1 synthetic lube from new on also.

Flatlander

yea i agree to dependablity we have the 94 4.3 vin Z and it has 130,000+ and there has never been a problem with that engine.

*goes and knocks on wood*

Supposedly that Typhoon 4.3 turbo can go from 0-60mph in the 5 second catagory. Hmmm.. if I ever get an SUV I wonder what i'll get?

Why would you want to swap a 4.3 Vortec? If your going to go through all the headache of swapping a differend engine in why would you pick that engine? + I know quite a few people with *-10'* and Blazers that aree taking out there 4.3'* and putting in L67'* so I think that it is a fact that 3800'* have more potential then 4.3. By the way how sweet would a L67 with 4 wheel drive be?

You're right about the Bellhousing being different. I think it'* the same as the LSx series of engines as well, since the LSx series was based off the 4.3 v6 early in it'* design.

So drop an Ls1 in there that revs (oh 7k?) and then you're set.

Also, the new 7.0L in the Z06 is based off the same small block. So you could prob fit one of those in there...

4.3 + M90...HOLY COW!

what about a 4.3 + M112