4.3 v6 ????

[Corts60]

I had a TBI version of the 4.3 in my 1991 G van. It got a solid 15 mpg all day long. Maybe I could get 17 if I behaved, but rarely. It pulled my 1500 lb camper ok. Didn't like hills, but would pull the camper at 65 all day. It is not a powerhouse nor a fuel miser. But a good engine. One thing to consider is their inherent vibration issues. It can be annoying at stop lights if you live in the city.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Even if you already have the engine and it cost you nothing, resale value will be way down compared to a V8. Its the same amount of work to swap in a small block or 5.3, and whatever extra you spend swapping in the V8 would more than be repaid if you ever sold it. I think a 5.3 with sequential multiport efi and much better ignition mapping would get as good or better mileage than an older gen 4.3. We have a '97 S10 with a W code 4.3 and 5 speed, it's just ok in a small truck. My '89 Ford Festiva with only ~80 hp will keep up with it from a stop.

I agree from a ROI perspective. But if the 4.3/4l60e combo were free & I didn't have a small V8 (5.3 or decent sbc) already, I'd consider the 4.3 swap.

[vince1]

Some will go a lot of miles. My brother in law gave a still running P/U to his daughter and that one had close to 500k kms (300k mi) on it.

The 89 Astro van that I bought new and eventually replaced the head gasket on still leaked afterwards.

My 90 Astro van with the leaking coolant came to me when it was almost new and I managed to coax almost 400k kms out of it by using an annual or more can of bars leak. Once, when the fan came off the water pump hub and went through the rad, I was surprised that it wasn't all plugged up inside.

Has no else had this left rear cylinder leak Problem?

[SCOTI]

The 4.3/NV3500/3.42's in this truck ran fine all the way to about 250k. It had plenty of power for the DD job until the end (something failed in the valvetrain coming home from GoodGuys Spring show of '21).

It's getting a re-freshed Gen IV 5.3 w/a Stage 2 truck cam & 4l60e w/a V6 converter. In hindsight, he wishes he would have just rebuilt the 4.3 because it's still not complete. It's hard to quickly get things nicely done when working part-time/nights on a shoe-string budget....

[richards72chevy]

There was build thread on here a few years ago were someone swapped a 60-66 cab on to an S10 floor pan with a 4 cylinder.

[murdoc]

Coolant leaks usually come from the intake manifold. I have had to do a couple of them before. I think the manifold had a tendency to warp over time, that or the intake gasket would fail. Not the easiest to get to in a van, but solved the problem for me both times.

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by murdoc

Coolant leaks usually come from the intake manifold. I have had to do a couple of them before. I think the manifold had a tendency to warp over time, that or the intake gasket would fail. Not the easiest to get to in a van, but solved the problem for me both times.

I remember that happened to my parents '01 V6 powered Grand Prix. It was a long time ago and I was surprised that the intake was some kind of plastic composite piece. (These days if course it's not a shocker). They had it fixed and my mom is still driving it. She's in her 80s now and the car still has less than a hundred thou on it and with a good detaing job it would still look pretty new.

[oldtrux]

I too have had a few 4.3 engines and put 460km on one and was still running when i got rid of it!they are good engines but not without coolant issues and they are not great on fuel! I would personally hunt down a 4.8 l20 small v8. Simple drop in and also will get the same fuel mileage as the v6. Nice thing about 4.8 it doesn’t have that afm garbage! Just my opinion!