12:31 am
I was looking for opinions on an engine swap. It is time to add some muscle to the Jeepster. Does anyone on the board have an opinion regarding the fuel injected 4.3. It would seem to be the most reasonable swap for the buick 225 v6. The Vortec has approx. 175 horse and 240 lbs of torque. The Jeepster is pretty heavy and I usually tow a jeep trailer. Any thoughts?
1:24 am
May 4, 2004
Offline I had a '96 Chevy S10 pickup with the 4.3 Vortec and automatic transmission. I really liked the engine in that truck. We used it to pull a heavy old 19 foot travel trailer up to the Ice House & Union Valley area with no problem. We even towed the trailer up the hills on I5 to Oregon with no trouble. I would think that would be a pretty nice engine in your Jeepster.
3:32 am
The Chevy Astro and GMC Safari vans mid 97 and newer had 190 hp @4400 & 250 torq @2800. I had a 98 GMC Safari with the 4.3. Pulled 6200 lbs all day long on a regular basis and never missed a beat. I was going to do the same with a cj-8 I had once upon a time. I know at one time 4 wheel parts , adv adapters and painless wiring had most every thing I needed to make the swap.
5:59 am
December 18, 2002
Offline Been going back and forth between that motor and a stock 4.0L to replace my current 2.5L 4 cylinder. That engine has a lot of aftermarket support, the only reason I keep going back to the 4.0L is because I could get stock wiring and computers to make the swap a bit easier, but the 4.3 would sure be nice....
Out in the garage collecting parts....
3:08 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline I had an earlier 4.3 in one of my previous vehicles. I think they are quite reliable and well supported aftermarket.
My quesiton is that it seems like a lot of money and effort for an additional 15hp and 5lb/ft of torque. I'm sure the engine is much lighter so that may be where the gain is.
Howdy did a 5.0 swap in an EB. Maybe he can chime in here with some time and effort feedback. Those motors also can be had fairly inexpensively but I'm not sure about the wiring and other stuff.
12:03 pm
The Buick was rated at 160 horse and 235 lbs of torque. I do agree that it would be nice to get a bit more than a 30 horse power increase and a 15lb increase in torque for all the work. From what I can tell the 4.3 will be the simplest install for a fuel injected engine. I am still at the early stages of disassembly and research though. With the Atlas and 4.56 gears the increase may just be enough. I just don't think I want a V8. Don't like tomatoes.
3:02 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "JD" wrote: The Buick was rated at 160 horse and 235 lbs of torque. I do agree that it would be nice to get a bit more than a 30 horse power increase and a 15lb increase in torque for all the work. From what I can tell the 4.3 will be the simplest install for a fuel injected engine. I am still at the early stages of disassembly and research though. With the Atlas and 4.56 gears the increase may just be enough. I just don't think I want a V8. Don't like tomatoes.
Wasn't there a heavier duty version of the Dauntless that got 190HP? What did they do to that motor? Was it just a larger carb? Is your priority fuel injection, or the HP/Torque improvements?
a 4.0 swap is also pretty easy and I've seen the motor/computer/harness for $1000. That seemed like a really reasonable price when I was looking at motor swaps for my CJ-5.
3:10 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline What about going to the Buick 3.8 and adding a GM TBI carb. It should bolt in and give you the HP/Torque your looking for. I think it would be the easiest swap since the motors are the same bolt pattern, and the throttle body injection is supposedly an easy addition. Here is some background:
http://www.novak-adapt.com/kno....._90_v6.htm
The motor I was thinking about was the small block 350 V-8 that Buick also made which was installed in jeeps later in the dauntless run. This is another motor with the same bolt pattern since the dauntless was based on it.
1:07 pm
Good suggestions. I was looking at both options. I read an article where a guy modified the 3.8 to get around 290 lbs of torque. I will look into the buick V8. I think you were right that I should consider a bit more horsepower. Then I run into gas storage problems. I will definitely need a bigger gas tank. Any experience with Aerotank?
3:10 pm
December 18, 2002
Offline Not sure what kind of vehicle you have, but the thing I like the most is the length of the motor (4.3). The motor can be pushed forward in the engine bay, like the 4 cylinder, and you've still got room to drop a doubler in there for more gearing options. I'm hoping to run the Box4Rocks setup so the ability to push the motor forward will let me continue to run a nice long rear driveshaft.
Out in the garage collecting parts....
3:34 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "JD" wrote: Good suggestions. I was looking at both options. I read an article where a guy modified the 3.8 to get around 290 lbs of torque. I will look into the buick V8. I think you were right that I should consider a bit more horsepower. Then I run into gas storage problems. I will definitely need a bigger gas tank. Any experience with Aerotank?
I haven't heard of them, but your Jeepster has tons of room underneath it. It's probably more about price. Is the aerotank cheaper than, say a genright tank? What just adding a second tank? I've heard about adding the 10 gal under seat tank to your vehicle, using the CJ-5 seat adapter bracket. If you have a 15 gal tank + that 10, you should be ok. You could even carry a jerry can if necessary.
10:51 am
If you are still interested in doing a 4.3 engine swap I have a 2000 S-10 for sale w/ manual transmission. Selling it for $3500 obo. Getting ready to post it on craigs list next weekend. I may part out the truck for the right price. Its all there A/C and all.
If interested please dont hesitate to call me on my cell.
Sean
7075482151
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