i'm in the process of deciding what engine and its configuration to put in my 86 s-10 blazer. any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated. i dont even know what engine i want yet either. when done the little truck will be my daily driver and toy ( hunting, fishing, camping and little off road play )

 

Street rod= Nice carb
Trail rig= Fuel Injection all the way

 

X2...

 

x3

 

I have a little bit different take on it. I say FUEL INJECTION ALL THE WAY. Fuel Injection is much better IMO. One it is a more expensive start up cost but so much less maintenance. If you get a computer that you can program from your laptop there is no limits as to performance, plus with injection you can get the very best gas mileage if you want. I have seen a few of the Baja trucks & what they do with fuel injection & computer tuning is unreal. So if the cost isn't a major issue then I would go that way. I own an 86 F250 4x4 with a 460 that is carbed. It works good but the FI 460s get better fuel mileage & really will perform better than the carbed models (stock vs stock) with less HP.
Just my two cents

 

It really comes down to how original you want to be with an older street car. I really like fuel injection, but there is something about tweaking a carb and timing manually to change the characteristics of a motor.

As far as offroading goes, the reason why I would choose FI all the way is due to potential problems with fuel in certain situations. I have already stalled my K5 due to having the nose too high in the air. Fuel over flowed the float bowl... Not a good situation when you are halfway up a hill climb! That's why I'll be dropping in the L05 (TBI 5.7L) out of my '90 suburban parts truck.

 

thanks for all the input any thoughts on what engine would be a good choice?