A buddy of mine just gave me a 4.3L Vortec engine and trans with about 45k miles on them. They came from a Blazer that had been wrecked and had frame damage. It struck a tree broadside so there was no damage to the engine or trans. He wasn't sure if it was from a 1994 or 1996 Blazer. How can I determine which one it was and what it will fit into? I got it (free) with the intent of finding a cheap vehicle (probably with a blown engine) to put it into for my daughter. Any help would be appreciated.

 

google vortec. the 2 have very different intake runners.

 

If it has the flat distributor cap its from a 95 + if it has the cap with the terminals on top its from a 94 down

 

This is a mid production 1995 "W" engine and older:




This is a late production 1995 "W" engine and newer:



Without some serious modifications, they are not interchangeable.

 

From the looks of it, I'd almost guess the older engine looks nicer haha

 

Captain, To the best of my knowledge, not a single 95 year Blazer came with the SCFI engine shown in the second picture. The SCFI engine came out in the 96 Blazer.

The difference between the cut off points in the 95 Blazer engines that makes the interchange messy is the ignition system as the early engine used with the full OBD1 ECU didn't have a crank position sensor. So if it looks like the top picture & doesn't have a CKP sensor, the engine could be used in anything from a 93 to an early OBD1 95.

If it has the CKP sensor and looks like the first picture, then it can be used for an OBD1.5 or OBD2 95. I believe you can use the "updated CPI" in anything back to a 93 with a distributor swap to the old style and just ignore the CKP sensor, but that might also require a swap of the intake manifolds as somewhere in the span from 93-95 GM changed from vacuum powered EGR valves to electronic and I think the mounting is different (I very well could be wrong on this as I have never actually looked at it myself).

If it looks like the second picture, then it would be 96+. If it has a stamped steel oil pan, 96 to sometime in 97. Cast aluminum pan, it could be a late 97 to end of production.

 

Actualy the mid or late 95 year CPI engine also has has the aluminum oil pan.

 

I think the engine code is on the block on a pad in front of the passenger side head. I can look up the engine code.

 

Correct it is there.