I've got a 96 4x4 automatic with a seized engine.

I've hard 96-97 engines are a good swap. I drove a few hours yesterday to pick up a 97 engine only to find out the intake manifold and oil pan are totally different. My engine had the black intake manifold with the throttle body on top. This one had a silver intake with the throttle body on the front of the engine. It also had a steel stamped oil pan. It came out of a 97 4x4 auto...

I ended up not taking it after all that. It seemed to different.

Does anyone know if you can just swap the silver intake for the black one or are their other differences?

I'm also really not sure why the oil pan was different?

Thanks for your help!

 

80 views and no help. This must not be something done very often.

For anyone in the future who is thinking about this, I was able to find out that the head design on the 95 and earlier engines is different than the 96-97 engines. So, you can't obtain a 95 engine and swap your 96-97 intake manifold over to it.

I would love to know if I could get a 96-97 engine with the silver intake (front mount throttle body) and just swap over to the black intake like my old 96 engine (top mount throttle body)

 

one was TBI the other CPI, as for the oil pan, I am not sure there, could be one was 2wd, other 4wd?

 

They 2 totaly different engines and the one that had a silver intake with the throttle on front wasnt the original engine for that year.They stopped making it in 95.
As for direct swap with out having to have the prom flashed 96-98 are interchangeable.

 

Good to know, thanks!

A week ago a went to see a guy parting out a 97 Blazer 4x4 auto. The engine he pulled out has the silver intake with a steel stamped oil pan. I assume it was the original engine for that car but who knows. It was obviously different than my engine with the black intake and cast oil pan.

 

What Id like to know is how he got the older engine to match up in the 97 truck.I went to attempt this and without a total rewiring job I was told on this forum it couldnt be done.Also there are major difference in the sensor that are used between te 2 engines.

 

Interesting huh? The guy I was going to buy the engine off of had gotten the Blazer somehow and was parting it out. I had seen it run before they pulled it.

It was a 97 Blazer auto 4x4 and it was running with the silver intake and the steel stamped oil pan...

 

the attatched pic is a 4.3 from 92-95 known as the CPI. It did not come in a 97 factory. The CPI engines ave different bolt patterns for the intake so to even use this motor for your 96 you would need your old heads, intake, and the majority of the senors. stamped or composite oil pans wont matter as long as its the sump you need (4x4 or 2wd).
It's totally possible to put this older engine in a new truck but the work to do it isnt worth it. you need the complete ECU and harness from the older truck. The only scenario that makes sense is if you had a wrecked 94 with cpi, good trans, ecu, and harness and a 97 with no engine or trans, and didnt need to pass emissions inspections.

 

Strangely ive seen a few 97's on Craigs list with the CPI and the owners were trying to claim it was the original engine, anyone else not familiar with blazers would have believed them. I dont understand why anyone would put that engine in a 96+ unless your in a situation like Andrew mentioned. Its weird why there are so many 96-97 blazers with that engine.

 

Its weird and a pain too! Its hard to actually find the right configuration...