Finally got started on this swap the other day. Been in the planning stages for a year now. Finally got all my parts, & I need to finish before they start dumping salt on the roads up here in New England.

A little background:

This Blazer is a winter beater for the wife, so her pristine '86 Grand Marquis won't rust to death. I'm not after performance for this reason - I just want a reliable daily runner that is easy to fix if it breaks down. The original 4.3, which was just pulled yesterday, burned a quart of 20W-50 every 50 miles - in winter! ... and it was getting worse. I have a '00 Jimmy sitting here on blocks being parted out (that's a whole other can of worms ....), so I figured I'd use that engine since it still had plenty of life left. 145K & change on it.

The plan is an Edelbrock 2114 intake & a 1404 manual choke 500 cfm carb with an HEI ignition. Back to basics - no more check engine lights & other related BS. Nice & simple, the way I like it. Emissions are not a concern - getting my wife to her job 40 miles one way, without a "REJECTED" sticker is.

I'll be installing new '00 GM motor mounts as well (which are 1/2" taller than the '89 mounts ... so that's a concern). I've already swapped over the '89 oil filter lines so I can keep the drivers side fender mount location.

IF anyone has any additional info - like what kinds of little snags I might run into, or what I should be replacing while the engine is out, I'm all ears. I'm currently debating whether or not to do head gaskets .... but I definitely want to do the oil pan gasket, & maybe a new plastic timing cover to eliminate any oil leaks. Might also load it up with black RTV .... decisions decisions.

I'm expecting the body to rot off the frame after a few years, so I don't want to spend too much more than I already have.

Here's the pic from yesterday - so that's where I'm at.

 

Over the past couple days I installed the intake manifold after removing the old lower, upper plastic, throttle body, & spider injection crap.

Removed the old rotted tranny lines while I have the engine out - MUCH easier. Just bungeed a piece of wood to keep the converter from falling out & dumping 5 qts. of fluid everywhere best case .... and worst case, taking out my pump seal. Hosed down the engine compartment with used motor oil to stop any more rust than there already is.

Now I'm in the process of fabricating tranny lines. I need to use the '00 Jimmy radiator, so I have to use it's tranny lines too (plus they're aluminum & won't rust) ... except they're 3/8" vs. stock '89 lines 5/16". So I ordered a couple reducing unions. Was going to do rubber ... but if ever one was to blow, my wife wouldn't know what to do .. or ever what had happened, so I'm playing it safe. I'm going to bend & flare the stock fittings on some zinc coated 5/16" lines, install those out from the tranny several inches, then install the brass unions in that area, so the majority of the lines will be aluminum. Might be some electrolysis going on there with 3 different metals being joined together .. but I'll cross that bridge later if need be.

I made the decision to just run the engine as it sits, & not replace any seals. The Jimmy never left a puddle, so not too concerned about it. Just want to get this thing finished. The reducing unions for the tranny lines are the hold up at the moment. Waiting for those to come in. I did remove the Crank Position Sensor to install a new o-ring, & put sealer all around it. It will not be used, except to fill that hole. That seemed to be where most of the dirt/grime was stuck, so more than likely, where the oil leak was coming from.

Here's some pics of the engine with the new intake, the tranny lines, & the empty compartment:

 

Awesome stuff man. One thing that came to my mind is the fuel pressure. Have you ordered a regulator yet? the carb will only need about 6ish pounds of pressure compared to the 60 the spider system used.

 

Thanks!

I do have a Holley 803-BP regulator. This engine is going in the '89, which was TBI - I believe that system only has about 15-20 psi if I'm not mistaken. The plan is to leave the existing pump, filter, and the main & bypass lines in place, then connect them to the bypass regulator, then on to the carb.

I just hope the pump still works after dealing with the miles of wiring in this thing .... although it's not nearly as bad as the LIGHT-YEARS of wiring in the Jimmy. Ridiculous the amount of wiring in that one. It's no wonder I had all the problems I had!

 

Doh! i forgot it was going into the blazer with tbi. lol

Looks like alot of fun. Let us know how it turns out with the vortec heads and carb. Should be a fun blazer to drive. Ive got a 4.3 tbi now with the swirlport heads,which id love to change over to vortec with a edelbrock intake and carb. But there is a pick n pull down here that sells engines for 200 bucks. Id rather do the 350 swap instead of putting more money into the v6. Never the less,keep us updated!

 

Yeah I hear that. If I didn't already own this engine, that's the route I would have taken. 305 at least, or a 350 - since they're so common & parts are very cheap.

I'll be posting back over the next couple weeks with updates, & I'll be sure to include a detailed test drive. The old engine was very tired, so this should be a pretty big power increase even though I'm not doing anything fancy performance-wise.

Stay tuned!

 

Nice Thread! I like what i see

 

Thanks Brian!

Well I'm off to a fantastic start here ....

Woke up this morning to rain .... then noticed the tarp that was supposed to be covering the completely exposed intake manifold & engine was hanging off the back of the Blazer!

Talk about being pissed at myself!! Rolled the engine upside down to drain the water out. And in that process, the oil lines caught the side of the Blazer & bent in half! GRRRRRRR!! I think I can shape them back somewhat close to where they were. Looks like I'll have to spin the oil pump before re-installing the engine. What a F***G joke!!

Luckily the paper towels stuffed in there kept SOME of the water out ... but not all of it. Can't crank the engine over because the flywheel bolts hit the engine stand. Just glad I caught it in time before it filled up. At that point we only had .14" of rain ... and by the time I got back inside it was at .27" . There was probably plenty of oil still on the cylinder walls from rolling the engine upside down last time, but this is a situation that was 100% avoidable. No room in the garage to store it indoors. What are ya gonna do ......

 

Latest update:

Decided to not play around, & bought a new set of oil lines ... and while I was at it, a new gasket set for the adapter. Waiting for those to come in. No sense going through all this trouble only to have a 22 year old oil line fail anyway.

Didn't get too much done this week, but I managed to make up the tranny lines. Got the compression fitting/reducer installed on the old aluminum Jimmy lines, then I cut, bent, & flared the 5/16" zinc coated lines which will mount to the tranny. You'll notice a small kink in one of the lines in the pic. It's not bad enough to worry about, so I'm gonna run it. These zinc coated steel lines are a bitch to work with, but they were cheap. Copper/nickel alloy is a MUCH better product - can form with your fingertips & doesn't corrode - but it's very pricey.

In between all that, I've found that all the original accessories from the Blazer will fit the newer engine! I was happy to find that out! I think the older power steering pumps are more robust than the newer ones, so wanted to use that, plus the water pump and alternator are less than 2 years old. Now I can keep all the Jimmy accessories for spares. Good news! With this new info, I ordered up an A/C compressor delete pulley. It's a winter only vehicle, so no point in having a compressor sitting there rusting away when I can sell it for a few extra bucks.

I'll be removing that rusty p/s pulley & installing the rust-free one off the Jimmy. Also I'll be removing the seals from the idler & tensioner bearings & forcing some grease in there so they won't fail in 10k miles like they usually do. I hate noisy bearings! Makes the vehicle sound like a pile.

Here's some pics of the flaring process on the tranny lines, and last pic is of the old engine with all accessories still installed. I'll take another pic of the Jimmy engine once I get all these accessories installed on it. That flaring tool is the best invention EVER! It's VERY expensive, but makes PERFECT factory flares every time in less than 10 seconds. If you plan on doing lots of brake lines or tranny lines, it's worth it's weight in gold. I bought the 007C here: brake line flaring tools along with extra 5/16" dies so I could do the tranny lines.

First pic is of the compression fittings, in case there's someone who hasn't seen one before. These are better than rubber hoses double-clamped to the lines - much more reliable, provided they don't rust out. I put anti-seize on all the fittings before installing. Sorry about the crap quality cell phone pics ...

 

dam thats a expensive flaring tool, for that kind of money i would have gone with a hydraulic one like this
Mastercool MAS71475 Universal Hydraulic Flaring Tool Kit - product summary - Bing Shopping