1985 s10 blazer 4wd 3.1 motor swap
 

Hello everyone, I'm new and lost as to what to do. It has a 3.1 with a bad head gasket and I want something bigger for offroad and everyday driving. I want to make a Get Out Of Dodge type truck which means 3 ish inch lift, tires, kc lights, snorkle, and more power. Now the videos I have seen state that the 350 needs alot of fab work for it to fit. Especially the oil pan. I don't need 300 how just something that will get me up hills and have a respectable amount of acceleration. I have a 5.4 Triton f150 and it's a lemon that has never accelerated very well at all so anything better would be awesome. I'm
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thinking the 4.3 is better for ease of swap, longevity of the engines life, and the house/torque seems good enough. I want to go carb I think. Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated. Please remember I'm an extreme noob so have patience with me lol. Thx for the help. Edit... This is basically what I want.

A 350 wouldn't be a bolt in deal, but there's tons of kits out there that make it super easy. I'm in the early stages of planning a V8 swap for my truck.

A carb might be simpler to wire, but you need to keep in mind, if you get in some weird angle, the fuel in the float bowls will slosh to one side, the floats go up, and run the bowls dry. Stalls your engine out. I think they make specialty carbs to help combat this issue, though.

A 4.3 is a good engine, plenty of power, and gives you a little room under the hood to run a mechanical fan.

Also, welcome to the forum!

I'm having such a hard time deciding. I done need to pull 10 second times but I do want enough torque to get up extreme hills and off-road situations while being a well built long lasting motor

Anything can have enough power for that with enough gear reduction, lol

Was that sarcasm? I've heard both about the 4.3 meaning some say it's awesome bulletproof and plenty of power for a s10 blazer and others say it's gutless........

Eh, little bit sarcasm. But there's dudes with little Toyota 4 cylinders turning 40" tires. Double cases, and deep diff gears though.

The 4.3 is a really good engine. Lasts forever, decently torque for a blazer sized truck. Not a ton of power, but the only time I really wished for more hp was towing a way overweight trailer, that I probably shouldn't have loaded down as much as I did. I've towed a couple cars, and never had a problem.

I will never tow anything with this. Just a lift, roof rack and a couple winches... And I'll be good to go... Longevity is Def a priority for me

The 4.3 for sure has longetivty. I've got well over 300k miles on mine, no oil leaks, and still good compression.

2.8 / 3.1 ect engines are 60 degree engines - 4.3 / 350 ect engines are 90 degree engines so bell housings {either auto or standard trans} will not interchange - Not a major problem but just another thing to think about ....
Welcome from Wyoming and good looking truck by the way ........

That's not my truck just a look I'm going for