well recently my friend and me were hangin out and he showed me how his olds 88 LT supposed sounds awsome cuz of a hole in his muffler(hes not a car guy..gamer nerd haha) well anyway he askes me what motor his car has and i tell him a 3800 V6..then he asked what the hp/torque was..i didn't know so i googled it and get this a 3800 V6 has 205hp/230trqe..and i was surprised as hell because it has more hp and only 20 less torque than my 4.3 in my bravada.

now seriously why does the bigger displacement motor in the bigger heavier vehicle have less hp/20 more torque than a 4 door family sedan w. the smaller motor..does anyone know this?

 

They are pretty close in terms of displacement. But what you have not taken into account is that the 4.3L torque curve comes on much earlier than the 3800. Also, peak HP is at a lower RPM in the 4.3L. The 3800 likes to rev.

 

What Kyle said. I have the GM 3800II in my 2000 Firebird. Stock vs stock I'd say the Blazer would beat the Bird right off the line, but without a doubt the Firebird would win in the 1/8 or 1/4. I've put on headers, hi-flow cat, catback, 'Vette servo, shift kit, and have done moderate suspension work on the Firebird. Still on stock internals and its consistantly 14.7-14.9. Nothing to brag about compared to the LS1 Bird I used to have but sold because of insurance costs. The 3800, even NA, is a decent motor if you know what you're doing. I've thought of when I put a LS1 in the Firebird about putting the 3800 in the Blazer. I doubt if I've got the skills to do that custom of a swap though haha.

 

ohh ok..see i was nvr a motor guy lol,i can do most other stuff but when it comes to the specific stuff(ie torque curves,rev,etc) im kinda lost..thank you for clearing that up..makes more sense now

 

Yeah that 3800 might make more power.... but thats at insane RPMs...

The 4.3 is a more powerful engine all around. I love mine. Its got lots of ***** off the line and decent passing power.

You also might be getting 205HP at the crankshaft while your 4.3 makes 190 at the rear wheels... You lose up to 20 percent in the driveline before the power gets to the tires.

The 4.3 makes more tourque, which is what its all about. Ill take gobs of tourqe over gobs of horsepower anyday. All those turbo guys make a tone of horsepower, but the tourqe doesnt go up as much. I would rather have 300 Hp and 500 Tq over 500 Hp and 300 Tq any day of any week.

 

I love the high tourque diesels after you stick some money in them. Doesn't seem too hard to get 500hp and 1100trqe. Now that would be a fun truck.

 

The 4.3 was built to replace small block V8s (302, 350 I think) and the 3800 was built to replace it's V8 counter part as well. The numbers are similar but the performance differs. A 3800 can tow up to 2500 pounds where as the 4.3 can tow 5000 pounds. The 4.3 V6 is a lot like the Jeep 4.0L V6: both engines are low horsepower torque boxes. While interstate passing power isn't up to the level of a 3800, you could tow another Blazer behind you with a fully packed car on that same interstate.

 

ah don't feel bad. I can be my friends dad's buick lesabre in a race and it has the 3800 v6.